1985 Fiat Ducato LHD Motorhome project

[Phil-E]

Slightly different project for you guys.

 

So basically...

 

It's a 1985 Fiat Ducato 1.9 Diesel 5 speed manual with a Lord Liberty 5 birth back on it.

 

This motorhome was originally purchased by my other half's grandparents in 1988 (I was 2 years old then!) in Germany 3 years old with 20,000 km on the clock.

 

It now has just over 200,000km on the clock and unfortunately due to their age and health they are no longer able to enjoy it like they used to.

 

We are taking it on as a joint venture with my mother and father in law and will be kept in Bridlington as they have loads of drive space etc.

 

So I took a trip in October to go and pick it up from Germany and bring it back here.

 

It then sat for a few months due to family bereavement and other bits of life etc.

 

It's now had an MOT and flew through. Just needs a new rear wheel bearing.

 

Just waiting to get the paperwork sorted and we can get a British number plate on it.

 

So the to do list:

 

Repair small leak in roof. Seems to be leaking from the seam following a jet wash of the roof (the Grandparents thought it would be a good idea to wash it!)

Sort out the lighting- get rid of all the old halogen lights and swap with Led spotlights etc- ordered

Remove satellite dish and swap with freeview aerial- ordered

Move TV and wire up to 12v system as currently only wired to mains

Replace/relocate plug sockets with UK plugs and add extra

Repair one of the rear sun blinds that has come off it's track

Replace dated stereo with a Sony CD player I already have along with the speakers and add speakers in the rear

Cigarette lighter socket doesn't work (can't power the sat-nav!)

Check leisure battery charging system as appears to not work too well

Clean water tank, pipes and pump as it has never been used!

Once water system filled can then check and service gas water heater and central heating. They have also not been used in over 20 years.

New floor covering (probably lino or I have some packs of laminate in the shed.

And probably more!!!

 

I just have one picture at the moment as I appear to have 'misplaced' I SD card from the camera.

 

This is it parked up outside the grandparents house where I slept in it for a couple of nights before heading back:

 

 

Once I have all the bits I have ordered I will be heading over for a couple of days to make a start and will update the thread then with more pictures.

 

We are hoping to take it away for a few days in March as a little test etc.

 

Phil

Edited 12 February, 2014 by Phil-E

[Glenswily]

Any help i can give call I work at campers

[Phil-E]

We now have it sat on our drive for a bit:

 

 

Given it a good clean inside today.

 

 

Moved the TV to here and wired it up to the 12v system so don't need a hookup to watch TV now:

 

 

All the lights changed over to LED. We can now run all 7 lights for less power than 1 of the previous lights! They're brighter too:

 

 

Got the heating and hot water working... the fuse had blown:

 

 

Yet to try the shower out in the bathroom:

 

 

I have to sleep up here because I'm so tall. The bottom bed is too short for me! lol:

 

 

Pretty much there with it now just need to clean the water tank out and maybe replace the pipes as they're pretty awful. I may just stick some water sterilising tablets in there and see if that helps.

 

Oh and it's bloody slow! Only has 68bhp (when it was new anyway!).

 

Phil

[Tech1e]

Looks like a great project.

Briskoda camper meet? Lol

[Phil-E]

Looks like a great project.

Briskoda camper meet? Lol

 

Yes I've had a look at your project. Looking good.

 

I am hoping to take this to the lakes camping meet in July.

 

Should be a laugh driving it up there. It's full of character to drive. Two blasts of the glow plugs and keep on turning it over till it splutters into life, less than 70 bhp, very tired rear leaf springs, columb shift gear change that whacks into my knee for 4th or reverse, left hand drive and the heaviest steering on the planet!

 

Phil

Edited 12 May, 2014 by Phil-E

[seaweasel]

Yes I've had a look at your project. Looking good.

 

I am hoping to take this to the lakes camping meet in July.

 

Should be a laugh driving it up there. It's full of character to drive. Two blasts of the glow plugs and keep on turning it over till it splutters into life, less than 70 bhp, very tired rear leaf springs, columb shift gear change that whacks into my knee for 4th or reverse, left hand drive and the heaviest steering on the planet!

 

Phil

 

Sounds very familiar! Father-in-law has something similar (80s Citroen based camper) and I took it on a trip to the Western Isles a while back. It's actually comfortable enough to stay in but driving was a challenge - left hand drive, same funny gear shift, woefully underpowered engine! Glow plugs failed on South Uist so required a few bump starts on the way home!

