Heritage Woods is a Caravan club campsite in the grounds of a wooded area suitable for a maximum of 5 vehicles. This was just a short one night getaway in the van. We wanted to remain local to Derby so this was perfect.
The trees in the wood are sponsored by people who want to commemorate a loved one. We were the only people camped the night we stayed over.
The weather was amazing, and although Mandy had reservations about camping in a place with such spiritual meaning, she soon put this to the back of her mind and we both had a much needed, relaxing couple of days in the van
I took up this pastime as a distraction from my campervan when things weren’t going so well after the campervan brokedown on the way to what should have been a month long trip to Europe . It proved a great therapy, and one of my long standing best friends took up the sport at the same time so it is a great excuse to catch up, have a chat and chill in some amazing surroundings.
The Atlantic was one of the few vans that came with big mirrors as standard. These were always colour coded from factory in one of three available colours. White, calypso green or red. My van on the other hand came with mat black mirrors.
black mirrors
This didn’t particularly bother me as I always knew I would get round to painting them at some point. It’s just never really been a priority, what with the van getting plenty of use during both winter and summer. However, my current situation means Wolfgang is off the road for the time being, so this became an opportunity….(always need a positive spin with these vans ?)
Unfortunately, its not quite as simple as just unscrewing them via the visible screws on the door bracket. They are heated and servo adjustable from a switch module on the left hand, drivers door. This means that the door cards have to come out on both sides. The fallowing video is a guide to removing the door cards for anybody that may need to perform this process: (courtesy of Van-Again on YouTube)
Below is my door after card removal:
Door card stripped
Then electrical ‘block’ connector needs disconnecting and stripping….
Electrical block connector (needs striping)
after which the wires can then be passed through the small cable aperture to mirror.
Cable entry / exit hole in door
Its not massively difficult, but a little more involved than one would first imagine.
Then the mirrors need stripping into their basic components before paint. Separating the bracket from the mirror was done using a pair of long nosed pliers . There is large slotted nut (1 in below image) that winds up against a perspex bush (2 in below image) and spring. Again, not the easiest thing to do especially if the nut hasn’t been removed for a number of years.
Mirror brackets removed
The mirror glass also needs to be removed. If you look closely in between the glass and the outer casing you can just see the two tabs sticking out on either side. Not particularly clear under instruction exactly how these hold the mirror in, but with a couple of knives carefully slotted down the side, and an up movement on one side, and down on the other, the mirror pulls free of the servo unit.
Wires connected to mirror are for heated / defrost function during cold weather
From the picture above I was slightly surprised to see the original colour inside the casing. I did strip one of the mirrors down even further in the hope that I could just send the plastics and bracket away for spraying, but realized the connectors on the end of the loom wouldn’t go through the hole in the bottom of the mirror. This meant they must have been crimped on after they were thread out of the aperture during construction at the factory. I wasn’t willing to cut them off and re connect after paint, so I left the whole servo assembly in the mirror. You can see more clearly the original paint in the photo below.
Original paint in mirror.
I can only assume that the original external paint must have gotten scratched, chipped or dis-couloured to the point where a previous owner decided to take matters into his own hands with a DIY spray-job using a can of mat black paint.
So this was just about as far as I could take it. I was considering getting a few rattle cans made up and having a go at painting them myself. However, these wouldn’t have been cheap, and these on top of the extra wet-n-dry emery paper and primer, would have meant that I probably wouldn’t be saving a great deal against the cost of a professional paint shop. So the paint was purchased and both mirrors and paint were taken to a body shop I had used previously to have my Fiamma Box painted.
Two Days later I collected and I must admit I am pretty happy with the results . I just need to build them up and pop them back on the van 🙂
Leading on from the last BLOG entry the replacement gearbox was fitted and we focused our attention on contacting campsites and making sure everything was checked and packed. We would need to run the van with the storage box on the back to give us extra capacity for the outdoor equipment. This has become known as the ‘bum bag’ and is extremely useful on long trips. Its been colour coded and recently had additional graphics applied so I really didn’t want to do anything to damage it.
