This year's trips (and baby number three joins us!)

Been very slack on the blog lately - we've been busy!

We welcomed our third child into the family in January, which meant he was old enough to come along with us when we went on our first trip of the year in the van back in May.  It was a super weekend in Skegness with family.  Fitting three kids in the van was "interesting" - we settled on putting our middle child in the front car seat with the eldest and youngest wedged in the back, with the non driving adult sat in the back too to keep an eye on things! 

Next up was Swanage in July for the town's festival week, and what a brilliant time we had. Great, traditional entertainment for the kids including 'wacky races', a tots disco, fancy dress, sandcastle competitions and for the grown ups a fun run, darts, pool competitions and of course the infamous wheelbarrow race! Mentioning the pool competition brings me onto the most dramatic van moment of the holiday - Dave entered the pool comp and as it got later I took the kids back to the van (we'd driven into town) to put them to bed and wait for him to get knocked out...

Hours passed....it got darker...still hours went by...kids were asleep and I was bored...I saw a lone pool player walking home with his cue...still no Dave.  Has he walked home to the campsite, I thought?  About 1130pm I decided to start the van and drive up to the venue to check - however there was absolutely nothing happening when I tried starting it.  Great.  I couldn't ring Dave as my phone battery had died, so eventually spotted some girls going home and asked to borrow their phone - it was now 1230am, and I got through to Dave who had literally just won the pool competition!  (thank goodness - I wouldn't have been happy if all that waiting was for nothing!)

Dave returned victorious to the van having also won the wine in the raffle (my pay off for babysitting I think!) - there was no starting the camper so in the back streets of Swanage at 1am we pushed the campervan and eventually managed to restart it - thank goodness! Could have been interesting for local residents to see us brushing our teeth on the pavement come the next morning....

Dave's written a separate post about all the maintenance jobs from this summer - a long list as usual!  My job is going to be to repaint the van - the paintwork is looking decidedly tired now and some bits are peeling off. We are off to France in October so I'm hoping to have it spruced up by then...I'll be checking our European breakdown cover too....

NVH (noise) in a 40 year old van

My day job is designing the metal structure of Nissan cars, most recently doing the engine compartment metal of the Mk 2 Qashqai. Part of my responsibilities on top of the metal are dash insulation, carpets, battery brackets and all sorts of other bits and pieces. Having commented a couple of times on noise concerns on CF's on the forums, I thought i'd make a post explaining how to make it possible to have  a conversation with your passenger without having to shout/resort to megaphones.

When we first bought the van, the noise while driving was deafening. Having spent years just getting it running, the noise was never the priority, but a couple of years ago I took one of our NVH (Noise Vibration and Harshness) experts out for a run around the block to diagnose the cause and suggest a solution. He was immediately clear on both - there are gaps between the engine bay and the cabin allowing engine noise to come through unchecked, and there are gaps from the cabin to the outside world allowing wind, road and engine noise to come in. The main problem as well was a blowing exhaust manifold to down pipe joint, but that's the easiest to solve with a new gasket.

All the leakage to the engine bay is through the engine cover. Around the edge there may have been a seal once, but there's nothing there now, so noise goes straight through the gap. I fitted some sticky backed foam sealer with immediate results. Here's a picture of it in place, it runs all the way round the opening

I've lifter the cover up here and you can see i've got two beads of sealer running around. Before being compressed they were 5mm high, but are compressed to ~1mm when the cover is screwed down.

The difference in engine noise was amazing. From shouting to each other and having the radio on full volume, we now drive along in comparitive peace....

Next was a problem that only really shows up at high speed. At high speed the pressure outside the van reduces as the wind rushes past (like an airplane wing), so the pressure of air inside the van is higher, sucking the doors and windows open. The Sash on the front doors is very weak, and can be sucked outwards so much that a gap opens up between the door sash and the seal on the body side. I used the same sealant in this area, in some places with two beads of seal on top of each other the gap was so big.

That was enough to completely close the gap and eliminate the problem. before, I could actually see daylight through the gap like this:

(i've opened the door a fraction to show the effect). Now that i've made those simple changes, the van is so much better than I could ever have expected. in the future I might go further and add some insulation to the actual dash metal panel. The theory here is that you add a soft layer (foam or felt with air in it) that absorbs higher frequency noise, and you add mass tat blocks and reflects lower frequencies. In Nissan we do that with multiple density felts or Polyurethane foam along with 'heavy layer' - a plasticy  gooey substance that's found in the dash insulator. If I get round to it, i'll make another post, but there are more pressing issues to attend to for now...!

Maintenance and improvements

Some serious maintenance jobs...