 

An adventure nonetheless. Good luck, hope it goes well!

[Phil-E]

The other halfs grand parents have done around 180,000kms in it. One trip they said was over 10,000kms in one holiday to Denmark.

Its not too bad as long as you don't expect too much from it! Lol

Just stuck a 2l bottle of Milton steriliser through the water tank and system.

Not going use it for drinking water but its now suitable for washing with etc.

Phik

[Phil-E]

Little update.

 

It's back on the road again. We put it into storage over winter (a barn).

 

It's just gone through it's MOT. It initially failed on;

 

Highlights very dim

Rear lights shining white not red

 

New pair of headlights bought off ebay. You can only buy LHD ones now. RHD are just not available new. So they were fitted and stuck some black tape over again.

 

Rear bulbs swapped with red ones.

 

MOT passed.

 

We've also had some new rear leaf springs fitted. The originals were very tired (original ones) and they were only 3 leaf. Some new 4 leaf springs fitted and it's not feeling like it's about to tip over round bends now!

 

Just needs a wash and a bit of a clean inside and it's ready to go. Got a few trips planned already.

 

It also needs a service. Just need to confirm which filter it needs and will change the oil and filter. May see about whipping the top cover off and giving the top of the engine a bit of a clean.

 

I also noticed a mistake in my original post. It's not a 1.9 (that's my car! lol). It's a 2.4 litre.

[KangarooReviews2014]

Great project, Can't wait to hear more about it.

[Tech1e]

Great stuff

 

We are camping now in the Relay

 

 

[softscoop]

That looks great I've always fancied a van, and I'm warming my wife up to the idea.

 

My dad had a 1986 Talbot Express based campervan which was exactly the same vehicle underneath as yours.

 

The gearchange on that was floor mounted, and had so much slop and throw you felt like your arm was going into a different timezone. No power steering either so much fun in low speed manoeuvring

Edited 14 May, 2015 by softscoop

[Phil-E]

It's great fun! I'd highly recommend it.

 

One feature I like is that the fridge runs off the alternator when the engine runs so you can have your beers/wine in there chilling ready for when you rock up on the camp site!

 

Yes the Talbot Express is the same underneath.

 

I must get a picture of the column shift. It's actually very easy to get on with... not quite as smooth as my DSG though...

 

The steering is mega heavy and almost impossible to turn while not moving!

 

When this eventually gives up we will likely get a caravan as the additional tax, insurance, MOT and fuel on a motor home is much more than the running costs of just the car and a caravan.

[Tech1e]

It is good fun

[Phil-E]

You need to get yourself an awning Techie!

 

We just installed a new one as the previous one was very old. Got one from an ex-bike racing support van. Awning has never been wound out even. Came with sides etc and was a bargain!

 

Phil

[softscoop]

This guy can retrofit power steering. He even sells a kit you can fit yourself

 

http://www.talbot-express-power-steering-conversions.co.uk/

[Phil-E]

Lol. I reckon I can cope without :strong:

[Tech1e]

You need to get yourself an awning Techie!

 

We just installed a new one as the previous one was very old. Got one from an ex-bike racing support van. Awning has never been wound out even. Came with sides etc and was a bargain!

 

Phil

 

I bought a pop up gazebo, bonus is its up in a few minutes. Quite fancy a roof mounted wind out one but they are far from cheap and pretty unstable when windy.

[Phil-E]

Ah cool. We have one of those too.

 

We got ours for £300 so it was a good price.

 

It comes with rigid side bars and proper tie down straps as it's designed to be wind proof (to a certain extent obviously!).

 

Phil

[Phil-E]

Just remembered something else I did to it.

 

I was never impressed with the fridge performance. It was ok and the freezer section got cold but never amazing.

 

I noticed a lot of heat was gathering on top of the fridge and around the sink and hob area with none really coming out of the vent outside (while running on 12v/240v).

 

I did some googling and lots of people suggesting a fan.

 

I removed the vent and spotted the problem. The vent was too low so was actually sat below the cooling fins so all the heat was just gathering round the back with none flowing out the vent.

 

I had an old 14cm 12v computer fan lying around so wired it up to a discreet switch on the side of the fridge. I now flick the fan on and there is loads of heat that gets blown out.

 

Result is an ice cold fridge and now the freezer compartment can actually make ice cubes (we used to get a tray of slush before).

 

Phil