What have you been up to this week

[Bedfordcrazy]

hey dan, good to see you are keeping your van, they are never ending work, but the feeling you get when driving makes up for all that. I am going all out on mine, because this will probably be the last time i will be able to do it. I was hoping to have it finished this year, but now it is looking more like an unvail at wintersun next year. The engineering has now taken 12months, and that is almost done. All going well all fabrication should be done and heading to the paint shop by september, and by october it should be back ready to put back together. It is a rolling shell for now, so that gives you some idea of how big the job is. Well my sheet metal guy did not turn up at all last week, so i took advantage of the free time and went to seats R us to look at a new drivers seat, so i have now picked out my new swivel / air operated seat, awesome and pricey. But being an amputee if i dont get this seat, then i can't drive my van. So i now know what wheels, tyres, and seat i am getting, now i just have to find the money to buy them with. lol     And as for my new tailshaft, that should be back here tonight, i had to get a new one fabricated, so i still have the beddy one here. My grill had better be here tomorrow morning or else, i will be finding a new sheetmetal guy. So far we are about 5 weeks behind, so he will need to get a move on, i need to finish with him so i can get my wheels and other bits. Hopefully tomorrow will see my front doors finished, and i can start on the tail lights. stay tuned.
george.

[restoreid]

Got the camper jacked up & the A armes & springs & shocks out & cleaned up got about half a bucket of crap off them The bushes look brand new so I might leave them in but the ball joints will be replaised The big brake package looks like it might work VT twin piston calipers & VX 300 mm disc hats I was going to machine the Bedford hub down to fit the hat then redrill to holden bolt patern but there isnt enough meat in them to machine them to fit the hat so I think whill machine the disc off a holden hub & see how that works Photos will follow as I do it Cheers Reid

[Bedfordcrazy]

love those pics restoreid. Can't wait.
george

[danvanman]

Hey George, when you get your machine finished maybe I can pop up for a looksy? I bet it'll give me another boost to do more on mine!! , mind you if I had a shed and stayed in one place for more than a few months at a time over the years, I wouldn't have let mine become such a big job to restore. Well I've just done another 2 solid weeks on it and now I'm of to the snow for 3 to 4 months work and I'll be sleeping in the beddy, the coldest I've slept in it before was 18 below without a heater, but I'm better prepared this time.

[Bedfordcrazy]

hey dan, you got it, i get the feeling my van will be popular for a few months as people want to know about all the non bedford gear that is going on it. The body will be pretty much bedford. Body wise, things like the lights, flared guards, custom mirrors, grill and a few other sneaky bits will  have people looking. When you look at it though, you will know it's a bedford. I really can'nt wait to start showing it off, i suspect i will be losing my voice a lot. lol    Most of the serious custom work is happening underneth and in places where most people wont see, unfortunately, the amount of re-engineering of all the running gear is just massive, 90% of what is below the floor has been removed and new late model gear installed. It will only be beddy nuts like us that will know about the running gear. The reason for most of this is, so that i can get replacement parts over the counter, make it reliable so i dont breakdown, and a lot is so that i can drive it, things like hand controls and the new drivers seat will be xxy, but without them i could never get behind the wheel again. All going well this time next year all the qld vanners will see me cruising around with a grin a mile long. hehe lol 
Hey nick, you wont regret getting a beddy.
george.

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hi beddy mates, just thought i would let you know i finally got my tailshaft back. Brand new custom made.
george

[delrazor]

This week I got a baby daughter. 91/5 lb of magic.
That leads me to my next project....
I have a pair of seats with their own seat belt I need top get into the back so I can take my 2yo son out of the house on missions.

Anyone had any luck with engineers?
The seats are very nice but I want to talk to an engineer before installing in case I have to change something to get it legal.

cheers
derek

[ben]

and how much george??

[mezzmo]

Congratulations Delrazor - 91/2 lbs of the best project you'll ever do!!! As far as the seats, are the belts the inertia type fitted into the seat? If so, engineering will be a piece of piss, a lot different if you have to mount the seatbelts separately.

[delrazor]

Yep fully self contained inertia belts.
I have been thinking about child seats and i reckon i may have to build some kind of structure behund the seats. We shall see.
Lucky I am a steel fabricator.

cheers
derek