Ronnie's new runaround - Project VAN!

[rc]

wel new job sorted so was time to load all the tools BACK into the van lmao



low again lol

[astragsi]

pics from PV look cool,

whats the new job??

[rc]

yea the van deos look cool in the pics, new he'd taken some pretty cool ones, been trying to get them off him since pv lol

yea went for a interview on thurs and they offered me a job there and then, had a whole half a day of unemployment! i asked if i could start next monday so i could get the astra done lol! doin same thing, working in a bodyshop as a panel beater! more money and less hours which is good! bit further away than my old job, but not too bad! old job 4 miles away new job 22miles! gona see how i get on! its a much much bigger company, and on bonus scheme with unlimited overtime so potential to earn alot of money!

[astragsi]

cool, sounds really good, good luck with it

[rc]

a tallented guy called krooza on vauxonline has been doing 'dinky' car pic morphing!
he did my van

The Original Astra Van



The Dinky Astra Van



pretty ****in cool i think

he did my gsi turb too put it in my other thread

[rc]

right gave the van a good check over today as my weekly milage is going from 40miles a week to 250miles a week when i start my job on monday! everything seems aye ok, nothing fallen off lol only thing is my spare tyre keeps goin down so thought id have a look at that today

i pumped it up and put water on it was leaking all the way round the bead! took the tyre off old skool style



was rusty as **** around the inner rim, so started giv it a wire brush off, was really rough and rusty



soon got bored of that so got the grinder wire wheel out lol



and paited it up so doesnt rust up again



will let that dry and stick the tyre back on tomorrow and see if it seals!

gave it a good was too! never looks dirty in the pics, but it was filthy!

before



and clean

[Steve!]

[rc]

well the spare tyre cleaning works no more deflateing itself

but one of the rear shocks snapped again

it happened on my first van, the stud of the end of the shock snapped off, then about a month ago it happen on this one too, so i thought **** it and just welded a bolt on the end lol worked fine up untill yeaterday, it snapped AGAIN



and it wasnt my welding that snapped lol, was the bolt



so took the shocks off the gsi shell i got off paul and decided to fit them, i'd heard they work ok if you just turn them upside down, although they do fill up with dirt as the protecters the wrong way up acting like a catch bucket rather than a skirt, koni adjustables on the van

they went too pleasnt, but will do the job



cut the broken skirt right off as it wont do anything anyway



fitted them on, was pretty akward as they're a bit longer, but all on nice ly



hmm what setting shall i set them on lol



jacked it down and though hmm thats sitting quite a bit higher than normal!



must be set on extra firm and not depressing enough! so had a look underneith to click it to soft anf found this





the shocks are too long! dunno if its cuz the van's so low or what, but its just sitting on the shocks, the springs are still loose!

so quickly buzzed a nut on for now untill i get a new set (been a bit weary welding the gas shocks lol it gets bloody hot too, just let it cool down gently lmao



and on



and back to the right height again lol



then went to do the astra, but thats a differant story (update coming)

as my commute to work has gone from 60miles a week to 250miles a week i thought id given the van a service, as i know it hasnt had so much as an oil changer in the last 3 years lmao

so went shopping



oil and filter,
air filter,
diesal filter,
pair of rear shocks,
and a rocker cover gasket (BIG LEAK at mo)



so will get that done soon, gsi's priority though

[InsaneSwede]

blooooody feck..
that was a cool van..

respect!!!

[rc]

thanks

[dan_adams_c20xe]

nice van makes u want 1!!!!

im looking 4 1 on ebay as we speak......................

[dan_adams_c20xe]

wanna sell it????

[rc]

na sorry mate! its all mine

[dan_adams_c20xe]

na sorry mate! its all mine

GRRRRRR!!!! lol

[DaveB]

More pics of the missus

[forestfighter]

Very tidy

[rc]

More pics of the missus

ha ha theres some in the the billing pics in my gsi thread, shes in the red top lol

[rc]

well as was sick and tired of working on the gsi i decided to give the workhorse a service as i got the bits last week, i knew the bloke who had it before and knew for a feact he'd never done any servicing on it, so prob hasnt had anything changed for a bout 3 years at least!

so got the stuff out





air filter first! yuck!



decided to let it breathe a bit better too



cya





diesal filter next



rocker cover next, as it had a BIGGG leak!



