Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

[merv]

I'm enjoying this, something diffrent

[phunkie hiboy]

OK, now to deal with the front wall.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Remove the window and inner covering (pretty bad condition and has been painted over, and not very well)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Remove sealing foam and fittings.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Check to see what holes require filling.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Sand off all the glue from the inner covering and the badly crazed over painting on the lower section. A rotary wire brush on a drill seems to do the job pretty well.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The fibreglass around the window area is so thin that over the years it has distorted quite a lot. This could result in water ingress even when the window is closed and locked.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

This remedied by cutting, from a piece of thick wood (read old acoustic parcel shelf), a shape to fit exactly where the window mounts and fix it to the frame.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Fibreglass laminate is then laid around the sides, up to about 2.5 inches round the “frame”. this will make it stronger in that area and straight.

 

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The same treatment carried out on the rear wall on the bottom rail/hinge mounting area has also been applied here, including adding  mount for the contact set for lighting.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The lighting cables have then been glassed in……..

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

……..before sanding and covering with a coat of bright white topcoat.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

That’s it, for the moment, on the front wall.
Now to start on the side walls, first the left side.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

First, as with the front wall, remove trim and window.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Then remove all the trim glue, with a rotary wire brush and electric drill. This came off quite easily.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Then to look at the hinge panel at the bottom. Due to a couple of reasons the two skins of this assembly had parted company.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Also at the end lower corners the fibreglass was breaking up.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The reasons for all this, a combination of partially seized hinges, not very good bonding along the edge and laminate being laid on gel coat finish with out keying first.
The end parts were cut away to uncover good fibreglass.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The top and bottom skins of the lower assembly were held apart and a generous amount of Sikaflex was injected in between, then the two skins taped together to “go off”.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

After keying with a course sandpaper the end corners were laminated.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Then trimmed and sanded ready for a coat of “top coat”. The tape was removed from the Sikaflexed joint and also sanded.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The window received the same treatment as the front window opening.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Things are moving ahead quite well now, so next time the right side ………………

[phunkie hiboy]

Following on, the window edge is laminated and trimmed. The same method is carried out on the other side. This side was in a less damaged condition, but the same areas required attention.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Now that both sides are repaired on the inside, it’s time to paint them over with topcoat.

Left side…………………….

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Right side…………………….

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

I managed to get hold of some pre used battery terminals.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Which were cleaned up and soldered onto the necessary wires and finised off with shrink insulation.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Next piece to get attention has to be the roof. The coating on the inside was cracking and falling off.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

So armed with a gasket scraper and rotary wire brush on a drill we turned this …………

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Into this ………….

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

With the resulting roof interior looking like this …………

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

There are some repairs to be made ……….

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The worst of which is a “sag” in the fibre glass on the right side at the rear. Not that obvious in this picture

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

But we need to sus out what will have to be done to make it stable before we go any further.
 I’m off to work on a plan, so see you next time.

[phunkie hiboy]

Right, didn’t take too long to work out what was happening and put a plan into action, but first, on taking off the fittings and drilling out the pop rivets, the left rear supporting steel for the roof lifting handle exploded. It had rotted out on the upper edge, and is no good anymore.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

So the old one was cut out.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

And a new one fabricated from aluminium.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Then, after cleaning the old mounting surface, this was installed using Sikaflex to bond it to the roof.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Then a couple of layers of laminate to clean up the inside.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

There was a small repair to do at the front edge where he roof pivots on the little aluminium sliders are.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Just set up a straight support outside, ground away part of the edge and laminated the repair from the inside. The outside will be addressed when we do the repairs on the outside.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Now, on to the “sagging” right side of the roof. The problem seems to have been caused by a weakness on the inside edge of the right hand “fin” allowing the roof to “flatten” out.
With the roof turned upside down on the base, this allows the roof to take its proper shape, weight was added to the “sag” area, expanded aluminium was cut to shape as a support to aid laminating.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Both inner portions of the “fins” were laminated over and the front portion as well. This gives us a Portafold roof on the outside and an Ansfold roof on the inside, but I has worked to give a non saggy roof.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

To help to make this modification stronger but still light, holes were drilled into the fins from inside and the void filled with expanding foam.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Now to make a smoother/good looking roof surface, in side, it was sanded off and a complete one piece sheet of fibreglass cloth was bonded to it. This hasn’t added too much weight to the roof, as cloth is quite light compared to chopped strand mat.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

As today has been pretty warm, the glass has been “going off” pretty quickly , so by the time I’m back on it again it’ll be fully hard and will only require a light sanding before painting it with the white top coat.

