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Post by nickyjuk on May 18, 2021 20:54:37 GMT
Figuring out the flatbed, using pallets as units of measurement.
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Post by Peter on May 19, 2021 9:14:36 GMT
Nearly there, two pallets long would have make sense but one and a bit works too. . I am sure it will look a lot better proportion wise when the sides are on and a nice 3" roll bar fitted. looks a little wrong as it is but I am sure it will be good when all together..
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Post by nickyjuk on May 20, 2021 21:59:55 GMT
Yes, it is a bit of an ugly ducking at the moment! I'm hoping it's proportions should be alright in the end. After working out what should be a good length bed, I enlisted some help to trim down the flat bed from a van based dropside body. It had been on a Ford Transit and a VW Transporter, so this is definitely upcycling. Their was a bit of head scratching with this, as the sides and headboard have to fit back on without too much modification - hopefully just shortening from one end. Their is quite a lot of weight in it too, so we reduced it by drilling out the spot welds holding the front panel on, then cutting out a section before welding the front panel back on. This lightened it quite a lot. We then carefully marked up, and cut a 10 inch section out of the centre of the frame, staggering the cuts as we went along, so they wouldn't create a single weak point along the frame's length. With all of this steel cut out of it, it was still quite heavy for two to manhandle.
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Post by nickyjuk on May 20, 2021 22:03:34 GMT
Trialing the dropside body before making it narrow enough to fit.
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Post by Peter on May 21, 2021 12:21:19 GMT
Sure looks 'meaty' - and wide. I am sure it will come right soon.
Are you going to fit inner wings at the front as I can see a load of crap and wet gong into the engine bay, simple sheet of ABS would do.
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Post by nickyjuk on May 21, 2021 21:44:03 GMT
Hi Peter, yes, you're right. I haven't quite worked out what I'm going to do with the wheel arches yet, I haven't really looked. I'm trying to get all the steelwork finished first, but it all takes time. Lining everything up and making brackets etc. Pesky work has been getting in the way recently too.
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Post by nickyjuk on May 21, 2021 21:54:03 GMT
To hold the dropside body in place, I have had to make a lot of sturdy bracketing to link it to the Discovery chassis, and this took a lot of time. I must have done a hundred laps of it as I walked round and round, making sure the frame and the body were central. I started off with 12m of the 50mm box tubing and with the tub frame and chassis mounts, I currently have less than a metre left. At the front, I extended supports from the main tub frame and drilled bolt holes through the front edge of the dropside body. In the centre, the supports onto what were the Discovery's rear seat belt mounts were simple, but at the rear of the body, picking up the chassis mounts made it all quite complicated.
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Post by nickyjuk on May 21, 2021 21:56:52 GMT
_ Attachments:
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Post by nickyjuk on May 27, 2021 18:02:12 GMT
With the tub and the body in place, I managed to sort out the fixings for the rear mudguards too. Fortunately the ones that were originally attached to the flatbed body fitted a treat. They cover the rear wheels and by slighty modifying the original bracketing I could hang them from directly from the flatbed. This was a surprisingly quick win. I then moved on to the rear bumper. The rear bumper was not a quick win. I had deliberately left the rearmost flatbed mount sticking out of the back of the Scrambler a short way to hang the bumper from. I decided to use the tubular steel bumper that was fitted to the Eagle, as I also intend to use the matching front one. After dangling it in place with some straps, the proportions didn't look right, so out came the angle grinder and I removed the original brackets (which no longer lined up with anything). I separated the two tubes from each other (which will also stop them rusting where they touched) . Then I shortened the lower tube and attached a plate to each end, to mount the tail lights on. I followed this by welding a length of the tube I'd cut off onto the top tube to extend it out towards the edge of the rear bed. A couple of L shaped brackets were then attached to the back, and I stood back and admired what had inexplicitly taken a full day to achieve!
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Post by nickyjuk on May 27, 2021 18:09:07 GMT
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Post by Peter on May 28, 2021 10:57:03 GMT
Sometimes the simplest of things take the longest of times. Looks well worth the effort though. Is the space inboard of the lights for reverse and fog lights?
