Our Touring Past

Hi All

Its been a while since i waved bye bye to my last Supalite van.. a beaut little "Cadet " named .. " Öld Blue"..
The good side about that story is i can rest easy in knowing that its being loved to death by John and Pam ( Strugglebrooks).. and i get to see it on just about every run i go on ...So.. alls well that ends well there.

I have been on the scout for a replacement over the past few years... searching for another bondy.. Just recently i was given a Carapark Junior ... imagine that.. ME... messing with bauxite.
I actually started to become attached to it... you know... have sorta ..... "Feelings"about restoring it.....
Then out of the blue i catch wind ( bit of a change from passing it ) that Aquamum was having a bit of a shed cleanout and her Supalite Atlas was for sale.
I went back and revisited her post on the restoration so far on the website.
The story thus far...
http://vintagecaravans.proboards.com/th ... t-supalite

I figured that seeing as though she wasnt allowed to use large sharp objects while working on it Sandra had probably done a reasonable job ..
And so it come to pass... a message was sent.. a deal was struck .. and collection took place in Sydney on Saturday 27th Feb.

John Daniels and i loaded the van up and brought it back to Barnsvegas. Unloaded it off the float and promptly winched the Carapark Junior on for a ride to Strugglebrook. One less distraction in my yard...
Twas a long day by the time i got home.. returned the trailer.. got cleaned up.. and sat in the empty van with a stubby...... building things in my head .. and knocking them apart just as quickly as i had invented them.

Today was a different story.. up early .. evict the cars and bikes out of the shed.. drag the supalite out of the carport and up to the shed door...

Hmmm taint gunna fit..
Righto then ... out with the tools . .
Remove all suspension and brake cables...
Lower onto shed skates..


Hmmmm.. still gunna be a squeeze .



Inched it back to the shed door...Plenty of room.. twas never in doubt... much



Feeling quite pleased that i didnt have to remove the roller door.. and happy to see the van sitting in the back corner of the shed.. i pulled up for lunch.. still had some steam left in the tank .. so i made a start on rebuilding the coupling base... badly rusted on the top plate and hardly anything left of the nuts on the bottom side of the bottom plate.

Old plate removed.
New plate cut and drilled ready for remounting existing old style coupling... just needs to be welded now..


Tomorrows job will be weld coupling plate.. clean and paint drawbar and coupling .. remount coupling...

There was 2 broken leaves on the left side spring stack. Right side had the wrong sized shackle plate bolts... looks like she had a bush repair somewhere out along the dusty trails...??... if only these old vans could talk !!

More later..

Reddo .. snorting sawdust again after a llllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooonnnnggggggggggg lay off.

Great to see the reddoshedofinvention working up to full production levels again mate keep the pics coming they've been sorely missed
Jenno

Great now Old Blue will have a big brother ( 6 inches wider) just like Master or is that me ??
Enjoyed the day and look forward to all the updates.

JD Grasshopper.

Reddo,
Good to see your not resting on your laurels in retirement
Following yet another Reddo's resto

JUST LIKE PETER BROCK ,

"THERE'S NO STOPPING YOU MY DEAR !"

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MATE.

MAURIE

Hi
Muz, Jennison and MRFJ55.

Yup... its good to be back in the shed and working on something other than oily old pommy motaboiks.
Although i find myself running out of puff a bit earlier in the day nowadays.. so i just plod along ..

I will have to get the bed frame sorted out next so that i can climb inside the van for a nana nap whenever the mood overcomes me..

But for now work goes onwards....
Pulled the coupling and jockey wheel off the drawbar and stripped them back to bare metal with a flapper disc.



Then stripped the drawbar back to bare metal.....Nothing looks worse than something that has stonechips and paint missing and has been painted over with about 1/2 dozen coats of paint ovewr the past 50 years or so... easy to strip it all off while i am on the go and start with a fresh coat of zinc...


The Jockey wheel is a nifty little item. Has a square block that fits into a square hole in the section that mounts on the drawbar... locates the mechanism at right angles to the drawbar in operating position ... then undo the lever and it swings up 90 degrees and locks in parallel to the drawbar. Has a solid aluminium wheel. New staino bolts on all Jockey wheel parts. 4 new 120mm X 12mm galv bolts and new crush tubes to hold the coupling on...
Doesn't look like much of an effort but a full day just fiddling...
And of course the day wouldnt be complete without at least one trip to Bunnings for bits and pieces / consumables..


Just gotta weld the top plate and that's it for the towing department..

Next job will be to remove all the flakey paint and messy bits on the front panel. Sand and re-prime the front panel with oil based primer. Then fit a new aluminium sheet back as per original on the front.
I am tackling the whole thing in a different way to the usual resto process. Normally i would sand the whole van down and do repairs then prime and paint.
Because the van is bigger than the others i have worked on , I will complete the front up to final paint stage. Then work on the right side up to final paint stage as it is easily accessed the way it sits in the shed at the moment. Once those two faces are done i will drag it outside.. turn it around and push it back in .. work on the rear .. then the left side.
Once all four sides are done... i will shove it outside and do the roof.

The inside will be ignored for a good few months yet. Glass will be the last thing to go in.. That way it will be cooler to work inside.

An hour or two toiling this morning then down tools and start sorting one of the Nortons out for a bike rally at Taree this coming weekend.. all work and no play makes for a dull day.

Reddo

Square blocks would have brought back memories of your first 6 years of school.

No mate... but it did remind me of the fitters i had to work with over the years.

You will have to excuse him folks .. He is one of those paid hecklers you see at all the demonstrations and protests. Has seen more of Australia travelling on the tax payers dollars than us average vintage vanners could ever wish to hope for !!!

We will now return to you to normal transmission...

Reddo

Hey Reddo.
Great to see the "Shed of Invention" back into production again.
And a Supalite to boot, you kept that one under your hat.
Anyway Ill look forward to further updates.

God bless Telstra and Photobucket..
Just spent 1/2 hr doing and update with photos.. Hit submitt and the whole shebang is out in orbit somewhere..

Anyway.. heres a few pix of what i have been up to...
No story.. just pix..

Front resheeted.
Axle removed ...

Sandblasted primed and painted.. $30..


Brake drums and backing plates degreased /sanded and painted..




The springs are next...
Cheers fa now
Reddo