My Iveco Daily campervan

[Matchless]

The problem started when you drove a long way to get it, you had already bought it before you got there, most of us have done that, as for your wife, how do you fancy telling her in two years time when the chassis falls to bits, STOP now, regroup, if a 2009 is on offer for £8-900 there must be a 2005-6 old shape for less than the price of new steel sheets? just keep looking, ebay, facebook gumtree, and take the rose tinted glasses off before you go.

I have bought vehicles from a great distance and made the same mistake, maybe you win on points, mine were often 80 - 90 year old project motorcycles, most recent was a second 1914 Matchless from NZ, the more I look at the pile of bits the more I realise I should have looked closer at the pictures, and asked a few more questions! one bought a Cessna sight unseen and even worse I was ill when it came to collecting it so the first time I saw my 20 year old purchase was when it landed at Stapleford! that one turned out very well, kept it for about 20 years from memory,

 

[Matchless]

can you afford the steel to fix it?

are you in desperate need to get it done?

do you have the space to work on it?

if it was me I’d fix it up, use it for a year then sell it and get a better base vehicle

take it as a learning curve

tooooo much work on something you don't intend to keep, would be very hard to stay motivated,

 

[Ashley Burton]

The problem with rust is you just keep chasing it!

Got my van through the MOT after quite a reasonable amount of welding, But I'm expecting some more potentially before the next one

I would say vehicles under 5 years old are pretty good, But doesn't take long until the rust begins

 

[stuvy]

tooooo much work on something you don't intend to keep, would be very hard to stay motivated,

I’m not working at the moment so for me spending a chunk of money on a van to find out it’s not as good as you hoped would be ample motivation to get some money back from it

 

[minimutly]

Remind me never to buy anything off @stuvy .....

 

[arther dailey]

I havent bought any parts for ivecos lately , look to see what price engines sell for etc , it might be you could get a fair bit back, dont remove engine though ! if you go down that route leave it in and let buyer see it running , take the monies and only then remove it, just another option .Sorry I cant be of more assistance to you .

 

[stuvy]

Remind me never to buy anything off @stuvy .....

honestly it was a nun that only drove to church that owned it before me

I would fix it properly as opposed to painting it with seam sealer

 

[Reman]

OK. Plan of action time. You could just replace the rear floor with some 1.5mm flat sheet, Build some brackets to hold the front bumper, wire wheel and paint any chassis rust that's easy to get to, Hammerite the inner floor and underseal the belly, Then flog it to someone who only needs a beater van for a couple of years to cut your losses. I suppose it all depends on how much you spent on it, But I'm hoping it wasn't tidy van money.

Or you can spend the next 3 months of every spare hour you have laying under, Crouched beside and rolling about in this thing welding in a significant amount of replacment metal. You'll learn a lot doing this, But it's REALLY hard to keep motivated during a never ending weld-a-thon.
You mentioned that you've got a "Missus", They actually help a lot with motivation. Nothing makes you more keen to get on with a project than trying to prove wrong a significant other who's going on about how "You're NEVER going to finish that thing". OK, It's a bad starting point, But things like the plastic side panel covers can hide a hell of a lot of "On the job learning" with a mig torch. It would very likely be cheaper to buy another one for it's decent body, But then as far as you're other half's concerned you'll have wasted the original money.

Or, There's still seems to be a fare few of these on the road, So you could break it for spares. Most vehicles tend to be worth more in parts than as a fully working and road legal whole (As long as you can sell enough of the bits). If it's got salvageable doors, windscreen, engine/gearbox, axle interior, and wheels and you manage to see them all you'd probably get more than a reasonable condition Iveco Daily would cost. You can also hack out flat body panels to use as a source of future welding metal before weighing in the remains of the shell.

Or (And this is a SERIOUSLY unlikely long shot), Do you know anyone connected to a technical college? A mate of mine had a friend who was a vehicle repair instructor for a tech college. They would teach the sprogs how to fabricate panels, weld, prep, and spray cars. We ended up having quite an interesting chat when we were all down the pub one night. He said they'd usually have 2 or 3 basket case vehicles on the go each year. If one of the vehicles belonged to a friend of the instructor, And that owner paid for all the materials, it ment them having more options for getting the sprogs up to speed on lots of different areas without eating any more into their departments budget. I was told that the people running the college had a don't ask, don't tell attitude to it going on as long as it was cost neutral to the college, the instructor wasn't using it to make any money on the side, And the vehicles owner signed to say that they wouldn't try to sue of anything went wrong. Apparently they had a few permanent vehicles that would be entirely stripped and rebuilt each year as well. He said they've got a motorbike that's been in bits so many times that most of the captive nuts in the frame have had to be replaced because the threads had been worn out !!!
Your van almost looks like a text book example of the worst case scenario when it comes to rust. If you could get it into a college as a project it would save you a LOT of work over doing it yourself, and an incalculable amount of money over paying for someone else to do the work.

