Yob rule..

Some pieces of shit did this to my motorhome the other night. I suppose their fathers would sort them out normally but doubt these arseholes even have one.

Cleaning fouled spark plugs.

Some people say there is nothing in a spark plug to wear out.That might be true but they do eventually get covered in a layer that can short them out so that they don't spark.This gives a misfire at best or stops the engine at worst.These plugs I removed from my V8 engined P5b Rover. The choke mechanism was faulty and the engine was running on a mixture that was too rich.

 Using a combination of a solvent and oven cleaner it is possible to make the plugs almost as good as new.This avoids using a grit blaster (which most of us don't  have) and avoids any grit or sand being left behind to damage the engine.

No wire brushing or need for machinery and fancy chemicals. Details are on a spark plug cleaning page.

Rubber door seals on the P5b.

I was getting fed up with the wind noise and rain coming in around the doors of the Rover P5b.
Door seals are available but very expensive for what are really just bits of rubber. I made some out of some sections I bought to repair the door seals on my transit.
These give a double seal around the door and fit inside the original door seal housing.

The new seals were glued together at the corners and the wind noise and the rain are now kept on the outside of the car.

Welding the floor on the transit.

I took the rubber mat out of the old transit motorhome and found some holes in the cab floor. After taking the plug out of the back of the alternator and disconnecting the battery I started to weld the holes.

The holes in the floor pan were localised where water coming through the heater vents collects under the rubber mat. These were cut out and the edges squared off.A plate was then made to accurately fit in the holes,supported in place and but welded to the floor

The patches were then painted with red lead paint. For a neater job the welds could have been ground down flush but the floor is covered anyway and the patches hardly show underneath when painted over.

.The passengers side wing never fitted well.It stood very much proud of the leading edge of the door.New wings are unobtainable so I cut a thin section from the mounting flange (left pic) and then pushed the wing in and welded the edges back together. The door and wing now are much closer and the welding strengthened the door hinge area.

Welding front spring shackles on Mk1 transit.

With an MOT looming I thought I'd have a crawl underneath the transit. The front shackles had been welded some time ago (in fact a fair few years ago,time flies) I thought I'd attack them with a hammer. The original repairs still seem OK although a bit 'messy' so I ground down the welds and found one had not really taken right at the front so did it again. Under the old underseal the rust had started to get a hold so I took it all off and redid with old fashioned red lead.

The shackles looked a bit improved afterwards but while underneath I noticed a weak point on the floor,it probably doesn't matter for an MOT but still doesn't look too good.

Transit what to do with it?.

I really dont know what to do with my old transit motorhome. I hardly ever use the poor old thing,it just stands outside looking forlorn. I spent a lot of time welding it and rebuilding the engine but just dont get the time to use it.

I guess if I sell it I will regret it but in the meanwhile what use is an old motorhome other than for motorhoming?.

Rusty doors

Looks to me like there's the odd spot of rust in this door bottom off the transit.

Typically the rust you can see on this Mk1 transit door is just the tip of an iceberg,the hole will get much bigger with a bit of prodding and poking.The vehicle spent the past few years parked up on Lowestofts dockside where it was wetted by sea spray every time the wind blew.