A Motorhome Facelift and Other Tales

“You should buy new” said my friend. “That way you save on the repairs”. Well, with the price of a new motorhome what it is, I decided to buy used. In 2002, I paid £6000 for a 1986 Ford Transit based Andrade motorhome, built in Portugal . It is an A Class type and looked to be in good condition. Being old, it had some problems. The seller pointed out the rust around the wheel arches and windscreen during the sale.

Soon after I bought it I heard a deep, loud thumping sound. It was hard to know where it was coming from. Under advice from an older friend, I went to various mechanics to get a free diagnosis (I had no idea that they did that) and a quotation for the repair. “Your engine mounting blocks have gone” said one. “Your axel bearing is worn out” said Ford. True enough, the rubber “O” that supports the axel did look worn but the thumping continued after replacing it. I heard almost as many opinions about what was wrong as the number of mechanics I went to; teaching me that mechanics, like the rest of us, are often making a best guess as opposed to infallibly telling you how it is.

In the end I went to a car parts place, where they seemed to be on the ball. I asked them for a recommendation. They sent me to a small garage where an old mechanic found the problem right away. The rear right wheels had not been on tight enough. The wobbling had damaged the wheels so they had to be replaced. They fixed it for a good price and I was on the road again.

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I made my first major repair stop to deal with rust. I got advice from everyone I could ask about how to treat rust. My plan was remove the rust and paint with rust converter (a chemical that stops metal from oxidising and converts flaky rusted metal into a solid, plastic-like mass). I had met a good used parts guy in a small town, south of Lisbon and I rented his barn for the length of the job. His name was Mr. Helder and he runs a classic car club in his area. He and his friends would come by to see how I was doing, smile broadly when they saw the mess I was making and offer advice. During my stay I enjoyed spending time with him and his family. I went to car club rallies, dinners out and an all night festival with the younger family members. His wife washed my clothes and he even lent me his white Mercedes (very nice) to go shopping in when my transport was in pieces.

In pieces it was. You see my plan didn't exactly work out. I got past the taking the rust off stage but then I found more rust underneath, and more and, well, you get the idea. In the end I was faced with big holes in my motorhome body and, more worryingly, in the front cross member that gives strength to the front of the vehicle. Mr. Helder found me generic replacement parts for a fraction of the Ford price and set me up with a welder, who replaced the cross member. It took two months of work but in the end I replaced many body parts, filled all the holes with fibreglass sheets, metal netting (sandwiched between fibreglass layers), P45 (fibreglass paste) and P38 (a filler that goes hard). It was a great feeling to leave that dusty barn.

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My wobbly wheels returned. I was at a free motorhome service point beside a countryside restaurant in Pegões Velhos, west of Lisbon . I asked the owner (a friendly sort) where I could go for a mechanic and she referred me to her friend. He was an old guy with a large garage. He diagnosed the problem and said I would need custom parts. He directed me to a metalwork specialist nearby. At the shop they told me what parts they would need me to take off by pointing at diagrams in my Haynes workshop manual. They gave me lots of help in taking off the parts I needed, explaining, lending me tools and doing some of the really hard stuff for me. They didn't have to do that but they did, and with good humour. I had to take off half my rear axel and this was a big challenge for me. When my work was done, I go to see them cut new bolts for my wheel nuts to go on. They used raw stock and turned it on a machine, using special cutters, which were adjusted with great precision to cut the thread of each nut. They machined other parts to make everything fit together perfectly and then I put it back together again with more help from them. I paid €80 for several hours of their work and all materials. By the end they had made six bolts with washers and machined many other parts. As is the custom in Portugal , I showed them I was a happy customer by giving them a six pack of beers after I paid. My wheels were finally fixed and there has not been a wobble since.

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My rust converter did not work well and before long rust was coming back. Worse, my windscreen needed replacing and I was having a big job finding someone who could supply the custom glass for it. One day, when I was parked in Fátima, I met a retired german engineer in a beautiful Mercedes bus conversion. The first thing I said to him was “Nice paint job”. He told me that he had just got the work done at his friend's workshop, down the road. I got a quote from his friend, called Vitor, and then got quotes from five other companies, including the manufacturer of the motorhome, Andrade. Vitor quoted less than half the price of the next cheapest quote. I already knew he did good work so I went with him.

There were two big bonuses in working with Vitor, he was willing to let me take out the dashboard, steering wheel and other fittings myself, and he allowed me to live in my motorhome while the work was being done. I got to know his crew and often had lunch with them. I learnt new Portuguese expressions like “oh golly, I dropped the wrench”, only much more colourful. I was really pleased to be allowed to assist his workers on my job. They seemed amused and glad of my interest and I learnt a lot from them. Sometimes it was like watching a sculptor at work. They would take a flat piece of steel and tap it hundreds of times with a hammer to make it into a curved corner of a windscreen or other complex shape. I spent time with Vitor's family, being invited up for coffee and cakes and tasting his dad's homemade wine (very strong and not recommended when you are using power tools). I was given homemade bread and again, my clothes were washed for me. Vitor did a great job and everyone I have shown the work to has been impressed at the quality of work and the price. The rust around the windscreen had made the motorhome look old and tatty. They new front with its new paint job gave the van a real makeover. The old girl had had a facelift.

I paid special attention to the welding on that job because I had another project in mind.

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The motorhome had come with two 2.7kg Camping Gaz bottles. The gas locker was badly rusted and needed to have the bottom cut out and new metal welded in place. I had the idea of making it deeper when I repaired it, to allow me to use larger, cheaper tanks and I was considering doing the welding myself. I was explaining my idea to a fellow camper in Lisbon one day and he said he could help me. His name was João. He told me he had a welding workshop over the river and would lend me his tools to do the job. I bought the metal sheets and went to his workshop. In the event João did a lot of the work himself. He did all the welding (it is much harder than it looks, isn't it) but he gave me a try. I cut and bashed the metal into shape and did the easy labouring, while João did the hard stuff.

By the end of one day, I had a solidly repaired gas locker, big enough for the cheaper, bigger tanks. I was going to save about €8 a week on gas. I got my wallet out to pay João. He wouldn't take a penny. I had quotes from welding guys for €400 and up for the work that João had done but he was charging nothing. I gave him my Camping Gaz bottle with some beer and wine and that was all he would take. It felt very good to have that locker repaired and good to be shown the kindness João had done. As you have seen, it was not the first time that happened to me in Portugal .

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