anglia4

So I haven’t taken enough photos… The panel work did end up being more than I knew about. It needed a new boot floor as well, as it was totally rotten but hidden behind a rubber cover and under seal. That was all as easy as paying a bunch of money and it was fixed. I got the fuel door scanned for a matching paint colour to the faded paint, and it came out mint for the patches where rust was removed. You would never know. i knocked out all the other little things and ran it back through, and try as I might, I couldn’t get the brakes to pass. I stripped them back down and took them to the specialists to get dressed and radiused. It feels like it could do stoppies now, and better yet, it passed the brake test and now it has a number plate! (Yet to be attached) Straight into school run and supermarket duties.

I finally found a few minutes to pull this together!

I finished up the bed frames for the booth seating and then through some braces from one side to the other and put some ply over the top. I haven’t got the uppy downy table arrangement yet so have just put a double mattress in for now. I also cobbled together a quick bunk bed around a cot mattress for the 4 year old to get us through Waitangi. Of course the day we were heading away I decided I wanted brakes and got dad to give me a hand to make up a new hard line for the new drawbar. Then it wouldn’t bleed up… turned out to be a blocked hose. Got it sorted and packed and headed away. Had a great weekend, the layout was heaps better than before and it was such a great feeling to have it useable again.

Successfully obtained a fresh EWOF. Today I started on the bed frames: They’re 1000x stronger than the originals and don’t really seem all that much heavier. Although they must be, I think it’s negligible for the gainz. Each side has 60 screws in it!

The front roof panel was signed by someone who must have built the caravan originally, and then someone who repaired it in 1979, so I kept it and added my name. I’ve built a new front cabinet that’s bigger than the original and has much much bigger openings. Off for another drive tomorrow so I have to throw the tent and bbq in the front to keep the drawbar from going to the sky when I lift the stabilisers.

Then added some insulation and pre-wired where I needed to and lined the lower front wall, as it needed to go on before the window. Then for the first time in a whole year, I dropped it back on its tires, hitched it up and took if for a little ride to get some new glass.

I did a rattle can rebuild on the tow hitch and fitted it up to the new drawbar.

I’ve been very busy… I got all the rotten parts of the left hand corner rebuilt. Then framed out the front wall and re-attached the cladding. It’s amazing thinking how stuffed this was, and how much it was moving. There was no framing in the front when I took the lining off, it has all smashed up and fallen out the bottom onto the road somewhere….

Have you got the Ferret SE or the PRO?

Oh man I would love nothing more! Not this year though sorry Bart. New baby in the house.

With most of my work on the Galaxie being done now, it’s time for me to focus on George. The new drawbar has been welded on, and I’ve wire buffed and painted the chassis where I can access it while the floor was opened up. I got stuck in the other day, cut out the lower rail of the right front corner and made up a new one that’s a one piece routed design to be a bit more solid than the original 2 piece. Next I folded up some 2mm aluminium to reinforce the munted up bottom edge of the front panel. Plan for tomorrow is to put the right hand side of the floor back, then look into the left hand corner and see what needs to be rebuilt there.

Picture-less update time. So I’ve got the beast back home again now, and I’m bloody stoked. Aside from the panel work I knew it needed, the list consisted of lights, wheel bearing adjustment and brake balancing. Piss easy mate! No majors. Absolutely stoked with that.

I also just got home from a quick lunch time scooter strop to the hospice shop. That's the red rear seat base and the stained front seat base fixed for $9.

Bonus pictures: