Yesterday i bought a van! a few weeks ago i saw a van i would like in autotrader, single rear wheels, extra long wheelbase, R reg, 35-10, this had central locking, cd changer, alarm etc, however it was on for £3795, way too much for me, so i thought nothing else of it, went to see the shed in London, a semi auto iveco that wouldn't start, and the owner had driven through a fence or something, loads of panel damage at the front, loads more at the rear but the front end stuff was not good, however it was only 2 grand, i figured i could do it up with the change i would have from buying a cheap van, however all i ended up doing was going down to London after being told it was running, to find out that although it was running, it wasn't driving, no gears could be selected, that was it for that van, i'm not having something un reliable, only thing was it was practically rust free, the chassis was still nice and red, it probably had a steam clean, but it was ok in that respect, but as it wouldn't drive, i gave it a miss, especially after the HPI check revealed that it had been in an auction house for more than half it's life!

I was getting fed up, if i wanted a twin rear wheel van i could have had one ages ago, single rear wheel vans seem to be one to every 50 twin wheelers, this weeks autotrader had the van i wanted 3 weeks ago again, this time for £3250, no mention of the CD changer or alarm this time, still more than i had so i forgot about it, i knew I'd have 3 grand by next week, and a mate Steve Taylor who i knew from the LT club, told me of his mate who deals in iveco dailys, he got me in contact with him, and he was looking out for a suitable van for me, so i wasn't looking myself as someone else was,

I rang this bloke on Monday to tell him what i wanted, as he was getting a load of iveco's in, unfortunately he only gets twin rear wheel vans in, as the single rear wheel ones are kind of rare, also some firms don't like them because of the tyres they use.. 215's by 16's, expensive, he did say it might be possible to put a single wheel axle on one of his twin wheelers, but that was sort of a last resort, so it looked like it was going to be hard to get the van i wanted again, luckily this van in autotrader had an e-mail address for contact, so i sent an e-mail Monday night asking if it was still available, and if he would take 3 grand in cash, as that was all i had (and that was going into my overdraft),

Tuesday morning i got the reply, it was still available, and he'd let it go for 3 grand, so i rang him, found out he was in blackpool!!!, i said I'd travel anywhere for the right van, but even this was pushing it, but it sounded ok on the phone, he warned me the cab was a bit tatty, rust coming through in places etc, so i arranged to see it later on that day.. i'm a last minute person.

I then had a mad rush to get things sorted out, rang the insurance company i had chosen, CIS.. they do short term cover for vans used as a car, i.e. not carrying goods, unfortunately they are still in the 18th centaury and you give your details over the phone, then an agent calls round to finish the sale off, take payment and issue a cover note!, of course that's no good to someone buying a van 160 miles away, and later that day, but luckily i was told i could arrange cover and pay at one of their offices, my local one is Peterborough, 30 miles south, and blackpool is north west, so i arranged to call in at the Preston branch to arrange cover just before i saw the van.. i had practically decided to buy it, and the cover was only £27 a month, so even if i didn't buy it, i wouldn't be out of pocket (i could cancel the next day and loose only a quid or so)

That sorted i rang international breakdown to swap van details over, i'm on a vehicle specific scheme, costs £53 a year for UK only roadside assistance and recovery for the van, the van is only just coverable, needs to be under 7 meters long, it's 6.660, RAC and AA all have 5 meter limits, i have no need for home start, and no need for European cover yet, breakdown cover is available for £40 a year with the insurer I'll be going with then the van is a motorhome, and that included European cover), £3.50 later and i have breakdown cover for the van, nice and easy.

Mum was at the opticians trying to get her glasses sorted, just paid over 400 quid, and the buggers aren't right, she is needed to drive the car back, tho if i had ramps the micra would probably fit in the back of the iveco, as soon as she got back i we got the dog, map, directions to the CIS Preston office, the van, and jumped in the car, just as i was about to join the A1 i realised i had forgotten to go to the bank to draw 3 grand out, oops, so i carried onto Newark, and called in at the branch there, 'I'll just be 2 minutes i said', famous last words.