Last idea. Amongst my friends we had a sort of tradition of having a "House decorating party" when one of us were just about to move their stuff into a new place. The idea is you find a day that week when everyone's free (And preferably also not needing to be up early the following day either), Stock up on a shedload of burgers. buns and larger. Each room got all the materials needed to decorate it (Paint, Wallpaper, brushes and rollers) dumped in the middle of the floor, And we'd all turn up around 12ish to paint, Paper, Get overfed and slightly drunk. Due to the alcohol intake rooms done later in the evening were never the neatest of jobs, But it was usually done good enough, and in one day so the owner could get their stuff moved in without having to worry about decorating anywhere again for a year or so........ How many forum members live close to you? If you laid on a shedload of barbecued junk food/coffee, have enough power plugs for several welders and grinders, and had all the materials/consumables (Metal, grinder discs, a couple Co2 bottles, ect) waiting ready, It could be an fun "Meetup" get together idea for forum members. I could see 6 or 7 competent people being able to do the lower side panels and have a flat sheet floor in there within 7 or 8 hours....... OK, This idea isn't likely to fly, But it's an idea none the less.

 

[Brunny0436]

Guys, you have no idea how much your replies mean to me, thank you all sincerely. I had planned to keep the van for a few years and let's face it, this year can be written off now anyway, the missus and I were booked to go to Paris so we have that to look forward to and to be fair as long as I get to the tank museum in Bovington this year to see that stunning tiger 1 tank, I'm not arsed. My missus is a social worker and is busy constantly, working on this can prevent me from buying more civics (I own 3) lol, I'm going home to eat my dinner and ponder on it but I did manage to get that illusive suspension mount off the van.

The van is parked in the workshop at work, I have mentioned to my boss what's up with it, he laughed a bit and said he could lend me a Jerry can of petrol if I chose, as long as I tidy up after myself it can remain there. @Reman that is an awesome array of ideas thank you so much

 

[Ashley Burton]

@Brunny0436 if you don't mind me asking how deep are you invested in this van?

 

[Brunny0436]

I'm £1000 into it now, I have sold a few bits I hadn't intended to use as a camper.

 

[Ashley Burton]

See at that sort of money it's probably worth fixing. The problem with vehicles at the lower end of the market is they become a bit of a lottery

To find a decent van of it's size for a grand I think you would struggle tbh

It took me ages to find a half decent van, There's alot of beaten up vans for sale out there

 

[Matchless]

Guys, you have no idea how much your replies mean to me, thank you all sincerely. I had planned to keep the van for a few years and let's face it, this year can be written off now anyway, the missus and I were booked to go to Paris so we have that to look forward to and to be fair as long as I get to the tank museum in Bovington this year to see that stunning tiger 1 tank, I'm not arsed. My missus is a social worker and is busy constantly, working on this can prevent me from buying more civics (I own 3) lol, I'm going home to eat my dinner and ponder on it but I did manage to get that illusive suspension mount off the van.
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The van is parked in the workshop at work, I have mentioned to my boss what's up with it, he laughed a bit and said he could lend me a Jerry can of petrol if I chose, as long as I tidy up after myself it can remain there. @Reman that is an awesome array of ideas thank you so much

this is me riding my 1914 Matchless 8b MGC around the display arena at the Amiens 100th last year, by invitation, free lunch as well! I am the fat bstd!
I have a feeling I will need to use it for a Tesco trip on Friday, VE day, ok wrong war but not many will notice that little detail,

 

[Brunny0436]

this is me riding my 1914 Matchless 8b MGC around the display arena at the Amiens 100th last year, by invitation, free lunch as well! I am the fat bstd!
I have a feeling I will need to use it for a Tesco trip on Friday, VE day, ok wrong war but not many will notice that little detail,

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Sadly certain members of society would not be able to tell 14-18 and 39-45 anymore but that is an awesome bike!! The OHMS plate is a nice touch too

 

[Brunny0436]

See at that sort of money it's probably worth fixing. The problem with vehicles at the lower end of the market is they become a bit of a lottery

To find a decent van of it's size for a grand I think you would struggle tbh

It took me ages to find a half decent van, There's alot of beaten up vans for sale out there

Yeah. I will ponder on it over a bottle of 19 crimes and reevaluate in the morning. My ultimate goal is to have a trip with the missus and the dogs to Lautterbrunnen.

