The suspension turned out to be a little bit of a headache. With limited funds to get the work done, we bought a second hand set of suspension springs from Twigworth Breakers, the single versions, which would leave her a little bouncy, but she would be on the road, and later on we could get heavy duty springs fitted. Twigworths had a pair or £70. Job done. Nu uh. Had a phone call from Jon which started with a phrase I was to become used to hearing through the week, "we've got a problem", hmmmmm. The springs from Twiggys were too short, they didn't fit !
Turns out they had been marked up wrong, and were probably from a Trafic, not a Master. This actually may have been a blessing in disguise, Jen managed to source a pair of used heavy duty double springs from a breakers in Essex, who delivered them straight to the garage next day for £180. Yes we had to pay more, but we did get a refund on the first ones and these were the springs we really wanted and recommended by camper converters online.
*(This is what an air suspension 'leaf spring' looks like, keeps the axle attached :S.)*
She then went to the MOT station and promptly failed on - sidelight not working, headlamp aim too high, wheel bearing loose, and rear brake compensator valve not working. The wheel bearing just needed tightening and the other bits were easy, apart from the valve !
The valve had been modified to incorporate the air suspension, unfortunately it wasn't as easy to modify back to normal. Jon did a fix on it, but the MOT guy wasn't happy, even though it worked perfectly, he just took a dislike to the 'fix'. Needed it on the road and out of the garage, so rather than pay over the odds for a new valve quickly, we tried another MOT station and paid a second MOT fee, reason being the brake readings were fine at the original station, he just wouldn't pass it. She passed straight away, thank you Halfords Commercial on Bristol Road !
We will fit a new valve so it's original, but now we have time to find one at a decent price.
During all this happening, we tried to think of a name, this came via Facebook from Pauline (Cole), her name is now Nina, as you may have gathered from the title of the blog :). (comes from the sound an Ambulance Siren would make, nee naa nee naa, you get the picture ! ).
Lots of things to do now, not least deciding on a layout !
A few pics of her pre-conversion, or as we bought her :).
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Location:Gloucester
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