I got a new girl behind the counter, i asked to draw out 3 grand, after a few words with her supervisor she agreed that i could do this!, and proceeded to tap in the figures, her face screwed up, she did it again, then called someone over, he did the same thing and then they both looked puzzled, they finally said the money was being taken out of my account, then being put straight back in, and as it had happened 3 times, my card was locked out, they'd triggered the fraud protection thingy, brilliant, they had to call card services and get my card unblocked, there was probably something else they weren't telling me, i said i was going into my overdraft to get the money, this didn't matter but i bet it did, anyway eventually i got the cash, I'd been gone 20 minutes, not a good start, i had to be in Preston before 5, or I'd have no insurance, it was not 10 past 2.

So we got back on the A1, across the A67.. looking in fox covert scrap yard to see plenty of iveco dailys, bet they still claim they don't have any when i e-mail them asking for little parts (they apparently like selling engines and gear boxes only, so every answer i have ever got from them via e-mail has been 'sorry we have no vehicles suitable at the moment', got on the M1 upto the M62, across the M62 and then i decided to go the back roads, usually takes 45 minutes to go the A58 from Leeds to Burnley, Vicky lives near Leeds, and her mum near Burnley so we've done that route a few times, problem, it was now 3:30, school kicking out time, was slow going until we got to a church school, and the bloody lollypop lady kept us waiting for 10 minutes!, stopped traffic in both directions, walked 10 kids to the middle of the road, ran to stand in the middle of the other lane and walked them across to the pavement, then ran back and got another 10 kids, there must have been 200 bloody kids, the traffic was probably backed up right to Leeds.

We got to Halifax at about 4:20, no way we'd make it to Preston before 5, so called CIS to see if they would take payment over the phone at the Preston office, head office wont, and neither will the local offices, what's up with these people, luckily mentioned we were in Halifax, and there was an office there, got directions to it and parked up, 'opposite Lloyds bank' i was told, they weren't, so i rang them, turns out there's 2 Lloyds banks in Halifax, bloody TSB merger means most towns have 2 Lloyds now, but i found the office and went to pay for my cover.

It doesn't ran, it pours is a saying for what happens next, i explain what i want to do, i.e. take out cover there and then, paying in cash so i can drive a van home later on that day, the lady on the desk goes away, comes back "sorry sir, but the laptop isn't working so i cant help you", i can't remember exactly what i said at that point, but it was along the lines of 'you are going to help me', but with a bit of Viking language mixed in, "one moment sir" she said and disappeared again, then came back with a.... laptop, plugged it in and it worked, hmmm, i had to give all my details again as 'only the agents laptops have details from head office one them', so i did this, got as far as vehicle make, "no such things as an Iveco Turbo Daily" sir, more Viking works from me i think, along with me saying 'what am i about to buy then?'
She went away again, and i heard her on the phone to head office, i had been given a quote for an iveco turbo daily from head office a few hours ago, i heard the conversation, she was looking for an iveco in the cars list, it's a van, change to van makes and Iveco is there, i've heard of a few other people who have had that problem, some couldn't get insurance because of it.

So, she finds the make of van, model, had to guess the exact model designation, i knew it was a 35-10, but was it a classic, 35E10, city etc, i didn't know until i bought it, so she accepted it as i told here, and Iveco Turbo Daily 35-10.. then she put classic for good measure, eventually it's all sorted, £27.50 in cash later and i have a insurance certificate in my hands, it runs out 1 month form the day i took the cover out, and I'll probably have to give all my details again to get another month, i can live with that, i wont be at the Halifax branch when i do it :), on my way back to the car i phone the bloke with the van to tell him I'll be late, no problem he says, so we set off again, about 10 miles up the road i ask my mum to just check the insurance certificate to see it's all ok, things come in threes don't they??

Date of birth, i said 9th or the 2nd 77, on the cert, 08/02/1977, bugger, right at the top is a warning that the cover is offered providing the details given are correct, i gave them correct, the lady typing them in got it wrong, one other problem, i asked for and paid for protected no claims, on the cert, protected no claims = no, so mum phones them up and explains, 'can you get back to the office in the next 5 minutes' was the answer, no we cant mum said, and asked them to change the details on the system, and issue a new certificate and have it sent to my home address, 'not sure we can do that' was the reply, mum got mad with them then, the lady finally agreed to take the details down to be corrected, said the date of birth shouldn't matter, i'm covered, and that was that, hope the amended certificate arrives in the post tomorrow then.

