BT van rebuild

[mrmorrisminor]

Let me have the regn,cab & engine nos. and I'll look it up
on my records.

Many thanks, PM sent with details

[mrmorrisminor]

After a little further investigation it seems the van could still have some of its original BT features....[frame][/frame] flat top dash switches

[mrmorrisminor]

Also the tax disc holder...[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

The rear courtesy light...[frame][/frame]

And this....[frame][/frame]

Taped loom.... Which I thought was a bodge by the previous owner at first...[frame][/frame]

There are also extra plates on the quarter lights and the catches are slightly different too

Also found this on the metal door plate...[frame][/frame] I would never thought of opening the door if the thing had caught light....

[POMMReg]

Leatherette cover on the chain too!

VERY lucky to have the interior light also.

What does it say on the chassis plate, MAE or MAG,
AND the axle weights given?

[mrmorrisminor]

So all this is unusual to still be in place then? Have not spotted any additions to the rear axle. Unfortunately the diff casing has actually rotted through where it was stored in a rather damp barn for 30 years.

The chassis plate on the door has M-AV5 in blue writing at the top??[frame][/frame] this is on the rear floor....[frame][/frame] and these captive nuts are imbedded in the plywood too.... Presumably to attach something.....

[POMMReg]

Ah-ha

So, a civvy van chassis prefix, axles weights from a postal van/SWEB
van/minority civvy,but chassis NUMBER from bt van!

Konfused?!

[mrmorrisminor]

Ah-ha

So, a civvy van chassis prefix, axles weights from a postal van/SWEB
van/minority civvy,but chassis NUMBER from bt van!

Konfused?!

So, this is a bit of a Heinz 57 then!! I was told at the national by a guy with one of these late BT vans that they used up all their spare parts to build them and even ran out of some bits, hence the flat top switches... Not sure if there is any truth behind this....?

I didn't see any weights on the rear axle.... But everything else seems to line up with the BT van theory. How very odd another dodgy Friday afternoon in the factory???

[POMMReg]

Flat tops & indicator stalks std on the "5 series" - the "made
up of spares" thing is a pinch of salt comment.

The VERY last postal WAS a cobbled together thing!

Have you tried searching for a fleet number?

Axle weights displayed on chassis plate;
Should be 0.55/0.73/GVW 1.20 on a MAE PO - PO MAG's
were 0.55/0.66/GVW 1.14
What does it state as engine?

Wouldn't lose any sleep over it, have seen MAV prefixes
on original pick-ups, GVW 1.24 on 6cwts...
In the book have noted the info displayed on these plates
can be pretty unreliable.

Chris

[mrmorrisminor]

So, a little more progress this weekend......[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame]with the passenger side all buttoned up, time to flip over the cab and see to the driver's side.[/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Just one more little job to do on the floor the on to the cab gutters

[PaulTubby]

Superb welding and repair work! Nice repairs and no patching up, like how you make panels and not overlapping them onto the old metal and grind them flush and smooth... really good and nice to see another Bt van saved

[mrmorrisminor]

Superb welding and repair work! Nice repairs and no patching up, like how you make panels and not overlapping them onto the old metal and grind them flush and smooth... really good and nice to see another Bt van saved

Thank you. I was beginning to wonder if the cab was worth saving at one point but I think I've turned a corner now. This has certainly been a learning curve for my welding! I think I need to work on not allowing the panel to get too hot and warp when weldng, I think I may be a little too impatient and try doing too much of the seam in one go

The next debate to have is the colour. I didn't set out to have a BT van, it kind of found me, always wanted a maroon van and planned to spray it thus when completed but now I've found out it has a number of its original features I'm re-considering that idea. Either way, it was destined for the scrap heap so it's a van saved whatever it ends up as.

[les]

Glad to see another one being done in n kent

[mrmorrisminor]

Glad to see another one being done in n kent

Yes I seem to go months without seeing a minor in my neck of the woods.... Live and work in Rochester and my mum's place (where all the work goes on) is in Blackheath...spend most of my time on the A2!!. I've seen a minor million in Strood but that's about it

[les]

I see a couple in the Bexley area from time to time but more seem further oop north!

[MechanicMichael]

Saw a blue van driving down the A21 heading in to Bromley last week as I left work, was dark so couldn't see front plate.

[mrmorrisminor]

So a little more progress this weekend. The sunshine and rise in temp proved to be a slight distraction as I ended up spraying the primer on my brother's saloon project!! [frame][/frame]

After all that I managed to get the floor strengtheners in, retrieve the seat mounting nuts from the old floor and weld them onto my new ones. Just a bit of cleaning up to do then I'm on to the cab gutters next week. [frame][/frame]

[mrmorrisminor]

Just started to investigate the cab gutters. Passenger side does not seem too bad, just a few local repairs on the top of the door frame to do before fitting the new gutters.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[mrmorrisminor]

So today I started to put the gutter back on the passenger side. Unfortunately both of the two big parts people were out of front gutters so I have adapted a saloon rear (it's just a bit of J beading so can be bent to shape easily)[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

The other side will be more challenging as it is far more rotten but while I wait for an extra pair of hands to help me flip the cab over the other way I started to look at the windscreen surround..... [frame][/frame]
Seems it has been letting in a little water, so time to get cutting.[frame][/frame]
It's a bit tricky to get in there with the cutting disc because of the angle of it so it's not my neatest incision

But it seems to have ended up ok[frame][/frame]

[les]

The o/s always seems to suffer more in lots of areas, I found the o/s gutter and metal around the frame of mine to be the worst but ended up doing both sides, just to be sure. I think it must be from water being thrown up by passing traffic and maybe cars from the other direction.

[tysonn]

Would be nice to have a plasma cutter for those hard to reach areas.