Shuttle 88, Veronica, Katherine

Shuttle 88's Project
Status: 1 year in

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1992 Renault Master t35 ex ambulance. Recently purchased by myself and my girlfriend for the princely sum of £350! We haven't decided on a name yet, that's why she has 3 at the moment.
We will be doing as much work as is physically possible,(and where knowledge allows). Rather solid starting vehicle with plenty of room in the back for myself (I'm 6'4") and my gf. The main plan is to do this project for as little money as possible, so buying the base vehicle for £350 is a very good start!
So far we have managed to source 3 rolls of loft insulation for £6 and an old mirrored wall cabinet for £4, good going. Alot of trawling tip shops, charity shops and internet sites for bargains. Doing most of the design work on the rather good Google Sketchup (see pics). Easy to use, all to scale so good for measuring spaces and surfaces without getting out the tape measure!!

So, work done so far? Well, the roof has a few holes in places so the wood linings have gotten a bit rotten, they have been ripped out (as seen in the pics), as well as an old wardrobe, also the roof lining and noisy old flourescent strip lights (probably original to the ambulance days).
Now all the lining has been removed we can see where there is water ingress, round the windows and the roof by the cab, so the next job now will be to repair the holes and rusty bits and make the van watertight.
After that it will be a case of re-lining the wall with fresh ply, re-doing the 'ceiling'.
I will update more when more work has been completed (with pictures).

17/8/13.
Started prepping the bodywork for filling, welding etc, and oh dear, its a bit more rotten than i first thought.
As well as the body work today i have checked the vehicle over properly on my pit at work, and all seems in order underneath and in the engine bay, which is a silver lining i suppose. also have found the problem which was causing the steering to be incredibly heavy, even when moving. The steering box was a bit seized up (WD40) and the front tyres were at about half the recommended pressures! So much better now, can be parked with ease and maneuvered well, could do with bit more lock to lock though.
More to come when the time becomes available, (as well as cash).

Marc

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Project Task Write-ups:

  • Base Vehicle

    Started prepping the bodywork for filling, welding etc, and oh dear, its a bit more rotten than i first thought. The small hole in the roof over the passenger side of the van turned out to be about...

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  • Project Plan

    Have used a great program called google sketchup, its free as well which is good too and easy to use to boot. Having measured up the space available and drawn it into the program it was then a cas...

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