Decisions Decisions

I have decided not to go with getting the rear quarters repaired.  Instead I am going to get a very talented chap to put a GRP rear from a caravan on the rear of my ambulance.

Its not going to be a cheap job but I have every confidence in the finished result and I know long term I am going to be happier with it.  IMO it changes the body from an ambulance to a motorhome.

I know it might be considered cheating by getting someone else to do some of the work, but something like this is well beyond my talents so I figure that something this important should be be left to the experts.  The same goes for the spray job when the time comes.  The rest will be me.  Honest :-)

No ambulance picture of any progress so here is where we went for the weekend.

The Falkirk Wheel

One thing leads to another.

At the moment it seems like every little job has a series of other jobs that have to be done first.  It was the same when I refitted our narrowboat and it has always been the the same on property renovations I have done.  Still, all the prep work needs to be done in order for the fun part of re-creation starts, which is after all the point of the project.

I thought I'd better pay some attention to the various knocks and dings the ambulance has had.  Initially they looked quite superficial.  I took the whole ambulance to a friend that 'does' GRP to have a look at.  After the normal umm and ahhs etc. he decided the job was actually a lot more than it looked on the surface.  The biggest problem being that it was impossible to get behind the holes to form a base for a good repair, additionally as the damage had been left so long water had got in and does what water generally does to GRP and there was a fair bit of de lamination probably due to frost.

 

The damage in the photos give the impression that it is just superficial.

The best solution I could see was to remove the quarters so a proper repair can be made. After much deliberation I decided I could use the natural lines in the bodywork for the cuts and they would give me a "hide" to refix it all back. So this it what it looks like now.

These are the part going off for repair.

Whilst under the ambulance I looked for suitable mountings for a towbar.  Looks very much like this will be fairly straight forward, which of course it won't be once I start.

Finally (no surprise) there was the now obligatory wiring to cull.  This time it was behind the O/S light cluster but was soon dealt with.

Ambiwlans

Since the last blog I have been stripping out yet more wire.......... Yeh its still coming out!  Much of this was to do with the Eberspacher heater. and the rest of it was the ends from the large control panel shown earlier and wiring under the seats.  I think this is pretty much it, but never say never.

When I got my ambulance it had the front sign missing.  It was there on the auction picture, but when I got home it was missing.  I can only assume it was ripped off on the way home. We'll never know.

Initiall I thought I could make a replacement one with some steel sheet. I got bit cut and tried to fit it.  Oh no! what can't be seen initially is the way it fits.  The flat sheet won't work as its a compound curve, a bit like trying to make an orange skin being made flat, but in reverse.  Can't be done!

I had to bight the bullet and get the one from UVG.  The reason its in Welsh...... the Welsh ones are cheaper and its going to be sprayed anyway. That said still not cheap for a bit of formed plastic.  So warning if you have a UVG Prima body don't break the front!! its a sod to get to and to get the old adhesive of.  In total to replace this took the best part of 2 hours.

The other thing I have been doing is deciding how I am going to set it out inside and researching  equipment.  This is taking ages as one idea leads to another and then an evening has gone. I am not sure if I am going down the doner caravan route at the moment.  More on that when I decide.

Lochs & Quays

Well locks & keys actually, but as I have a narrowboat I couldn't resist.

I have now sorted out the central locking to the side door after a bit of over culling the wiring.  When I got the ambulance it had no key for the side door lock.  A quick call to the VERY helpful spares dept. at UVG quoting my body number I was furnished with a key number.  The side door lock is from a transit as I suspect is the the sliding gear.

I took the key number to a local key cutting shop and in a few minutes I had a key.  The chap in the shop said he could cut a Ford tibbe key just by looking at it.  Hers how:-

Look at a tibbe key from right to left, with the key flat and the plastic on the right, the widest part of the key is the code we're looking at. Imagine this piece to be divided into six segments, looking at the key flat, each of these segments has a degree of slope cut into it, no slope is no.1, slight slope is no.2, medium slope is no.3, max slope is no.4.  If you look carefully enough you'll get your key number.

Bulkhead Removal & Yet More Wires

Over the weekend I was able to snatch a few hours here and there. The job in hand was to remove the factory bulkhead to open up the cab and bring it into the vehicle.  

This is what it looked like beforehand.

And this is what it looks like now.

I was able to increase the height through by fixing a batten to the stainless steel cross member that is hidden and forms part of the GRP shell structure.  Some people have removed this but I am inclined to keep it.  By making a small slit about 50mm either side of the GRP moulding I was then able to bend it up and attach it to the batten.  Once the glue has gone off I will be able to remove the temporary fixing screws.  I have shortened the ambulance headlining trim to meet the join which will then be covered by an aluminium carpet joining strip (or similar) to finish the job.  This modification has given an extra 5"-6" of height going through.

Behind this GRP trim was the path of most of the ambulance loom.  These 2 bundles of wires needed to be removed to permit the GRP to be folded back.  Here they are. In this picture you can see the GRP that I have folded back.

Unfortunately in the process of culling these wires I lost my central locking to the side door.  Ho Hum! I'll sort that out at a later stage.  The top A/C still works though :-)

MOT Passed

The 46 passed its MOT re-test yesterday requiring only £173.00 of parts and work. I'm pleased that's out of the way.

The search for a doner caravan continues.

I had a useful chat this morning with Craigs Blog He is a lot further down the line than me.

This afternoon I have a chap coming to buy some of the interior of the ambulance.

What I need to do now is accurately measure the space I have and put together a plan for the internal layout.

MOT Work & Caravan Hunt

While the 46 is at the garage having new ball joints and other front roll bar related rubber related bits replace I got on with sorting out some minor fails on the rear light wiring as they weren't that keen on messing with an "ambulance" electrics. 

I now need to find a doner caravan.  This is proving a bit more difficult that I thought it would be.  I have scoured all the normal places, and a few specialists that either break or sell complete damaged caravans. I honestly thought there would be a plentiful supply of them.  Not so.

The reason I want a caravan is basically I'm rubbish at woodwork.  Plus in a caravan there will be a whole host of systems that can be adapted like heating and ventilation, gas fires and water heaters, power chargers and management, kitchens, shower rooms, windows, as well as the soft and hard furniture and water systems.

So the hunt is well an truly on, and I suspect is going to be harder than I initially thought.

Whats The Flap About?

What’s the flap about?

On the offside behind the drivers door is a flap for which I had no keys. Having drilled the locks I was delighted to find the “domestic “ batteries”. Just look at the slide out tray. There’s no question these ambulances are so well designed and built.

Having found these I set to finding out where they got their power from and where it went to. I traced it all under the passenger seat. What I initially thought was an inverter turns out to be a 12v power supply and charger. This fed into a huge isolator which at some point was remotely operated by a solenoid.

The output of this isolator fed into the panel behind the passengers seat via a set of 40 amp MCB’s just to the right of the picture above.

The "Big" Panel

Having isolated the 3 40 amp feeds to the “big” panel I checked all the primary vehicle electrics. The only thing to go out was the high level marker lights which would not have been part of the original VW chassis cab wiring. The other 2 circuits I was very keen to preserve were the side door central locking, and the rear A/C power & controls. Having spent some considerable time tracing the 100’s of wires I removed the “big” panel and terminated the wires. Phew! Success. Retained circuits working, rear A/C working, central locking working, masses of ambulance wiring gone.

The Removed Ambulance Wiring

Tomorrow the 46 is off to the garage to have the MOT work done.

I feel a bit Snippy

Friday afternoon and I had a few hours before setting off for the boat for the weekend.

I decided that it would be removal of ambulance electrics as the task of the day. I thought the dash was a good place to start.

Its not for the faint hearted. I have had many years of dealing with vehicle electrics in my former business. As well as the trailers we also fitted towbars and other accessories like cruise controls, reverse sensors and the like so dealing with this lot really didn't bother me. I just kept reminding myself to check and recheck before snipping anything.

The first stuff I removed was the communication's wiring. That was all pretty straight forward, followed by a massive loom that must have fed a box of switches that was screwed to the dash.

I followed this to a multi-plug behind the instrument panel and was able to disconnect this and remove the loom. That pretty much took care of the dash. A bit of tidying up and putting back was all that was needed to finish the job.

I had reason to lift the carpet in the cab to trace wires for the next phase. It was wringing wet underneath, presumably (hopefully) from the jet wash I suspect the cab had. So I have removed that to let it dry out completely.

MOT this morning

The 46 was booked for an MOT this morning. I took it to a class 7 site as I assumed it would be over 3500kg, but to my surprise it was already on the DVLA system as 3500kg and therefore a class 4. That saves having to plate it lower. The main reason to get a a lower GVW is newer qualified drivers can drive it without having to do an additional test. My and my wife would have been OK as we have been driving for years. I will post more on the weigh issues when I know them as there are a few other benefits to having a lower GVW.

IT FAILED :-( oh well no surprise there considering how woolly the steering was. 2 x ball joints, anti-roll bar bushes, and a couple of things like wipers and lights. On the whole not too bad.

I contacted the previous owners, Avon NHS ambulance service, who very kindly emaild me an Excel sheet of all the maintenance the 46 has had during their 2 year ownership. The person I spoke to even remembered the 46 and said it had been mothballed quite a while before it was decomissioned and this was why it had no MOT.

Once back from the MOT I had a spot of lunch before setting to stripping out the rear.

All the blues and twos had been removed as well as most of the "ambulance stuff" so it was mainly the "furniture" that needed removing.

The build quality is excellent, and they take some stripping. This is what it looked like at the start.

Three hours later............

Its surprising how big it is inside. The best bit was the discovery of an additional A/C unit in the over cab area to provide A/C in the rear. Result!

Tomorrow the electrics. There are masses of them, no seriously, look......

This is just one of the panels, there's another 2 smaller ones under each seat and a another behind the passenger seat.