Working on my 2001 Nu Venture

[Martinez]

Yes, seems HepC not a worry. I’m more worried that all my old friends from the 70s seem to have had it !

[kernowjon]

Have to admit to doing little on the van recently. Went to visit my brother for his birthday on 13th December and told him he looked like he was dying. Turns out I was right ! Kidney failure + Hep C it seems. He’s finally back home but have to say, the van is in better nick than he is !
Dialysis 3 times a week and more pills to take than at a Northern Soul revival meeting.

That is sad. The kidney part is really bad, is there any hope of a transplant?
peaking from experience HepC (in my case the legacy of a misspent youth) is not too bad to cure - I had it from 1978 (when it had no name the diagnosis then was "Hepatitis Not A Not B") eventually treated in 2012 took about 6 months to cure injections and tablets - but someone I know treated recently 2019 was only tablets and 8 weeks.
Jon

[Martinez]

Have to admit to doing little on the van recently. Went to visit my brother for his birthday on 13th December and told him he looked like he was dying. Turns out I was right ! Kidney failure + Hep C it seems. He’s finally back home but have to say, the van is in better nick than he is !
Dialysis 3 times a week and more pills to take than at a Northern Soul revival meeting.
Still need to finish the seat bases and I’ve SORN’d it until I can progress further. I’ve also been sidetracked by a Pfaff 230 sewing machine which I’ve overhauled with intent of using it to make my interior cushions. Another bloody project, but need to keep the old grey matter on the go.

[peterholden]

Yes

Peter

[Martinez]

I pronounce you the official expert on Berlingo front passenger seats. so does yours have the cup holders and tray built into the back of the seat ?

[peterholden]

Worked it out our M49 Berlingo car was a 5 Door and so the passenger seat moved on runners and the backrest adjusted for rake but no flip but the earlier 3 door berlingo car had a seat on adjustable runners and also flipped to give access to the rear. they are quite rare. The vans and platfiorm cabs (Romahome built on platform cabs but early Nuventures were built on cut down vans and cars, I remember visiting NuVentures place in Wigan and there was a pile of cut off van bodies in their yard) have a non adjustable non flip seat with a backrest that folds flat. I would prefer an adjustable flip seat but there would have to be enough room underneath for the leisure bnattery and charger. I tghink that would be pie in the sky. Never seen an M49 or M59 van with an adjustable flip seat jst the fixed seat with the fold flat back although the last of the M59 enterprise vans may have had an adjustable seat from the car but they did not flip.

Peter

[Martinez]

Don’t know much about Romahomes, but Berlingos come with either the fold flat passenger seat or the fold flat and flip seat. As the seat bases are welded to the frame underneath they’re almost impossible to modify. You either get one with a flip seat or not, they all fold forwards. The issue with the Nu Venture is the need to access the water tank behind the passenger seat. It’s a problem I’ll have to figure out

[peterholden]

With the seating arrangement in our 2007 Romahome it cannot be done otherwise I would have done it however the backrest on the passenger seat folds flat. My driver's seat has been modified using the backrest adjusting mechanism from a Renault 5. It is operated by a lever instead of a knob, much easier to use.

Peter

[Martinez]

You’ve all heard I’m sure of tales of soldiers in WW1 who were saved from a bullet by their fob watch or a bible in their pocket, well I’ve got something 21st Century that saved me
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my iphone !
ruined my overalls though

[Martinez]

Having had the M49 Berlingo carwith the sliding passenger seat and an M59 based Romahome with the tipping seat I can cornfirm that it is not possible to have a tipping seat that is adjustable. We are stuck with the tipping seat as our leisure battery lives under ther and so a sliding seat would not work. Howeve with a bit of fiddling I have managed to increase the size of the leisure battery to 120 amphour.

Peter

I’m afraid that’s not correct. My passenger seat had slide adjustment and it flipped up too. I’ve not yet totally given up on making a flip up seat, but for now it’ll do.

[peterholden]

Having had the M49 Berlingo carwith the sliding passenger seat and an M59 based Romahome with the tipping seat I can cornfirm that it is not possible to have a tipping seat that is adjustable. We are stuck with the tipping seat as our leisure battery lives under ther and so a sliding seat would not work. Howeve with a bit of fiddling I have managed to increase the size of the leisure battery to 120 amphour.

Peter

[Martinez]

Ah well, it’s nearly out of the way now. No, not the camper, the 25th !
Anyway, I’m back to trying to complete the seat conversion. My final fitting has the seats moved around 80 mm forwards of the original brackets and with a slope of 30mm rise at the rear down to 10mm front.
This gives more movement forwards and raises the back enough to miss the floor of the van at the back. Also gives better access behind the seats, and allows the backrest to recline more.
Maggie can now sleep whilst I drive. I’ve lost the ability to flip the passenger seat up, but the fixing bolts are more accessible if I need to take the seats out for any reason. Also, the slight angle reduces what is quite a large slope to the seat bases.
if you fancy updating your seats to the later Berlingo ones I can provide basic measurements. Just need to do the drivers side now, but now I’ve got the sizes right so I can soon get that sorted. The drivers seat also has height adjustment. Dunno if it’ll be any use, but it’s there if I need it, oh and an armrest ! Luxury eh ?

[gasgas]

Well I managed to sort the rear lights out. It’s worth cleaning the connectors properly every year as these things are exposed to the weather unlike most vehicles where they’re inside in the dry. Here’s my tips for doing it yourself. You’ll need a pozi 2 screwdriver to remove the 8 screws, a pencil, some fine grade abrasive paper (I used 280 grade wet n dry) and some long nose pliers.
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Here’s one of them unclipped from the lens unit. There are 2 clips that hold it in that you’ll need to unclip then put the lens somewhere safe.
Next remove the bulbs, a little wd40 will help free them up if they’re stuck. Be careful if they’re very stiff as if they break you could cut your hands.
Next remove the clips that hold the contacts into the metal housing.

B0044E47-9251-47EB-B6DA-F652A24409E4.jpeg33F310D5-0056-4EDB-AABC-2D7761C9F924.jpeg
These come out easy enough by squeezing the 2 plastic tangs inwards and pushing them through to the rear.
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Then take a piece of the abrasive paper and wrap it round the end of the pencil. You can now use this to clean the contacts and the holes where the bulbs fit. Take care that you clean the contacts along their length as they are slightly rounded inwards. Hence the use of the pencil although anything else of a similar diameter will do. Also, make a note of where each contact fits or you’ll get in a right tizz when nothing works right.
And clean the metal parts of the bulbs too just to aid contact. And that’s about it. No more dodgy lights (well for a while anyway !)
I’d suggest you consider fitting a strip of that draft seal stuff along the top edge of where the lens meets the body to keep the water from running down the rear and into the back of the light units. It’s available from most cheapo shops for around a £1
Jobs a goodun!

Yes, after many years of fixing faulty lights on customer's cars whenever I get a new camper or car the first thing I do is remove all the lights, take out the bulbs, clean all the contact areas and put them back with coppaslip grease to prevent any further corrosion.

[Martinez]

Yes, the 2 hours until next train was just that, a 2 hour wait and nothing to see or do !
And no drinks on train getting back. 4 1/2 hours on a train in the dark is a long journey !

[Owd Bob]

Nice place & views but not much in the proper shops dept' the market was a let down even in the height of summer.