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Graham Wood
E.O.C. Chairman
Webmaster
User name = RAM
Posts: 538
Location, Town please: Southport, U.K.
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Post by Graham Wood on May 29, 2021 10:18:02 GMT
to be picky, but don't forget to ensure the insides of the hollow sections are treated against rust. Seen too many holow sections just fall apart, rusting from the inside, having been fitted with rust inside from day one.
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Post by Peter on May 29, 2021 10:24:15 GMT
to be picky, but don't forget to ensure the insides of the hollow sections are treated against rust. Seen too many holow sections just fall apart, rusting from the inside, having been fitted with rust inside from day one. Agree, can't get enough of that 'Waxoil' or similar in those cavities, chassis benefit too.
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Post by nickyjuk on Jun 3, 2021 8:42:04 GMT
Yes, the space inboard of the tail lights is for fog and reversing lamps. I have rectangular indicator / sidelights on the front alongside the round headlamps, so decided to use the rectangular tail / indicator lights that were on the Eagle alongside some round fog / reversing lights at the rear. I thought this might balance quite well.
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Post by nickyjuk on Jun 9, 2021 21:43:11 GMT
Well things have slowed down a bit as work commitments and running a small fruit farm in my 'spare' time have left little free time to work on the Scrambler. The lovely UK weather has got everything growing. I now need the excuse of a few rainy weekends to hide inside the barn with the welder. As mentioned at the start of this thread, I was lucky enough to get a roof with my Eagle, but unlucky in that it was quite badly damaged. It has a break above the rear window and behind the door on the one side. I managed to roughly glass these breaks back together, then sat the roof onto of the shortened body, with the view of trimming it down to size. At this point, I'm juggling how to fit the roll bar, the roof, and the seats. Until I've got the roof sorted, the other two are tricky to set up. The original roll-bar angle would not fit inside the roof, but needs to be more vertical - as tall as possible' but not so high that it sticks out the roof, or so low that occupants clonk their nappers on it. I also want the seats to go as far back as possible, without touching the rear panel, where I've got to adapt the windows fitting, to allow some sort of screen. I'm hoping a potter around a scrapyard may offer inspiration for this, as no one seems to know if the standard Eagle rear screen was donated from another vehicle. An oldish van window with a rubber surround are my currents thoughts. I had originally thought that I'd not bother with the roof at all this year and make it as something to do this winter, but I definitely want seats, and as I said, to fit the seats I need to position the roll-bar, and to position the roll - bar I need to position the roof!
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Post by nickyjuk on Jun 9, 2021 21:46:32 GMT
_ The enormous sun visor would be useful, but getting in and out the doorways a bit tricky.
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Post by Peter on Jun 10, 2021 11:04:39 GMT
please do not chop that roof, RV roofs are gold dust covered hens teeth. Make a mould of it and knock off a few, I am sure they will sell.. Currently making E30 under trays in fibre glass, not my fav' material but I can make a couple for 30€ and sell for 100€ each-
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Post by nickyjuk on Jul 14, 2021 10:00:03 GMT
I'm afraid I'd already trimmed the roof before your post Peter. I can't stress enough that this roof was not in very good condition. Before my purchase, I think it has been blown off the top of the RV and cartwheeled across a field as it was not attached and there is damage all over it. I'm intending to cover its many imperfections and my attempted repairs with a textured load liner paint finish. Unfortunately, as much as I like the idea, I don't have the time, space or skills to make a mould.
Around Autumn last year, an advert popped up on ebay for the 'original' Eagle roof mould. With the advertiser saying that he also had the moulds for the doors that he was willing to sell separately. It was relisted a few times for something like £350 if my memory is correct. Unfortunately I can't find the listing anymore. Out of interest, I spoke to a local company (Honeybourne Mouldings) and asked how much they would charge to make a roof if I provided the mould, and they estimated something like £650. I thought this was prohibitively expensive for most people as entire project RVs struggle to make that much money when they do appear on ebay.