 

[Reman]

if you don't mind me asking how deep are you invested in this van?

That question brings to mind an MOTer I had many years ago who was inspecting my first car. The car in question was a (Well, 3 to be honest) Fiat 127's. I'd bought one with a popped engine and rusty doors, another with a terminally rotted shell, But a good engine and a 5 speed box, and a third with good doors, Bonnet, tailgate and tyres. Before I'd even passed my test I'd built my first car from the best bit's of all three. (Note - When cutting up a shell for the scrap man, Grinder discs are expensive, But you can unzip about a foot of body panel at a time with a good swing on a freshly sharpened a full sized felling axe........ But it's one hell of a workout ! )

Anyway, The MOTer did the test then came back into the waiting room and sat down beside me in silence for about 15 seconds. Then without turning to look at me he said "Before I start, Does your car have any sentimental value?"...... Erm, What? "Well, If it's just a car it's going to be scrapped, so I can just point out the main points on why it's not worth fixing and save having to go through EVERY little thing it's failed on"....... OH F**K ! "..... I went through TWO sticks of chalk !!!" Oh Double F**k !!!!

The list was long, and mainly due to large but localised patches of structural rust. Luckily at that time my brother (Who's a trained coachbuilder and could have easily made a living from teaching students how to weld with any kind of welding kit....... If he didn't hate talking to "Know it all tw*t kids" so much) had a spare 2 days and said he could sort it out. He spent that time cutting out rust, shaping metal and welding it in. He replaced all the stuff the MOTer had chalked up, rebuilt the rear 12" of both sills, and found time to sort a few other previous patch repairs he didn't like the look of........ IN 2 FR**GIN DAYS !

The MOTer was shocked to see the car again, And even more shocked to be seeing it less than a week after he'd failed it so dramatically. He was so sure it had been bodged with underseal and cornflake packets that he told me he wanted to scrape off a load of the fresh underseal. I was fine with that, So he did. Then he called his boss out of the office, and both of them were going over the underside of my car with a torch while muttering to one another. Eventually they both came over and asked "Erm, Who did the welding?". I told them about my brother, and the boss asked if he had a job. Their eyes lit up when I mentioned that he was self employed, But faded again when I pointed out that he (At that time) lived about 150 miles away. They told me that if he had been local they'd have offered him a job even over the phone based purely on the fabrication and welding work they'd seen on my car (When I told my brother he said "Hiring someone without even fu**in' meeting them? I wouldn't even contemplate working for an ar**hole who'd do that. ). While the boss spent 10 minutes slathering more underseal over all the repaired sections they'd cleaned off, the MOTer went to the office and wrote out my MOT pass sheet.

I got about half way home before realising that I'd totally forgot to fix the 3 other things on the original failure sheet (Indicators flashing too fast, Cracked number plate, and ineffective handbrake on one wheel), But luckily the MOTer was so gobsmacked from seeing the car again that he ALSO forgot about them....... I'd call that a win !

 

[stuvy]

Shame your not closer I’d give you a hand.

3 1/2 hours is a long commute each way!


You have the skill to make the panels by the look of it on your civic Id crack on and get it sorted mate

 

[Richiew]

If you decide to crack on with it, I'll come to you with the bead roller. Save you some precious time and you can trial fit bits as we make them. I can get the roller in the back of the car. Full sheets don't fit in a hatchback.

 

[stuvy]

this is me riding my 1914 Matchless 8b MGC around the display arena at the Amiens 100th last year, by invitation, free lunch as well! I am the fat bstd!
I have a feeling I will need to use it for a Tesco trip on Friday, VE day, ok wrong war but not many will notice that little detail,

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could you start a thread of your bikes they look great from the few youv posted up

 

[minimutly]

Hang on here now - the van floor is the easy bit - can you seriously strip out and remake the front chasis? You can't tip this on its side (well you could, but pack of cards comes to mind). So you'll be welding underneath the cab floor - engine and box out? I would, and get it up around 3 feet off the ground.
Seriously, the front end is where you need to decide the future of this.