Grizz' Prozac for the Soul - Berlingo Multispace

[Grizz]

This is a copy and paste of my thread on Retro Rides forum. 

Found this forum looking for info on brakes etc.  

Ups and Downs and more of them....... Life is good.


This is what makes us what we are.


Thankfully in my world the various forums and friends I frequent keeps my sanity on a level plane.


So what do you do when life hands you a bucket of lemons??  Of course, you drink tequila.


I have been looking for a distraction that could be a tool as well for weeks, if not months.


This week I was interested in a 4.3 litre V6 Chevy S10 truck at sensible money in the U.K. Not a lot of them about at sensible money. Unfortunately it has had a bit of a chequered history and when I started asking the seller some questions, the answers to which I did not necessarily subscribe to, next thing he goes quiet, then I get a text that someone has offered him £500.00 more than the number he had offered it to me for........ I suspect it will be on EBay soon.

Anyway, Some of you know I have random, eclectic taste and next thing I looked at, after mates like Paul Y, CraigRK, Martin and others tried to rattle my wallet with various finds all over the world (literally) was a cheap Facebook trade page car.

I started this thread to find out more on various forums and learned enough to decide to go look at the car today, after speaking to the seller who is the second owner only, having bought it a year ago from the first owner.........

Thread: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/1...ace-bought

So this was the ad.



2001 model Citroen Berlingo Multispace in 1400cc petrol guise. A rip snorting 75bhp from the factory.

This car came with a full length electric sunroof.



I called on mate Martin, always game, like me for any road trip, so this morning after his lady went to work, we walked his dog, then hit the road to go look at the car. 
By 09.00 we pulled up in the yard where the car was stored.
Seller a really nice guy, chatted, looked around the car, then took it for a quick test run.
A few small issues, all within the realm of a small car for cheap bicycle money. 

It seems it has had a load of attention over time, new tyres, exhaust, battery and steering parts as well as a timing belt about 4 yeas or 25k miles ago.



The brakes suck and need investigating. Probably pads, discs etc, but it seems they are reasonably cheap as well.
The drivers seat is in need of replacement in my world, still good but not good enough.

Back seats fold forward in two phases making for a large load area, and of course if you open the roof you could have 5 meter lengths of timber stacked through to the rear.

Electric sunroof is a pleasure to open and allow to fold back on itself.

Martin's drive was about 15 miles and my first drive about 30 miles and we both agreed that it is just a lovely little thing.

Having done only 86150 miles, confirmed by its MOT history, it maintains legal speeds easily up and downhill. 

The seller told us when we got there that the radio/cd player was wired in in such a way that you needed to pull the removable face off it when you parked up in order to switch off the dash lights...........

So at Martin's place, before even going indoors, he was straight into it and pulled the head unit out the dash.
This car has a CanBus wiring system......

Less said the better.

After an hour of trying to figure out the why and how of some clearly expert radio fitter, I ordered an ISO Lead off eBay which should help resolve the weird setup and fix all of this mess.



Current shoes......... on steelies with painted hubcaps. Nothing wrong with them.



However.....

Been offered a set of Saxo VTR wheels with 5 year old 185/65-14" wheels for £40.00 

Even without the tyres, I like them.

Kind of reminds me of the NASCAR wheels on mate Dennis in St Louis, Missouri's race trucks.




So I bring you my own version of Prozac for my Soul.

I need a bit of distraction right now. 

This little van should give me some of that.

Modification direction is not yet established, so happy for advice, input and ideas.

I like the Tiki surf wagon or Woody look, but also race support vehicle look.

Black rims are cool, and Gold will contrast more.........  what to do? Photoshop? 

I will be back with more photos tomorrow once I have given the van a look over.



Lastly, I thought that being a quirky tool I would rummage in the key ring box and find something interesting 





Hope you approve.

[Matt Haigh]

Welcome, interesting post!

[Mike]

Weclome from Gillingham!

[Grizz]

Thank you guys.

I will update when I get time.

In fact, I will copy and paste this to the readers Rides or similar area on here and start a little blog on the vans evolution, if any.

This is the thread on my 1966 Chevy C10 restoration, and actually more of a general blog the way it has evolved.

