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900 900t Restoration (Connie)

Introduction

Hi

After having our 900T Amigo camper (Connie) for the last 14 years (off road for the last 10) we now have the time to work on the restoration.

Luckily for a 1978 Fiat she is surprisingly good condition, thanks largely to the Ziebart rustproofing.

Current status:

- Interior stripped, salvaged sink & cooker but rest was rotten.
- near side sill removed (practically fell off due to previous botched repair - pop-riveted on).
- Engine and gearbox out, largely out of necessity as rear wishbones had turned to paper. Local engineering firm laser cut the spring seats and rebuilt the damper mountings - now back on 4 wheels.
- Various panels sources many thanks to Ricambio.

Will be off to the welders in a couple of weeks to have all the welding done and generally made structurally sound (not much welding really).

Once back she will be stripped back to bare metal, rust-proofed and resprayed. Not sure what colour yet, probably stick to the original white.

I'll add some pic's to chart the progress soon.

I've posted a separate thread about how to upgrade the suicide brakes and would appreciate any suggestions.

Cheers
If you have followed the other thread on overheating you will know that Connie made the journey to her new home successfully (of sorts).

I'm now faced with the problem of how best to store her over winter, as the garage is going to be full of boxes for several weeks (if not months) and I don't want to undo the work on her so far.

I have a cover to put over her once we get a few dry days (from a VW... they must be huge by comparison based on the excess material) which will help.

However, my biggest concern is with the drum brakes. These used to seize on before the rebuild (if left standing for a couple of weeks) and I don't really want to go to the time and expense of rebuilding them again next spring.

The problem is the driveway to our new home is on quite a slope. If I keep the handbrake on I expect the rear shoes will most likely get stuck on. On the other hand if I use chocks under the wheels I suspect that this won't do the new tyres much good if left for a long time.

Has anyone had to store one of their vans on a slope before? And if yes, any tips?
 
Hi Gary.

thankfully we are flat here, just managed to get our 900t inside for the winter this year. You could put the van on some very old tyres that are destined for scrap ie not road worthy and chock it against them.

Tim
 
Hi Tim
Shame I didn't think about that before I had the old tyres taken off the 12" rims.

While I think about it, anyone interested in a set of 5 12" rims?
3 are okay to use as they are (need sprucing up with a clean and polish/paint) but the other two need repair to the valve seats (I used to have inner tubes in them - MOT's weren't so strict 15 years ago).

With a bit of luck I'll be able to clear the garage and get Connie undercover before the winter sets in proper.
 
Hi Gary.

best inside if at all possible.

At least you could put some of your stored things from inside your garage inside Connie if it helps clear the garage space. with careful protection of course.

Tim
 
The problem is the driveway to our new home is on quite a slope. If I keep the handbrake on I expect the rear shoes will most likely get stuck on. On the other hand if I use chocks under the wheels I suspect that this won't do the new tyres much good if left for a long time.

Has anyone had to store one of their vans on a slope before? And if yes, any tips?

#Caravan wheel wheel chocks are rounded in the shape of a tyre and would do no harm id they will grip the surface. c. £5 each. PS I love these little vans they are now so rare. Good luck with it.
 
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Hi Gary.

If you dont manage to get it inside you could put in a solid ground mounted ring and lock the camper to it with a chain and then have no need to have the handbrake on, this would act as a security lock as well as stopping the van rolling away.

Tim
 
#Caravan wheel wheel chocks are rounded in the shape of a tyre and would do no harm id they will grip the surface. c. £5 each. PS I love these little vans they are now so rare. Good luck with it.

Thanks for the tip. Having a quick internet search this appears to be a common problem for owners of older vehicles - especially when leaving the handbrake on when on a slope. Set on order, hopefully they will arrive tomorrow.

I just have to remember to take Connie out for a run every now and then to make sure nothing else seizes up and to avoid flat-spotting the tyres (if left unmoved for a long time).
 
Just fired up Connie for the first time since my last post (Nov 2020) - 5 months.

Turned the battery isolator on (or is it off) and allowed the electric fuel pump to run for around ten seconds (to prime the carb), full choke, turned over a few times and fired on all cylinders. Pushed in the choke to halfway and ticked over nice and smoothly.

So much for the good news.

  • Not sure what's happened to the gear change, like stirring a pudding mix and total guesswork where the gears are - the banjo connector was new.
  • Accelerator pedal/linkage really sticky. I fitted a new cable so hope I just need to oil the linkage

Now on relatively flat ground and tyres don't appear to have suffered anything obvious being up against the chocks.

Still loads of diy around our new home to do and still have to clear the garage before I can resume work on Connie - hopefully I'll get some time in the next few months to give her a service to make sure she doesn't go to far backwards and undo the work and time spent on her to get her back on the road.
 
Hi Gary.

re the gear change, in the past i've sometimes moved the spacer and other bits around on the banjo as this sometimes needs a bit of fettling to minimise the play.

re the accelerator stiffness. our outer sleeveing started to corrode inwards making it stiff as it hung down and filled with damp, so i went to my local bike shop and purchased a piece of outer sleeveing and fitted the Fiat ends onto the new sleeve and slipped it over the inner cable that was left in place, works a treat now except it doesnt now have cruise control on our camper.