It's been a year of a few big problems and conundrums but eventually some good solutions. The first trip of the year was to Skegness, and as the journey went on, it became harder and harder to access 3rd gear. The synchros had been going for a long time, in fact ever since I bought the van, but they had finally gone necessitating double de-clutching and matching engine revs to get it into gear. Never fun. I knew what the problem was, and frankly the options for repair though available, are a bit hit and miss with second hand or old stock parts. Certain parts of the Vauxhall 4 speed box that i've got on the van aren't available any more, but my fellow CF enthusiast in Northampton Graham West came up trumps with a spare box that he'd removed from a crashed vehicle about 20 years ago. It had sat in his garage ever since, but when we dragged it out, it was still full of oil and seemed to turn smoothly, so we took a chance.

At least there's plenty of room to get under a CF without jacking up, and the cross beam in the picture is the only other part holding in the gearbox:

Fitting it is both a very easy and very difficult manouevre. Getting to it, stripping off the prop shaft and cross member are easy - 10 minute job. The difficult part is getting the bolts out that join the box to the bell housing. You have to go in through a tiny window, and have the clutch lever in the way. There's plenty on the internet about how to overcome this - buying the special Vauxhall tool being the easiest, but i don't have one and the price on the internet could surely be bettered by a bit of ingenuity...

Photo's upside down, but there's a bolt somewhere through that hole behind the lever and down a bit. First I cut a spanner in half and welded it back together on a crazy angle to allow me to get to the bolt. that's effectively what the Vauxhall tool does. I also had to shave some material off the flanks of the spanner jaws, and that made it so weak that it sprang off the bolt rather than turn it. Several hours of frustration later and I discovered how to disconnect the lever from the rod, allowing it to move out the way more, get better access, and get a standard ring spanner on the bolt. 1/12 of a turn at a time and job done.

Next it was fitting the new box. Effectively you have to push it upwards to the right height, then slide forwards locating the input shaft through the clutch spines. Easy with the right kit, difficult when you're lying on the road with the box on your chest bench pressing it into place trying not to bend the shaft... About 4th go I managed it, think I didn't do any damage, and got it bolted back together. Filled with gear oil and tried it out.... perfect. The annoying gear stick vibration is gone, the shift is smooth and synchros actually working fully.... lets hope it lasts. The only problem was a severe leak from the rear oil seal, but Adrian Bailey has some new old stock, and after chisseling the old one off, fitted a new one OK and problem solved. There's a small leak through the gear selector but nothing to worry about (I checked it after several long journeys and it hadn't lost a measurable amount.

Next was the exhaust. I'd done the back box years ago in stainless, but the down pipe was second hand in mild steel and kept coming loose at the manifold joint. Decided to replace it all, especially as it looks like Adrian is packing up the business, and as far as I know, he's the last man out there re-making bits for CFs. brand new stainless steel pipe and box fitted and will be there still in one piece many years after i've expired!

 It did take some cutting and bodging as it seems there are loads of variants of diameters of pipes and of course my old and new pipes don't match. But a sleeve joint and loads of sealant sorted it!

Finally, after years of really trouble, i've finally sorted (fingers crossed) the battery drain and starting problems. Some years ago I replaced the starter motor as i'd done everything else and concluded that had to be the problem. The new starter always turned over a bit slowly, so assuming it to be good, I ended up back at the battery. Faulty leisure batteries and a mis-functioning split charge relay that prevents the leisure battery from being connected when the engine is cranking were all part of it, so I decided to go back to basics, strip out the leisure battery and all other wiring systems to just leave the radio, wires to the dash clock showing battery voltage and the main starter. After all that work - no difference. Next to check was the main wires to the starter. I'd shorted using jump leads and it made no difference, but I decided to make sure by getting new battery cable and routing it direct to the starter for the +ve and -ve. That eliminates the well known problem of corrosion of the seat mounting box that has the -ve connected to it (battery sits under the passanger seat) causing bad earths throughout. Still no difference. While on holiday, the starter packed up completely, I guess the solenoid sticking. See kath's post about bump starting at 1am... When home I contacted a guy I'd used years before who deals in alternators and starters from a barn just outside Daventry. Picked up a starter form a Jag V8 engine that fits the CF with a minor mod of drilling out the mounting holes, wired it up (same terminals so dead easy) and turned the key. It's a geared started unlike the CF original, so the motor turns a gear that drives the output shaft at three times the speed. Therefore the engine turns at three times the speed, making it much more likely to start on the first turn. Turned the key and vroom, straight to life like never before, instant firing of the engine and problems solved. Just shows, everyone advises that starting problems are almost never the starter, but when all the evidence says it is, worth checking the starter. The old one must have had a short, causing major battery drain when you cranked, and causing it to turn over extremely slowly. That's the second major headache i've had where a replacement part is faulty putting me onto the wrong track for ages...

here's the new starter and wires. New earth connected to the bolt that attaches the starter to the bell housing:

 And the battery. Earth goes via a kill switch that enables the battery to be completely disconnected when not in use. Switch is the other side of the wooden panel so accessed through the passenger door (or by leaning right across). Wires are there for a secondary battery, but don't think I need that now.

