Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT My new garage in Wales

[Zebedeewesty]

Just an idea for the shed. A neighbor put 2-3 eyebolts sunk in cement and ran a wire connecting each side. One side had a turnbuckle on it to tighten it as necessary.

I’ve seen a couple of YouTube videos where people have built an interior frame to hold long tools and shelves. You might be able to secure the wood frame to the slab and points inside the shed. They used 2”x2” lumber. I don’t know what that translate to in metric measurements.

I don’t think those sheds have too much integrity if you just try to anchor the bottom.

Its got as much integrity as a wet cardboard box. Cost around $2k too. All the plastic panels just clip together and then have half a dozen 1/2" screws screwed into captive nuts moulded into the plastic. 50% of those have pulled out. Proper quality.
I think something like hurricane straps will do the job. Eyebolts in the concrete with a few ratchet straps over the roof from side to side. Brother in law suggested to him that fitting half a dozen 3" steel posts bolted to the concrete on either side to stop it moving.
2 guesses which option my FIL is thinking of doing? You're probably not gonna need the second guess to be honest as he'll always choose the option his son offers whether its stupid or not.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Its poured it down most of the day today, enough to fill a 10L bucket that was lying on the patio yet theres not even a drop of water inside the van. Most odd.
I found a cab door window and windscreen external silver screen in the top cupboard and it seems in good condition still. Saves me buying one.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Holly cuddling her owl toy.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Bit windy this morning again but the rain stayed away until i got back in.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

New starter and bush ready to be fitted once it's dry enough to not need scuba gear to go under the van. It came with a new oilite bush for the gearbox but it was only replaced with a new one at the end of August so not sure if i should bother replacing it again.

Rain stopped for a short while so i got the dogs out across the fields. Little bit of a rainbow.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Dry this morning down here for a change. Roads are still partially flooded so i'm going to give the caravelle a chance to drip dry before i move it to a flatter spot on the drive and venture under it to replace the starter.
It made a odd screaching noise this morning which definately points to something not being 100% with it. I'm wondering if its possibly one of the bearings inside that is fooked because it doesn't sound like its turning smoothly and gets hot as hell after just a few seconds use.
I found my support bearing puller (a M12 bolt) so i might as well swap that out while the starter is out. I've had the new oilite bush soaking in oil overnight anyway.

Took a walk up the hills with the dogs.


Some little pockets of mist down in the valleys.

Mist started rolling in as we got higher.

Turned back and it had rolled in behind us.

Walk back down out of the mist.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

New starter fitted and bush in the bellhousing replaced this afternoon.
Wired it up and turned the key to be greeted by a loud scraping noise when the starter engaged.
Removing it again shows the damage to the overrunning clutch where it's contacted the flywheel. Or most likely the edge of the clutch cover.
Turns out the distance between the end of the pinion and the pinion stop is 3mm longer than on the old one so it throws out slightly too far. I counted the teeth but never thought about measuring the throw out distance.
Old starter.

New one.

Battered overrunning clutch.

You can just see the edge of the clutch plate which i think is what the overrunning clutch clipped.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Not something you expect when you buy a part with the exact same part number to the one fitted. I've removed the cap off the end of my old one and cleaned the bearing and added some

They've just started clearing the wind blown trees in the woods from the storm at the beginning of December so theres a John Deere harvester and a forwarder in there churning up the tracks. Still haven't got up this track yet.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Doesn't fit too bad for a £12 ($15) cab carpet overmat. Not going to fit the proper floormat and carpet until I can 100% guarantee the windscreen isn't leaking. Atleast I can lift this one out without needing to remove the seats and battery charger and if i trim it a little bit the shifter surround won't have to come out either.

Had bug out for her first run since her MOT on 2nd December. She wasn't too happy at low revs on the stale E10 fuel in the tank though.

 

[Prospecter]

Doesn't fit too bad for a £12 ($15) cab carpet overmat. Not going to fit the proper floormat and carpet until I can 100% guarantee the windscreen isn't leaking. Atleast I can lift this one out without needing to remove the seats and battery charger and if i trim it a little bit the shifter surround won't have to come out either.

Had bug out for her first run since her MOT on 2nd December. She wasn't too happy at low revs on the stale E10 fuel in the tank though.

Nice work on the camper. I love that beetle!

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Nice work on the camper. I love that beetle!

Everyone seems to love it. Everywhere i park it someone is looking at it when i come back.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

First wash of the year.

Well thats not good. Upper bump stop mount rotted off. Rubber buffer is still OK though.

