#van project

Yesterday we changed a wheel cylinder on the Bedford.

This may seem like a tiny act, an insignificant little part in the grand scheme of things, but two years ago we broke down in Spain, and to have two wheel cylinders replaced we were charged over €500.

We don’t ever want to find ourselves in that situation again, at the mercy of a garage and whatever ridiculous costs they decide to rip us off with.

We had no mechanical backgrounds, we didn’t grow up working with our dads on hot summer weekends like so man kids had the privilege of doing. We’re not naturals, and we’re learning everything through a painstaking process of trial and error, Haynes manuals and advice, but we’re learning.

And so the simple act of removing wheels and brake drums, unhinging brake shoe springs and replacing a tiny little wheel cylinder symbolises a full circle for us, a hard lesson learned, and seizing control of our futures and our abilities.

P.S. We promise we’ll have a new Bedford video out for you next week. We’ve been fixing a leaking diesel pipe on our own van which has consumed much of our time recently, but thankfully she’s back on the road and chugging along nicely.

In the meantime, here’s a little preview of what we’ve been up to: repainting the Bedford, and building a wall.

Disaster struck last month when 75mph+ winds hit our home and ripped the shelter down we’d just spent three days building, denting the Bedford roof in the process. Quite a setback for us, but we still managed to change the prop shaft bearing on the van in between picking up the pieces.

All of this will be included in tonight’s Youtube video, which will be live from 8pm GMT!

This one’s mainly for you tech heads, mechanical minds or anyone that’s looking how to change a prop shaft bearing on their van. We wanted to document this build and restoration in full so we’re not leaving anything out, and this was a big task. Next week we’re hoping to come out with a video that’s a little more vanlife-flavoured, so we hope you’ll stick with us through this build thick and thin.

Don’t forget to join us on Youtube at 8pm GMT by clicking the link below, and while you’re there give that cheeky little Subscribe button a tap!

Removing rust from a van is a multi-tool, multi-day challenge. There’s no one way to do it, instead it requires a combination of approaches, different methods and a lot of patience.

Having bought an infamously rusty LDV we’ve had more than our fair share of practice, and over the years we’ve honed our technique for busting rust. We also get a lot of questions asking how we manage it, and realised we’d never done a dedicated post about how we do. in yesterday’s video we detailed the technique we’ve found to be most thorough, which works on both internal and external rust that’s not so serious that it needs welding.

We’ve found that using an angle grinder with a flap disc is the best method, to remove any loose surface rust and grind it back to bare metal. We also use a chisel and a wire brush to get into the corners and difficult areas. We used this technique on the chassis, the cab floor and the roof of the Bedford, as well as on the gutters and pretty much everywhere else of our LDV- wings, arches, sills, doors, you name it.

Recently we discovered the virtues of red oxide primer, which seems to be what everyone uses on their vans these days- originally we used to use Kurust, but that didn’t work half as well. We coated all of the exposed metal in it immediately after grinding, and once that was dry we were able to paint over it with either Stoneguard or van-coloured enamel coach paint.

Another handy tip we wanted to share with you all is how we sealed the leaky gutters and windscreen on our Convoy (all you LDV owners know what we’re talking about), using Bostik Flexacryl Instant Repair for flat roofs. It’s brilliant stuff, a little pricey and very very sticky, but it has almost completely cured our leaks better than anything else we’ve tried in the past. Just make sure the rust is completely gone before applying, or it’ll just seep through.