Austin 7cwt van resurrection

[Mat.T]

An sad update on this old van. My good friend Keith who has been busily welding this old van back together. Sadly passed away in march at the far too young age of 49. Having known Keith since about 2004 and shared a workshop for the last 6 or so years this has been a huge shock.

The funeral took place at a local church and pub for the wake. Keith was VW scirrocco mad and the funeral was very well attended with alot of sciroccos and other classics in attendance. I took my triumph Toledo which Keith painted in 2014.

Keith's pride and joy Mk1 scirrocco was on display out side the pub 

Keiths workshop has now been cleared and various cars Keith was working on have been reunited with their owners. Keith had all but finished the van and had started on paint prep.

we delivered the van to the chap who usually paints the Bentleys for my work.

this weekend it was returned back to us. Resplendent in its original colour!

Now we have just got to put it back together.!

[Mat.T]

The van has made it into the work shop so I have been slowly putting it back together.

We have been collecting NOS bits and pieces to go with the stuff we already had in the back of the van.

both rear quarter bumpers are NOS. Rear lights too!

Couldn't find a new bumper so the original one got straighten. It then may have ended up with some rolls Royce chroming we were having done, by accident.....

Looks nice and shiny, probably a bit to shiny! All the chrome has been sprayed on the inside using the bilthamber wax.

Found some 7" Lucas h4 halogen headlights in the stores. To replace the candle sealed beams. Going to add some relays for these as I don't think the standard switch will handle the extra wattage.

New painted grill Vs original.

Trying to get everything lined up!

 

 

 

 

[Matty]

Awful about your mate. Like you said, 49 is nothing. Best wishes

[Sham]

Shame about your mate, but the job he did on that van will be a lovely way for you to remember him.

Looks great.

[2flags]

So sorry to hear about your friend. As had been said already, 49 is far too young. Your van will be a great tribute to him. 

[High Jetter]

Only just found this thread and read from the beginning. Totally agree with the above 3 posts, hope the van will be back in use before long.

The Jag/Rover/Triumph dealer I worked for in the late 70s also had one like that, ostensibly for us in the parts department to use, but it got ragged round by anyone who needed to pop out on company* business during the day.

[Mat.T]

Thanks for the comments, it still feels a bit odd working on this van on my own after spending so much time working and chatting with Keith about it.

Windscreen is back in now with a new rubber. The new rubbers come with a chrome filler strip which the original base model van wouldn't have had. So we are getting closer to delux spec!

I had to replace the wiper wheel boxes due to rot.(same as used on the triumph stag)

The original rubber/plastic bezels had split so I've modified some chrome mini ones to fit (again Delux spec)

[Mat.T]

The head lining was completely ruined, we managed to get hold of a marina estate one and modify it. Still needs a clean bit it fits well.

Also now the undersealing has finished I can fit more nos parts from our stores.

Unipart Stirling shocks, certainly have a bit more resistance than the Original shocks!

 

 

[Mat.T]

I'm not very good at updating this thread! But removal of the steering rack and replacing the internal bush was one of the last big jobs. Disassembled new internal poly bush, fresh ep 90 and some new gaiters.

Once the rack was refitted I set the tracking. 

Refitted the final interior bits, reassembled the doors with new rubber seals.

And today for the first time in months the van escaped the workshop. Gave it a good 10 mile run, got a few thumbs up (and a few looks of horror!) Only a few failures one of which being the brake light switch which has completely fallen apart .

It drives really well and thanks to the diff ratio it gets up to speed pretty quickly! I've got various niggling jobs to finish but I can officially say the van is back on the road!

[Sham]

Awesome!

[Matty]

Stunning. My dad had a few of these amongst other vans when I was growing up so will always look on these fondly. Great work.

[stuboy]

sad about ur mate and only 2 years older than me

[trigger]

Beautiful work! 

[Mat.T]

Some time in the early 80's:

[Mat.T]

some time this week

Different van but quite alot of the spare parts i've used would have come from the green van.