However, the regulations in some countries stipulate that a reflective white and red square needs to be applied to any vehicle that has anything hanging over the rear by half a meter. In Italy they require that this be made of aluminum sheet. So for me this became a real headache as box is curved and attaching it would almost certain cause damage somewhere along the line. So I scratched my head for a few days, then after a visit to the local B&Q to buy some materials set to concocting a bracket.
As you can see, I did have to drill a hole in the box itself for a stainless fixing, and a corresponding hole in the reflective square. This along with a foam strip on the back of the square meant that it would ensure the square itself would not rub on the box or damage it in any way. Attaching the square was done by three wing nuts, and could be done 30 seconds. We would only attach when driving so anticipated fitting it around ten times throughout our month long euro trip
This was completed on the Friday, which left Saturday free for some last minute checks and a bit of spit and polish on the van. Our plan for the Sunday was to drive down to Canterbury Park and Ride. We anticipated getting there around lunch time and go into Canterbury for the afternoon. We would stop overnight in the park and ride car park and leave around 5am on the Monday morning for the Dover to Calais crossing to France. Well that was the plan anyway…
The morning was just about as good as we could have expected. Brilliantly sunny, and the forecast both in the UK and Europe was looking good for the forthcoming week. We were both in high spirits as we moved from Derby onto the M1 and later the M25. Traffic wasn’t a problem and we made good time as we passed Dagenham and towards the Darford tunnel. We decided with only 50 miles left to travel that we would pull in to Thurock Services, have a coffee and re-fuel. This is where it all went pear shaped.
We pulled onto the slip road and onto the M25, A13 intersection. I shifted down from 5th to 4th gear. Something didn’t seem quite right as i slowed to stop for a set of lights on the junction. My doubts were re affirmed when i couldn’t get the van out of 4th gear. The lights stayed red for a short time during which i continued to struggle to get the van out of gear. The lights turned green, my hazard turned on and my heart sunk. I wasn’t in a good place geographically or mentally. I eventually managed to get the van out of 4th by the time the lights had turned green the second time, but the lever was all over the place. I couldn’t get 1st so had to settle for second but with a little clutch slip I pulled off. I knew I couldn’t risk trying to do any distance so park my van on a concrete verge just before the next set of lights.
I continued to wrestle with the lever, but I knew that unless this turned out to be a simple, obvious issue with the gear linkage, our holiday was pretty much over before it had even started. There were no tears, but I was crying inside. Next step recovery to a place of safety…
Thurrock services. We we had intended to go to the services anyway, but under our own steam would have been the preferred method!
While the AA recovery chap settled my van back on terra firma, Mandy and I went for a coffee and tried to gather our composure. We made our way back to the van after ten minutes. I was thinking about how the gear lever felt in my hand, and hoped that I could source the root of the problem quickly. Possibly a bolt had dropped out of the gear linkage between the lever at the front and the box at the back? A second AA vehicle would be along in the hour to try and get my van back on the road which was reassuring. However, I wasn’t going to wait till then. I got the jack out, elevated the front and dropped the spare wheel so I could gain access to as much of the lever and linkage mechanism as possible to try and find that loose or missing nut or bolt.
Nothing as obvious unfortunately. The AA mechanic turned up and after a little poking and prodding came to the conclusion that there was a problem with something linkage related above the fuel tank. This turned out to be a miss diagnosis! We were told that it was up to us what we did next. If we needed recovery home or to a garage it was we just had to let them know as it was included in our policy.
I had posted on a Facebook group specifically for this type of van about my predicament in the hope that I could get a remote diagnosis from people that have been in the same situation. Lots of suggestions which was really helpful. A friend also saw the post and called me to see if I needed any help. Long story short he arrived and spent the best part of the afternoon under the van as we both scratched our head to try and resolve.
Mark and I trying to fix…
We had to throw in the towel and accept that this was not going to be a quick fix. Late afternoon I lowered the van, and all three of us popped to the service station for another Costa Coffee. Marks time and help was very much appreciated, but we had to accept the fact we were going to be spending the night there. We bid Mark goodbye, and I drowned my sorrows with a bottle of white wine from Marks and Spencers. Mandy had a shot of toffee vodka. Sleep at the motorway service station was in short supply. This was largely due to the noisy generators on HGV refrigeration trucks continually working to keep the goods cool. With the pop top roof elevated there was little protection from the noise.