CLICKY LINKY: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/1...ck-express


In the mean time, I did over 100 mostly motorway miles already in 24 hrs and love this car.

[SonicScrewdriver]

Thank you guys.

I will update when I get time.

In fact, I will copy and paste this to the readers Rides or similar area on here and start a little blog on the vans evolution, if any.

This is the thread on my 1966 Chevy C10 restoration, and actually more of a general blog the way it has evolved.

CLICKY LINKY:  http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/1...ck-express


In the mean time, I did over 100 mostly motorway miles already in 24 hrs and love this car.

Very good choice Grizz! It's had the important things done by Barkers down the road from me in Cuckfield, West Sussex. The brakes are cheap to fix and only feel 100% when you fit new discs/pads/shoes (get the correct depth disc, as it's easy to get the wrong part, and avoid cheap rear slave cylinders). 

Your love of the 1.4 engine will gradually dissolve, the roller rocker cam makes them buzzy on faster A roads/motorways, but makes them nippy about town and on B roads. 

But first thing is to make the drivers seat comfortable before it collapses! I used a piece of plywood (about 5mm if I remember) cable tied into the steel seat frame to firm up the seat springs - worked brilliantly as maintained the seat height and driving position with a firmer feel. You could change the seats for newer, but this means it's tricky to maintain the driving position.

Love the Chevy, always think 1970's when I hear C10, but yours is way cooler than any VDub! 

[Grizz]

Great advice Sonic Screwdriver.

The motor will continue to give me pleasure. As I have driven some fast stuff, but always kept the love of small buzzy motors. In theory this is a tool on second line, hopefully it won't disappoint

You are right, the brakes need attention.
I found the spring of the brake bias valve assembly is disconnected too, it was all seized up, but now loose.

Your advice on the drivers seat is invaluable.

This van has to be budget tight as my personal life is currently in turmoil and any money spent, really just has to be around function and not form (famous last words)

Thanks also for your kind words on the truck.....

As you will see in the introduction of its thread it was a bucket list item.

[Grizz]

So Sunday I looked it over a bit.

I always like to just get a feel for stuff.

Mechanically I am not at all the sharpest wrench in the toolbox.

Anyway, some pics to speak for themselves.

The drivers seat is past it's best, but is still very much functional.

Forward view is great.



Tailgate inner panel, rear wiper and its motor missing.

Interesting repair.



Underside really clean for 16 years.



Rear brake proportioning valve and its actuator was seized solid.

Long screwdriver, some WD40 and 10 minutes later that was loose.

HOWEVER....... The return spring is hanging loose, so I will need to figure that out some time.



Front brake discs look rough as hell, but pads are thick.

Brakes work fine but I suspect new parts would work too.



Inner side of disc.



Passenger side on the inside, not even full surface contact.



I took off the one rear wheel, but the drum was solid on it and I did not want to use a load of force, so no idea what goes on, on the inside.  A job for another day.

Then I drove over tomAndy's place in Gravesend to buy the Saxo VTR wheels off him, the tyres are shagged, but Scot (Jabbo) agreed to remove the tyres for me, so that I can clean up and paint the wheels before moving the tyres from my existing steel wheels onto the alloys.

Andy drives a Berlingo Van.



Wheels in.



I also bought 16 new wheel bolts for alloy wheels from Andy.



That's was Sunday.

At this point I had already done over 100 miles in the car and it put a big grin on my face.

Perfect.

[Grizz]

Right....


A quick bunch of photos I took on Saturday on the way home, overlooking the Thames river to Essex.


Video splicing and make up by mate CraigRK and thanks to Martin for helping me get it back to my place.

VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGXqbfGCBYc


Photos. Because we like photos. 








Pop out side windows. Basic but fine. 



Deceptively large. Especially when the rear seats are rolled forward. 



Full length sunroof feels really ofd initially 



Thats it for now.

[cancunia]

Interesting stuff. Can you post a link to the Cheap Cars FB page? I keep getting american pages...

[Grizz]

Interesting stuff. Can you post a link to the Cheap Cars FB page? I keep getting american pages...

Just looked......

It's actually " Marketplace."