Autosleeper Stratford modifications

[quote="Robbie"]All a bit of fun and banter and we gain tips from each other [/quote

True!

Oooooo I had the wheel fly past one as well, I was on a motorbike years ago with a trailer behind wheel passed me and hit the A post of a car coming the other way, scared the life outa the lucky lady, I had just collected the trailer from the maker, Lucky I stayed on the bike, i gave the supplier one hell of an ear bashing and got a big part of my money back as good will. His apprentice forgot to tighten the wheel nuts eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww , not good on a motorbike Trailor

Oh poo! Everyone better steer clear when you see us in your rear view mirror then in case one of our wheels overtakes you!

Luckily I was warned about the need for wheel friction by whoever it was who 'advised' me to copaslip my hubs in the first place (some dodgy mechanic years ago) so I only copaslip areas away from the wheel bolts where the voids on the alloy wheels are (as in this pic I took when I did our VW California: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ). In fact, as I'm writing this, I'm wondering what's the point of applying it to this area anyway!

Anywho, I shall continue to copaslip,, sorry.. Alumslip the hubs of any new vehicle I get in the future!

Thanks for all the comments & advise.

Perfect time to get a couple of gallons of waxoyl under the van to stop the good old iron oxide taking its toll Copper grease wise I agree each to his own there is always pros and cons to everything. Beating of a seized rim is no fun.

Dolwen wrote:Hi CC,
Here's a link to a photo of the additional drain I fitted to the front of the engine side intake: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
...and here's a link to the IKEA composting bin with it's dimensions: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
The bin is removable from it's supporting plate. If you're fitting the bin to a flat surface, the small top lip on the support plate needs cutting off with a stanley knife as it's designed to rest on top of a cupboard door.
Hope this helps.

Hi Nimbus
I wouldn't have been aware of half the issues if it hadn't been for your modification post so I'm eternally grateful
Yes we still get the slight metallic smell during water heating. The first time it happened with ours, the butterfly valve had also melted out of shape. Autosleeper should know about this so I might send them a courtesy email pointing out the error of their ways, before someone causes more serious damage to their vans!

Apart from these issues, I Hope you're enjoying your van as much as we are?

Hi Dolwen I am also wanting to fit a drain to the heater intake-I assume you have connected some tubing but can you advise where you got the plastic connector piece to fit in the hole? Also I would appreciate some pics of the extra rubber seal you fitted and where you got it from please. Thanks

I used stainless pipe inserts like these - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I sealed it with black Sikaflex, although it's such a tight fit into a 10mm hole it's probably not necessary. It's best to flatten the end flange so it's an almost flush fit.

Hi you Boffins


All this techy talk, reminded me of the Country Western song "You picked a nice time to leave me Loosewheel"

He was obviously using something he shouldn't have "bin usin" or not


Andy


Sorry to have lowered the tone of the Post

Hi Moggyminor1966,
Nimbus has the best solution r.e. fitting pipes to the heater intake & scuttle using 10mm inserts & pipe (i'll be modifying my amateurish efforts in due course )

The tubing I applied to seal the top of the scuttle, pic here (by the way, that's an overhead wire reflecting in the glass in the photo, not a massive crack in the windscreen): [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

& the tubing itself: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

can be purchased here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
under order code P41

The lip on the tubing is then forced under the top rubber seal of the scuttle which holds it quite firmly in place (there was some white adhesive foam under my scuttle which I assume is factory applied to supposedly bond the scuttle to the windscreen, but it wasn't!), then the top edge of the tubing is sealed with black silicone & smoothed off, I used a wet finger!!
So far it's working well & means no silicone is used on the original scuttle rubber so if the windscreen ever needed replacing for example, just the tubing needs ripping off leaving the scuttle rubber as new. The ends of the tubing needs quite a lot of silicone applied around them, including the gap at the side of the windscreen at the bottom, so water doesn't run underneath there too.

By the way, the item P42 in seals direct is what nimbus used to seal the sides of the bonnet & top of the sliding door (van conversions only!), see his post here: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

nimbus wrote:I used stainless pipe inserts like these - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I sealed it with black Sikaflex, although it's such a tight fit into a 10mm hole it's probably not necessary. It's best to flatten the end flange so it's an almost flush fit.

Hi Nimbus can you just clarify the size of pipe I need to fit the 10mm pipe inserts? Will I need pipe with an inside diameter of 10mm?

Hi Nimbus can you just clarify the size of pipe I need to fit the 10mm pipe inserts? Will I need pipe with an inside diameter of 10mm?

The inserts are 10mm overall diameter and, ideally, you should use an unreinforced pvc pipe with a slightly smaller, say 9mm, diameter.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

If you're draining each end of the scuttle it's quite a fiddle, particularly on the offside, to connect the pipe to the insert as access is difficult and you need a small hand to get through the opening. You can use a pipe with an internal diameter of up to 12mm but it will need to be secured with a small jubilee clip.

Thanks Nimbus for your advice!

Just had a look under the bonnet today as we had a bit of snow this morning and my Nuevo is parked on a slight slope downwards towards the bonnet. It was not too bad and it was only dripping in from the middle where the 2 scuttle halves meet. Intend to seal the join with silicone when it gets warmer! Did notice though which I had not spotted before is that there is a large hole on the offside bottom of the scuttle with a wide pipe going down which disappears into the inner wing so assume this is a drain. When parked up it slopes towards the offside which is good.
Think I will just seal the centre joint then have another look after heavy rain.

Hi Dowlen
Have read your topic {several times}with great interest, one item that I have a particular interest in is the Oregan weather station, do you find it to be reasonaby accurate and a worthwhile gadget to have?? I have had a look on the Oregon ws and the BR800 appears to be the one to go for, is that the model that you have, any chance of letting me know??
Batch

Hi Batch,
Thanks for the comments. The weather station is most useful for it's indoor/outdoor thermometer (I attached the outdoor sensor behind the rear bumper!) & I liked it's slimline design. The weather prediction accuracy is OK but I wouldn't rely on it. The radio controlled clock is useful too.
They still sell them on Amazon: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Hope this helps.

Dolwen wrote:Hi Batch,
Thanks for the comments. The weather station is most useful for it's indoor/outdoor thermometer (I attached the outdoor sensor behind the rear bumper!) & I liked it's slimline design. The weather prediction accuracy is OK but I wouldn't rely on it. The radio controlled clock is useful too.
They still sell them on Amazon: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Hope this helps.

Thank you for the info, we are off for a few weeks at the end of this week so I will put an order in when we get back.
Tnanks again