Viscount Valiant - Re-purposed

[reddo]

Curtains are done.
2 x $5 bundles of tea towels = $10.00
1 X 5 metre length of stretchy wire = $5.60
10 x hooks = 1.60
10 x eyelettes = $1.60..
sewing..... A kiss on the forehead for the seamstress and the promise i will be home early from the pub tonight...

So for less than $20 and a promise i have the curtains done..

The floor mounted tie down points where a bit of an issue with steel loops sticking about 50 mm out of the floor... I could see myself hooking a toe in one and causing myself an injury...

So i changed the design so that the can collapse back to floor level when not needed....

looks like the fridge has decided it doesnt need a thermostat anymore and is running continuously .. at first i thought....Well if i am paying up $10 a night extra for a powered site why not let it run all the time?/... then i realised i would have to put up with the noise overnight...
So... looks like its gunna be out with the old and in with the new.. which may mean demolishing part of the cupboards to get it out.... or modifying whats there to get a new one in ??

Always something to do...
Meanwhile... i have been reading up on reusable energy..... lota smoke n mirrors???.. relying on the sun .. wind etc...so i searched the net and come up with my own solution....No... i am not gunna chase cows around the paddock and bottle thier farts......i have come up with a brilliant solution .. Something not yet seen on caravans ... a real game changer.... Stay tuned.. i have to go and collect it off a farm with a car trailer...bring it home ... do some measuring up before the highly trained and intelligent team here at "Reddotel Energy Solution"s can modify and fit this revolutionary device to the van.
I'm excited !!!!

[griffin]

Looking good Reddo, look forward to your solution to the energy crisis.

What about a letter box for the van? Saw this one the other day and immediately thought of you, a little project for Christmas.

George

[reddo]

G'Day George..

When i first looked i thought it was an old gas bottle converted.. second look.. old compressor given a second life.. 10 points for imagination.

Reddo

[reddo]

So off i pop to to farmer browns paddock..
He is waiting there with his massey ferguson and the "light powered electricity generator"... yep... thats what i said...
He didnt wnat to discuss exactly how it worked but assured me it would work just fine... ??
Seemed in a bit of a hurry to get out of there so he plonked the gadget on my trailer ......i paid my money and he disappeared off over the hill with the tractor on valve bounce....

What a nice man i thought... obviuosly in a hurry to get back to his drought affected cows..... poor bugger.

So.. a steady trip home to show the staff down in the shed of invention who where eagerly waiting to share in my excitement ..

I arrived in the driveway.. They took one look and ... fell around the driveway laughing and pointing.....
I couldnt understand what all the "Myrth and merriment " was about...
whats so funny about a "Light powered generator" anyway....
Bloody idjits.. dont they recognise progress when they see it ??

whats so funny...??/

[reddo]

Been dreding.. avoiding... postponing ...having to jack the van up...pull the suspension out and clean the chassis and support rails ..
but ... inevitably the time has come to get down and dirty..No more panzying around with curtains and light fittings

So.. jacked the van up and bunged a few supports under the corners.... whipped the wheels off.. slid a sheet of 5 ply under there to lay on and stop the green ants from eating me .. and set about cleaning 50 years of muck and crud off the steel.. what a messy job..

Cleaned most of it up and then knocked out the shackle pins, disconnected the brake cables and dragged the axle and springs out from underneath..

Crawled back under and finished the clean up. all up about 6 hours work...
Add to that another 6 to get the dirt and crap out of my hair.. dab a bit of "Stingoes" on all the ant bites..i hate irate insects.!!!1

Sorry for scaring you .....

Todays mission is to strip the axle/springs and brakes down to nothing and take the axle across the road to the steel fab shop and see if they can press the axle straight again??.. has a slight bow causing positive camber.. from there i will try and get a leg in the door and the blasters . Hopefully get it shot and cleaned / primed before they shut down for the christmas break... otherwise it will be another shitty day on the flapper wheel cleaning the rust off... YUK !!

[reddo]

Completely stripped axle. springs, brakes and cleaned em all up.
New wheel bearings, new brake shoes ( Thanks to Humpty throwing inn a set when i bought an old van axle a while back) .
Paint , reassemble and fit back under the van.

Am shopping for a pair of early holden wide rims or mags...but in the mean time i have cleaned up and fitted 2 HG rims and fitted 175 X 14 light truck tyres .. they are tidy wheels .. but the HK,T,G rims have a big offset inwards .. so the van is about 1 foot wider than the wheel track... They will do for now.. would look neat with a couple of hub caps and chrome trims..The search for mags continues

Spent yesterday stripping everything off the drawbar.. cleaning and painting,
Ran new tail ight, indicator, brake light wires through the chassis ready to hook up.

