Kiwibirdman Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Good caravan. I have a 1982 Cavalier 520, same van with lovely 1970's dark brown interior. Trailcom in Manuaku have all the Trojan parts and the prices are pretty good. The wheels are definitely ford stud pattern, I put some Rostyles on my van last year. Be careful with the weight distribution when towing, the standard 165/13 tires are marginal and too much weight out the back will cause some underwear testing moments. Happy to caravan Barry at any time. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 Thanks for the info! I've sorted getting it transported to work so will be getting stuck in as soon as its here. I'm keen to get a decent width wheels in there once Ive measured the available space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaMpylobacter Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 yeah i switched to citroen BX 14" steels on mine with 185r14c commercial tyres after having a 13" commercial tyre overheat and blow out,ripping all my cabinetry to bits 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Someone has converted my zephyr to 14” commercial as well. The weight ratings on the 13” ones aren’t quite there. Stu make sure you use commercial tyres 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 Definitely going to 14inch commercial tyres! Just need to find some cool rims Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaMpylobacter Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 not much has 14" 4x108 sadly. for steels, look to Peugeot 405/306 or citroen bx. 14x6 with a 20P offset is spot on usually. you may be able to clock hubs 90 degrees and redrill to 4x114.3 as well which opens many doors of course can't really redrill to 5 stud, though. if it was 4x114.3 you can reuse one hole and drill out to 5 without enoughmeat no worries. if you need new hub/rotorassemblies you could go to 5 stud also better living Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 Thanks man! I have a lead on some 5x114 hubs so maybe thats the best bet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted March 18, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 18, 2022 Over the last couple of weeks I managed to get a second hand coupling off a mate and swapped that on just so it can be moved. Also fitted new lights which were surprisingly cheap at $50 for all four. Ended up running the gauntlet and driving it across town to work where it will sit so I can work on it. It seemed to tow fine so I think the duratorques are still good even after sitting since 2008. Will eventually get new hubs, wheels and brakes. In the mean time I gave it a quick waterblast clean up. Here's before: During and after: There's heaps of hard to remove gunk still to go and I'm thinking of hitting it with some wet and forget or something and let it sit for a week or two then hot wash scrub it to get the rest off. Its come up pretty good regardless. Couldn't resist the urge so gave a bit of the blue a quick cut back to see what its going to come up like, and was pleasantly surprised at the result for such a quick hit. With some decent effort it should come up pretty well! Will caramel wheel off all the graphics and replace them as we have a vinyl cutter which will probably be as far as I go with the thing. Next is ordering the brakes etc and hitting the chassis with the wire wheel to see what its like. 15 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted March 30, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 30, 2022 Bit more progress.... or more steps backwards? I suckered Ash into cleaning the inside of the van out over the weekend while I was at work using the CNC machine for another project. She quite quickly filled the skip bin with all the old crap that we wont ever use. She also took one look at the carpet and out that came too. Glad she did as it highlighted a couple of leaks that I hadn't spotted before. They are caused by water getting in through the wall panel joins under two of the windows - you can see one in the last picture of the previous post above. My uncle had put tape over it by the looks which didn't really work. So I opened the windows, took the frames out, drilled out the rivets, split the panels and took a look inside the walls. Everything looks great in there with no signs of rust etc so I sealed it all up and fitted new rivets before putting the window frames back in. I've subsequently tested the areas with the hose and its all water tight now. Checking over the floor it does look pretty shit in a few places and there are stains where the water has been, but its actually structurally fine so we will give it a really quick sand/clean then recover the floor with a timber look vinyl. You can see where the water was coming in behind the swab to the left of the fridge, I'll replace the wall paneling there, luckily it hidden by the squab anyway. Another job that doesn't excite me at all is recovering the squabs, so Ash is going to get an upholsterer she knows to do it all for us. Much easier to pay the money and get it done fast than spend a week of Sundays and do a shit job. The fridge is fucked so have tossed that out and am on the hunt for a new one. Im tempted to start again with the kitchen and make a whole new one with a single piece top and a new cooker too. Will worry about that later on. Chassis tidy up and wof are first to do. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted April 2, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 2, 2022 Into the chassis work now. I spent a bit of time making a few preliminary inspections of the draw bar and rear of the chassis with a wire wheel on the grinder and some sanding discs. There's a couple of bits I'll grind back further or cut out and patch, but generally is seems ok. I did some ringing around local sand blasting companies and shit the bed a bit at the price some of them wanted to blast the underside for me. I found a guy just up the road who actually listened to what I wanted him to do and had a much more reasonable price so dropped it off yesterday morning. We slammed it up on the hoist which meant I could have a better look at everything. There's a few spots of surface rusting that I'll need to check over once its blasted but there wasn't any surprises - I know there is a section in the back that I'll need to cut out once its done. Pre-blasting: Then a few hours later I got the call that is had been done. They also have covered it with Epiphos which will help for the next stage and also hold any flash surface rusting at bay for a little while. Generally things are pretty good under there. I'm going to be replacing the wiring, brake lines, gas lines and more than likely the water lines too. This is the one area I knew about and will chop out and replace. I'll pick up some steel this week and sort it after work one night all going well. The leveling jack things are pretty poked so will get some new ones and zip them on before painting/sealing the underside. One thing I noticed while peering at the water tank enclosure was that there is some sort copper pot thing that takes up about a 3rd of the space. Its on the right hand side of the photo below. I'm not entirely sure what its for, its got insulation around which you can just see between it and the floor. So it maybe hot water storage? I didn't think they had hot water on board so will need to barry a bit more and find out what it is. My plan is to drop the tank and give it a clean out anyway so will no doubt figure it out then. Anyway, its back at work and I'll try to make some more progress next week. Have a new second hand fridge lined up too but it will require the kitchen being modified to suit unfortunately. I just can't justify spending the money for new unit. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted April 14, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 14, 2022 More progress. With help from my trusty friends Mr Grinder, Mr Plasma and Mr Big Fucking Hammer, the offending rusty sections are no longer. It wasn't very hard to do, just drilled out some rivets thru the floor into the cross member, then chopped the thing out. Also had to zip off the levellers and chop back on one of the chassis rails that was a bit poked. Grabbed some new steel and wizzed some black hammerite on it where it contacts the floor, then metal poo sticked it in place. So a little bit of finishing work and that's the rust gone from the back thankfully. I'm grabbing some new levellers today, and will whip up some brackets so they bolt on this time incase I do something dumb like driving off with one down and they need to be replaced again. Ive also figured out the weird water tank thing is infact 240v hot water so once the welding is done will whip the cover off and check it out while repainting the chassis. I want to convert from the manual foot pump for the water to a 12v one that I have and will be replacing all the lines etc too. Im guessing the tank is filled up with spiders and gunk so will have to give that a good flush out and sanitize. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighLUX Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 Adapt the levelers with a bolt on them so you can use a battery drill and a socket for speedy leveling 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azzurro Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 ^ This! Make the bolt size same as the wheel nuts Speaking of...not seeing any sik nasty rim updates! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 14, 2022 Author Share Posted April 14, 2022 4 hours ago, HighLUX said: Adapt the levelers with a bolt on them so you can use a battery drill and a socket for speedy leveling For sure! The new ones have a 19mm hex head on them so my plan is to use the battery driver I have to do them up 4 hours ago, azzurro said: ^ This! Make the bolt size same as the wheel nuts Speaking of...not seeing any sik nasty rim updates! Haha no progress on wheels yet but thats not far away. I've got a new set of hubs sitting at work ready to test fit onto the existing stub axles. I'm 50% expecting to have to muck around finding the right bearings but I'm hoping this will work. If it does then 4x114 is the new pattern so some good 14's can be fitted. I've got commercial tires lined up that are only 9mm taller than the 13's on there now. Once its all confirmed its going to work I'll be shopping for a pair of something old and rad. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mof Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 Recommend these guys if you need a tank/tanks https://www.kiwitanks.co.nz/caravan-water-tanks And these guys for bits and pieces https://www.rvworldstore.co.nz/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted April 20, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 20, 2022 Thanks @Mof, will check them both out. I'm not sure what the condition of the tanks are like yet but I'm expecting them to be filled with sploogy goodness. The new levelers are not exactly the same as the old ones but they were cheap and are longer plus are able to be bolted on which is handy. I got the rear leveler angle brackets made and zipped into place so bolted them on with some temporary fixings. On the front end the coupling base was a bit rusty and the cross bar under the LPG bottle bracket was bent and pretty second hand. So they both got diced off and I cleaned everything else up. There were a few small rusty pits that I ground out to clean steel, welded up and ground smooth. I zipped on a new coupling base which is much thicker steel for piece of mind, and used a piece of channel to recreate the bottle base reusing the old strapping which is fine. Cleaned it all up and layered on some hammerite. Still a bit to go but reasonably happy with progress. New jockey wheel to buy and fit (this has been a bit of a dick finding a replacement). front levelers to change out, bolt on a new chain, fit the new tow hitch, setup the brake lines, run new wiring as its currently speaker wire, replace the LPG bottle strap fixing and the LPG hose, then paint it all. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUNAMUCK Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 On 14/04/2022 at 17:12, HighLUX said: Adapt the levelers with a bolt on them so you can use a battery drill and a socket for speedy leveling Dad suggested I use an impact wrench when I borrowed his caravan. Maximum smug face when other campers see you winding the legs down with zero effort. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anglia4 Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 I had the old fashioned speed wrench, but I bloody left it on the ground and drove away after our last camping trip didn't I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stu Posted July 25, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 25, 2022 Time for more punishing caravan updates: The tow coupling I had put on so I could run the gauntlet and tow the caravan across town to work was pretty rough, and missing the handbrake part. And to make things worse the caravan actually popped off the tow ball when I was moving it around the yard with the forklift which gave me the shits. Taking a look closer it was very worn so I promptly ripped it off and threw it in the scrap bin - dodged a bullet there. Hunting around for a direct replacement to the original turned into a bit of an ordeal - I could buy a generic braked coupling for not much money, but the handbrake levers are different and wouldn't work through the front fairing and the original handbrake also wouldn't swap over. It was looking like the only option was a new one but at ~$700 that idea could get fucked too. But by luck someone on the Liteweight facebook page had one for $60 - sold! Its in pretty good condition so with some new high tensile bolts it got fitted into place. Next on the radar was the wheels/brakes/tyres situation. The original wheels and tires where toast and I chanced my arm they would last the trip across town when I first moved the caravan. Luckily they held - check out the condition... First idea was just to get some new 13inch rims and away I go. Finding some rims in 4x108 wasn't the that hard, but after barrying to a couple of long term Liteweight owners it seemed the consensus was change to 14inch tires if possible as the load ratings are higher. Apparently the 13's have been known to blow out when heavily loaded - yeah not that keen seeing as the caravan will no doubt be loaded to the hilt in kid crap etc. Seeing as I was needing new rims anyway I started looking at 14's instead. There weren't that many 4x108 options around that I liked but I could get new 4x114's for not much money so I set to redrilling the hubs to suit. I made up a template on the CNC, used the drill press for the new pattern, and fitted some new studs. Rebuilt the calipers, got some new lines, and cleaned up the caliper brackets and slides Pressed in new bearings, packed the grease, new pads, fitted. Later swapped the calipers sided to side to the bleed nipple is at the top. New tires and rims fitted: I need a few more brake line fittings before I can get onto remaking the hard brake lines so moved onto other things. I re-wired all 12v trailer plug wiring with new 7 core trailer cable - a big step up from the 1985 speaker wire that was previously used. Interestingly it turns out two small internal kitchen lights run off the side light circuit. Anyway, thats all done. Moving back to the chassis I broke out the plasma and diced off the old front levellers, the made up some brackets for the new ones. With that done it meant the chassis prep and painting could continue. The whole chassis now has one coat done and Im most of the way through the second coat. I've also bought some underseal to paint the underside of the flooring with as the sand blasting left quite a few patches. I've done a few other small bits and pieces like replace the door hinges and the roof vent latches, and swap out of old crusty fastenings/bolts with new ones etc And that's kind of where I'm at bar a few small touch ups here and there. Hard brake lines next, rest of the chassis painting and undersealing then off for a WOF. After that, its onto the inside. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirk28 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Awesome project and job.. just out of curiosity how much was it to sandblast your chassis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.