Monday morning I messaged the garage that fitted the gearbox a couple of weeks previously. He was reasonably local to our home in Derby so that would have been one possible option. No immediate response from him unfortunately. However,T3 specialist Brickwerks heard we were having difficulties and offered to assist if we could get the van to them that day. It was touch and go as to whether or not we could make the 208 mile distance at the 56 mph the recovery trucks were limited to. But our options were limited, and if anybody could get us back on the road, it was these guys.
We contacted the AA and within minutes we were on the back of a flatbed en route for Northampton Service station for another relay vehicle to take us on to Honley in Yorkshire. We certainly weren’t sad to see the back of Thurrock Motorway Services!
En route to Brickwerks
After leaving Thurrock at 10am we finally arrived at Brickwerks at 3pm. Both Mandy and I were feeling light headed due to lack of food. Brickwerks owner Simon swiftly pulled the van into the workshop and he and mechanic Angus frantically started trying to identify the problem.
We left them to get some food to try and raise our blood sugar levels. We were both emotionally drained and It was turning out to be a long day. But we didn’t loose hope. We wandered back to the workshop after an hour or so. The diagnosis was a fault inside the gearbox.
A second bite at the cherry was offered in the form of a second hand gearbox they had in the workshop. They worked to get the van back on the road and two hours after we arrived we were on our way again. Fantastic! We decided to head back home to Derby and re-assess the situation. There was a possibility we were going to continue to Canterbury after a shower and freshen up, but after the 36 hour breakdown saga, everything needed to be perfect if were were going to consider going ahead with the trip again. Sadly, we felt this wasn’t the case and decided to cancel the holiday.
Our first choice of holiday will always be in the van. We just love it! That said it has been a real disappointment that our holiday came to such an abrupt end. To try and salvage something we have booked a cottage in Kingswear, Dartmouth for a weeks holiday. Wolfgang is now waiting patiently to have his original gearbox reconditioned by specialist Aidan Talbot. Unfortunately he can’t even look at my gearbox until 17th July, and with a one month turn around, it doesn’t look like he is going to be back on the road until the end of August.
So there you have it. The start of an epic holiday… turned out to be the end 🙁
I don’t think people realize just how emotional owning a campervan can be. You have to live it to really understand the ups and downs. I’ve become sentimentally attached to my van as times passed, and this last month has been a roller coaster ride with highs one minute, and lows the next. This has been amplified as our month long holiday in Europe looms closer… and mechanical issues are still rearing their head uncomfortably close to the departure date!
May Bank Holidays trip out in the van started with Stanford hall VW show on the Sunday. The weather was great, although a little overcast and chilly at times. The vibe for both Mandy and I was positive as we traveled over from Derby to Lutterworth, Leicestershire. I was still coming to terms with new engines ability to accelerate at speed and take hills in its stride. This is something most people take for granted in a vehicle, but after living with Wolfgang’s wheezy 1.6Turbo Diesel engine for more than two years, the new found power was a total revelation. That said, I had to refrain from utilizing its full potential until the engine was run in. This consisted of approximately 500 miles of careful driving, keeping the engine withing a limited rpm. Not too low, and not too high . The previous weekends camp over at Kings Lynn had put this tally at 270 miles. This May bank holidays tally should surpass the 500 needed.
So we arrived at Stanford at approximately 11.30 and parked in an undulating field just across from the main field and Hall. This show was our first VW show of 2017 which was a little belated as the previous two years we had attended Dubfreeze in February. I deliberately limit the amount of VW shows we go to so as not to get bored of ‘the scene’. One or two annually prove to be entertaining, and I know from previous experience that Stanford Hall and Tatton Park are up there with the best. Both are in amazing rural locations, with lakes, trees, historic buildings and plenty of wildlife.
Last years Stanford VW Show we camped over on the Saturday night, which was nice. Always good to hook up with like minded people and have a beer. This year we didn’t want to commit to camping as we knew we were going to be away for the Sunday evening and we had a few things to get sorted at home. The show has all of the ingredients to make an interesting day. Auto jumble, vehicles for sale, concourse classics, modern, tuned, bays, splits, and stalls selling goods of all descriptions. We spent a good four hours perusing the grounds, and bumped into a handful of close friends during that time. Come mid afternoon we decided it was time to get back to the van, have a bite to eat and head off to our next destination.
