Ok, now that's said, I need to make an apology for the lack of updates, I'm sure some of you that are following Nina's progress, have wondered if she has moved on or something with the lack of updates since Christmas.
Well, I can assure you Nina's conversion is alive and well, and has only been on the back burner until funds became available.
As stated before, I needed to get the windows done before any more internal work could be done, as the sliding door window, off side middle window, and off side front windows were all prone to leaks, the sliding door window being the worst.
Nina has been stood on the drive since before Christmas, but last week, was called back in to service, as we sold one of our Animal Ambulances, leaving us short a vehicle for work. Until we can sort another van, Nina is having to fill in as a work van, or Animal Ambulance, and I am delighted to say, she started on first turn of the key, and aside from slightly sticky brakes, which soon freed off with driving, she has been absolutely brilliant. Not missed a beat :).
Well, one thing was wrong, the day she was called in to action, it was raining, and so was the new Off Side Rear window that I had fitted before Christmas. Water was coming in all along the top. I could push the top of the window and let even more water in. I rang Dave at 5 Valleys Windscreens and said I needed it looked at, but in about a week or so as I was using Nina for work. Well I pulled up on Holly and Jess's drive, and as I got out and pushed my drivers door shut, I was looking back at the leaky window, the bottom of it swung back and forth like a cat flap !
"Pulled up on Holly and Jess's drive"
On closer inspection, I saw that the window glass had actually dropped, and the bottom edge was hanging over the bottom frame lip ! I drove very carefully to pick up the next dog, Bruno, trying to avoid as many pot holes as possible, in case the window dropped completely out ! I called in to Morrisons after and bought a roll of Duct Tape, and taped all the edges up right there in the car park !
At least I could carry on with peace of mind, good old Duct Tape, never leave home without some !
I rang Dave back and told him it was a bit more urgent and needed sorting asap !
He came the next day and removed the window completely. The problem was that this was the frame that I had to repair and respray. It turned out the paint had reacted and had literally come away from the metal along with the window bonding glue ! Dave scraped the metal back to bare, then painted with his black primer solution to cover the bare metal and prepare it for the new bonding glue he was going to apply with the window.
All went on fine, and as yet, no problems, although we've not had any rain yet ! ;).
"24hrs with tape ensuring the window didnt move while bonding"
"Yay it didnt fall out when I took the tape off ;)"
As the tint was a little damaged, I decided to remove it and do it again.
While Dave was re-fitting the back window, we were discussing getting the other windows done, and he said he would get a quote, see if he could get them any cheaper than me. He rang me later and it turns out he could get them about £60 cheaper inc carriage ! I ordered them there and then, the sale of our Animal Ambulance meant that for now, we had the cash to get them !
Three windows were in stock, and were put out for delivery, but one of the middle ones was on back order.
Dave rang me earlier today to say the three windows had been delivered and that he could come tomorrow (Thursday) and fit them if I had the old windows out.
So tonight was spent frantically removing windows, cleaning up frames, ready for the new windows to be bonded on tomorrow !
This is a very boooooooring timelapse video of me taking two of the windows out as viewed from inside Nina, if you can force yourself to watch it ;).
And these are the pictures as I left Nina tonight, very bare looking with three windows missing, hoping the weather is ok through the night and the tarp sheets I taped on to the sides stay there.
The sliding door window, which was leaking the worst, was actually holding lots of rain water in the rubber seal, as I cut the seal, lots ofmwater dripped down. VERY lucky that the frame was still in good shape and didnt need repairing !
"Water dripped down as I cut the rubber seal"
These pictures are very different from one I took earlier when Nina was "home" to a bunch of happy dogs at the field ;)
Oh, one more thing, Nina did get a little upgrade today too. The stereo in her has some weird slot that isnt wide enough for a cd, and is too tall, I believe it was originally made for something called a 'cassette', I'm actually surprised it was stereo and not mono ;). So she now has a smart new DAB stereo with and iPod/iPhone connection from Halfords, which came with a free DAB aerial for the windscreen :). Not fitted yet, but looking forward to listening to my Camper Van Radio cd by Kludo White through it ! ;).
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Location:Gloucester
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