On its third or fourth relisting on ebay, the mould sold! I was expecting to see something pop up on the forum, but nothing ever has. It seems odd, as I would have thought that whoever was selling, or buying the mould would have had an RV, and would probably been a club or forum member.
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Post by nickyjuk on Aug 2, 2021 11:37:35 GMT
Well, things have slowed down a bit as I have less free time over the summer. However, a wet weekend gave me time to build a seat box! Cutting and stitching the steel together in just about the right places took a while, but it is very solid and bolts through to the frame. I'm quickly reversing the weight loss that I got from removing the Discovery's body! I have a rear set of seats out of a Skoda Yeti which gives me three seats in the front. These seats are great as they can be seperately clipped in and out, and the rake on all three can be adjusted individually. Plus, the two outer seats have rails built into them, allowing them to be slid forwards and backwards.
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Post by nickyjuk on Aug 2, 2021 11:39:53 GMT
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Post by nickyjuk on Oct 13, 2021 21:19:49 GMT
Well, where was I? A busy fruit harvest has been filling all my waking hours and days, but with the arrival of Autumn things have slowed, so I'm sneaking the odd hour here and there to work on my project again. I'm cracking on with the fabrication of steel parts. The angle grinder has been occupied slicing things up, and the welder stitching then back together again. It still needs fettling, but I've modified the rollbar into a frame that will also support the windscreen and stop it flexing. The gel coat is webbed with cracks where the Eagle's unsympathetic aerodynamics had caused the windscreen surround to be pushed backwards by the air slamming into it.
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Post by nickyjuk on Oct 13, 2021 21:22:34 GMT
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Post by biggles1 on Oct 14, 2021 11:03:55 GMT
Yes, the RV screen frame is definitely a weak point. I remember someone on here, had a windscreen glass come out of the frame and smash into them, whilst driving. A nasty experience for sure. It's not helped by the fact that most of the body tubs produced, have a dip in the section that goes across under the screen frame.
John.
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Post by terryrob on Oct 14, 2021 22:14:25 GMT
Biggles 1,,,,That was Jon Grindle "Grommitt" going home from the Newark show. The windscreen pushed back with the wind resistance and popped out smashing into his head. MAKE SURE the screen is tight in its rubber. R V's scuttle tops tend to bend downwards making the lower windscreen edge come loose. I have a steel support with jacking screws under mine.
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Post by biggles1 on Oct 16, 2021 23:46:26 GMT
Yep, that was the one, Terry. I remember it now. Scary stuff!
John
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Post by Peter on Oct 17, 2021 12:22:45 GMT
One of the few things they got right on the SS, forward hinged bonnet. There have been quite a few over the years.
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Post by titch on Oct 21, 2021 8:09:18 GMT
I've got to say, what a fascinating read all this is.. and progress is certainly continuing.. I'm full of admiration on this build!! One thing that confuses me though, is the RV body.. mine I'm pretty certain was the one from the factory for a Beetle Chassis (nee; floorplan) but doesn't appear to have the flared arches etc..or are these a bolt on? (not that I'll need them) Here's mine..? Titch
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Post by johmpen on Oct 22, 2021 21:27:31 GMT
I have flared arches on my ford based RV, they are part of the body rather than bolted on
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Post by nickyjuk on Oct 24, 2021 12:06:47 GMT
Interesting point by Biggles.. Quite a few of the RVs I've seen have dashboards where quite a bit of the original RV moulding had been cut away, to accommodate a donor vehicle binnacle. My RV has a nice simple dash, with just a few circles cut into the panel for dials, leaving it quite strong. I wonder if more radical chopping about weakens them, reducing support, and causing the windscreen surround to sag?
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Post by nickyjuk on Oct 24, 2021 12:11:25 GMT
On the flared wheel arches. Yes, they are part of the moulding on mine too - originally a Ford based RV. I guess they were changed from the VW design for a wider wheel track. They just about cover the wheel track of the Discovery axles! I hadn't noticed the difference until Titch pointed it out, both look correct.
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