I have always had trouble winding the jockey wheel up and down.. very stiff and hard to turn the handle. so i stripped it down and found that there was no ball bearings in the head of it. ?? just 2 flat washers grinding away on each other .. with a groove where the balls use to roll around in.
So.. scratched around the shed... found and old shopping trolley wheel with the right size ball bearings and done the transplant... end result .. one happy jockey wheel .. and one happy jockey.

[reddo]

With Santa out of the way i have turned back to the"cube"..
I figure its gunna need an annexe.. so been messin with bits of canvas and shade cloth i have laying around..
Also dragged the annexe out from "Ward 13" to try out for size...

can remove all the old turnbuckles and fit sailtrack so annexe will fit ..
or
leave turnbuckles and use an old 9ft x 6 ft tarp by fitting 13 turnbuckle eyelets...
Or
I have one of those thingoes that "Kings" make that ya see on all the 4x4 nowadays strapped to the side of the roof rack.. ??
The one i have is 3 metres by 3.6 so would give a large amount of shade... but they are a bugger to roll up and stuff back in the zip up cover bag... especially when the thing would be about 8ft of the ground up the side of the van ??

Too much for one day... no suppliers open to chase bits.. so shelve that for now..

Cleaned all the drawbar up.. painted up a 13" holden spare and mounted on the drawbar... looks a lot neater than when i had painted it silver...

Moving on from there..
I picked on a fiddly job..
Make a latch to keep the fridge door shut while travelling... didnt want the contents spewing out all over the floor on the first left hander i go around..
So.. bought a hasp and latch ( $2.05 Bunnings)...feeling proud of my cheap purchase i set about drilling holes in the side of the door and mounted the hasp.. moved on over to the side of the fridge....
Pause here........ those of you that have followed these half baked restos and builds over the years would be wandering by now when the next disaster is gunna happen... remember the HR Holden yoot spare wheel door incident ..near lost an ear on that one....??... NO recollection?? ... well thats good..

Anyway... me not being all full bottle on where the refrigerant pipes run inside a 48 litre bar fridge ( ya can see whats comin here aye folks) thought i would be safe drilling about 20 mm in from the front of the door about 1/4 of the way down from the top.. so through goes the 1/8th bit and all of a sudden .. there is a hissing noise ... on further investigation the site safety officer ordered an immediate van evacuation. refrigerant was escaping at an unsatisfactory rate .. ....
I gathered at the muster point... better known as the shed beer fridge and waited for the ozone layer to be depleted.... a safe period of 3 stubbies was observed.. before i went back on site... assessed damage .. findings "Rooted "... . Fortunately a mate had not long given me a near new 48 litre bar fridge of similar size and stature as the expired item..
So... out with the wounded and in with the new PYE 48.... a few minor mods and a bit more care and repositioning of the locking latch and Bingo all done....

Wife is upset about all the fluid from the old fridge on the lawn.. killin the grass ...she says...
i put her fears into perspective.. "anyway .. if it kills the grass .. its better than killing me isnt it??...." She rolled her eyes.. rubbed her chin and said.."Aint too sure about that"....

Nice to know she cares..... about the grass !!!!..

[reddo]

So....
Apart from getting some sort of annexe fitted up to the old girl there isnt a lot of major stuff left to do ..

That brings me to the test run....
Hooked her up to the Hilux and took it out for sea trials.. set sail along the road at 60.... then ... 80.. then 100 kph for 5 mins.. it sat in neat and tidy behind the car despite being a tall van. Not as heavy to tow as i thought it would be.....
Could do with lowering a bit ... will have to wait until Ovesco reopens and see if i can get some long u bolts and drop it down a bit..

Shes come a long way from this..

It might get a few days use Stockton V V Getogether in February....and again at Taree M/C Rally early march....

Not sure what the next project will be.. Maybe a vintage slide on for the ute??... or even if i will keep this one...??.. Just been a project to keep me occupied...
Man has gotta have projects...

Cheers
Reddo

[Strugglebrook]

Looks nice and finished, you will get some looks when a motorbike come out of the back.

PSK.

[reddo]

Another van in the pipeline..
Have listed the Val on ebay. ... $2500 with no reserve.
If it sells ... it sells .. Nothing wrong with testing the water ??
Reddo