Pretty boring run to blackpool, once we got out of the school traffic it was an easy drive, just Boooooring, each hill i said 'the sea's just over this hill', but all that was there was another hill :(, but at about half past 6 we arrived in blackpool, found the place easy enough, let dino out for a much needed pee, and went and had a look at the van, compared to the last one I'd seen this was immaculate, the bonnet was perfect, bumper had been scraped, but wasn't snapped in half almost, wings were straight, i could see rust tho, some on the front doors at the back of the curve for the window, both sides had it, bottom of the drivers door was a bit rusty, battery tray is rusty, all looks like surface rust, i suppose you have to expect this from a van that's been based at the seaside.

Underneath it was tidy, but not as nice looking as the last van, you could see the salty air had been attacking the paint, i got in and went for a drive, she started up instantly, not a puff of smoke, drove nicely, the accelerator was very stiff, brakes worked fine but seemed very light, and to me the pedal went down a bit too much, but this was the first vehicle I'd driven with disc's all round, so maybe this is normal, power steering was lovely, everything seemed to work ok, i noticed the windscreen wipers were way too small for the screen, there was no intermittent or self park.. relay gone i guessed, and i noticed the side marker lights were all out, probably a fuse, it had a few new tyres, 2 bloody great holes in the headliner from the speakers that had been taken out, but all in all it seemed a good van, drove well, hard to get into 2nd gear, but i remembered this happened on the last iveco i drove.

After a bit more looking over, i decided to buy it, then was told there's no registration document, reason why was because the van had a private plate and this had been changed to a normal plate 3 weeks ago, and it takes 4 weeks for the new reg documents to come through, i had proof of this with the relevant forms so that was ok, Vicky had tried to get a HPI check done for me, but the system was down apparently, so couldn't get me any details,
I handed over 3 grand in cash, got a receipt and got the keys, headed to the nearest petrol station to fill up with go juice, it was on quarter of a tank, the tank holds 70 litres, so 50 quid with today's expensive diesel, it took £35 to sort of fill it, the tank was a truck type tank, i.e. the filler is directly on the tank, so you can see into it, and it's easy to overfill it and loose half the fuel before you get the cap back on.

Headed off home, mum has not driven any distance for years, so i was leading but had to stick to around 60 mph, she wouldn't go any faster! the van performed faultlessly, ran at about 73 degrees C all the way, and used half a tank to do 160 miles, not as good as I'd like, but hopefully this will be better than the LT's consumption, Called in on my girlfriend on the way home, she lives near Leeds, got to have a proper look in the back of the van, it's humongous, just what i wanted tho.

Got back home at about half past midnight, parked on the drive, we wont get a car behind this van on the drive, it almost takes up half of a 4 car drive, went in and went to bed, next day i was up at about 10, had to look out the window just to see that i really had the van I'd been after for so long, she was still there, almost the same size as the garage, my plans for today's were.. change the gearbox oil, axle oil, engine oil and filter, fuel filter, see what the air filter is like, get the side marker lights working, sort out tyres, get the central locking working on the drivers door.

I checked the SBMCC forum and there were a few replies from a post i put just before i went to bed, saying i had the van, found accelerator heavy, hard to get into 2nd gear when cold etc, i was told the accelerator cable holder needs bending so it's in line with the pump, as most people find the pedal heavy until some fettling is done, something that never gets done with a commercial vehicle, they need to be on the road, pedal heave.. it works so leave it, me, i like things to do more than just work, i found out someone in the SBMCC was staying in Sleaford.. just down the road from me, he has an iveco too, and had done the accelerator thing, and invited me to come over to have a look so i can copy it, he also said he has the problem of hard to get 2nd gear when cold, he put synthetic gear oil in the box and it cured it, so i went out and had a play with the throttle linkage, farting about bending the bracket finally got the pedal smoother, and a little lighter, but i lost half the travel, only half throttle, then i looked for the other end of the cable, under the floor is a rod and spring arrangement, and another bracket mis-aligning the cable, bent that so it was at the right angle, freed off the sticky ball jointed rod, and found that was adjustable, so adjusted it to get full travel back, sorted, it's not as light as I'd like, but it's a lot better than it was.

I then went out to get gear oil and all that, ran into a problem, i took the handbook in which stated what oil i needed, and i wanted the synthetic equivalents, but they didn't even have the mineral oil of the specs i needed for the back axle, gear box they guessed hypoid EP90, the handbook lists Italian makes of oil, no good in England, so i had to leave the oil for now, i asked if they had a cam belt, they did, £40!!, yikes, Iveco's are not cheap to maintain, cam belt for the LT was £12, but the iveco's belt is a lot thicker, i forgot to ask for an oil filter and all that, just got the belt and i will change it sometime soon.