Bit crispy in the spring pocket too.

Lower one has virtually rotted away too.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

We've owned the caravelle 14 years now.
She's been pretty reliable so far but old father time is starting to catch up with her now.

 

[Prospecter]

We've owned the caravelle 14 years now.
She's been pretty reliable so far but old father time is starting to catch up with her now.

Beautiful country. I generally find our vehicles go about 14 years and 170,000 miles. Then they start needing quite a bit more work. Our current van (Dodge Grand Caravan) is 14 years and 130,000 miles. Since we don't drive as much in retirement, I did some preventive stuff last summer. We'll see how that goes. Hope that information might be of some use to you.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Beautiful country. I generally find our vehicles go about 14 years and 170,000 miles. Then they start needing quite a bit more work. Our current van (Dodge Grand Caravan) is 14 years and 130,000 miles. Since we don't drive as much in retirement, I did some preventive stuff last summer. We'll see how that goes. Hope that information might be of some use to you.

Caravelle is now coming up to 37 years old with 211,000 on the clock. Its going to need the rear wheel bearings replaced which is a pig of a job. Drum backplates will get replaced at the same time. 46mm hub nut is done up to 375 lbft and i don't have a socket or breaker bar to do it.

Managed to get an afternoon on the van today.
Made a start refitting the cab interior after running a couple of new wires to relocate the cigarette lighter to the side of the passengers seat so i can plug a tyre compressor in. The old location will be covered by the double DIN sony headunit.

You can't beat the sound of a 5 cylinder petrol engine. It sounds like an Audi quattro rally car.

 

[Prospecter]

Whoops! Guess I've not been paying enough attention! 37 years / 211,000 miles is a great run. And more to come. . . So are you going to buy the socket and breaker bar, or just hire out the work?

I love how your camper is coming along. You've made so much progress.

 

[f121]

Shame you’re not a touch closer, would be welcome to borrow a 3/4” bar and socket.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Whoops! Guess I've not been paying enough attention! 37 years / 211,000 miles is a great run. And more to come. . . So are you going to buy the socket and breaker bar, or just hire out the work?

I love how your camper is coming along. You've made so much progress.

I'll be doing the work myself. I suppose the cost of the breaker and socket isn't too bad. The breaker will come in useful for other stuff anyway. I had to borrow one to do the hub nuts on the bug last time. Its a 46mm nut on the caravelle and 36mm on the bug.

Shame you’re not a touch closer, would be welcome to borrow a 3/4” bar and socket.

Its not an overly expensive item to buy and handy to have in the arsenal.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Got the passengers seat and base back in and the battery charger and 12v socket wired in.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Got the drivers seat installed and refitted the sump guard after tightening up the magnets on the driveshaft for the cruise control.


Bumper needs another coat of linseed oil as its fading and a bit streaked.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Got some of the dashboard reinstalled this afternoon.

Found these two screws with the mounting screws. Absolutely no idea what they are for and there doesn't seem to be any screw holes anywhere for them.

 

[zanyad]

Found these two screws with the mounting screws. Absolutely no idea what they are for and there doesn't seem to be any screw holes anywhere for them.

Must've put it together better'n factory!

 

[captain14]

Isn’t there always extra parts left when you reassemble things?

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Must've put it together better'n factory!

Extra weight saving. Because racecar.

Isn’t there always extra parts left when you reassemble things?

Usually i'm pretty good at getting it all back together.
I remember someone saying they rebuilt their beetle engine and after getting fully built up and on the engine stand and before starting it they decided to clear the workbench and one of the boxes wasn't empty. It contained a new crankshaft bearing shell.

I've been through the online parts website with the exploded diagrams and still non the wiser what the screws are off.
Did a reverse picture search on google and the Brickwerks webshop says they are VW Countersunk Set Screw - T3 | T4 | LT1 | Caddy 1 / Door Pull Trim. I haven't touched the doors though.

I wonder if they were in the glovebox when i removed it and i just put them in the bag with the mounting screws.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

The woods are looking a bit bare now. Harvester and forwarder have done a nice job churning the tracks up. Some of it looks like a tornado has passed though.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Lower spring perch repair arrived today plus a length of steel tube to remake the top bump stop mount from.
Looks like i'm going to have to sort the brakes out at the same time as the left rear brake grabbed a couple of times coming back from shopping today. The back plate is really soft so i assume the brake shoes have moved out of alignment when the brake pedal was pressed.
The rear bearings have been an advisory for a few years for a little bit of wear so i suppose as everything needs to come apart they might as well be done too. Parts and tool list (3/4" breaker bar and socket) is starting to get expensive.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Missus and i have been in town getting our eyes tested this afternoon. My normal vision is fine but i need glasses for close up. Its been 4 years since i got my last set of reading glasses but my eyesight has changed ever so slightly.

