Andy P
30-06-2015, 09:29 AM
Project Van
So a tad of background for you. After many years of track racing in my younger days I'm was known as a bit of a boy racer and became quite handy with the tools. No not an outright hooligan and I did my racing on the track and drag strips not the public highways. But I do like a bit of car customisation and a good fast and furious movie.
Also my clutch slave cylinder is going on my trusty Mondeo and its a pretty big job on a car that has a lot of potential big jobs. Truth is that a basic diesel van can be kept on the road for less than a turbo diesel car. There are no dual mass flywheels, expensive hydraulics, complicated computers, silly sensors etc and of course no turbo.
So I decided to get me a bit of a project van. Something to have fun with but to also do a job and provide me with cheap (and cheap to fix) motoring. I took to gumtree and the auto trader and even some Facebook cheap car groups and found me a target. 2002 Citroen Berlingo 600X for the princely sum of £450. Full years MOT and a load of work done during including new brakes, exhaust, 2 tyres and work to the front wheel hubs. Engine has high miles but is very sweet with just a minor issue with the fuelling on cold start. Bodywork is a little rough with a few dints, sill rust and general signs of age. There there is a list of small jobs to be done, nothing of huge cost or consequence.
17303
So week 1 has included getting it on the road, tax, insurance and making a list of jobs to do:
It needs an interior light, drivers door handle surround, wiper linkage, a stereo and areal, door card re-pinned and a replacement rear door handle. I got on ebay and got most of the parts cheap. There are also a few other jobs to do like clean and paint the sills and tidy the cab to a working standard.
The good news in day one and I got loads of the minor stuff done but also got a new list of jobs as I went. The interior light was changed but the door switches need replaced too. I'm going to change all the locks so its just one key for the whole van. I fitted a new Sony stereo, reconnected the door speakers which will get replaced *obviously* and put on a new antenna mast. Its a media player so was quite a neat unit and a doddle to fit. I popped on some seat covers and a steering wheel cover while I was in the cabin. I popped in my Sat Nav and discreetly ran the charging wire and also fitted a charging point for my phone and sat nav in place of cigarette lighter.
Outside I used a wire brush on my drill to clean of the surface rust and once back down to the metal used smooth hammerite spray to respray the sills. Made a huge difference to the look and only took an hour to clean, paint and lacquer. Browsing eBay I found 6 saxo vtr alloys for sale locally at just £80 with 7 good tyres (don't ask). the wheels are a direct fit but were in need of TLC so on Sunday that's what they got. Stripped the old bubbled paint off and then painted them back up. Leveller and primer, 4 coats of the main colour and a nice lacquer finish.
17302
I did them in pageant blue to match my company branding and because silver is soooo last year. The last job was to black out the back windows so I purchased some pre-cut film and applied - not done this before and it didn't go on great so might get redone at some point. But you cant see in so mission accomplished for now. So with the sills back to nice white and contrasting blue wheels it was looking a little funky. Total spend thus far was around £130 and I've set my target budget at about £750.
Im currently waiting for the rear door handle and door card studs to arrive so will do these next weekend. The rest of the money will probably go on a new lock set, wiper linkage and some interior LED lighting.
So a tad of background for you. After many years of track racing in my younger days I'm was known as a bit of a boy racer and became quite handy with the tools. No not an outright hooligan and I did my racing on the track and drag strips not the public highways. But I do like a bit of car customisation and a good fast and furious movie.
Also my clutch slave cylinder is going on my trusty Mondeo and its a pretty big job on a car that has a lot of potential big jobs. Truth is that a basic diesel van can be kept on the road for less than a turbo diesel car. There are no dual mass flywheels, expensive hydraulics, complicated computers, silly sensors etc and of course no turbo.
So I decided to get me a bit of a project van. Something to have fun with but to also do a job and provide me with cheap (and cheap to fix) motoring. I took to gumtree and the auto trader and even some Facebook cheap car groups and found me a target. 2002 Citroen Berlingo 600X for the princely sum of £450. Full years MOT and a load of work done during including new brakes, exhaust, 2 tyres and work to the front wheel hubs. Engine has high miles but is very sweet with just a minor issue with the fuelling on cold start. Bodywork is a little rough with a few dints, sill rust and general signs of age. There there is a list of small jobs to be done, nothing of huge cost or consequence.
17303
So week 1 has included getting it on the road, tax, insurance and making a list of jobs to do:
It needs an interior light, drivers door handle surround, wiper linkage, a stereo and areal, door card re-pinned and a replacement rear door handle. I got on ebay and got most of the parts cheap. There are also a few other jobs to do like clean and paint the sills and tidy the cab to a working standard.
The good news in day one and I got loads of the minor stuff done but also got a new list of jobs as I went. The interior light was changed but the door switches need replaced too. I'm going to change all the locks so its just one key for the whole van. I fitted a new Sony stereo, reconnected the door speakers which will get replaced *obviously* and put on a new antenna mast. Its a media player so was quite a neat unit and a doddle to fit. I popped on some seat covers and a steering wheel cover while I was in the cabin. I popped in my Sat Nav and discreetly ran the charging wire and also fitted a charging point for my phone and sat nav in place of cigarette lighter.
Outside I used a wire brush on my drill to clean of the surface rust and once back down to the metal used smooth hammerite spray to respray the sills. Made a huge difference to the look and only took an hour to clean, paint and lacquer. Browsing eBay I found 6 saxo vtr alloys for sale locally at just £80 with 7 good tyres (don't ask). the wheels are a direct fit but were in need of TLC so on Sunday that's what they got. Stripped the old bubbled paint off and then painted them back up. Leveller and primer, 4 coats of the main colour and a nice lacquer finish.
17302
I did them in pageant blue to match my company branding and because silver is soooo last year. The last job was to black out the back windows so I purchased some pre-cut film and applied - not done this before and it didn't go on great so might get redone at some point. But you cant see in so mission accomplished for now. So with the sills back to nice white and contrasting blue wheels it was looking a little funky. Total spend thus far was around £130 and I've set my target budget at about £750.
Im currently waiting for the rear door handle and door card studs to arrive so will do these next weekend. The rest of the money will probably go on a new lock set, wiper linkage and some interior LED lighting.