Mignon - The Restoration of a 1979 Bedford Camper

Hope you can take a joke Kev !

Here's your cat-flap (and a fair bit of panel beating for me !)

From left (clockwise):

Mag's 'this-cost-70-grand-new-I-tell-you! gently decaying vision of grandeur', a BMW 740, Mignon II, Mignon I, the mighty Ebay Ford pickup and Gil's new birthday present, an Astra twin-top. Looks like a dodgy second-hand dealer's yard instead of our house !

The village think the gypsies have moved in...

Do you a new driveway guvnor ?

(Click to enlarge)

It's a bit like this round our place at the moment !

Well, it's mostly good but there is some 'oiliness' to be getting on with. First and foremost are the front brakes. Bleh.

They're drum brakes and I've never dealt with them before. The front brakes shudder quite badly and pull to the left, but I'm hoping it's just a new set of pads that are needed. (Caution: Pub Talk !) The pull might be the slave cylinder binding which is even more 'bleh' as I've never attempted to change something like that on any vehicle. Fortunately the bits are easy to get (Mignon 1 is parked nearby !), even the special tool you need to adjust the brakes. However, the manual says 'you may find this tricky' which translates to 'do not attempt unless you possess Superhuman powers....'

Mignon is too big to fit into the local garage so I'm on my own. Me and the trusty Haynes manual....

Secondly, the Gauges of Doom.

The temperature gauge plunges into the red about a minute after starting up, yet I know it is not overheating. The fuel gauge has a link to a parallel universe and is reading the contents of a fuel-tank in a different dimension. The fuel gauge we can live with - a simple bit of mental arithmetic will tell you when you need to fill up (i.e., before I didn't !). However, if it does overheat, we have no way of knowing.

I know the gauge itself is ok, so it must be the sender unit. Easy job, happily. Replacing the fuel gauge sender requires the tank itself to be dropped out. I'll see how I'm feeling !

(Caution: More Pub Talk !) Usually, behind the dashboard is a little device called a voltage regulator. It smooths out the electrical current reaching your gauges as the engine revs rise and fall (and thus the output power of the alternator). With both gauges a bit dead, I assumed it was probably that and asked on my club forum if anyone had a spare for this particular model.

Well, it turns out this model doesn't *have* a voltage regulator; it was fitted to later models only. When I asked someone why they hadn't let me know, they said: "We didn't want you to feel like an idiot !" 10/10 for social discretion, 0/10 for usefuleness !

So, both the senders have failed. Not the non-existent voltage regulator. Or the lunge-sprocket.

Interior-wise, the roof boards need replacing as a previous leak has pretty much destroyed them. Not difficult, but very time consuming.

Then all I need to do is install and wire the Zig power management unit, connect that to the car battery, wire in the leisure battery, wire that to the Zig, route the existing lighting circuit to the Zig, change the lights over to LED and fit some additional ones, attach the stereo to the Zig, the CD changer to the stereo, wire the TV in, connect the audio-out to the stereo's audio-in... *breathes*...... panel beat and respray the fridge vent, respray all additional vents, get the windscreen seal replaced, new carpet, new curtains and the furnishings recovered, fit wall brackets for the microwave, attach the awning, shot-blast the wheels, fit the chrome covers, replace the hazard light unit, re-wire the existing cab CD unit, clean/replace the roof vent guards, strip and respray the heater, fit new door mirrors, remove and respray the gearstick and steering column... *struggles to breathe*.... sand, prime and respray the cab interior metal, fix crack in worksurface, re-attach loose pieces of interior trim and fix or replace the ship's clock at the rear. *chokes*

Piece of cake these old campers, eh ?!

(Click on any to enlarge)