bigfella2

Too be blunt, I think a lot of the hatred of invacars on here was because when you first came on this forum you spammed it non stop with the things. Admittedly you don't do it as much now but the rust had set in.
Anyway, I wish you all the luck with it. My recommendation would be, after years of running older obscure cars, would be to snap up old stock spares so you have a source of parts on hand incase of breakdowns. 

I don’t personally have any issue with the car itself and my opinion and offering of advice would be no different to any tiny, 1970s, barn find type unrestored vehicle attempted to be swung into daily use as an only car.
What I do find a bit odd is that if it’s as clear cut as you simply do not want another car until you’ve seen for yourself how trying to use the invacar day to day doesn’t work, why have we had the debacle of the past few months of you trying to insure every vehicle under the sun, replying to for sale threads on here showing interest to members selling various cars, contacting sellers on eBay and FB. people spending time trying to help you make things a reality if you actually have no intention of doing anything and don’t want another car regardless? 
I know if this post isn’t ignored, you’ll reply saying it’s because everyone’s been pushing it on you, but that only came about because you posted initially instigating wanting a second car.
Im not going to contribute to this thread further at the moment as I genuinely think @red5 sounds like he’s done a great job and you need to get it back, book it in with a garage to have a final once over and last bits tidied up so you can attempt to use it, then realise why all this advice has been given.

We can all sleep soundly in our beds tonight, REV is almost fixed, it will be back in Dez's dead end soon enough, phew. 

It’s very clear that you simply cannot take advice and will only change your view once you’ve experienced things yourself - none of us are lending advice for the sake of it. 
I have driven a ride on lawnmower around my garden for a lot more than 40 miles, I’ve never gotten off the thing and thought how uncomfortable it is - it’s fine. 
I wouldn’t drive it to the FOD though, it’d be shit for actual driving. 
 
 
Sorry but what a complete load of bollocks, I actually find that quite offensive Dez. The pure fact I’ve agreed only in the last week to go and view a car for you, I even offered to deliver it to your door yet you then spout that it’s clear that I amongst others don’t like you? 

I’ve also helped you countless times with insurance questions both in open forums and im fairly sure via DM too. 
If thats the thanks I get then shove it mate.

Just my opinion but rather like an old FX4, an Invacar isn't transport, it's a hobby and should be approached as such.

Dez hitting 16mph on the way to the chip shop next month 
 

Without central locking? That's probably your answer.

Hang on a minute.  Weren't you on the cusp of flying up to GLASGOW to pick up an old stretch limo? 

100% agree, but that being said - how many of us would literally years later, with what Dez is telling us no updates, ignored messages etc just let this carry on?
Im not trying to shit stir as I still commend Red5 massively for taking on the project to help Dez out, but as much as LBF annoys me with references to these blue chariots in every thread he can possibly manage to, I still see a young lad who hasn’t seen his own car in years and apparently has no idea what’s going on with it. 
 
As well as all of this, I’m pretty sure Red5 would love to see the back of it by now 😂
The main reason I asked Dez was because he’s constantly talking about wanting a second car but makes his excuses each time which then fall back to how much he just wants the blue peril of resolution to the worlds problems back outside his house, yet as far as he’s always said, hasn’t actually put anything in place to get it home.
When we’re talking the length of time this has been and according to Dez the ignoring of messages etc, I personally come to the conclusion it probably isn’t working out and it’s likely best to get it home and book it in somewhere else for the remainder…

N47 ownership will do that to a man.

I mean this in the nicest possible way....how many more threads are you going to take over with the same round-in-circles discussion?

I'll add a shiny five pound note he continues to drop invacars in every thread possible in the most annoying way.

I'll put a shiny two pound coin to say he'll never buy anything at all as a normal car suitable for 99.9% of the population (including those with specific needs) isn't good enough and the fantasy will continue to play out.

A shiny pound coin says you never ever buy a TX anything.

To be fair the MK1 Golf Cabriolet I had was crap to drive too, scuttle shake was awful so I can't imagine this being any better but whenyou get offered a old car you can't be fussy can you!
Hopefully viewing it next week with the view of getting it back on the road for this summer now that the ST200 has sold.
This is it's current state

I think the new Volvo ex30 would be my choice, the powerful four wheel drive version is about 40k. If a geely car can do 250k or 15 years is another matter.
No idea what 25k in 1995 would get you.

It got scrapped unfortunately. I'm quite limited in what jobs I can do as my 'workshop' is the car park behind my flat, that combined with work commitments really narrowed down my options. 

The decadence on show, aircon in a Maxus!

Nice!
I'm going to enjoy wafting around in this.

It's actually quite a nice car to drive. I may keep it for longer than 5 minutes.

A week away round Scotland, after 1000 miles covered in universally horrendous weather we get home, offload all our stuff then I jump in the van to drop my bike off at work, it's only a few miles. 500 yards away from work, the rear screen explodes totally at random - nothing touched it, the bike is miles away from the glass.

So bizarre! Thank fuck it waited until now to do that, otherwise it could have made a mess of our holiday.
Not ideal, I'll end up having to wait til new year to get a new screen (still not sure whether to just do it myself @ £170 or invoke my insurers) but the van is parked in my unit for now, and it gives me an excuse to get the T25 back out for a few days!!!

