Over the past few weeks, I have been carrying out a few minor side projects while I awaiting the necessary funding to start the camper build proper. These “mini”side-projects are things that I can get done with little fuss & bother, and don’t cost too much to undertake, that will hopefully improve the general look & feel of Digby in an attempt to bring him back to near his former glory.
The Grab-Handle – When we first purchased Digby on of the more obvious signs of wear and tear was the fact that the passenger side dash-mounted grab handle was missing, leaving two ugly holes in the dash and the unmistakeable indentations of the former handle. I pondered the fact of how this item could have been lost or removed by a previous owner…? I suppose excessive force of over-use could have pulled it away from its moorings, or the M6 nuts holding it from behind the dash could have come loose, but who knows for sure…? Surely it could not be too much bother to re-mount it…?
I contacted an Auckland based car wreakers that were parting out Delica parts and negotiated a second-hand grab handle for the princely sum of $65 including shipping, and it arrived with only one of the flanged retaining nuts. No problem, I’ll pop round to Bunnings, pick up a few replacement M6 nyloc nuts and be back home and fitting in no time. Getting the nuts was no problem, but I am still suffering from scraped knuckles and bruised finger a couple of weeks later. It’s easy enough to drop the glove box down and get up behind the dash from underneath, but the nuts need to be located right next to some metal supporting rails which meant my fat finger & hands had the Devils own job locating the nut on the screw posts and then ratcheting them into place. An hour or so later, with the requisite offerings of blood, sweat and tears all accounted for, I got the bloody thing mounted. Worth it in the end though….
The Side Steps – Again, when we first purchased Digby the side steps were in a similarly poor condition to that of the front bull bars, being unaccountably painted white and showing signs of rust and disrepair. They also just didn’t work the way I would have expected a side step to work, as I found that I could not really squeeze my feet into the small gap between the step and the vehicle. I had looked at many pictures of other peoples camper conversions in the preceding months and noticed that most of them had their side steps removed, so I removed them too and that was that, or so I thought…
After having the suspension upgraded which resulted in a 50mm lift, getting in and out of Digby was now much more of a stretch. A friend of mine had recently brought a Delica and he suggested that I could re-mount the site steps but removing the plastic tread plate that sits on top of the metal rails, allowing more space to put your feet, so I thought I would give it a go. After sanding and priming the old rails with an anti-rust formula and allowing them plenty of time to dry, I painted the rails in the same matt black colour that I had used for the bull bars and re-fitted them to Digby. They look pretty good but I am still not sold on them, and even though I can get my feet on top of the side step now, the driver’s side one is still not really at a useable height to make getting in and out easier….
The Grab-Handle – When we first purchased Digby on of the more obvious signs of wear and tear was the fact that the passenger side dash-mounted grab handle was missing, leaving two ugly holes in the dash and the unmistakeable indentations of the former handle. I pondered the fact of how this item could have been lost or removed by a previous owner…? I suppose excessive force of over-use could have pulled it away from its moorings, or the M6 nuts holding it from behind the dash could have come loose, but who knows for sure…? Surely it could not be too much bother to re-mount it…?
I contacted an Auckland based car wreakers that were parting out Delica parts and negotiated a second-hand grab handle for the princely sum of $65 including shipping, and it arrived with only one of the flanged retaining nuts. No problem, I’ll pop round to Bunnings, pick up a few replacement M6 nyloc nuts and be back home and fitting in no time. Getting the nuts was no problem, but I am still suffering from scraped knuckles and bruised finger a couple of weeks later. It’s easy enough to drop the glove box down and get up behind the dash from underneath, but the nuts need to be located right next to some metal supporting rails which meant my fat finger & hands had the Devils own job locating the nut on the screw posts and then ratcheting them into place. An hour or so later, with the requisite offerings of blood, sweat and tears all accounted for, I got the bloody thing mounted. Worth it in the end though….
The Side Steps – Again, when we first purchased Digby the side steps were in a similarly poor condition to that of the front bull bars, being unaccountably painted white and showing signs of rust and disrepair. They also just didn’t work the way I would have expected a side step to work, as I found that I could not really squeeze my feet into the small gap between the step and the vehicle. I had looked at many pictures of other peoples camper conversions in the preceding months and noticed that most of them had their side steps removed, so I removed them too and that was that, or so I thought…
After having the suspension upgraded which resulted in a 50mm lift, getting in and out of Digby was now much more of a stretch. A friend of mine had recently brought a Delica and he suggested that I could re-mount the site steps but removing the plastic tread plate that sits on top of the metal rails, allowing more space to put your feet, so I thought I would give it a go. After sanding and priming the old rails with an anti-rust formula and allowing them plenty of time to dry, I painted the rails in the same matt black colour that I had used for the bull bars and re-fitted them to Digby. They look pretty good but I am still not sold on them, and even though I can get my feet on top of the side step now, the driver’s side one is still not really at a useable height to make getting in and out easier….
The Windscreen Garnish – Did you know that the funny plastic strips that sit in front of the windscreen and house the window washer nozzles, is called ‘Windscreen Garnish’…? Anyway, I was looking at it the other day and noticed that it was made of the same type of plastic that much of the Delica trim is made from, the same as the plastic trim on the bull bars that I took back to its original colour with the aid of a heat gun. Given that this ‘garnish’ had also discoloured to an unsatisfying shade of light grey, I took a look at running a heat gun across it to get it back to black.
Instead of doing it in-situ, I decided I should remove the trim that is directly against the windscreen as I did not want to damage the glass with excessive heat from the heat gun. Unfortunately, in removing this piece of ‘garnish’ I managed to break most of the seating clips that hold it firmly in place against the body, mainly due to the fact that the clips had become extremely brittle over the last 23 years, however, the plastic came up a treat using the heat gun. The other bit of trim that is attached to the edge of the bonnet was far enough away from the windscreen that it was unnecessary to remove it, so I went at it with the heat gun and carefully brought the oils back to the surface of the plastic and thus bringing back the original colour. All-in-all, it looks really good, but I have had to order some replacement clips at the cost of $50 to finish the job off properly. You win some, you lose some……
Instead of doing it in-situ, I decided I should remove the trim that is directly against the windscreen as I did not want to damage the glass with excessive heat from the heat gun. Unfortunately, in removing this piece of ‘garnish’ I managed to break most of the seating clips that hold it firmly in place against the body, mainly due to the fact that the clips had become extremely brittle over the last 23 years, however, the plastic came up a treat using the heat gun. The other bit of trim that is attached to the edge of the bonnet was far enough away from the windscreen that it was unnecessary to remove it, so I went at it with the heat gun and carefully brought the oils back to the surface of the plastic and thus bringing back the original colour. All-in-all, it looks really good, but I have had to order some replacement clips at the cost of $50 to finish the job off properly. You win some, you lose some……
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