I then went out to investigate a metallic rattling i was getting, possible from the front wheels, i got the rattling from the door when i investigated, so i took the door panel off and found the window regulator tube was loose, and able to bang against the door skin, however i found the reason why the central locking didn't work from that door, corroded connectors, dunno why the Italians cant make window scrapers that seal like the Germans can, but basically rainwater pissed down the insides of the doors, there are a lot of drain holes so it's no problem, except for electrical stuff in the door, while tracing the wires for the central locking module i found the alarm modules, they had been half disconnected, and when i moved one, i triggered the alarm, i managed to shut it up, but the immobiliser was then working, brilliant, parts of the alarm was missing so i had to remove it, which was a shame as it was a thatcham category 1 alarm, tho i don't rekon much to the fitting of it, it was so obvious which wires were for the immobilizer.. green wire.. cut and purple wire joined to it, then into a loom to the alarm module, back out and joins the green wire again, i think dino could figure that out.

There were a few other connections at the fuse box, but i had to remove half the dash to get at the modules and get them out, it kept on raining on and off, and before i knew it i had half the van in bits, i had to e-mail the bloke at Sleaford to tell him i couldn't make it, and would try again tomorrow, the doors are nice and big, plenty of room to fit the electric window kit i had on the LT, the Iveco had a factory option of electric windows, it would be nice to source a van in a breakers with leccy windows and fit the proper kit, but i don't think that's gonna happen, i replaced the corroded wiring connectors for the central locking motor, and after replacing the ones that supply power to the drivers motor too (first i could lock the doors from drivers door, but the drivers door motor didn't work from other doors), i got the system working, the sliding door wont work as the contact pins are broken, but the cab and back door locks from either drivers of passengers door now, brilliant, i have an alarm i took off the LT that can do central locking on arm and disarm, so i might fit that quickly just to get remote locking :), it'll be handy as there are 4 keys for the van, ignition key, cab door keys, sliding door key and rear door key, the van had been broken into twice i was told, hence the different keys, at leas the cab has the same keys tho, the rest don't matter when the body is cut off.

I had been to Kwik Fit earlier in the day to price up tyres, the van has an almost brand new Goodyear cargo tyre on it, a worn Goodyear cargo tyre, a Michelin, and a matador tyre, last one is so new it still has the fitting soap on the rim, but i hate having mixed tyres, Goodyear cargo tyres are £106 each!!, i asked about Michelins, £140 each!!!!!, matador they don't stock so cant price, i was told for cheap tyres firestones at £90 each are available, i want Goodyear's as they are very good wearing tyres, the bloke at kwik fit said he'd do me a deal on 2 tyres, so I'll see what kind of deal, and see if he'll do a better one on 3, say £250 for 3, then i will keep the Matador for a spare as it's tread matches the Goodyear's better than the Michelin, and keep the Michelin off the rim and sell it to someone who has them on their iveco.

Just as it was getting dark i pulled the rear light lens off to find out why i had a few bulbs out, the tail light bulbs in the middle were silvered.. old age, tail light on the end that's also a side marker light was just not making contact, a little bend with a screwdriver had that sorted, then i pulled a side marker light lenses off, no bulb in it, the contacts were brand new, so why no bulbs (i had this all over the van, it has electric headlight adjusters, but they were un plugged, plugged them back in and they work), the next lens i took off answered my question, all the others were rusted away inside, so no bulbs would ever work in them, when it's a motorhome i will still need side markers, but i want to use LED's for most of the side and rear bulbs, so for now I'll solder some bulbs to the wires and get the marker lights working as they are a legal requirement, then sort out some new marker lights for the motorhome and fit led's at a later date.

Windscreen wipers  wash wipe, self park etc was a dodgy relay, it was actually removed hence the wipers wouldn't self park, the relay was in the passengers side door pocket, i had one i took from the LT, they are all the same so plugged that in and it all works again, still need proper sized wipers, but they can wait, I'll be seeing about a headlining with out head sized holes in it this weekend hopefully, and try to find a single passengers seat and think about making the cab a walk through once i have done the engine work.. like replace the cam belt, have the fuel pump re-calibrated, injectors tested and re-conditioned if needed etc, check back soon for some photo's of my new van, and another few days worth of messing about fixing things.