Secret Garden
It took approximately an hour and a half to get to The Secret Garden Touring Park in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. On arrival I popped into reception to make our presence know to the owners. I was greeted in the shop by a friendly lady (who’s name escapes me). The goods for sale in the shop were limited, but all locally sourced. The array of cider available was interesting and the offer of a taste was just too tempting for me to say no. My tipple at home is larger, but when away I like a pint of cider. Mandy was still sitting in the van but i was encouraged to go and entice her into the shop so she wasn’t being excluded. With lots of alcohol and a few sausages, she soon realized there was only one possible route this was going to take. Long story short, we had a few tasters and left with 4 pints of cider, two bottles of toffee vodka and some fresh pressed pear juice. The pear juice was Mandy’s 🙂
We left the shop and were asked to follow a chap on a push bike who would direct us to our pitch. Our booking was only a couple of days prior to our arrival date, so pitches were limited. We were only really camping this weekend because we needed to get some miles on the van, so we were not overly fussy about where we stayed. None electric grass pitch in ‘The Meadow’ was where we were taken. We were pleasantly surprised. It had a good feel about it!
The Meadow consisted of a large grass area with pitches around the outside. The center of the field was left uncut apart from a path mowed through the center to give quick access from the further edge of the field to the shower block and toilets. It was nice that the owners of the site had not tried to capitalize on the space in the middle of the field by turning it into extra pitches. The feeling of space was nice, and each pitch had its own fire pit.
Minutes after arrival and the van was set up. We chilled for an hour then decided to have a wander round the other areas of the campsite. It took about an hour to explore, and got back to the van as the temperature dropped and the sunlight started to fade. We put the radio and heater on, and the cider started to flow. I was very chilled!
Extract from Campsite Webpage….
We are a relaxed, 11 acre, site of low occupation (just 37 pitches) focusing on the study and enjoyment of wildlife, and a real camping experience in the heart of the Fens.
The site is designed around 2 features. The Garden & Meadow plots 1- 10 which are serviced with water & electric hook up providing a 16 amp power supply & water to each pitch.
There are also 5 non serviced camping plots on the far side of the meadow, and our camping Pod (Skypod).
Adjacent we have Fen Park with 17 serviced pitches and 5 non serviced camping plots, this is also where the Tipi is situated. Fen Park has its own extensive landscaped play and exploring space, with the Maze, two picnic areas and the adventure/play field.
By providing a low occupation facility, we aim to offer a genuine “back to nature” camping experience in Cambridgeshire with top quality amenities where you can relax and enjoy your own space and have the freedom to explore all we offer on site.
To facilitate this all our pitches are equipped with fire pits, logs and fire lighting equipment are available from the site shop.
The following day we were up and showered early. Dippy eggs (as Mandy calls them), toast and OJ was our choice for breakfast.
It seemed the weekend had turned out perfectly. However, as we started to head towards home things didn’t seem 100%. The gears are always a little notchy when driven from cold which is fairly standard for this type of van. This tends to clear after a short while and it becomes smooth to engage. After half an hour or so it was still notchy but nothing to complain about. As we approached home on the A52 towards Derby i noticed I had difficulty getting the gear lever out of 4th. I thought this may have just been a single incident so didn’t mention it to Mandy. It did concern me though. A couple of miles up the road the same happened again. Bugger!
After some research and a scheduled visit to Brickwerks it has been confirmed that the syncro for 4th and 5th gear is failing in the box. Just what I need as the Euro trip looms. As if I haven’t spent enough money on the van already! So the last week has been emotionally challenging. The trip has hung in the balance previously with the decision to change the engine, but we have reached the point of no return now and we weren’t going to let this latest hiccup stop us.
Shortly after I had got back from Brickwerks, contact had been made with a supplier of second hand parts and arrangements had been made for a replacement gearbox to be delivered within a few days. I also placed an order with Brickwerks for a new clutch and slave cylinder. All of this has since arrived and my local garage is due to do the install imminently .