Tim
 
7 months since my last post... unfortunately, working on updating our new home has taken up all my spare time so Connie has sat untouched on the drive since I moved her there in May (still no room in the garage).
I've noticed the tyres starting to get a bit low for a few weeks now and finally had a dry day/free time to check them over - dropped by 10psi all-round.

While I was topping up the tyres it seemed a good time to give Connie a short run - to stop the new tyres getting damaged as much as anything. Turned the battery on, gave it a few seconds for the electric fuel pump to prime the carb, full choke and started first time without any fuss or smoke (it never did that 20 years ago when used daily).

A quick once round the block to make sure nothing seized (all seems okay) and back on the drive making sure the tyres are in a different position.

Hopefully next year I'll be able to get back on with the restoration but for now Connie will have to remain a garden ornament :(
 
It's been a very long time since I've been able to work on Connie but while I'm taking a pause from the house (still can't agree what colour to paint the living room) I thought I'd get Connie out of the garage (yep, managed to get her in it last October at last).

First job was to empty out all the odds and ends that had been dumped inside her. The result, the (previously new) wooden floor was soaking and black with mould. Looks like the roof vent had been leaking all the time Connie had been outside. An almost new tent had acted like a sponge... now consigned to the skip. Fortunately, although the wood floor was rotten It hadn't affected the metal floor, so no real loss. (New roof vent on order.)

When we relocated (60 miles) the cabin heater stopped working. As this was the first (and only ) run since refitting the engine my suspicion was that the cabin heater matrix had become clogged... I'd used a couple of bottles of RadFlush but suspected the proper run loses a few sticky bits.

Bringing Connie back up to temperature (and with the wood floor removed) I confirmed that only one of the cabin heater pipes was hot.

The following ensued...
  • Drained the radiator
  • Removed the cabin heater fan
  • Removed the cabin heater matrix
  • Ran water though it... all clear no blockage!
  • Removed cabin heater stopcock
  • Rand water through both the feed and return pipes, turned value to check flow rate... all clear no blockage!
  • Attached hosepipe to ends of cabin heater pipes and flushed through... all clear no blockage!
Only thing left.. the blockage must be in the thermostat housing.
No thermostat!

Must have been removed 20+ years ago by the previous owner... I have 3 old thermostats in the box of bits I was given at the time.

Previously the cabin heater worked, not great but it worked.
I'm guessing that all the flushing of the radiator has cleared the back pressure so the hot water doesn't get forced around to the cabin heater anymore.

New thermostat on order and I hope to fit it this weekend.
Hopefully, the random heating issues will be easier to resolve once fitted.

Cheers
Gary
 

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It's been a very long time since I've been able to work on Connie but while I'm taking a pause from the house (still can't agree what colour to paint the living room) I thought I'd get Connie out of the garage (yep, managed to get her in it last October at last).

First job was to empty out all the odds and ends that had been dumped inside her. The result, the (previously new) wooden floor was soaking and black with mould. Looks like the roof vent had been leaking all the time Connie had been outside. An almost new tent had acted like a sponge... now consigned to the skip. Fortunately, although the wood floor was rotten It hadn't affected the metal floor, so no real loss. (New roof vent on order.)

When we relocated (60 miles) the cabin heater stopped working. As this was the first (and only ) run since refitting the engine my suspicion was that the cabin heater matrix had become clogged... I'd used a couple of bottles of RadFlush but suspected the proper run loses a few sticky bits.

Bringing Connie back up to temperature (and with the wood floor removed) I confirmed that only one of the cabin heater pipes was hot.

The following ensued...
  • Drained the radiator
  • Removed the cabin heater fan
  • Removed the cabin heater matrix
  • Ran water though it... all clear no blockage!
  • Removed cabin heater stopcock
  • Rand water through both the feed and return pipes, turned value to check flow rate... all clear no blockage!
  • Attached hosepipe to ends of cabin heater pipes and flushed through... all clear no blockage!
Only thing left.. the blockage must be in the thermostat housing.
No thermostat!

Must have been removed 20+ years ago by the previous owner... I have 3 old thermostats in the box of bits I was given at the time.

Previously the cabin heater worked, not great but it worked.
I'm guessing that all the flushing of the radiator has cleared the back pressure so the hot water doesn't get forced around to the cabin heater anymore.

New thermostat on order and I hope to fit it this weekend.
Hopefully, the random heating issues will be easier to resolve once fitted.

Cheers
Gary
New thermostat fitted - wrong gasket supplied so having to make do with the old one for now.
Gave the system another Radflush for good measure and now cabin heater is nice and hot.

One thing that puzzles me.
The Haynes manual notes that the cooling system takes 7.5 litres. However, the best I can squeeze in is 4.5 litres. Is this correct or is there still a blockage somewhere that accounts for the missing 3 litres?

I also now need to adjust the setting on the electric fans, they are set to kick in at 75 degrees. Previously this seemed okay as the temperature gauge on the dashboard was three quarters towards the red. With the new thermostat in place it barely makes half-way. Overcooling isn't as bad as over heating but I don't want to have the electric fans running anymore than needed.

Also fitted a new MPK Roof-light, amazing that the design and sizing haven't changed in over 40 years.
 
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