That also cuts out?

Been a busy one as of late. Washed the new van, looks like it has never been cleaned and looking at the roof was annoying as it was green. It is now all clean and got the inteiror scrubbed up nicely. Will get some photos soon!

Notice the silver grill, the headlight with water ingress and the other smashed headlight. Must have had a front end knock at some point. 
Worst issue was the leak on the interior, water was leaking through the antenna hole over the passenger compartment and on the seats. Bought a standard PSA mount and mast and just replaced what was left of the old one. The previous owner seems to have fitted a door matt as a gasket, but fitting a new unit probably seemed to seal it up nicely. 
Found a free pair of headlights on marketplace, mine are cracked so collected them and fitted them. They were not new, however they were not damaged like mine. Turns out the drivers side one was missing a bracket and was flapping about within it's space. Annoying as you need to drop the bumper to fit them. But far nicer once fitted.


While the grill was off I threw away the completely ruined air Intake off the bottom of the air box (which just dangled too the bottom of the engine bay). And fitted a ebay speical "cold air Intake" routed it behind the grill and screwed it so it would actually get fresh air. Maybe it's Placebo but that with a oil change makes it feel a bit more usable. 
All the bulbs seem to be aged and give diffrent levels of light so replaced them and took the number plate light fixtures and washed all the moss out them so they light the plate up properly. Makes it all look more tidy. 
Got some dynamatt cheap on marketplace and stuck it too the bulkhead. Was only £10 and dulled the rumble of the sheet metal. 
Fitted two new speakers in the doors as the old citreon ones had fallen to bits. Just £10. 
Fitted a pioneer radio with hands free and dab, had to fit a dab amp to get it too work though. Works great now though. 
Fitted a steering wheel adapter from Connects2 so the buttons would work. Sadly only half worked. Had to take one side apart where it appears someone dropped coffee inside it, sourced a working set of steering wheel controls and fitted them. £17 on ebay and I probably need to clean them now thinking of it. 
Then I had the airbag light coming on, the connection from the main van loom to the clock spring had somehow undone, reconnecting put the light right out! 
Fitted a new drivers mirror assembly, found one for £25, then the interior adjuster boot was missing so got a new one at the dealer for £5. While the door card was out I could vacuum all the broken glass out the drivers door. It must have had a break in at some point. 
The van has cental locking but not remote locking. I bought a generic remote locking kit from Ebay and fitted it. Works perfect and makes the van much nicer to daily. Well worth it for £10 and a couple wagos. 
Got a front floor matt and fitted it, it seems to be for a two seater version so had to trim it around the double seat base in the front, looks neat though. 
Fitted a ebay speical 1M led strip in the front cab and wired a small switch in place for it, fitted a 5M one in the boot and fitted another switch, can see what you are doing now rather then dealing with the typical 5w bulbs you normally get.
Changed the oil, oil filter, air filter and fuel filter. Was well overdue and the van drives a lot quiter now. I did stick some white spirit in the oil and fuel 50 miles prior but the oil still came out pretty thick! 
Removed all the crap from the Scuttle drains under the windscreen. This now means water drains out to the wheel archies and should prevent rusting. 
Replaced the gear shift gator and knob with a couple ebay specials, looks far nicer. 
Glovebox lid broken, refitted it with some screws where the little spigots it should pivot on should by, works fine for what it is! 
Dash bulbs where blown and cluster supports were damaged so the cluster fell back into the dash, meant it faced the ceiling rather then the driver. Changed all the bulbs and put some wood behind the cluster to support it, sadly I could not make a new bracket for the cluster and squeeze it in that space. But it does look much nicer now. 
Stripped the dash apart and refitted it with loads of screws thay were missing, means it does not rattle like it used too. 
Blower motor was not working, figured out it was the connection too the motor itself under the dash. Cleaned it up and got it working. 
Stuck some wiper blades on It as the old ones were past it. 
It had some carpet in the rear that was thrown in, I trimmed it so it actually fit the back of the van a lot better. 
Probably put about £200 into it so far excluding a set of alloys I bought! Will wait for the tyres on the steels to wear out before I put new rubber on the alloys and fit them, will be nice though as all four tyres on the van are currently different brands and age. 
The van had a lot wrong with it but most stuff to fix it has been little cheap things and it is really nice to cruise about in now. It feels like it had about 12 different little small faults that all came together and made in annoying to use. 
I will probably need to deal with rust under it next. Does not look too bad from what I've seen but I need to get on top of it. 

Right! All assembled with new belt, tensioner,, pump, thermostat etc. Need to fit the pulley then unbolt from the engine stand and fit the clutch then it's ready to go back in.

Also cleaned up the engine bay.

Well, most of the past couple of weeks has been spent with a toothbrush and degreaser wiping off 35 years of grime. Pretty grotty.

Plus, brushing up the rocker cover and giving it a bit of a spruce up. Got my '12V' sticker ready and waiting to go on.

And my clutch arrived in correct period packaging.

Next step is to wait on a couple of replacement hoses and then reassemble water pump, thermostat etc.

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