3H Gearbox
Clutch and Master Cylinder
I’m hoping there are no more issues with the van once this is completed 🙁 As you can see, owning a classic campervan can lead you though a raft of emotions on an almost daily basis. That said, the good times far out-way the bad. You just have to take the rough with the smooth. If all goes to plan, Wolfgang should provide us with a month of happy experiences during our trip to France, Switzerland and Italy in just over a week. Good times are on the horizon…I hope! 🙂
So my van has gearbox issues! But no reason to stop chipping away at the things that have annoyed me until that can be fixed. Basically, the gaps in my wheels aren’t massive because of the style of alloy, but annoying all the same to see the rusty drum behind. So yesterday / today I jacked the van up, popped the wheel off and set to realizing my goal. To paint the drum red.
Anyways, one thing leads to another, and before you know it (5 hours later actually), I’ve washed away all the mud, painted the trailing arms and stone chipped the wheel arch.
The finished article:
The replacement gearbox should arrive on Tuesday, along with new clutch and slave cylinder from Brickwerks (due to be fitted on Friday locally). Nothing like cutting it fine. We should be on the ferry for our Euro trip just over a week later. Lets hope there are no issues with the replacement box!?
My stock speedometer is woefully inaccurate. It used to read in kilometres per hour due to its European origin. To try and make it usable in some way shape or form, I fitted a Backlit Gauge Kit from Brickwerks.
The kit certainly adds that modern look to the dash and converted to MPH. However, I think in stripping the speedometer to installing the kit I may have upset the calibration of the device. That or it was inaccurate before I started tinkering.
Anyhow, knowing that it’s out by a good 10mph, and I run the risk of getting a speeding ticket I tend to use an app on my phone to accurately monitor my speed. This is all well and good, but a tad inconvenient.
With all of this taken into account I have decided to look at a Head Up Display (HUD) GPS speedometer. It’s cost me £38 from eBay.
I’m going to have it wired into the ignition live so it comes on automatically and test it on my dash pod. The other option is to plug it into the cigarette lighter (12v) socket but this is too messy a solution for something I want to work each and every time I use my van.
It’s yet to be delivered, but I’ll post up with feedback once installed ??
It took a great deal of effort and willpower not to email Brickwerks workshop asking for updates while my van was in for the engine swap . Simon had sent me a few photos of the progress in the first week, but after the bank holiday they had a lot on getting orders out for the webshop. I thought after the initial panic and rocky start shortly after I dropped the van off, the lack of contact in the second week was a good sign. The old adage ‘no new is good news’ gave me some solace that things were going smoothly. Besides, i didn’t want to know if there were any issues so thought it prudent to just sever contact until the latest possible moment.
Friday was the agreed collection date, so I emailed on Thursday morning to make sure it was a green light for the trip over to Honley by train. The reply was ‘yes, the engine has been running, sounded well but still needed a road test’. Attached was an image of the rear end of my Wolfgang with a new Brickwerks graphic on the exhaust cover. This I thought was really cool as these guys are the bees knees when it comes to this particular type of van! It adds an element of kudos for people to know this van has been breathed on by people that really know what they are doing!
Wolfgang’s bum adorning the new Brickwerks graphic 🙂
I responded for them to keep me posted in case of any issues, and ask if could I have the bill by the end of the day to avoid the look of shock on my face at the counter when i came to collect. 🙂
Friday morning Mandy and I walked to Derby Train station from our home and caught the 9.40 train to Sheffield for the connecting train to Honley village. We arrived just before midday, and got to the garage shortly afterwards. Simon’s white Atlantic and another calypso Atlantic were spotted in the garage, which made for the usual full compliment of colours from factory if you include mine in cherry red. This seems to be the norm when I visit.
Simons White Atlantic and a customers Calypso gree Atlantic
The finances were sorted out, Angus (the mechanic) gave me an overview of the work done and off we tootled. First stop was the garage over the road to fill up with diesel. Before I went to pay I noticed a pool of coolant leaking from the engine under tray. So we headed back to the Brickwerks to point out my findings.
