Re: Belgian built 1969 AK350 'Hetty'
So think this is WELL overdue for an update.
Since the above this little van's done about 5000 miles.
Went to the ICCCR (Yorkshire):
Did some camping in Essex:
Went to the international Van meeting (Netherlands, followed by a sojourn in Amsterdam):
Went to Spa:
That was fun.
And finished the year on display at the NEC in Birmingham:
So after all this excitement and having not really done any maintenance since I initially put her on the road I thought there were a few areas I could tidy up and do some preventative work.
The floors were looking a bit scrappy and as my windscreen leeks like a sieve I thought it would be good to protect them.
I ran them over with a wire brush drill and after cleaning them up put new seem sealer along the toe board, sills, etc.. I unbolted them and left the bolts to soak in cellulose thinners to clean them up. Before bolting them down I got some waxoyl between the floors and the chassis and where the floors rest on that lip in front of the first van box section. My floors are only welded to the sills and bulkhead, not the van body. Lack of/poor welding is about to become a theme...
Looking much nicer, and well protected.
Next, during my many nights spent sleeping in her, I'd noticed this:
This is on the inside of the van box looking forward. The side window is on the left. This didn't look good and occasionally would get water dribbling down it.
So I set to with a grinder and...
I should probably have stopped there, but I kept going.
Until...
Not pretty.
I also tackled the same area outside:
So as you can see the B Pillar isn't really attached to the van body.