Van crew - assemble

[carlosj]

On 2/17/2022 at 1:31 PM, blutarsky said:

It’s been all quiet on the van front more or less since we went to Worthy Pastures - no more work completed and no overnight trips. 

However, we have been able to use it for days out and it’s been a huge help when the weather’s been bad, and fitting in stuff around Baby Blutarsky’s nap. 

We spent New Year's Eve (first day out of covid isolation) in an AONB, went for a nice walk and had lunch in the van hiding from the rain. 

We've been to the beach for a walk then had lunch in or coffee in it while Baby Blutarsky naps.

We've also left home really early and had breakfast in it before walking somewhere.

Most recently we took it out on Valentine's Day. Grandma Blutarsky had Baby Blutarsky while we parked in a layby overlooking the sea, cooked an Asian inspired meal and had a drink together. 

Pics below - can't wait to get the plumbing and kitchen sorted ahead of a trip to France this summer. 

 

 

EDIT: That face-in-hole job on my daughter may be my finest work ever. What do you think @Graphic Design Pete?

Aw, she's got her dad's eyes. 

[yehbutnobut]

25 minutes ago, blutarsky said:

Here's the van thread @yehbutnobut

This is EXACTLY what I’m looking for 🙌 Was tempted to create a similar thread. Gonna track back and read it all over a cuppa later.

Shitting it that I won’t have enough time to get the van finished before the fest amongst life & work. But fingers crossed a track record of getting things over the line just in time will be the case 😬🤞

[Quark]

12 minutes ago, yehbutnobut said:

This is EXACTLY what I’m looking for 🙌 Was tempted to create a similar thread. Gonna track back and read it all over a cuppa later.

Shitting it that I won’t have enough time to get the van finished before the fest amongst life & work. But fingers crossed a track record of getting things over the line just in time will be the case 😬🤞

Come for the van news, stay for the pics of Baby Blutarsky

[blutarsky]

17 minutes ago, yehbutnobut said:

This is EXACTLY what I’m looking for 🙌 Was tempted to create a similar thread. Gonna track back and read it all over a cuppa later.

Shitting it that I won’t have enough time to get the van finished before the fest amongst life & work. But fingers crossed a track record of getting things over the line just in time will be the case 😬🤞

It already looks finished enough to me. You can see the most recent pics of ours - still unbuilt cabinets, no door on the bathroom, exposed ply... but we've spent a week in it. We've got a bed, ventilation, fridge and toilet. As long as the basics are covered you're good to go. 

[yehbutnobut]

5 minutes ago, Quark said:

Come for the van news, stay for the pics of Baby Blutarsky

Oh excellent. Not as if I’ve wasted enough time this past week! 🙄

[Quark]

10 minutes ago, yehbutnobut said:

Oh excellent. Not as if I’ve wasted enough time this past week! 🙄

I'm honestly in two minds about whether to try and meet @blutarskyfor a beer in June.  When I realise he doesn't actually look like John Belushi it's just going to make me sad.

[blutarsky]

5 minutes ago, Quark said:

I'm honestly in two minds about whether to try and meet @blutarskyfor a beer in June.  When I realise he doesn't actually look like John Belushi it's just going to make me sad.

You know what I look like… 

I’ll wear a toga if it helps 

[Quark]

Just now, blutarsky said:

You know what I look like… 

I’ll wear a toga if it helps 

Yeah but I'm trying to forget I saw that photo. Like a kid pretending not to have heard his parents talking about Santa not being real.

Toga would be good...

[blutarsky]

1 minute ago, Quark said:

Yeah but I'm trying to forget I saw that photo. Like a kid pretending not to have heard his parents talking about Santa not being real.

Toga would be good...

This is me all dressed up for a wedding 

[Old_Johno]

Quick question for all the Van Crew. How the hell does anyone afford a semi decent van right now? Even unmodified panel vans with 150k miles are going for well over £10k, double that if you want a VW. 
 

maybe it’s the existential  Monday crisis getting me down 

[John the Moth]

15 hours ago, Quark said:

I'm honestly in two minds about whether to try and meet @blutarskyfor a beer in June.  When I realise he doesn't actually look like John Belushi it's just going to make me sad.

