Appia furgoncino - A fettler's voyage

[simonandjuliet]

Still keeping this on the back burner whilst doing other things !

I am having a batch of brake flexi's made up for the Appia commercials. They are longer than the standard Appia (and similar Aurelia) brake pipe rubbers .

Please let me know asap if you are interested in a set.

[simonandjuliet]

Last chance, I am having 50 made and all are accounted for - I can still increase the order but need to know soon. They will be about 10-12 euros each, made in Italy and Euro certified etc etc .

[simonandjuliet]

The furgoncino is rapidly rising to the top of the the "to do" list and one job that I have been meaning to do for a fellow "forumiste" is make some lower wing profiles .

I have been scratching my head as how best to do it and saw an idea on tinternet. It is a guide, but is a very good start. I have looked at profile gauges and they can be quite expensive and at the cheap end, are of questionable quality ....

First go produced a reasonable result, although card rather than cardboard will be easier to cut accurately

Next proper job for the furgoncino is to get the engine bay fitted out so we can paint the body. The new brake hoses have been made and will be here next week, and having learned from the S3, I will get the brakes working before I fit the engine and box.

Also want to build an engine stand to run the engine before it is fitted, so I have been watching Andy's posts carefully

[the.cern]

Ingenious!!!

[Dikappa]

Oh my god Simon,

I'm sorry for doing this to you!
But the tool is very wel made!

See the picture of the Original I used to copy the profile of the sills, only to find out when I accidentally fitted my copied shape to the other side that there is a considerable difference between left and right!

Should I send you my tool?

Thanks any way to go through this.  I hope to find some time to spend on the furgone during the holydays.
But your effort will not be in vain as there is a second furgone in Belgium needing exactly the same panels.

[Dikappa]

Something I forgot to add:

From now on some readers might think very low of me, but I keep our 'doctor oetker' frozen pizza boxes, as the provide very good material for mould making.

[the.cern]

Dear Dikappa, those of us on this forum who are followers of Project Binky are aware that there has been a misunderstanding regarding the acronym CAD. Most think, erroneously, that it stands for Computer Aided Design. We, the enlightened, know that it stands for CARDBOARD Aided Design. You are in good company with your Dr Oetker boxes. Personally, I favour Shredded Wheat boxes.

                                 Andy

[simonandjuliet]

Well I took your advice and switched to cereal boxes (puffed wheat to be exact) and much more precise !

Although what Koen actually wanted , didn't need the profiling tool, but I used it anyway ..... interestingly the 2 sides are quite different - the joys of handbuilt cars !

As an aside, I have had new furgoncino/camioncino/autolettiga brakes hoses made and they have arrived now. For those who ordered them, I will be in touch in the next few days. I have 2 spare sets made,  if anyone else is interested.

[Dikappa]

I'm a happy Hector looking out for the postman now!

[simonandjuliet]

I am preparing for painting and have put the steering box on and have started on the brakes because the fronts are much easier to get at without the front wings.....

They have come to pieces very easily and are in perfect condition, not sure how much Alan did before I bought the car, but the backplates have never been off and I would be surprised if the tie-rod has even been removed. The backplates do not need to be painted after they were cleaned up, just a light dusting on a couple of bare bits.

The front axle and steering are straight off an Aurelia, B24 I believe, and the parts have B10 numbers etc. Some are over-stamped with C80 (Appia furgoncino) and I presume camioncinos would be over-stamped with C83. The lead shoe is cast iron backed and the trailing shoe is aluminium.

Everything striped, cleaned, etched and painted. Some detail pictures showing the oil relief valve at the top of the sliding pillar, the lovely coppered bolts holding the steering arm in place and then the brass filler nut for the lower suspension. All beautifully made - as you'd expect !

[stanley sweet]

Fantastic engineering. How much were these when new? Was there some kind of governmant tax relief on commercial vehicles? It's like taking a British van apart and saying 'Front axle and steering are straight off a Bentley Continental'.

[simonandjuliet]

Stan, nicely put !

Bit more cleaning and prep. I have kept to the original paint limits and resisted painting anything extra, it would have been much easier to paint the whole hub !

Last picture shows the re-made brake flexis, on full suspension travel and full lock - they are not distorted. The flexis are nearly 2 inches longer than standard Appia/Aurelia front brake hoses. You can see just above the axle stand that there is a large spacer (cream coloured) between the chassis and axle.

I am waiting to fit them finally because I have had to order new nuts (M18 x 1.5) and washers - mine were missing.

[simonandjuliet]

I had a couple of hours this afternoon whilst waiting for the wind and heat to subside, so cleaned up the other side. It is very quick to strip the brakes, 20-30 minutes from removing the wheel to having the backplate off.

For your amusement, and I promised Tim H I'd take a photo ......... once the conditions became more favourable - 10pm ! - I went and did a sulphur treatment. The "gimp" mask is to protect your eyes, sulphur can make you cry for a day - it's a haz-mat full resp system, so I'll be fine if there is a nuclear war ......

[the.cern]

You seem to be having a light bulb moment there Simon!!! Does it happen often? It's bloody infrequent with me and getting more so .... damned old age!!!!!

[westernlancia]

They have come to pieces very easily and are in perfect condition, not sure how much Alan did before I bought the car, but the backplates have never been off and I would be surprised if the tie-rod has even been removed.

That van was (is) amazing. As far as I could tell, when I bought it, the front wheels had never been off (the wheel nuts were virtually unmarked). It certainly had (has?) the original tyres, those wonderful old Michelin goods vehicle ones. I am virtually certain that no-one had ever had the drums off, because the grease caps were unmarked. I can't remember if we did anything inside the brakes, but I don't think we did. But I can confirm the originality - it was utterly incredible. That's why I was so sad to have to sell it - I love timewarps, and although my 37 Terraplane and my S1 Appias are even more so, the Furgoncino was a close third!