Spending the cost of the van....on seat covers...latest investment!

Trevor's been in the family for many years now, and you'll know that in that time there's been the need for relatively frequent constant welding jobs to keep him together and to keep the rain out (always a work in progress that issue, as we discovered on our recent trip to Yorkshire!).

Although these patchwork sessions did the job, they weren't the tidiest in other ways and our poor front seats took the brunt of the welding splatter when welding all around the screen. They were pretty nasty to start with and had some of that horrible vinyl covering which your skin sticks to in hot weather (never nice to peel your thighs off the seat). Having said that, the seat covers were basically shredded and pitted so frankly most of our backsides were on bare foam rather than the cover.

Not the most inviting seat!

So as a treat we decided to invest in getting the seats reupholstered. Our local seamstress who lives literally around the corner had just completed seats for a VW camper and did a fab job so we had faith she'd give us some refreshed and replenished seating fit for Trevor!

Some of the foam was replaced during the process, and we chose a cherry red leather (swit swoo) as the new covering.  It looks absolutely awesome now, we were delighted with the result and the chairs are a pleasure to sit in!

now then, that's better!

Latest outings - family friendly festival and the Tour!

We've had some brilliant trips in the van lately to two very different events. Here's what we've been up to:

Wychwood Festival
This was our first family festival and we were recommended this one by a friend who said it was great for children. They weren't wrong, it was a fab weekend and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Set on Cheltenham racecourse, the terrain was relatively pushchair-friendly and the festival was small enough to get round easily in an hour or so, perfect for little legs. Another plus of the small size was that we could get back to the van in just 10mins so very easy to nip back if we needed anything, or to take a rest in the middle of the day.

There was a great kids zone at the festival with a Little Tikes village, craft and music activities, literature readings and our favourite - the bug hunt arranged by the British Ecological Society which entertained our little troops for ages. Our son is still quite obsessed by finding and identifying creatures when we're out and about!

The bands were varied and great - the kids even managed to nap a bit whilst some acts were on (our daughter slept through the warm up acts but woke up in time to boogie to the Levellers). We particularly loved Bad Manners and the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra, and the kids really enjoyed seeing Justin Fletcher on stage (lots of grown ups secretly enjoyed that one too!!).

think I'm enjoying Justin Fletcher more at this point!!

The campsite atmosphere was dead friendly and our kids were in and out of new friends' tents all weekend. We even saw another Bedford CF on site so managed to have a nosy round that and compare notes with the owners - marvellous!

Le Tour de France in Yorkshire
The tour whipped through Yorkshire the other weekend and we decided relatively short notice to go up north and camp up in a friend's Mum's field in North Rigton (amazing pub there to check out - the Square and Compass - if you're in the area). We had to make a stop fairly soon after starting off as Dave realised he hadn't reconnected the alternator so power would have been an issue! Luckily the dash mounted voltmeter was reading low so gave the clue. It had been disconnected to avoid damage when welding the wings up.

standard!!

It was pretty rainy on the Friday night (and we had a bit of rain seeping in, but not enough to worry about) but the weather was fab for the Saturday. We used a new (to us) trailer to cart the kids down to Pool then into Harrogate for the finish.  Hard work for my husband lugging them round all day, but we're expecting child number three so I gladly waved my virtual pregnancy "Get out of a job free" card - happy days!

by 'eck there were some big hills!

The finish in Harrogate was heaving but really exciting (although our shoulders were aching from having the kids sitting on them for so long that day!) and it was well worth the effort of going up there to be involved in something so spectacular.

The journey home wasn't without incident; some kind of electrical fault had occurred which meant we had to jump start to leave the field, and fairly soon after this manifested itself in a more serious way as the indicators completely failed.  Cue me frantically winding the window up and down and sticking my arm out all the way home - luckily the weather was good, wouldn't have liked that job in the rain!!

This problem is yet to be resolved - another one on the constantly evolving 'to do' list!

Front wing repairs

Here we go on fixing a knackered holey front wing. Following on from my previous post where I investigated the reason for paint blistering and rust in the top corner of the front wing, today I had the day off work so spent a good 8 hours cutting, grinding and welding. Here was the hole we started with:
 

 

The doors and hinges came off OK on drivers side, and that was the worst so I started there. Ground back the area to find good metal as you can see. Luckily it was a good day for it, absolutely boiling hot... not great in welding gauntlets but better than rain I suppose. I always keep two grinders on the go - one with a normal grinding disc and one with a diamond cutting disc for making up the patches and cutting back the old metal.

