The Junkyard 66

Our other van a 1966, 13 window deluxe walk-through.

Bought of Paul Wisk, it has a lot of its original features including original jail bars, deluxe clock, exterior trim and did have some of the interior panels but they were a bit worse for wear. It is on the road but is going to need a fair bit of work to get us where we are happy with it.

We have started work on the interior replacing the old rock & roll boarding, putting some flooring down and trimmed out the panels in hessian to tidy it up a bit and keep with it's rugged, rough and ready look.







After . . .

What we've done so far . . .

Door rubbers - required replacing.
Front brake shoes - required replacing.
KYB Shocks all round - required replacing.
Electrics sorted out - they were in a bit of a mess.
Gearbox mounts - required replacing.
Rock n Roll bed - replaced all the boarding with ply.
Engine swapped out - 1300 replaced with the 1500 single port from the fire truck.
Locks on one key - removed locks and took them to Custom & Commercial to all work on one key.
Window Washers - It now has some.
Rear lights changed - change US spec for UK spec rear lights.
Pop outs rubbers - the pop outs have been given a resto.
Window rubbers - were absolutely shot and required replacing.
Stereo fitted - you need sounds.
Curtains - Lisa's getting creative.
Cushions - Lisa's been busy
Trimming - the old trim panels were on their last legs.

Plenty more to do ....

I must admit I never really give the van a properly look over and it does need a few welding patches, so went down the workshop and thought I would give the welding a go . . .

First patch went ok


Then tacked the next piece and wire run out :(bar humbug . . .


Time to order some welding wire ...

Bit of a delay we were considering selling the Junkyard but with no early site for the firetruck overhaul to finish, have decided to keep it a while longer just cannot do without having a vehicle.

It is MOT time had a bit of preparation to do . . . replace a gaiter (thanks Steve) weld in a battery tray, still need to weld on a seal at some point but not required for MOT. Thought I would check out the front cab floor as noticed a bit of water on the floor, and discovered two plates put in but it looks like they were only tacked with sealer around it    so I have welded them in properly now, may need another small plate under the pedal. Will have to change the front screen rubbers as they are leaking quite bad I notice after the torrential rain at Stonor.

Plenty to do . . .

The Junkyard time for a big service also fitted air scoop back underneath for a bit of air flow, a cheap roof rack has been thrown on to as we seem to carry the whole house now with our addition to the family, come on trusty workhorse get us to action  .

Update . . .

In the process of giving the Junkyard a good clean and tidy up after last season, needs a bit of maintenance after last season. Also discovered it has 2 point lap belt mountings as standard. After a bit of research Securon 217E are extra long. Purchased and fitted them and they fit with rock and roll beds, means you don't have to pay the premium prices VW retailers seem to push them for either. We also discovered the Britax prince and eclipse child car seats work with 2 point lap belts so have invested in one for the van.

I need to give the van a service and put it in for it's MOT before Stonor Park. We are then going camping in it July down to Wareham.

Till next time

Daz, Lisa & Ceara

The Junkyard has been a fantastic workhorse for us but after Wareham it became a little noisy and I was suspecting or hoping for just a leaking carburetor or exhaust.

I removed the carburetors and the gaskets looked shot but that was not the cause, further investigation discovered the J Tube is leaking on the rear near number 1, I had already ordered up a new exhaust and replacement carb gaskets so went ahead and replaced both refitted everything and adjusted the linkage back up and were back on the road but the right carb is still popping a bit just cannot seem to get it to tune properly.

I had also picked up one of Keith's superb roof racks which is all fitted, Never been the greatest fan of roof racks but with a family it becomes a bit of a necessity when trying to stow your gear away and finally have given the van a coat of collinite wax to preserve it as best I can.

Next stop will be Camper & Bus show at Eastnor Castle . . .




Wot no carbs


New gaskets


The Culprit


Ready for new exhaust


Hmm shiny paint will soon burn off


All done ... brooom brooom

Driving back from the club meet last Friday, I could smell that horrible electrical burning smell which only appeared to occur when the list were on. So spent a majority of the weekend hunting it down, so turned the lights on and started feeling all the wires nothing, check the fuses and ouch the main fuse was roasting. Pulled the fuses out one by one but didn't really appear to make a difference so after going round all the lights the switch and checking and replacing the terminals think I finally found excuse my french one "bastard" of a fault, looks to have been the main thick wire from the fuse box to the light switch. So have run a new one and it is no longer getting hot so fingers crossed.

Grizzly wrote:Driving back from the club meet last Friday, I could smell that horrible electrical burning smell which only appeared to occur when the list were on. So spent a majority of the weekend hunting it down, so turned the lights on and started feeling all the wires nothing, check the fuses and ouch the main fuse was roasting. Pulled the fuses out one by one but didn't really appear to make a difference so after going round all the lights the switch and checking and replacing the terminals think I finally found excuse my french one "bastard" of a fault, looks to have been the main thick wire from the fuse box to the light switch. So have run a new one and it is no longer getting hot so fingers crossed.

Back to the drawing board have printed off a wiring chart from the Samba so got a busy time ahead of me.

Not sure how we got away with it for so long but all the wiring was wrong, armed with the wiring diagram have replaced the fuse box, traced and stripped all the wires and re-wired, replaced most of the connectors and terminals and looks like have finally sussed it. Just need to replace the fuses that are incorrectly rated and give it all a good test have had it under load already and no hot fuses.

Junkyard has now gone to its new home with my brother ..... sad day but really need to crack on with the panel now!