Thread: Walter the Dormobile

Will the Dormobile be ready for cooma?

Originally Posted by 86mud

Will the Dormobile be ready for cooma?

Hmmmm.......probably.

There's a lot to do and not much time left.
If I can sort the brakes, tidy some of the electrics, replace a few door seals, replace the floor, make some floor mats, install the headlining, fit the heater.....then maybe.

I test drove it prior to purchase, the engine & gearbox had been overhauled (not sure what was done though). It starts OK and will stop OK when I get a few test drives and make some adjustments.

There's loads of little things I'd like to do like remove & tidy the door cards, replace window runners, fix the roof, paint the roof....Problem with a Station Wagon is that there is a lot to check & possibly repair, even more in a Dormobile.
There were so many modifications to this one with odd metric bolts, cheap pressed steel nuts, strange aluminium brackets. All had a purpose at one point or another but now just look odd.



Colin

I've attached a picture of the LH rear seat installed.

Got home early tonight, backed the Dormy out and removed the RH rear seat.
Took it down the local Woodwork Club (Mens Shed) to clean & sand. Lots of trim clips to remove, an old knife & a hammer dealt with them, all will be re-used.

The space where the seat fits needs a good clean plus I have to install the lower seatbelt mount.

I should be able to finish sanding/cleaning the seat frame tomorrow and paint on Friday.


Colin

Fitted the floor & transmission tunnel today.
Next I installed the Smiths heater and ran pipes to it then filled the cooling system and ran the engine for a while. No leaks and the heater got warm.
The manual on/off valve I found was 1/4" BSP rather than 3/8" and the hole through it not that large, anyway seems to do the job for the time being.

Installed the rear RH passenger seatbelt, then made some mats for the front footwells.

There are a couple of wires hanging down where the Smiths heater is mounted, there had been a heater fitted in the past. Found 12V from one wire and nothing from the other wire (checked and it wasn't an earth wire), found that a heater switch had been fitted but.....it doesn't seem to work properly. Another job on the list as it would be nice to have a demister.

Hope to be test driving soon.....

Colin

Just a thought that small shifter hanging on the ignition key might be a bit much over time old mate

Originally Posted by Gippslander

Just a thought that small shifter hanging on the ignition key might be a bit much over time old mate

The shifter was a reminder to replace the battery terminal, I've now fitted a manual isolator on the battery so the shifter will be removed.


Be careful buying these, good ones are brass but I picked up one somewhere that's aluminium anodised gold to look like brass !

Anyway.....back to work. Some wiring to do and either repair or replace the heater switch. Found them in the UK for about 80GBP !
Land Rover Series 1 2 Dash Smiths Heater Control Genuine Lucas BHA4278
– Emberton Imperial

Seems they were fitted to a lot of UK vehicles, I'll have a hunt through my spares but I don't recall seeing one.

Colin




If it can't be repaired I'll fit an ON/OFF switch.

Originally Posted by gromit

The shifter was a reminder to replace the battery terminal, I've now fitted a manual isolator on the battery so the shifter will be removed.


Be careful buying these, good ones are brass but I picked up one somewhere that's aluminium anodised gold to look like brass !

Anyway.....back to work. Some wiring to do and either repair or replace the heater switch. Found them in the UK for about 80GBP !
Land Rover Series 1 2 Dash Smiths Heater Control Genuine Lucas BHA4278
– Emberton Imperial

Seems they were fitted to a lot of UK vehicles, I'll have a hunt through my spares but I don't recall seeing one.

Colin




If it can't be repaired I'll fit an ON/OFF switch.

The two things I was taught when I started my apprenticeship as a motor mechanic was when working on anything related to the wheel area was to put the wheel on backwards as a reminder you hadn't finished in that area. the other was to not the bum of your overalls dirty saved getting the car seats dirty & having to clean them (we didn't have seat covers back in the 60's & paper floor mats were just being introduced)

Managed to scrape off some of the Sikaflex that had been used to fit the rear door seal, The seal was removed when I took off the rear side panels.
I decided to fit some replacement seals using truss head semi-tubular rivets as per original.
I've sourced some galvanised steel pallet strapping that's the correct size so a length was cut, marked for the holes and then rivet holes punched. A matching length of seal was then cut and after filing the end of the steel strip it was a case of sliding the strip into the seal. Eventually a technique was worked out.
Next I located the holes in the strip and marked the seal then using a wad punch by hand I cut holes through the seal material both sides of the strip.
The seal was pressed into place and rivets inserted.

I'd purchased a rivet squeezer and dies for the semi-tubular rivets, problem is that for some of the rivets rear access is a problem. A while ago I modified a G-clamp to hold the squeezer dies which worked out ideal. The rivet squeezer will come into it's own when doing a roof as you can set the degree of squeeze and very quickly set the rivets.

There are some other seals that need doing if I get time.

Wired in the high level brake light and fitted the rego plates.
Tested drove up & down the driveway but still wasn't happy with the pedal travel. Adjusted the master cylinder operating rod and improved things significantly. Really need some road runs to bed in the brakes then re-adjust.


Colin