General Penguin's Scudo

[Penguin45]

Thought I might start a bit of a running thread on the Scudo.

Had it a week now. Sunday, I've managed to spend a bit of time on it and start on converting it to a washing machine engineers service vehicle.

First step was to build a bulkhead immediately behind the side doors. Machines in the middle, parts on racks in the back. Big cardboard template and some 3/4" plywood sorted that out. Battens top and bottom to reinforce it and it all looks good and solid. Put a bottom shelf across the wheel arches to carry some of the stock, but can't finish the job until the bins arrive and I can rig the rest of the shelves. Still, I can at least work out of it.

The radio was uncoded (and unknown ), so popped a spare into the hole...... L/H speaker only working..... Bit of circuit chasing later revealed the the wiring from the (sealed) plug in the A post was broken. A quick squint on the ePER disc suggested that this was a silly money replacement, so re-routed the wiring (and the rubber sleeve) through the grommet hole above the socket. A couple of bullet connectors later, glorious stereo.

The door light switch also didn't work - this was easy, five minutes with a fine file cleaned up the contacts and got it going. Minor, but irritating.

This van was a roofers before me, so managed to bribe the twins into scrubbing off all the bitumen splashes with white spirit for a very reasonable sum.

It also had a roof rack. Yarking great galvanised steel thing. I have no intention of putting washing machine on the roof, so it has been removed and placed on the Bay of Evil for whomsoever might want it. I assume that there were trim strips to cover the mounting rails, so I'll have to hunt them down.

The biggest shock so far was on Tuesday morning. The fuel gauge was on the red, so I filled it up. £71! It's got an 80 litre tank, now that I've checked. Not a problem really, hopefully I've only got to tank it once a fortnight, which should save a packet compared with the last van I ran.

Oh, yes - the drivers seat. Or rather the ragged remains of the drivers seat. Mark (the PO) said there would be a "perfect" seat in the van when I collected it. There was - lying in the back. When I checked it out, it was a passenger one as well....... So, stripped it and recovered the squabs and the covers. Two hours work to pull the drivers seat, strip it and re-upholster it all. Seat now much more comfortable and it doesn't smell anything like as "doggy" as it did before. One of those "patience" jobs - not difficult but time consuming.

So far, I like it. Reasonably quick, fairly comfortable, seems to be economical and goes round corners with a little bit of aplomb.

I think I'll still get my SAAB 99 out for a bit of fun driving though.

Enjoy.
Penguin45.

 

[Penguin45]

Door locks drove me nuts within a week. "Press gently and turn" - my behind........ Stripped all the door locks, cleaned and lubricated them - no difference.

Bought a complete new set from a well known auction site with the proceeds of the roof-rack sale and fitted them to the doors with little difficulty. Unfortunately........... The van has the key chip sensor around the ignition barrel - the new keys don't have a chip. So, at the moment, I still have two keys. I can either disconnect the chip sensor (How?) and lose the immobiliser function, or see if I can persuade my local FIAT dealership to cook up chipped keys for me. They aren't very friendly.

Still haven't had to put any oil in it (3.5k/miles), or water, although there are occasional wisps of steam emerging from under the bonnet. Consupmtion is a little disappointing, 32/33 to the gallon. I suppose it's continuous short hop town driving that does it - it's only running for 10/15 minutes in the hour. That said the one long run it's had didn't seem to make any difference and flat out at 78mph was a little disappointing.

Anyway, at least it reliable, which is the main thing.

Penguin45.

 

[NBMike]

Hi Penguin 45 I got similar probs with my new scudo too. But all the other probs (Locks etc) pale into insignificance when your head gasket goes on the van/engine you've had for two weeks. I too was stunned when I poured £80 worth of diesel in 10 mins after collecting the van. He must have been running on diesel vapour!!! I'll keep an eye on your thread for some tips.
Mike

 

[T14086]

Old style scudos had annoying locks....peugeot design

 

[a1ant]

I can either disconnect the chip sensor (How?) and lose the immobiliser function, or see if I can persuade my local FIAT dealership to cook up chipped keys for me. They aren't very friendly.

Hi mate,

What you can do is dig the chip out of the old key, and superglue it to the sensor. However this does mean that you lose the immobiliser function which can be handy if some little oink is trying to steel your motor.

Hope that helps,
Alan