removing furniture from Duetto?

Hello,

Our elderly Duetto has only done 90000 miles but has developed quite serious rust problems behind sills and under the floor in one place.

Most of the really problematic stuff that may affect MOT is accessible but there is one patch underneath the fridge where board is visible.

I have an intake of breath quote for the work which is probably quite fair. In any case the van is mechanically sound and remains comfortable and functional. As scrap it would be virtually worthless. A replacement would need more than an intake of breath.

I offered to remove the furniture so the welder could get at the tricky bits on the offside. I did not expect it to be particularly easy, and hope it will be possible. I know I must be careful as I shall want to put it back. I started this afternoon. As I expected it will mainly be a process of locating screws and releasing them.

However there are the fridge and cooker to deal with 

I began with the fridge. I have released  its holding screws (I think) but cannot find where to remove the gas inlet. Is that inside the frIdge? From outside everything seems continuous and fastened down.

I hope somebody has done this before and can advise.

Thanks in advance,

Will

Hi Will
Welcome to the forum from chilly Bridlington , good luck with your mammoth project , rather you than me
Boaby. 

Welcome - if you mean the gas supply pipe, typical practice on these is to install a long loop of gas pipe, so that you can pull the fridge out without having to disconnect it. Once it's out you can then access the connector to disconnect the supply. On all the ones I have looked at, the pipe loop sits on top of the fridge when installed, but this may vary by model.

 Our Duetto had lots of welding around the heater outlet and under the heater and other places, see my post. The fridge connections may be behind the vents on the outside of the van.They are secured like the winter covers with quarter turn catches. Our Rienza had to have the fridge pulled out for repairs. Inside the fridge there four blacking plugs on the edges nearest the door. Once these are removed and the gas pipe is undone the fridge slides out. Good luck with the repairs, I couldnt face any more rust issues on our Duetto even though we loved the van it had to go. 

Thanks for that, I'll see if that is the case with mine. I imagine (!) that once the cooker and fridge are out it will be possible to find screws that hold the furniture in, I have found some near the front. There will also be the issue of the gas distribution manifold. However, it seems in the nature of the construction that the kitchen cabinet assembly would have been put in as one piece and therefore will be capable of removal by reversing that procedure.

That may seem absurdly optimistic. I have to try.

Will

Hi Will,
I had similar welding done on my Duetto. Once the kitchen is out, you will also need to cut the wood floor to access the van floor underneath. My welder called in a carpenter mate who had a tool for the job, some sort of saw.
I'm faced with a small welding repair under the shower tray, so I'm hoping the welder will be able to carefully do it without the need to remove the shower and all that involves.
Good luck, and once done you should have years without worry.
Jollywalker

jollywalker wrote:Hi Will,
I had similar welding done on my Duetto. Once the kitchen is out, you will also need to cut the wood floor to access the van floor underneath. My welder called in a carpenter mate who had a tool for the job, some sort of saw.
I'm faced with a small welding repair under the shower tray, so I'm hoping the welder will be able to carefully do it without the need to remove the shower and all that involves.
Good luck, and once done you should have years without worry.
Jollywalker

 Thanks very much for that,

I have now successfully removed the fridge and cooker. I hope to get the kitchen cabinet out tomorrow. It is remarkably solid and so far not at all obvious where fixings might be. Can you remember how yours came out? I had assumed it would be as one piece, was that so?

Will

I believe it comes out as one piece, but I wasn't present for the work. I think it was fairly straightforward from what the welder said (he removed it all for me thankfully)
The whole rear offside corner of the van just fell apart with rust, but he rebuilt it all for me.
The rust on the MK5 Transit is a worry.
Jollywalker

 Hi Will.
               Getting rid of our Duetto was one of the most frustrating things in my life. If you read the thread about the repairs to ours you will see what I mean. For years it went through MOT tests with the same minor body rust that was none structural. A bad stone chip that became a crack  and became  a fail point. Taking the scuttle trim off revealed an unknown horror. Of coarse once a tester finds a reason to fail a vehicle is is natural to look closer. 
I am hoping to keep on top of the Rienza. Hopefully the only major issue is the cab as the rest is a chassis  so less body rot potential. 
Good luck  , perseverance will pay off I am sure. Dave.

Thanks all so far,
I'm beginning to think I have to take off the cladding above the unit as I haven't yet located many screws lower down to account for the remarkable solidity. There must be some both top and bottom; so far a bit of a mystery. Clearly I don't want to dismantle more than necessary, nor diO wish to do damage. I am hoping to put it all back together.

Any hints are welcome.

Will

..it may help re-assembly if you take lots of pictures of every stage of dismantling...it's so easy to lose track when you're undoing lots of different objects over a period of time.
I'm very impressed with your project - if I possibly can, big jobs are left for better weather !

Hi I have a damp issue around the bottom of the kitchen cabinets and long settee. I need to take the kitchen unit out so was wondering if any one has successfully done it and how

There have been several people here that have removed furniture from Duettos - including one that I can remember a while back where they removed the shower and didn't put it back! (I think they used the space to store a wheelchair). But I think all of them were on the Mk5 Transit, not the Mk6/7. A forum search might find them, though it looks like the wheelchair one may have been archived.

You may be the first to try it on the Mk6/7 but I doubt the principles will be any different. You can expect it to be awkward, and the main issue is likely to be (from my personal experience) figuring out where the fixings are hidden so that you do as little damage as possible getting it all out. Two A/s "tricks" that i learned to hate were 1) driving panel pins into panels so that the ends are hidden below the surface and 2) sticking carpet finish over the tops of fixing screws!

As already said, take lots of photos during dismantling, and then take a few more photos. Some people may be better at it than others, but I forget the details of how things come apart very quickly!

