The bonus of not having the holes for air to route to the disc coolers is that all the cooled/fanned air will be cooling your engine, not a bad thing!

forgot to say...

GOOD EFFORT with the van! Well done.

A trick with the fan is next time you wrestle it off.. head down to wickes & get a length of re bar (reinforcing rod) that fits inside the starter handle hole.. re bar comes in all sizes (its threaded if youre looking for it).. if you get a super snug one then all you have to do is undo the bolt with a long 13mm socket, stick the bar in, waggle it up and down a couple of times and the fan will pop off! Obviously remembering to release the tension on the alternator belt.

The floors on the underside of the bamboo were zinc coated panels when I bought them (replacements), then stonechipped them (some bubbly paint stuff), painted them in bamboo green, then covered them in waxoil branded underseal. Bilt Hamber is also awesome stuff. I have a galvanised chassis too which I have yet to cover, I think this summer I shall get round to painting it with the clear waxoil just to keep it safe. Remember to only do this after dry warm weather though as you don't want to trap moisture under the waxoil/underseal...

Good luck, enjoy it

fritz

ps. underseal to the eye = not cool.. wear glasses!

I never bother releasing the tension on the alt belt, the fan goes on and off fine without doing so.

fritz,
isn't an estimated life of 'about' 60 years for a galvanized coating enough?

< http://www.hdg.org.uk/index.php?cms_id=335 >

Waxoyling a galvanized chassis to preserve it is akin to improving armour plating by wallpapering over it.

ken

I'll be knocking on your door if there's a speck of rust at age 59....

the galvanised trailer we have has rust on it.

I must admit I tend to paint galvanised stuff; I just don't like the white powdery look of weathered galvanising.

Louis,
just out of interest, whereabouts on the trailer is the rust?

If it's on a part which could have been damaged or scratched, the surrounding undamaged areas will tend to slow down further corrosion.

The zinc is, after all, a sacrificial coating which will eventually be used up in protecting the mild steel underneath...

ken.

Painting over a galvanized finish is OK, just be patient and let it weather first...

< http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... s%3Disch:1 >

I don't always do it; only when I'm overcome by excessive fussiness It seems fine provided its given a coat of etch primer, but I'll readily admit it is an exercise in pointlessness.