My Cobra RV / Custom van project

shagman · 08-08-2010 11:52am #1

Well I've just come to a milestone in creating my perfect van. I have a 79 Chevy G30 that was converted from new to a campervan by Cobra industries. I love the comfort and facilities the camper offers plus it saves me thousands of euros in insurance and tax as their is special rates for RVs/Campervans here in Ireland.
I don't like the boring looks/ugly top/ and poor performance, and if I was in the states or canada I'd have a tin top with only portholes in the sides. But ya gotta rod what ya got, and I do love Helga (my vans name) so my project is to make this the ultimate fusion between a campervan and a custom van. I've been adding a few bits and pieces over the years but at easter I bought a rebuilt camaro 350 smallblock and stripped and rebuilt the front end.
It was a bit of a nightmare as I had to rebuild the so called rebuilt engine.
See more here:- Rebuilt engine rebuild
It now has new fenders, new motor , new seat upholstery, new custom windowed engine cover and I stripped everything under the hood back to bare metal and painted with rust bullet.
Still to do.
To make the hi-top look better I fitted wooden slats on the roofrack to give it better lines, they will need to come off and get re-varnished. I'm also gonna mould in a visor to smooth out the look of the overcab section (the gap will be filled and rounded out into the visor).
I'm gonna install chrome tubular running boards, these have no steps just a chrome tube running from tyre to tyre.At the rear of these running boards and under them will be half length side pipes coming from the middle of the van to the rear tyres. A full mud flare kit + chinspoiler will also be moulded in. I'll be cutting holes in these and the tubular running boards will pierce them at their ends. This is because the running boards are just short of touching the tyres on either end, I'll probably mould/radius them into the mud flares. At the rear quarter panel I'm installing teardrop portholes. The paint job will be as below a stripe that turns into a flame and inside the flame will be the teardrop porthole. I also have a few mods in mind for the interior including converting the overcab bed into a drop down one like in A class motorhomes.
Here's some photos click on the small ones to embiggen them.

V8 peep show.
this is my favourite shot .

shagman · 08-08-2010 11:53am

And a few more...

_Conrad_ · 13-08-2010 5:50pm

nice turbovecs... and nice v8!

shagman · 14-08-2010 9:45pm

Thanks, they are Western Cyclone RVs , they're the only turbovec style wheels available in 8 stud. I imported them from LA a few years back. I'm going to take them off and re-polish/paint them soon and I have a nice set of chrome centre caps waiting to go on.
I'm fitting chrome tubular running boards at the moment. Hopefully have it in some sort of shape for the Kilbeggan classic american show on sept 11/12th.

peasant · 14-08-2010 11:36pm

I really like the idea of windows into the engine.

Sadly, this doesn't really work on a 1.6 diesel ...nor on an engine stuck in the rear

shagman · 15-08-2010 1:07pm

peasant wrote: »

I really like the idea of windows into the engine.

Sadly, this doesn't really work on a 1.6 diesel ...nor on an engine stuck in the rear

I dunno a window in the engine door of a VW camper showing a fully dressed up flatfour would be cool.

shagman · 10-10-2011 7:20pm

Ass, Gas or Grass,
No-One rides for free!

shagman · 19-02-2013 8:44pm

I had a project thread on Octane which was copied from here if you want to see the "prequel" to this post .

http://www.vannin.com/threads/ubbthreads.php/topics/602993/1

I got a small warehouse unit to store it before xmas so I could start into the bodywork.
I started by attacking some rust that was behind the rear bumper. The bumper itself was bent so I am replacing it with a spare front bumper I have (some modification required). Anything that I take off I strip back to bare metal and repaint.
I finished my custom engine cover/doghouse.
I have just finished striping the van ready to attack the rust and prep it for paint.
There are quite a few holes in it which I will be filling in with patches.
At the moment I'm experimenting with chopping the front springs to lower it.
Here's the photos.....

shagman · 19-02-2013 8:44pm

Malta1 · 20-02-2013 10:28am

Fantastic looking job.....well done and best wishes with the remainder of the project

shagman · 24-02-2013 12:03am

Cheer's I've just sourced a parts van so that will help a lot.

shagman · 10-04-2013 11:02pm

Here's where I'm at with the van at the moment.

This is the other side of the van that I haven't paint-stripped yet, you can see the small pinhead sized spots of rust coming through.

Underneath the paint there is the phospher etch coat and you can see the cobwebbing of rust in it which is coming through in the above mentioned pinhead spots.