AS didn`t build their vans to be taken apart as I found when altering a top cupboard,

They are so well built and solid and wood not plastic like newer vans.
Once you have your van sorted you will have a strong comfortable van for years to come.

Take heart and visualize the end result. 

Good luck, at least you will know how it is built. 

I took  the steel frame seats / beds out to reupholster the back walls, no choice, twice, in a former clubman and my Amethyst, also in the Topaz to repair the mechanism. the seat was twisted so had to, to straighten. Glad to say everything works as it should.

repoort wrote:..it may help re-assembly if you take lots of pictures of every stage of dismantling...it's so easy to lose track when you're undoing lots of different objects over a period of time.
I'm very impressed with your project - if I possibly can, big jobs are left for better weather !

I'm impressed a 79 year old is tackling such a job! I'm ten years younger yet no way would i cope as years of tinkering with cars and engines eventually took it's toll with arthritic issues. Even something as simple as gripping a screwdriver or socket wrench is a problem for me now.

The wood A/S used in all the fitments is certainly solid stuff and i remember reading a post from someone who removed the toilet/shower door and surprised at the weight of just that one piece once it was off.

Another poster up thread mentioned the scuttle. Yes that's a notorious rust area which remains hidden from the naked eye due to Ford covering it with plastic trim which collects leaves and crud making the perfect metal rotter. The first most owners know anything about it is when they need a screen replacement.....and half the metal scuttle comes crumbling away with the old screen! The solution is to remove the plastic trim cover, check all paintwork and metal is sound after a through clean, allow it to dry, then give it a liberal coating of Waxoyl or similar.

Bulletguy wrote:

repoort wrote:..it may help re-assembly if you take lots of pictures of every stage of dismantling...it's so easy to lose track when you're undoing lots of different objects over a period of time.
I'm very impressed with your project - if I possibly can, big jobs are left for better weather !

I'm impressed a 79 year old is tackling such a job! I'm ten years younger yet no way would i cope as years of tinkering with cars and engines eventually took it's toll with arthritic issues. Even something as simple as gripping a screwdriver or socket wrench is a problem for me now.

The wood A/S used in all the fitments is certainly solid stuff and i remember reading a post from someone who removed the toilet/shower door and surprised at the weight of just that one piece once it was off.

Another poster up thread mentioned the scuttle. Yes that's a notorious rust area which remains hidden from the naked eye due to Ford covering it with plastic trim which collects leaves and crud making the perfect metal rotter. The first most owners know anything about it is when they need a screen replacement.....and half the metal scuttle comes crumbling away with the old screen! The solution is to remove the plastic trim cover, check all paintwork and metal is sound after a through clean, allow it to dry, then give it a liberal coating of Waxoyl or similar.

I knew about this problem when I first bought my Amethyst, so first thing was to look and found the air filter sodden with the rain water falling on to it, ordered new scuttle and replaced also extended the rubber channel both sides, as it fell short at each end so water was running into the engine compartment, over the air filter, might be an idea to check this. well known fault easily rectified.

daisy mae wrote:

Bulletguy wrote:

repoort wrote:..it may help re-assembly if you take lots of pictures of every stage of dismantling...it's so easy to lose track when you're undoing lots of different objects over a period of time.
I'm very impressed with your project - if I possibly can, big jobs are left for better weather !

I'm impressed a 79 year old is tackling such a job! I'm ten years younger yet no way would i cope as years of tinkering with cars and engines eventually took it's toll with arthritic issues. Even something as simple as gripping a screwdriver or socket wrench is a problem for me now.

The wood A/S used in all the fitments is certainly solid stuff and i remember reading a post from someone who removed the toilet/shower door and surprised at the weight of just that one piece once it was off.

Another poster up thread mentioned the scuttle. Yes that's a notorious rust area which remains hidden from the naked eye due to Ford covering it with plastic trim which collects leaves and crud making the perfect metal rotter. The first most owners know anything about it is when they need a screen replacement.....and half the metal scuttle comes crumbling away with the old screen! The solution is to remove the plastic trim cover, check all paintwork and metal is sound after a through clean, allow it to dry, then give it a liberal coating of Waxoyl or similar.

I knew about this problem when I first bought my Amethyst, so first thing was to look and found the air filter sodden with the rain water falling on to it, ordered new scuttle and replaced also extended the rubber channel both sides, as it fell short at each end so water was running into the engine compartment, over the air filter, might be an idea to check this. well known fault easily rectified.

They all do. It's one of Fords 'built in' rust traps. It's almost as though they've gone out of their way to specifically design certain spots. The rubber channel strip is a bit of a con as the screen is bonded. Another notorious spot are the inner wheel arches where both starter battery and leisure battery sit...so that's some considerable weight. In their wisdom Ford sound proofed the entire engine bay including the inner arches before fitting the battery tray (or trays in the case of Duetto) so the insulation remains hidden from view for years acting like a sponge...then one day the battery almost drops through the arch after the top has rotted away!

When i had my Duetto i removed both trays to cut the sound proofing away, sprayed a liberal coating of Waxoyl on the metal, Hammerited both battery trays, plus soaked the things in Waxoyl so that area will remain rust free for years now. It meant the van being off the road for a few days but well worth doing and is a very simple job....just takes time for the Hammerite to dry.

The rubber channel I mentioned is not for the screen it is to take the water away, and as it is too short the water goes into the engine bay all over the air filter, mine is cured of this problem.

In all I am very pleased with my Ford, MOT tester says it is the best he has seen, no rust and sound all over. 

My Topaz goes in for MOT tomorrow, has passed every one up to now from 3 years