 

[blutarsky]

8 hours ago, Old_Johno said:

Quick question for all the Van Crew. How the hell does anyone afford a semi decent van right now? Even unmodified panel vans with 150k miles are going for well over £10k, double that if you want a VW. 
 

maybe it’s the existential  Monday crisis getting me down 

We bought just in time. Ours is a Fiat Ducato H2L4 3L multi jet with 33k on the clock, 2011 plate and we paid £9,500. That was pretty much bang on a year ago. 
Even that was £2k up on what it had been a year previously. 
Ours is/was a minibus which kept the price lower. 
 

getting a minibus is worth considering as if you buy a panel van you are only going to spend money installing windows anyway. we tinted all of our windows with a 5% limo tint and then insulated and boarded over the windows which we didn’t want to use. This was particularly easy on our van has all the windows are bonded so fully tinting them was a breeze. from the outside you cannot tell the difference between a window which we are looking through from inside and one which is boarded over. The only downside is that the tempered glass of the window is a bit heavier than a metal panel. if you’re not too worried about weight because you’re maybe not going to overly kit out the van inside then it’s definitely something to consider. 
 

Edited March 29, 2022 by blutarsky

[yehbutnobut]

Right, I’m all caught up from front to back with this thread…

Loving seeing what people own and their projects, especially the efforts from @blutarsky and @ian the worm. Exceptional work. 👏

So a bit about my journey as to why I’ve taken on a CV project. About 2 months ago I was driving to my storage yard and hit a rock sticking out giving myself a puncture. My yard is essentially located behind an industrial estate with a few units, one of which being a mechanic called Trev. So I limped in and cried to Trev and asked to borrow a jack & the bits to change a tyre quickly. Randomly there happened to be this big yellow bus sat in the corner that caught my eye.

There’s always loads of cars dotted around his unit, it’s not far from resembling a scrap yard tbh, but I asked him who’s the big bus was… “Ere, come and have a look inside” was his response. Grabbing the keys, he opened up, I climbed in and my jaw dropped.

As it turned out it was in for an MOT as the owner was looking to sell. So I took a few pics, and went on my way home.

Literally the next morning, and after showing Mrs YBNB the pics and her taking a liking to it, we nipped up to the yard to take another look, and the owner was there tinkering inside. We had a nice chat about it’s history etc, what had been done and what needs doing, why he was selling, and then I asked the millionaire dollar question, what he wanted for it… “what I’ve spent on it so far, £4000”.

So I asked him if he’d write me a list of what needs finishing on it and I’ll go away and think about it. This included:

- Fresh & Grey Water Tank underneath

- Gas bottle cage underneath

- Hot water system & water pump.

- All plumping & pipe work for water & gas.

- Electrical Re-wire/update

- Diesel heater

- Shower area finished & fitted

- Sink and vanity unit fitted

- Underside clean and reseal

- New rear mudguards

- Body work repairs and new cost of paint.

As I literally don’t know anything remotely about engines/mechanics, I asked Trev’s opinion seeing as he’s just mot’d it, of which he told me it has the old Ford smiley engine, and they’re “bomb proof” were his words, easy and not too costly too repair. I then spoke to the Nige who rents the unit literally right next to my yard space, who actually happens to convert campers for a living (you couldn’t get any more convenient for advice and to me was another ‘sign’ to go for it). He said, at that price it won’t owe me anything and it should be a sound investment.

A week later I offered the chap £3500, we met in the middle, and it’s currently sat up in my yard of which I’ve just started working on the underside. 

 

So with life and work getting in the way, I’m shitting it that I won’t get it finished for glasto in time. But first thing is to get the underside sorted. Once the tanks, gas bottle locker, pipe work, mudguards and all is cleaned and re-sealed, I’m hoping it’ll be fairly plain sailing. 🤞

Will keep you updated!

 

[paulshane]

Thats a lot of vehicle for £3500! score!

[yehbutnobut]

On 3/31/2022 at 9:00 AM, paulshane said:

Thats a lot of vehicle for £3500! score!

Shit, sorry didn’t see this.

Yes, I agree, I think (and very much hope) we’ve lucked out with it, and it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. However, there is also the feeling the chap I bought it from knows something I don’t. But to be fair, he was super helpful, replaced the glow plugs & a new tire before we did the deal & has offered future support if I have any other questions. So fingers crossed with a little TLC she has a lot more life in her, and my guts tells me he just wants to see it finished, just no longer had the capacity to do himself. 

Anyways. Jobs this weekend, and for the sake of not being unable to find what I wanted on the Cak tanks website (their business name could not be better suited), and also as I have some spare angle profile kicking about, we started making a frame/shelf to hold the water tank/diesel heater tank and gas bottle box. That’s all cut to size and ready to weld this week. Once the bottom is welded, can then offer up to the underside, measure for the supports & then add the bottom plate.