I'm gonna treat it with "metal blast" and see how it reacts if it doesn't remove the rust completely I'll just sand it back to bare metal. I'm tempted to just sand it back to bare metal anyway just so I can be sure there is no rust. I'm sure current anti-rust primers must do a better job than GMs 70s treatment.

I've also sanded back the rear floor to bare metal, welded up the smaller holes and repainted with a zinc "cold galvanizing" spraypaint.
There are a few bigger holes that I fibreglassed over tonight. I am getting a scrap van soon and I'm gonna cut the rear section of floor out and panel bond it to the current one after filling all unnecessary holes. It will then be painted with stonechip paint from underneath and the gas tank put back in which has allready been painted with stonechip.

I did the same grind back and repaint on the front end and around the windscreen but repainted with rust bullet as it's more prone to rust there and I think rust bullet is the best anti-rust paint I have available to me.

shagman · 04-06-2014 8:16pm

Still chipping away at it....

shagman · 30-06-2014 4:48pm

A little bit more work done recently.....

New vent in for cooker

Original vent was looking a bit scruffy.

Front end rebuilt. With nice fold out/step numberplate surround.

portholes installed.

zambo · 30-06-2014 7:30pm

That step should be useful crossing the tollbridge

shagman · 30-06-2014 8:55pm

Yeah I just need to fit a little actuator to it and stick a switch in the dash

moodrater · 02-07-2014 11:34am

Nice work. Loving the portholes. Do they have appropriate markings for doe. If so where did you get them and how much.

toastedpickles · 02-07-2014 11:36am

Just after coming across this now, that's pretty cool! You should stick it in the build forum

shagman · 02-07-2014 10:13pm

moodrater wrote: »

Nice work. Loving the portholes. Do they have appropriate markings for doe. If so where did you get them and how much.

I bought them off ebay a good few years back for a decent price but since the resurgance in vannin in the states they tend to go for around the $200-300 mark now. Still interested ???
Not sure if they pass DOE as my van is pre 1980 so is a classic vehicle.

shagman · 16-07-2014 6:30pm

Wheel arch flares and chin spoiler on.....

shagman · 23-07-2014 12:01am

I've fitted the fibreglass sun visor now and am blending in the flares and filling and sanding the body. After that I'll put the doors back on and give it a coat of high build primer.

I'm happy with the way it looks, the sunvisor makes a big difference I think. I mounted it on brackets I made from two old coat hooks

.

Malta1 · 23-07-2014 4:13pm

Its looks cool......looking more and more like the A-Teams van every day

When you have it on the road, if your ever down Wexford way, make sure you give me a shout......would love to see it

shagman · 23-07-2014 11:26pm

A few more photos, I've been doing a lot of filling and sanding. :crazy:

Night night Helga,

shagman · 19-09-2014 12:09am

Lot's of filling and sanding and then more filling and sanding later......

I should be painting it this weekend if the weather co-operates.

moodrater · 19-09-2014 12:36am

Looking great. Due to be very cold Saturday night Sunday morning 6-8 degrees and 14-16 degrees and wet Saturday day.

19-09-2014 4:06am

shagman wrote: »

Lot's of filling and sanding and then more filling and sanding later......

shagman · 19-09-2014 10:24am

moodrater wrote: »

Looking great. Due to be very cold Saturday night Sunday morning 6-8 degrees and 14-16 degrees and wet Saturday day.

If that's the forecast then it should be sunny all weekend!!!! Yay!!

moodrater · 19-09-2014 11:16am

shagman wrote: »

If that's the forecast then it should be sunny all weekend!!!! Yay!!

Lol if met eireann were to be relied on. Saturday day might be ok actually yr have revised theirs to no precipitation, rain seems to have fallen in kerry today instead, but all the forecasts agree north/northeasterly and cold for saturday night/sunday morning and periods of very high humidity and possible fog sunday morning. Good luck with the job.

http://www.windfinder.com/forecast/casement_aerodrome

https://www.google.ie/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=kilcock+weather

shagman · 22-09-2014 11:43pm

First layer of high build primer on.

shagman · 01-10-2014 11:35pm

Some more photos.....

shagman · 08-06-2015 11:37pm

I took Helga out for her maiden voyage yesterday to a local car meet.
She ran well, but it was a little noisy with door cards and door seals etc still not installed.
There's still a lot of stuff to do but it's certainly starting to take shape now.

My Cobra RV / Custom van project

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