I think pretty much everything below the level of the van side side windows is non original... But the whole of the roof is original, as well as the rear view mirror as lpgo says.



There's not much to say for this stage, I've accepted it's going to look like a shed for a few years longer than anticipated, so this paint is purely for temporary rust prevention. I had a few litres of etch primer I got cheap because it was a couple of months out of date, so all bare metal got a coat of that. Any rust prone seams were sealed. The underside got several coats of 'chassis black', the rest got covered in tractor paint that I managed to scrounge off a farmer.



There's a shot of how the floor / rear seat is going to work. The cover for the footwell will fold under seat when the seat is fitted, when it is just in use as a van the footwell area can be an extra storage space.

I gave the rolling chassis a quick once-over, but it didn't need anything much. Someone had obviously tried hammering out a knife edge without removing the clip at some point, so I had to replace that. Apart from that, I just cleaned and greased everything, and fitted bump stops. Painting the axles and arms can wait until the next rebuild!



Enlisting some help this time, we lifted the body back onto the chassis, which you may notice also has an engine now.

It took very little persuasion to get running, I know it was running after I finished my work on it, but that must have been about three years ago, I expected it to have somehow broken in the mean time. There's a video here of the first start up - missing exhausts, sparking from dodgy connections, drinking petrol from a beer bottle and started with a coat hanger... Don't judge me, I just wanted to hear it run!

The accelerator pump isn't doing anything at the moment, I might just swap the carbs over from dad's celeste for the time being. Otherwise I think it is fine.

Having got that far I couldn't resist just putting the wings and bonnet back on to see how it looked, morale is a very important part of any restoration.





Oh yeah

I've spent all of today on it, but unusually for me forgot my camera. Freya lent a hand and we fitted the wiring loom, starting on the key now. Fortunately not too many puzzles, however I do seem to have a surplus of terminals on both the alternator and flasher unit, and a deficit of terminals around the rear lights of the van. I'm sure I'll work that out soon enough though. We also connected up the brake pipes and bled the system, still a little squishy though so I might have to have another go when I've brought some more LHM.

So I think I just need to finish off the rest of the wiring, fit the seat belts and windows... Maybe put some sort of cover on the rear seat. Fit the last piece of the exhaust. Set the ride height (none of this silly lowering nonsense ). I'm sure I'll find loads more that I've forgotten though.

Off again for a couple of days now, but it's definitely getting there - on track for the start of term I think.

Thanks,

George

I could live with it, looks like a real workhorse.... nice car......

You'll have to get ya picture changed out the bottom of ya posts now George, no longer a pile of bits.....

Good work though...

Better?

Definitely a workhorse, although eventually I would like it to be all the same colour at least. I'll keep saving up for a compressor...

Although the van looks like it is made out of multicolour Lego-blocks , you did a very good job.
And finally this van is almost ready for the road again.
Nice job, well done .
If you are going to paint it, please keep the "Jolly Jack "-tekst on the van !

100% agree with that, lovely project, reminds me of restoring my old morris minor pick-up. love the commercials.

Jolly Jacks will stay for now, however I do eventually want to take it all back to bare metal and 2 pack epoxy it, which should keep the rust at bay for as long as possible. When that happens I'm thinking of something like this;

very nice idea, I´m also totally wanting to signwrite on sidney, just need to figure why how etc.

and like db78 it also reminds me of my university moggy van..the memories of diving it beat all other cars. enjoy

These days a lot of sign written vehicles are actually warped, the wording/pictures produced by computer and printed onto clear film, which is then applied to the body ( on your car not yours ) The other way is lazer cut lettering into self adhesive PVC. This method is more limited in respect of pictures.
This is lazer cut lettering I had done the colour is an almost perfect match for Rouge Delage
It's all in a name by 2steamhorses(Bob), on Flickr
The main advantage with this method is you can submit want you want by email and the result is posted back for you to fit. The positioning is easy with soapy water spray then sqeezy out the water and air,so the image sticks in place

This is how I did my car, these stickers are quite large and required care to lay them out properly, but after a winter spent half outdoors, spring, summer and numerous car washes they are still perfect.