The New 1.9TD (AAZ) Engine
Angus was just about to sink his teeth into a pasty for lunch . Credit to the lad, he set to fixing the issue straight away. We spent the time chatting to Michael in the reception about the shop, garage & camp sites . This resulted in me purchasing a few extra parts for the van in the form of a new snorkel for the airbox, and a pair of door mirror plugs. Close on two hours later Angus returned to say it was fixed and explained that the LDA boost controller (a component that enriches the fuel as the van accelerates), was actually pushing against a plastic union attached to the cylinder head which induced the leak. So we left for a second time just as he sank his teeth into his pasty ?. What a star!
I was a little apprehensive on the way home after the earlier problem. I could tell that the engine has a lot more torque than the old worn out 1.6TD unit. The slightest incline had a massive impact on speed requiring down shifts into lower gears with the old engine. This new power plant was noticeably better. I could actually change up the gearbox as i climbed the hills out of Yorkshire into Derbyshire. I stopped at a car park to check all was well. Water was gushing from the under tray, and it looked like the injectors were leaking. This was really concerning and i had visions of having to drive back to Brickwerks again. I stopped and thought logically about this! The water was clear, and i could see no obvious leak from anywhere. What appeared to be leaking injectors could just be water boiling off after Angus had washed the pink coolant from the engine with fresh water. This could have pooled in the foam sound proofing attached to the inside of the under tray, which was still seeping out some time later. I hoped this was the case and we continued towards Derby, keeping an eye on the temp gauge and warning light. No cause for alarm as we pulled up to Mandy’s parents house in Ashbourne. I checked the back of the van and not a drop of fluid was seen to be leaking. My diagnosis was correct. Nothing to worry about 🙂
We eventually arrived home at 6.30pm with 65 miles now on the new engine. On reflection, the day had been pretty stressful. So once the old engine had been removed from the van and put in the garage, and the fridge had been switched on for a camp over at the weekend, it was a case of feet up and crack open a beer.
The Old 1.6TD (JX) Engine
Mandy and I were up at 8am the following day. We had breakfast and started loading the van with the camping gear required for the weekends trip to King’s Linn. We chose the campsite via Pitchup.com mainly due to the distance. It was approximately 100 miles away from home, which would mean another 200 miles on the new engine by the time we got home. I needed to get to the magic 500 miles needed to run it in before I took the van back to Brickwerks on the 5th May for an oil & filter change and general check over. This round trip would put the total up to over 270. Happy days!
The weather was excellent all weekend. No rain, plenty of sun, but chilly with the northerly wind. The drive to Norfolk took us just over two hours. We arrived at the campsite at midday.
King’s Lynn Caravan and Camping Park
I was in a really good place and positively buzzing about the way the engine was performing. We pitched the van, turned the radio up and chilled for an hour or so. It was only going to be a matter of time before I got restless and wanted to tinker. Fortunately, I had something to occupy myself in the form of the new snorkel. The original one had perished and this was brought to my attention by Brickwerks during the engine swap. It sounded like it wasn’t going to be a particularly difficult job so out came the screwdrivers and away i went.
Half an hour later the old one was out and new in. Another job ticked off the list 🙂
In the evening Mandy and I went for a walk around the local village of North Runcton. Very picturesque with some amazing properties and fabulous countryside.
As the sun went down we headed back to the campsite.
The temperature dropped and by the time we got back to the van it was pretty chilly. The night heater went on as soon as the van door was opened. Great end to a fantastic day.
The following morning we headed of to Hunsatanton. It was only 15 miles down the road on the coast. We parked the van on a side street and walked to the shops where we had a coffee, then moved onto the beach. It had been many years since i had been to Hunstanton. 1983 was the last time or there abouts 🙁 .
‘Sunny Hunny’. AKA Hunstanton Beach 🙂
We perused a market, and brought a small surf board bottle opener for the van, then decided on a steady mosey home around lunchtime which included a stop in a lay-by for a coffee and a sandwich.
We arrived home around 4pm. We had had a great weekend, and i couldn’t fault the new engine. It hadn’t used a drop of oil, and it hadn’t leaked any fluids (which was pretty much the opposite to what I had come to expect from Wolfgang). We just need to get a few more miles under our belt for the first oil change and we are good to go for the up and coming month long trip to Europe. Wolfgang has a new heart and clean bill of health at last 🙂
I had a reorganization of my documents folder for the Atlantic last night. Well it’s actually more like a wooden chest half full of Brickwerks receipts ?. Anyways, rattling around at the bottom I found these bad boys (dust caps in case you’re wondering).
