This project has now been abandoned due to the Low Emission Zone in London. I've had to take the truck to Wisbech to store it while I decide it's fate. Driving inside the M25 will cost me £200 a day, parking it outside my house will cost £75,000 a year.
Still, at least the LEZ will reduce PM10 by .00000001% a year and prevent the excruciatingly high 93 hosppital admissions a year due to diesel particulates.
Ken, U suck.
Tuesday 9 December 2008
Sunday 19 August 2007
Insulation begins.
Put the batons on today, I was able to use screws because the box is double skinned. Slapped a bit of No More Nails on there as well, just for good measure. Pretty satisfied with myself today, ok so it took 6 hours to baton and insulate one wall (not including plywood) but all in all it's a good job. Made alot easier with a gas soldering iron and hot knife attachment, went though the polystyrene sheets like butter. Found a handy thing with the hot knife, if you cut through the sheet and run the tip of the knife along the edge of the baton, you get poly sheets that fit perfectly.
Saturday 18 August 2007
Let the spending begin!
Had a quick look at the dogs arse of a job on the insulation/boarding out of the box and decided it has to go. Started ripping it out today, various odds and ends of Rockwool and polystyrene hid behind warped sheets of chipboard finished off with a coating of dark grey mouldy carpet.
Got the NBC suit and mask, will get stuck right in tomorrow and hopefully put some of the stuff in I bought from Wickes:
18x 34x34x2400mm batons £33.18
4x 2440x1220x6mm ply sheets £43.96
6x 2440x600x25mm polystyrene sheets £22.74
3x No More Nails £7.47
1x Bitumen Quick Seal spray. £6.49
Total so far £113.85
I'm hoping to get away with using No More Nails to secure the batons initially, then secure with a few coachbolts from the outside once it's all set.
Fingers crossed.
Got the NBC suit and mask, will get stuck right in tomorrow and hopefully put some of the stuff in I bought from Wickes:
18x 34x34x2400mm batons £33.18
4x 2440x1220x6mm ply sheets £43.96
6x 2440x600x25mm polystyrene sheets £22.74
3x No More Nails £7.47
1x Bitumen Quick Seal spray. £6.49
Total so far £113.85
I'm hoping to get away with using No More Nails to secure the batons initially, then secure with a few coachbolts from the outside once it's all set.
Fingers crossed.
Monday 13 August 2007
Made it home!
Well, 270 miles, 6 hours and one breakdown later, the Dodge made it to East London.
All is not entirely well though, the PTO doesn't seem to work (possibly operator ignorance), there's more rust than the seller openly admitted (mainly round the windscreen on the inside and on the wings) and it doesn't look like it's been serviced since it was made. Biggest problem appeared on the way home, even on slight inclines, the 3.9 Perkins Turbo would slow from 55 to 50 to 40 to 35, then I'd drop to 4th gear and hold 35, 30, 25....and so on. At one point I was driving on the hard shoulder at 15mph with the hazards on, 2nd gear, foot flat on the floor. Not good. Eventually I was rumbled by the VOSA blokes and they started explaining that I had 2 hours to get off the hard shoulder before plod turned up and got the Dodge off on THEIR (expensive) terms. I stuck it out, fired her up after and hour and we were back up to 50mph for 20 miles or so, then started losing power again.
I suspect it's one (or all) of the air or fuel filters to blame. The engine will get a complete service this week by someone who knows what they are doing so that should hopefully sort it out. Apart from the fuelling problems, the engine is smoooooth and the ride is pretty nice for a 5600kg truck.
I'd just like to point out that the VOSA chaps actually do a pretty good job of shielding vehicles on the hard shoulder from being destroyed by Latvian HGV drivers on their 18th hour of driving. Thanks VOSA blokes.
All is not entirely well though, the PTO doesn't seem to work (possibly operator ignorance), there's more rust than the seller openly admitted (mainly round the windscreen on the inside and on the wings) and it doesn't look like it's been serviced since it was made. Biggest problem appeared on the way home, even on slight inclines, the 3.9 Perkins Turbo would slow from 55 to 50 to 40 to 35, then I'd drop to 4th gear and hold 35, 30, 25....and so on. At one point I was driving on the hard shoulder at 15mph with the hazards on, 2nd gear, foot flat on the floor. Not good. Eventually I was rumbled by the VOSA blokes and they started explaining that I had 2 hours to get off the hard shoulder before plod turned up and got the Dodge off on THEIR (expensive) terms. I stuck it out, fired her up after and hour and we were back up to 50mph for 20 miles or so, then started losing power again.
I suspect it's one (or all) of the air or fuel filters to blame. The engine will get a complete service this week by someone who knows what they are doing so that should hopefully sort it out. Apart from the fuelling problems, the engine is smoooooth and the ride is pretty nice for a 5600kg truck.
I'd just like to point out that the VOSA chaps actually do a pretty good job of shielding vehicles on the hard shoulder from being destroyed by Latvian HGV drivers on their 18th hour of driving. Thanks VOSA blokes.
Wednesday 8 August 2007
It all starts on august 12th 2007.
Picking up what appears to be an ex-British Gas or Waterboard Dodge 50 on Sunday, should be a leisurely 270 mile trip from Stockton to East London at 55mph. I'm hoping there isn't any serious rust to contend with and that it provides a good solid base to work on. Here it is :o)
It's going to be on a budget, the box on the back should help alot in this department because I can use standard house sized cabinets and appliances instead of getting reamed by self build suppliers. Going to have to decide whether to stick with the 110v built in generator that runs off a PTO from the gearbox, or swap out the generator alternator for a 240v option. Guess I'll have to wait till it's in front of me before making any decisions like that. Apparently it's chokka with blokey stuff like switches and dials, can't wait!
I like these old chuggers, fast they are not but they have a certain pre-historic charm and are tough as old boots, the 3.8l Perkins are good for 500,000 miles and everything else seems to be hewn from either granite of carved from old steam engines.
Stuff ready to go in:
Wood Burner.
3000w inverter.
Loads of 12v lights harvested from my V8 ambulance.
Small sink.
Blah blah blah....
The LDV ambulance has a rather nifty twin alternator setup with a snazzy little split charger/battery feed thing, going to see if the scrappy will collect vehicles that aren't running because I REALLY want to strip that lot out.
It's going to be on a budget, the box on the back should help alot in this department because I can use standard house sized cabinets and appliances instead of getting reamed by self build suppliers. Going to have to decide whether to stick with the 110v built in generator that runs off a PTO from the gearbox, or swap out the generator alternator for a 240v option. Guess I'll have to wait till it's in front of me before making any decisions like that. Apparently it's chokka with blokey stuff like switches and dials, can't wait!
I like these old chuggers, fast they are not but they have a certain pre-historic charm and are tough as old boots, the 3.8l Perkins are good for 500,000 miles and everything else seems to be hewn from either granite of carved from old steam engines.
Stuff ready to go in:
Wood Burner.
3000w inverter.
Loads of 12v lights harvested from my V8 ambulance.
Small sink.
Blah blah blah....
The LDV ambulance has a rather nifty twin alternator setup with a snazzy little split charger/battery feed thing, going to see if the scrappy will collect vehicles that aren't running because I REALLY want to strip that lot out.
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