The Goat Van

[ambientgoat]

Wow, it's been 3 years since I updated this thread. It was a shame when the motor blew up not long after this and I sold the van, but you get that don't you.

No no, that's a lie. The van and I have been on some good adventures. I'd like to share a the journey with me now.

We've been on trips mountain biking.

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Then I heard Mook was getting married and his van wasn't going to be ready. Time to dress the old girl up for the big day, it was only right since I bought the van off Mook.

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I even helped Mook move his furniture workshop a few times. Still trying to convine the man to deck out the rear of his van with one of his custom designs.

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I couldn't tell you how many trips to the surf there have been.

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That's me with Skiman's van

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Or checking out the guys surfing at Lorne

I've been to the drive-in
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One time I checked out natures drive-in in the grampians
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At the van nats we even helped make a rainbow!
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Needless, it's been great.

However, 3 years of being a daily driver and going on adventures havn't been easy on the old girl. So next month (we've got another surfing adventure to get through yet) I'll be giving her a birthday present. So watch this space for things to come.

[mook]

Gold!

[Robbo]

Great to see Goat, a van being used as it was designed to be. Good on you, your'e certainly getting plenty of enjoyment out of your ownership.

Cheers.

[Vombil]

it'll make the resto that much easier... effort well spent. pay it back. brilliant work Goat!

[ambientgoat]

Folks,

On a 308, is the timing cover painted red or left bare alloy from factory?

[HK1837]

Bare with overspray.

Goat - I just found an old email from you that was re-directed to Junk email for some reason, from ages ago. I'll reply to it when I get a chance.

[Blocker]

I believe I spotted the Goat van on Grand Junction Rd today. Did I?

[ambientgoat]

That's a good spotto Blocker.

I was on my way to fox creek to get in some mountain biking. Fun fact, when you wash out the front wheel of the bike in soft dirt and superman off the front, your face makes an excellent fall arrestor.
Here's a photo of my van at the park, because I like photos.

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Yesterday I tore this down. It was running fine when I got it, just leaking badly so it's just getting a gasket kit through it and I'm leaving the rotating assembly in.

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Turns out it was blue under all the grease, I'm quite convinced it's a red motor that just got painted blue at some point it's life. All the bores look great and arn't lipped which is good seeing as it's already 60 thou.

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During the week I'll finish cleaning it up ready for reassebly. Thank's for that HK, while it's not original my goal is to have a neat original looking engine bay at the end of the day.

Some things I found useful during the process so far.
Rattle your stuck bolts loose (sound advice from Mook after I snapped a bunch of manifold bolts)
I'm also going through with a tap to clean out the threads prior to reassebly, so it'll tourqe down properly.
After I went through with a scrapper and took all the old gaskets off my mate the toolmaker came around with a wetstone and leveled it all out nicely. He pointed out you want thinks smooth, but not too smooth.

Final words of wisdom for the day. If you do a 12km fun run then try and go mountain biking you're probably not going to have the balance you're used to. It's more than likey you're going wash out the front wheel in soft dirt and land on your face.

[Vombil]

damaged face?

[ambientgoat]

Nothing a paper bag can't fix. Haha, nah, bit sore but thankfully the helmet took most of it.