I'll go first then...
Firstly, thanks to Mike for inviting me to join the forum.
I found Mikes' blog after buying a van myself and looking for ideas. I bought myself a mk1 Renault Master with the intention of gutting it and rebuilding the interior to a standard that would be comfortable and functional enough to live in full time. I've already reached my first major hurdle when the head gasket blew just a month after buying it... I'd rather it happened now as opposed to being halfway across Spain in the middle of nowhere though!
That's all for now, look forward to sharing ideas and meeting like minded people as the forum gets more visitors...
Jimmy. 8)
Hey Jimmy, congrats on being the first member to post :)
So is the van running all OK now? How is it for rust?
Would be nice to follow the progress.
Yeah I'm not sure when to tell everyone about the forums. Did it all work OK for you? anything you'd change?
Hi Mike,
The van is still sitting outside feeling sorry for itself. I am still waiting on two quotes for the head gasket. The quotes I already have differ hugely so I want to wait until all the quotes are in before choosing a garage. Hopefully I'll have it booked in within the next week or so. Underneath is completely solid apart from one small square where it looks like the previous owners missed when undersealing it! It is only about 10 x 20 cms so I will get that cut out and have fresh metal welded in. There are some suspect areas on the sides of the van, particularly around the windows which I may yet remove. As you can see the van has huge windows which pose two potential problems - insulation, and cupboard/shelving space...
(http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y469/dreadlock_dude/Renault%20Master/P1050952_zps807baeff.jpg) (http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/dreadlock_dude/media/Renault%20Master/P1050952_zps807baeff.jpg.html)
I'd go ahead and spread the word about the forum sooner rather than later if I were you. Forums only work with regular visitors really... I didn't have any problems registering or posting, very simple to edit preferences and profile etc. Any teething problems would be easily sorted out in the early days I would imagine. You could do with some more categories perhaps, but to begin with it is fine as it is. You will get to know what other sections would be worth adding as the forum picks up - I'm sure people will suggest categories they would like to see in the future. If it gets busy and you want any help give me a heads up.
Love this van! nice big windows as well, but as you say that can have its downsides. You could always blank one out if you really needed though. It's good that it has been undersealed by the previous owner. Yeah headgasket is a job, but if that's all that is wrong then I think it's good.
Yeah I'll take your advice about the forums. I totally agree. Thanks for testing it out and your offer of help. Well, we'll see what happens. I'm keen to put the work in though. I really think a forum is what is needed, but I know it can be a very tough and long thing to start.
I had one of these a few years back (wish I still had it) it was like a Tardis, massive inside. Mine to did the head gasket and luckily I had the skills to be able to fix it myself, what I didn;t have was the time to do all the welding it needed to keep it on the road and sadly it went to the scrapper.
Good luck with the build and keep us posted
Mike, Glad to see more posts on the forum already! If you build it, they will come!
treevorb - did yours also have the big windows? Did you keep them or block them out? You're right though, they are huge inside which is what attracted me to it! I wish I had your skills! The parts only come to £300 so the rest is labour and VAT to take it to £800 and that's just an estimate - I'm sure they will "run into problems" and end up charging more labour..!