oil and filter





next i decided to flush out all the boost pipes and intercooler and turbo, as they were all gunked FULL of oil!

flushed the intercooler through and got a whole load of oil out!



sprayed petrol through the iinlet maifold and all through the turbo too with all the boost pipes off, and man did that make a racket when i started it up lmao banging and clatterin all over the place, back firing through the airbox :lol: then fired up, sprayed some pretrol through the turbo while it was runing to try and flush it round the whle system and out the exhaust, as soon as i sprayed it down there it started idleing at 4000rpm lol! all fine now, boost pipes and intercooler is nice and clean, is smoking a bit funny as theres still some oil in the system, that'll flush through!

then i fitted the shocks

put the van back to its origional ride height



old shocks new shocks (the other side snapped when i was undoing it too)



and on



sat it back down and im sure it sits lower now, added bonus lol



silconed it all up and all finished



deffo feels more responsive driving it! and hopefully it'll regain some lost MPG now im doing all these miles

[rc]

right, well as the gsi isnt gonna be done for ultimate street car, the van will be goin to the pod again

and somethings thats been doin my head in everytime i walked past was the rusty drums



errrr



thought i might aswell of do the fronts aswell



the worlds smallest brakes lol



got the animal wire wheel out





and nicely painted up





while i had the wheels off thought id give them a nice clean!

grotty



much better



and on





the dinky little brakes will be goin eventually (will be having the 288s and the rear discs off the gsi when that goes 5 stud) but they look alot better for now anyway the rusty brakes did let it down!

and all on



gonna put the matress in again tomorrow of corse the porno camper van

[Melv]

dont come a knockin' if the vans rockin'

[rc]

well as im waiting on bits for the astra at the mo, and had a weekend to my self decided to do a bit on the van over the weekend!

now im spending alot more time in the van going to work and back i was getting a bit bored on the journeys, and with all the road noise in the van, and the clonky donky diesal, was all getting a bit of a drone! espically with only two standard front door speakers lol! ive never been one for ice in stalls or anythings, or even bass at all for that matter, never really intrested me! ive had a full stereo system sitting in my room for about 4 years out of the super nova just gathering dust, so i thought i might as well as i got nothing better to do!

the orniments that have been in my room all these years doing nothing





and the rest was under my bed

so decided to put the amps under the back seats in the van, its had that fold down flat bench conversion things in, but still has the big under bulge for normal seats in the floor, so putting them there, took the rear seats out and found the gromits havnt been in the holes for a long time, alot of mud and rust lol



amps to go here



thought id give them a bit of cumfort from the outside world and put them on a bord



started wiring in



and seats back in, and the main thing is i wanted it to still be able used as a fully functioning uncompromised van for chucking engines, engine cranes etc etc in, and for when its used as a camper van

check



but also double as a pimp wagon too




thats that in, quick test and it sucks the roof in lmao with a big rattle lol, the bars that go across arent stuck to the roof and are vibrating, but u can push them up a bit, so gonna get some pannel bond from work and stick them solid, apart from that no other rattles, quite suprised!

next i was gonna put the 6x9s in the tailgate in the place of the standard speakers so i didnt have to run and more wires, but had a bit of depth problems, man 6x9s have big magnets :lol:



and then thought it would be stupid putting them at the furthest point away from the driver, so decided to put the 6x9s and some infinity front speakers all in the cabin!
so i put my carpentry hat on and started wood fabricating







then thr front speakers were alot smaller and deeper than the origionals



so had to do some more wood fabrication



so alot of cutting later



and heres the specialist brackets, ha ha



so screwed them to the plyboard, 3 inch screws all the way through 6x9s > mdf > mdf > to the ply!



and in





to save running wires all the way thought, i decided to connect up the other side of one of the amps and run the 6x9s through that too!

bit of an clearance shot, nice load of air circulation



then it started raining, so didnt put the front speakers in yet, i'll do that another time, even though its bloody loud already with the 6x9s around ya ears lmao :lol:

oh yes and the van is very alarmed thanks to mr TOAD by the way

[fix]

I wouldnt put your amps under the seats Ronnie surely they will get too hot under there they need ventilation!!

[rc]

its ok theres loads of room!

[5W4NN7]

Lol. One Van i would own.

[fix]

its ok theres loads of room!

Ive got pop up seats in my van and id be concerned about having amps under there with the heat they produce,fans would be a good idea