Took the dogs across the fields but theres now a double wire electric fence across the footpath. Theres hedge on top of the bank and a string of barbed wire from when they had cattle in there so i don't really see the point. The gate closes too. I assume theres going to be horses in there instead of the cows as they tend to take a bit more notice of an electric fence.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Found this picture on facebook memories of some 1:24 scale magazines and other stuff i made a while ago with a pair of nail scissors for scale. Been a while since i made a model of that scale. Prices of them have shot up over the past few years.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Bought new brake backing plates, inner and outer wheel bearings and a few other bits and bobs needed for the rear end and the total came to just shy of £150 ($186). Hopefully its something that will last another 30+ years after its done.
Need to make the upper bump stop mount today. Atleast theres loads of pictures online showing what its supposed to look like. It was only held on with 4 small welds from the factory so its no wonder they fall off.

Not 100% sure of the length yet as it seems to be different depending on the year and whether its a 2wd or syncro. The drivers side is still there so i just need to figure out how to measure its length i as its inside the spring. The coils are a lot closer together with the weight of the vehicle on it.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Managed to get a tape measure in between the coils of the spring and took a rough measurement of the height of the bump stop mount, around 6.5cm.
Bit of 2mm wall 45mm diameter tube cut to length (a little over size to allow for trimming down), capped it with some 2mm plate and drilled a 18mm hole in for the rubber to mount though.

Got the cab step covers/inserts fitted, the covers for the wiper and indicator switched installed and finally got the steering wheel back in. The speedo does read only 57,574 miles, pretty low for a 30 year old van.
Not much still to do before it'll be time to get it MOT'd. Fit the radio, bolt the solar panel to the roof and run its wires to the charge controller, fit the windscreen wipers, once i find their nuts, and reconnect the batteries.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Bit yellow out there at the moment.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Rear brake on the caravelle decided to lock on while driving it this morning. Got it back home again as i was only a couple of miles away and the ****** released again driving onto the drive.
I suppose i should order a set of brake shoes just incase they are fooked when i remove the drums. They're only just over 3 years old which is irritating.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Its felt ****** cold here today. Temperature with wind chill was zero degrees C (32f) so i decided not to spend the afternoon lying on the gravel drive under the caravelle sorting the spring mounts. Still waiting for a couple of bits to arrive by post anyway so can't crack on with the brakes either.

Decided to get the solar panel out of the garage and up onto the roof as my FIL is one of those people who if something is in his way (or he thinks it is) he'll give it a kick. He's already broken one panel which he'd moved from its safe spot out of the way to one behind the door that he then slammed open on it.

Theres just enough space up top for a 170w panel. It only sticks up about 1/4" above the roof bars.

 

[captain14]

Zee,

I thought of you when Steve Wallis posted his weekly YouTube camping trip. He just bought a low mileage vintage GM camper. He knows he has some work to do to it also l, but he ventured out for his first trip.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Caravelle is off the road at the moment while i sort out the rear suspension and back brakes so bug is rolled out as dog transporter.

Bit chilly in the shade in the quarry.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Jacked up, supported on an axle stand, wheel and shock removed and arm lowered so the spring could be removed.
Old mount chisled off and the remains ground off and repair piece aligned with the two 6mm holes in the arm.

Jacked the rear trailing arm up so i could position the upper bump stop mount.

Welded in and painted in red oxide primer.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Bit of a grey morning and the roads are covered in mud. The bugs rocker covers have started dripping a little again too.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Back to being solid again.



Moon's out.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Bit of a drizzly morning weather wise. Was gonna attack the hub nut on the caravelle with a 3ft breaker but i might wait until later.

 

[Zebedeewesty]

Its been one of those days where I wish i'd just not started a job.
Removed the split pin and used my new breaker bar. I just lifted the bar, put some strain on it and snap, one destroyed knuckle.

6 minutes with the angle grinder and chisel and i'm left me with a no longer nut shaped nut.


I attempted to remove the drum with the hub still attached but its not playing ball.
The back plate is so rotten the brake shoe retaining pins have pulled through the metal which is probably why the brake kept grabbing every so often. No idea at the moment what the break shoes are like. I suspect they'll be a bit chewed up now. They're only 3 years old too.