[phunkie hiboy]

So, yes, the cloth laminate has now hardened and the edge has been trimmed and sanded. The inside has now been lightly sanded and painted over with white top coat.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Whilst that was drying, I made the trim panel for the lower rear door, from a piece of 3mm exterior ply. It was marked out for the trim clip positions and drilled through into the door. A trial fit was made using “clico’s”, now ready to drill holes full size in readiness for the clips.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Back to the main body, after removing the chassis, the body was turned over and the final external repairs carried out. The whole of the underside, up to the join, was then sanded. We’re doing in sections because it’s easier for us, to do it that way.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

It was then sprayed with primer. Firstly with a Max Mayer epoxy 2 pack primer. This adheres to the fibreglass and makes a good base for the Max Mayer 2 pack primer/filler, which covers all the pinholes in the surface of the fibreglass. This is not going to be a “perfect” job, the preparation for that would take hundreds of hours, but it will be to a presentable standard.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

I’ll leave that for a few days, or so, to harden, then next week end we’ll turn it back over and finish the top area, above the join line.
Be back soon

[merv]

Looking forward to it

[phunkie hiboy]

Thanks for that Merv, all this that I'm downloading at the moment is on word douments, so we are a bit further forward with it now.
Now the primer has hardened, the body has been turned over.
Before we go any further, the two front support/roof axis bracket fixing area needs to be addressed. Problem is that, the wooden block that the brackets are screwed into are not touching the fibreglass inside the body, hence all the cracks around the mount.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

As soon as the screws are tightened, the glass is pulled in cracking the gel coat. So, just made up some packing “shims” out of 3mm exterior ply and tapped them in between the wooden block and the outer skin.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Now, having sanded all the upper part of the body, all the storage bin holes are masked up and the area painted firstly with epoxy primer and then hi build primer.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

As we are going to add top coat colour this time, a guide coat of black is added.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

This then sanded, untill all the black is gone. This makes sure all the marks and imperfections have been sanded out. The bins are masked up again.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The colour is now spayed on. The colour we’ve chosen for this is a period colour from the 60s & 70s, BMC “Old English White”.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

After the paint has tacked off, the whole thing is demasked.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Need to let it harden off completely, then we can start to fit it up with lights and stuff

[phunkie hiboy]

Right, whilst the main body is hardening we’ll paint the lower rear door, hinges and the hook up flap.
Hook up flap first, as it’s plastic we need to have some adhesion and flexability so firstly a coat of adhesion promoter then a couple of light coats of etch primer. This ensures that the textured finish is not lost.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Then a couple of coats of “Old English White” to finish.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

So onto the lower door and hinges. It was decided to paint the hinges body colour, firstly ‘cos they just wouldn’t look right in black and in the early advertising and the video they are shown as a light colour, so either body colour or white. Same prep as the body, one coat of epoxy and two/three coats of high build primer all sanded down and painted with three coats of colour.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

After painting the main part of hook up unit, where the hinges are, by hand (brush) it was fitted to the body and the flap fitted to that using it’s pivot pins.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

To fit the lower rear door hinges, it was decided to use rubber gaskets. As these can’t be bought, they had to be made. A quite simple job, a piece of wood with two holes drilled for the bolts, some thin flat rubber (old truck inner tube) and a sharp craft knife. Cu two holes in the rubber, install hinge through the rubber into the holes in the wood and cut around the hinge.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Right we are now ready to fit up the rear end. Fit half the hinges to the main body and the other halves to the lower door. As the hinges had been badly fitted in the first place and this made the lower door too low, an easy fix to raise the door would be to make two oblong brass balls to fit between the two hinge halves. As luck would have it some of the Land Rover hinge balls are a larger diameter, which just meant turning down the middle diameter to make them  oblong. The door was then assembled to the body and secured.
The original style new handle, obtained from www.vintagesupplies.com for 20 quid each, was fitted with stainless steel screws.
The refurbished original number plate light was reposition to the centre of the lower door.
Number plate fixings were made from a couple of import lower number plate fixings and a couple of Rivnuts for the top mounts.
The rear lights chosen were the same lights that we used on our Airstream camping trailer and are of the type used on an Austin A55. They were obtained from www.vintagemotorspares.com for 22 quid each. These were fitted and connected. Also the reflective triangles that came with the caravan originally were secured with SS screws. And now it all looks like this……….

