Small but satisfying job last night, finished off installing the power mirrors. My van didn’t originally have power mirrors so I had to mark out the extra hole for the third screw. Drilled and fitted 8mm Rivnut All done and tightened up, now I just need to clean and paint the old original nuts that go in the top. Both mirrors are now in and working including heat
Back on my “Rupes Big Foot” polisher, this time on the roof. It doesn’t need to be pretty up here because the luggage rack covers this portion of the roof. I just wanted to tidy it up though before a final coat of sealant for ongoing protection.
Nice .... The Big Foot 15 works fine on my Alfa, I kinda wish that I had the Big Foot 21 for this job though, the extra throw and diameter of the 21 would reduce the cutting time on some of the large flat panels On this job. I have a smaller machine to get into the panel lines and tight spots.
Just remember to remove both mirrors, before attempting to fit the quarter vent window frames & rubbers....
Ran the wires for the light bar up through the roof this afternoon. I used a step drill to open up a 14mm hole in the roof just behind the front LH mount for the luggage rack. I then inserted a bulkhead connector with a bit of sealant for good measure and pulled the wires through.
Added a couple of plugs and then wrapped everything up to make it neat Now I just need to make up the loom/connectors that pass through the luggage rack and I’m done. Can’t wait to get this job finished and have the luggage rack finally mounted and fixed in position.
Today I made up the short loom that goes between the luggage rack and roof. It was only about 4 in long, I managed to remove the pins from the plug which allowed me to solder everything together on the bench send then pass the wires through a hole in the luggage rack and insert the pins back into the plug. The plugs on the end of the red/black leads were already connected so I was forced into splicing leads together, it would have been a whole lot easier if I just needed to crimp the pins on and then inset them into the plugs. I needed an extra pair of hands for the soldering All done, pins re-inserted and split loom applied. One last job For the day
Had a bit of a disaster the other day. I installed the Luggage rack after installing the wires for the LED light bar and as I was tightening down one of the outer nuts on the rear edge I noticed a hairline crack start to appear Running from the back edge and then slowly start to creep up the back of the rack. I quickly un-bolted it, unplugged the light bar and then removed the luggage rack to inspect. The crack had closed up again so I marked it with a Sharpie. I sanded everything back and then applied 3 coats of woven cloth over the entire back edge where the bolts go and then up the rear vertical surface of the luggage rack. Before I removed the luggage rack I noticed that the rear bolts were not in the centre of their holes so I marked where the offset was and the slightly elongated the holes in that direction just to take a bit of pressure off the rear area. This is another problem that I have noticed for a while and is on the jobs list, I seem to have a small leak coming from the front of the thermostat.
Well its starting to look like a van should up front now Just need to paint the wiper/light storks black, and either paint/cover the steering wheel, or track down a black one from a van with power steering. There was heaps of room behind this Pioneer unit as it has no CD just BT connection to phone for Spotify and radio, connects to phone as well with hands free mike up in the roof. Discreet little high range speakers on either side of dash make a big difference, combined with sub under the seat, and mid range in the doors, we have some nice sound.
More sound deadener and insulation was on the list this afternoon, this time the roof was getting some treatment.