Also continued with some bodywork repairs after both rear corners of the bus had suffered some damage. Cleaned up the dings, used wire mesh on the inside then went nuts with some expanding foam to fill the voids. Cut the excess off, sanded back, and really chuffed with the results so far. Next job is finish off with some fibreglass filler, sand and then paint as & when we’re ready to.

Will keep you updated with the final results.

That leads me on to a question, as once prepped we’re going to re-paint the van so it looks less like The Bang Bus. The bodywork is predominately fibreglass, and we wanted to roller paint it. I’ve seen a few video’s of people roller painting vans with really good results, but don’t think I can use the same type paint. Just wondered if anyone has any experience painting fibreglass using a roller and which paint would be best?  

Cheers 😊

[blutarsky]

There was a post on this thread (I think) from someone who had rollered an LDV van - it was dark green and I’m sure there was a picture with it. 
 

We did some can prep today - I put Mrs B on the insurance last week so we had a little driving lesson today. 

[irnkrtn]

Hi van crew! We got the MOT all clear Friday. Just some new brake pads - so getting excited for Glastonbury! Done a full winter clean down, full valet (only took me 4 hours... sheeeesh), and picked up a bargain new 2nd hand awning. 

Loving seeing everyone's vans take shape!

[ian the worm]

Had my van since June last year. Just checked the MOT date so I can schedule a service and it’s only fucking ran out in Feb. 

Oops. 🤦‍♂️

It’s my daily drive. 

[funkychick2007]

11 minutes ago, ian the worm said:

Had my van since June last year. Just checked the MOT date so I can schedule a service and it’s only fucking ran out in Feb. 

Oops. 🤦‍♂️

It’s my daily drive. 

MOT must have fallen down the rabbit hole!! 🤣

[ian the worm]

32 minutes ago, funkychick2007 said:

MOT must have fallen down the rabbit hole!! 🤣

It is curious because the less I checked the more late I was. ⏰🚐

[AshwaGandhi]

Really enjoyed reading this thread end-to-end today. Hoping to convert a LWB in the next year or 2 so will take any inspiration / advice. The main thing everyone says is it takes far longer than expected!

[Madyaker]

On 3/29/2022 at 7:19 AM, blutarsky said:

We bought just in time. Ours is a Fiat Ducato H2L4 3L multi jet with 33k on the clock, 2011 plate and we paid £9,500. That was pretty much bang on a year ago. 
Even that was £2k up on what it had been a year previously. 
Ours is/was a minibus which kept the price lower. 
 

getting a minibus is worth considering as if you buy a panel van you are only going to spend money installing windows anyway. we tinted all of our windows with a 5% limo tint and then insulated and boarded over the windows which we didn’t want to use. This was particularly easy on our van has all the windows are bonded so fully tinting them was a breeze. from the outside you cannot tell the difference between a window which we are looking through from inside and one which is boarded over. The only downside is that the tempered glass of the window is a bit heavier than a metal panel. if you’re not too worried about weight because you’re maybe not going to overly kit out the van inside then it’s definitely something to consider. 
 

Would have a rough idea of how much all this is costing including the purchase of the van? I imported a 2007 VW California from Germany in 2017 and it was pretty expensive, your build looks very good so I'm curious to know how much cheaper it would've been to do a decent build like this instead of just buying a purpose built camper van.

[blutarsky]

23 hours ago, Madyaker said:

Would have a rough idea of how much all this is costing including the purchase of the van? I imported a 2007 VW California from Germany in 2017 and it was pretty expensive, your build looks very good so I'm curious to know how much cheaper it would've been to do a decent build like this instead of just buying a purpose built camper van.

£9,500 on the van, about the same on kit so far. We still need to buy a hob and finishing touches such as the waterproof panelling for the bathroom, kitchen worktop and cupboard doors and interiors. I reckon another £2,000 should finish it.

For our spec and with the vehicle in the condition it's in (33k miles) you'd be looking at £35,000 - £40,000 to buy one converted, so being able to do it for around the £20,000 mark makes DIYing it a much better option for us. 

[yehbutnobut]

Boring update tbh. However the shelf for mounting the tanks underneath has been welding, grinded back & painted. As soon as this gets mounted, along with the smaller grey tank, progress will speed up 🤞

Plus also finished making 2 of the 4 mudguards that needed replacing.

More updates soon. 😊

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by yehbutnobut

[Neil]

my van will be getting its first outing for 2 years i'm scared it might break down.