Trials of a campervan enthusiast

We have been continuing the work on the campervan to get “tidgy” roadworthy and ready for a MOT. However we hit a bit of a glitch this evening, we had spent at least 2 weeks re-wiring the whole van because nothing seemed to work, although we were assured that the wiring was “almost there”, yeah right…

Anyway, the glitch we encountered was related to the engine, yes the engine which we rebuilt from the bottom up recently. We managed to start the engine for the first time today as we wanted to make sure that the wiring was complete beforehand.  Two things happened, we realised that there might be a problem with the tappets and once it started (which was a great sound to hear, if you don’t know what i mean by this, listen to a VW Beetle or Campervan for that unique sound you get) the rear oil seal which is by the flywheel broke and the oil started to literally “piss out”. Well my response was mixed, i was happy that the engine started and it was great to hear it again, and the other thought was “bugger” we have to take the engine apart again to replace an oil seal which costs £2,50.

But we are a step closer to getting him back on the road, which is something.

We are going to now make a slight change of plan as we really need to check the rear brakes, so we will now focus on these as we know the engine works and all we need to do is get it out and sort out some simple jobs (we hope).