 I use the bonnet of a car I got from the scrap yard as my donor metal. I just cut a bit out of the outer skin - it's a good thickness and the one I'm using at the moment in galvanised to a bit more rust protection, although that makes it splatter more when welding. Here's the first patch fully welded in and ground back. My welding isn't great, but the grinder hides a multitude of sins.... I put this piece in to give the bottom of the A pillar some strength as it's currently hanging in space a bit. All came out really rather well. for once welding on the side of the car rather than underneath - so much nicer when the splatter falls on the floor instead of on top of you...

 next welded on the lower patch. I folded over the top to make it like a wrapped over wing (just hammer a shape in the vice and on the floor until it nearly fits, then do the first few welds and hammer to shape from there). A bit of Etch Primer (bubbled a bit due to it all being a bit hot still, but it won't show).

 Then normal primer on top of that - Smoothed back a tiny bit once dry with fine sand paper.

 Then onto the other side. Easier job which is lucky because I can't get the bolts out of the doors so had to do it with them fitted.

 And finally throw a bit of Rustoleum on top to make it water proof. Deal with colour matching later.

Should do for another 10 years hopefully. I'm happy to say it's probably the best welding job I've done yet. As no-one looks at the quality of the welding anyway due to the paint job, as long as it's structurally OK, I'm happy.

Miglia Quadrato 2014

A night of motor sport in the camper van...?

For the third year running (bar 2012 when it was postponed due to the Olympics taking over London), Trevor The Van took part in the Miglia Quadrato (square mile in Italian) Road Rally/Treasure Hunt. It takes place in the second weekend in May on the Saturday night, starting at midnight, finishing 5am Sunday Morning. You have 5 hours to visit upto 60 grid references within the one square mile 'City of London', jump out of your transport and find the answer to a clue. There are 20 easy to find answers, 20 medium and 20 hard.

It takes place in the traditional City of London. Starting from Finsbury Circus (green circle on the map, we travel from Chancery Lane in the West to Tower Bridge in the East, Liverpool Street Station in the North to The Thames in the South. There's a point for every correct answer, but minus one for every minute beyond 5am that you hand in your sheet - so don't be late to the finish.

On our first year we had a few motoring problems - the van was still on a terrible Indian knock-off carburetor which caused the plugs to continually soot up so we only made it through half the night and resorted to traveling on foot - not a good idea as even over a square mile, there's a lot of distance to travel between clues. We came in with around 20 points.

The second year we did better, much more attention to the exact location of the grid reference - no point looking for an answer if you're not at exactly the correct place. Each clue is accurate to 10m, so only a tiny plotting error can have you looking in completely the wrong street. We did have a minor altercation with a bollard (re-painted and 'made good' after the event', and spent most of the night unknowingly driving without headlights - not a problem really as the city is so well lit we didn't even notice. We came in with around 35 points. This was us at the start just waiting for 12pm to clock round (photo credit Matt Brown on Flickr)

This year we returned with an extra crew member (Me-navigator, Andy Barker - answer sheet man, Dave Richards - driver, Dean Pay and Big Mark - crew members). We've got a routine worked out where me and Andy plot all the points at the start while the other three set off for a few easy clues. By the time we've plotted all 60 points, we work out a route around them and set off collecting them one at a time. At a grid ref we all jump out torch in hand and set about finding the answer. Easy ones tend to be names on blue plaques or shop established dates, mediums might be a sign seen in a building through a window, and hards.... well we've only ever found three of them and most of those were by spotting someone else looking at something and realising they must be onto a clue...).

All sorts of vehicles take part from a 1902 (?) vintage car which runs with a sound like the spark timing and piston position are completely random - complete with oil lamp headlights, to this 1910 (I think) fire engine. Useful as the crew can all cling on to the side rail like the firemen would have. (photo credit Matt Brown on Flickr)

There's also regularly a vintage delivery truck (1920's) and other then that mostly modern stuff, but our result this year of 12th out of 62 entrants shows the CF is a pretty useful vehicle for the job. A table in the back for plotting on and space for 6 people (the maximum you're allowed in the Miglia) makes up for the slightly cumbersome size, but the excellent turning circle does come in useful when we (regularly) need to change plans (go the wrong way) due to the many tiny old streets in the City. We scored 26 points, unfortunately one point away from a First Class Award, but it was much harder this year then last due to masses of road works and some of the easy clues being much tougher than usual, so pretty happy that we're getting better every year.

The van ran well (i'll explain about the alternator nearly falling off in a later post) with no mishaps - roll on next year. If you want to enter, send an e mail now to the organising club to get yourself on the mailing list  uhulmc@k3g.net . It's only ~35 quid to enter, well worth it. Any car at all can enter, but it would be good to get a fleet of CF's in - they are desperate for more people to compete to make the time spent organising worth while.


The organising club's web site is:

http://users.breathe.com/pwa/uhulmc/miglia.htm#I

you can easily see some photos of what the event's like by searching, and this video shows another crew's complete night in 2.5 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo_uC226Nsg