These were the first thing I took off my van and some would argue this was the first upgrade ?. Suffice to say it wasn’t the image I wanted to portray. Another cringe worthy element was the chrome silhouettes of sexy girls either side of the number plate.
I was going to throw the skull dust caps, but I think I will hang on to them. My van is in a really good state now, espacially after the engine upgrade, so I guess these trinkets will be a stark reminder of just how far my van has come since purchased back in 2015 🙂
Sunday 9th April was a gorgeous sunny day that lent itself perfectly to using the van as a base for a family outing at Calke Abbey. Its quite unique in the location we live in as much as the owners (National Trust) allow you to park on the grass fields surrounded by trees and woodlands which forms the long driveway up to the historic house itself.
Pitched up at Calke
All in all it turned out to be a very busy day, but in the back of my mind i knew that this would be the last trip in the van with the trusty 1.6TD JX engine that had provided us with so many great journeys since ownership. Getting really sentimental, i guess you could say that we were not the only people to benefit from the trusty power plant, so it makes sense to show its penultimate day in a great light.
Pitched up at 9am waiting for family
So we got back from Calke, and proceeded to rid the van of anything that wasn’t appropriate for the journey the following day. No camping equipment required, but lots of new and refurbished parts in readiness for the trip to the garage in sunny Yorkshire.
Monday we were greeted with another fine day weather-wise, but this was all predicted by the met office so no great surprises, but welcome all the same. We left Derby for Honley just after rush hour and arrived at our destination at 10.30am. The visit to Brickwerks has become an annual pilgrimage. This was our third time and with each visit address increasingly more expensive issues to get Wolfgang back to his former glory.
After a brief conversation with Simon and Micheal, Mandy and I tootled off thinking I was just lacking a fuel pump bracket. This didn’t concern me massively. However, by the time we had walked the short distance to the train station, and got on the train to depart home, emails were telling me the list of missing parts were increasing exponentially. My lack of research, and my over simplification of what could and couldn’t be used from the old JX unit left me in a bit of a sticky situation.
Parts required:
Intermediate shaft pulley.
Intermediate shaft flange.
Intermediate shaft pulley bolt and woodruff key.
Brake vacuum pump.
Oil seal housings for both ends of the crank.
Flywheel end – seal
Timing belt rear cover.
Timing belt upper cover.
Timing belt lower cover.
Oil filter head.
Oil cooler.
As a recap, I brought a second hand engine from eBay which was similar, but not the same as the engine i needed to put in my van. It was from a later model VW van, and slightly bigger in capacity to the one i had in my van (1900cc) This was an acceptable exchange for the 1.9TD AAZ i needed back from the engine shop. I stripped it back the core engine and sent it away to AW Engineering for checking.
ABL ready to be shipped to engine shop
Feedback was positive for the returned unit, and my new engine (AAZ Code) was returned to me at a later date in a polythene bag. This is where it stayed in its packaging until we arrived at Brickwerks.
My van only had four days allocated by Brickwerks to get the old engine out, and new in. If things over ran it would put them in a sticky situation for there future workload. Mandy and I were looking forward to a little shopping and a meal in Sheffield on the way home, but my mind was now on trying to get the missing parts to the garage. With such an early spanner in the works the day had become a little stressful.
With so many parts required i contacted AW Engineering who provided the engine. I knew they were big with VW engine re manufacturing, so they were a good place to start in terms of providing the sheer quantity of parts i needed to keep things on track. Long story short, after numerous emails and phone calls, AW had accumulated a ‘kit’ of parts required to complete the install. £300 was the sum required to purchase bits and have them shipped to Brickwerks.
The following day images of the progression started to arrive via email.
Turbo spacer required for 1.6 to 1.9cc
Porting on inlet manifold
Engine
The engine, manifold and turbo
On Wednesday I had notification that the extra parts had arrived from AW, along with this photo to say that ‘It’s in the hole’ 🙂
In the hole 1
No idea what this is but it looks clean and shiny at the same time 🙂
So that’s where we are at the moment. I’m in a happy place because its really looking fantastic.
T
T