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Now we’ve made a start on the sides. The left side has had a couple of small repairs in the gel coat done and sanded. Following what went before, one coat of epoxy and a couple of coats of high build ……….

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

A guide coat ……………

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

All sanded down and then three coats of colour …………….

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

I thought that while that was starting to dry off, I’d install the hinges ready to fit the whole side to he body once it was completely dry. I seem to remember reading on one of the other forums that people were having a problem getting the correct countersunk rivets (something about they were only available in metric). Well the original ones would have been 3/16”, these are still available all over the place, but you need to look outside the box as they are now listed as 4.8mm. These are the guys we got ours from, on eBay..
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170408253445?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649 , 100 for 7 quid delivered.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Until next time then ……………………..

[phunkie hiboy]

Just a small update, managed to a little bit today (waiting for parts, so couple of hours around lunch time).
Didn’t want the side kicking around getting the new paint damaged, so cut the rubber cord seals for the end channels, glued the channels and the cord (on one side only) and then fitted them.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

After fitting the flat seals on the end flanges of the painted side and also along the top edge a small amount of silicone grease was put on the rubbers and the side installed into position. The inner parts of the hinges were then riveted to the main body.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

The operation of the side was then checked, both in the up and down position.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Then to complete the installation, the “sealing strip” was added. I have tried to obtain some thing like the original, but to no avail. I managed to find some wide gaffer (duct, racers) tape and just ran 3 overlapping lengths. His seems to work OK.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Back onto the other side later in the week……………

[phunkie hiboy]

Just a quick update, managed to sand and get some primer on the right side during the week. I was then able to sand and add 3 coats of colour yesterday (Saturday).

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Whilst waiting for the paint to “go off”, ‘cos I hate watching paint dry, I finished off the lower door catch.
We had been having problems with the lower door not closing level. This was to do with the position of the hinges, having not been fitted correctly at the factory. Although these are self aligning hinges, they have to be fitted with the axis vertical for them to work properly. Inside the body is a strip of metal that is drilled and tapped with a thread to take the securing bolts for the hinges. It wasn’t possible to retap the threads further down, by the small amount needed, so I made up a new striker plate to fit on the door “frame” and a wedge device to fit on the door. As the door is closed the final amount, the wedge contacts the striker and lifts the door into its proper position. The items were fabricated from stainless steel and polished. Just need to substitute the black screws with some stainless ones now.

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

Phunkie Project Portafold (caravan!!)

‘Till next time …………….

[phunkie hiboy]

Well that's as far as we are at the moment. During the week, we'll fit the right hand side and get on with the front and back. So I'll post progress as and when it happens (that's going to be pretty fast as we only have 4 and a bit weeks to get it done!!).

[Manky Monkey]

You made those striker plates yourself Chris? They look like factory pressings. Fantastic attention to detail.
I've never seen a Portafold being put up -is it a one man or two man job?

[phunkie hiboy]

In the original paperwork, that would have been supplied with the new "van", it states ............

                "ERECTED IN ONE MINUTE BY ONE PERSON"


Yes the striker was "hand" made. Didn't have any stainless sheet, so cut a small length from a piece of 2.5" stainless exhaust tube, cut it down and opened it up flat, fabricated what I needed to. It was then welded and filed to shape and finally, polished.

[Clive]

Errrrr.............WOW!!!!! 

I think you may have over estimated me, if you reckon I could do most of this in my garage at home though!

What a fantastic step by step, really wish I was this clever!!

Those weren't the standard wheels poking out from under the masking paper though, were they?

[BikerGran]

Fascinating thread, fantastic restoration - it does strike me it might have easier to build one from scratch!