Vera from horsebox to housebox

[boneheaddread]

Hi all , this tread is the conversion of VERA the horsebox from the first steps to where I am now , so first of I bought the tk blind from ebay for £1600 after looking for the right truck for around 6 months this is how she was after collection

 

[belenda]

Hi from a fellow horsebox owner.

Hi all , this tread is the conversion of VERA the horsebox from the first steps to where I am now , so first of I bought the tk blind from ebay for £1600 after looking for the right truck for around 6 months this is how she was after collection

what a pleasant suprise to see your box!!! you must be well pleased with it. good price too. good height over the bed,lovely shape and build. like mine side and rear ramps. I bet a lot of unexpecteds to be found? Look forward to seeing your progress. I`m not good with a computer so have not done any photo`s or anything on here yet. mines a 1994 daf fa 130 turbo 20 ft, very square ladies box. short and stocky, but fits in the parking bays at asda (just). I go at night. not even finished the inside yet.had it for 2 years. good luck.

 

[FULL TIMER]

Hi all , this tread is the conversion of VERA the horsebox from the first steps to where I am now , so first of I bought the tk blind from ebay for £1600 after looking for the right truck for around 6 months this is how she was after collection

[/QUOTE

NICE ONE BUD ,glad you got some pics up but don't leave them hanging keep posting , oh and for any one who doesn't know and wants more of this sort of thing take a look over on ukhippy.com.uk

 

[mandrake]

nice truck ,but then again i liked the tk ,i see its a vincents of reading body i think . with the v on the front .

 

[boneheaddread]

what a pleasant suprise to see your box!!! you must be well pleased with it. good price too. good height over the bed,lovely shape and build. like mine side and rear ramps. I bet a lot of unexpecteds to be found? Look forward to seeing your progress. I`m not good with a computer so have not done any photo`s or anything on here yet. mines a 1994 daf fa 130 turbo 20 ft, very square ladies box. short and stocky, but fits in the parking bays at asda (just). I go at night. not even finished the inside yet.had it for 2 years. good luck.

Hi yes its a nice truck have been converting it on and off for around 3 years now not in any hurry or rush , I just use it as is and do a bit when I get the creative urge

 

[boneheaddread]

nice truck ,but then again i liked the tk ,i see its a vincents of reading body i think . with the v on the front .

Hi yeh Vincents of reading built the box the big V on the front hence VERA

 

[boneheaddread]

Right so the jobs in order were going to be
1 underneath , chassis, brakes , tyres, wiring, and running gear as there is no point spending ages converting a truck on a crap running gear
2 inside
3 outside
so my partner and myself spent around 20-30 hours wire brushing the chassis back of all oil grease rust ect , followed by 2 coats of red oxide and then 2 coats of post office red synthetic enamel paint , newish tyres where needed , wheel cylinders, brake shoes and a complete back end rewire ( no dodgy bad earths ) to complete underneath
a few before and after photos



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[Lee]

That looks like a labour of love, a long and dirty job.
Looking good now though great job.

 

[time4t]

Very nice!

Phill

 

[boneheaddread]

That looks like a labour of love, a long and dirty job.
Looking good now though great job.

Yes it was but with an old truck if something goes wrong , or a light packs up I like to know whats happend where the fault lies , so I wanted to start of with knowing the wiring , brakes ect was good and that I knew where everythink was

 

[boneheaddread]

Next on the list was the engine , it ran ok but blew on the block/exhaust manifold ( common problem with bedfords ) and the points were missing sometimes causing a loss of power or backfire ( yes its a petrol) , first thing I did was take the head of have it skimmed , clean up check all the valves then refit with a nice new copper head gasket , check the tappets and reset , make a new exhaust for it out of scrap bits and bobs and a transit silencer , then carefully remove the points carry them out of the truck , then trow them on the floor and stamp on them before throwing them in the bin and fitting a electronic ignition and high performance coil kit from acu spark £ 50 for the lot excellent , booked it in for its hgv test ( still a empty horsebox at that time ) , got plenty of stares when I pulled up at the ministry test centre as she looked like a bag of **** from the outside but passed first time

 

[mandrake]

your certainly doing a great job on the old girl . best about it is ,she will last forever keep the pics and commentary coming ,i am loving it . i had an old beddy cf 1 facelift ,ok not on the tk size or scale but it was such a reliable old love ,i never had a minutes problem with her , mot every year no probs except for the out of balance drum brakes they could be a nightmare but as it went to the same garage every year and the mot guy was very tolerant and always sorted that problem ,and one front damper oh and i replaced all brake cylinders and shoes in the six years i had her .

 

[boneheaddread]

your certainly doing a great job on the old girl . best about it is ,she will last forever keep the pics and commentary coming ,i am loving it . i had an old beddy cf 1 facelift ,ok not on the tk size or scale but it was such a reliable old love ,i never had a minutes problem with her , mot every year no probs except for the out of balance drum brakes they could be a nightmare but as it went to the same garage every year and the mot guy was very tolerant and always sorted that problem ,and one front damper oh and i replaced all brake cylinders and shoes in the six years i had her .[/Q

Plenty more to come the photos that I am putting up now are what I done 2 years back , the inside is almost finished now in a steampunk , gypsy caravan , 1950s chitty chitty bang bang style

 

[mandrake]

your certainly doing a great job on the old girl . best about it is ,she will last forever keep the pics and commentary coming ,i am loving it . i had an old beddy cf 1 facelift ,ok not on the tk size or scale but it was such a reliable old love ,i never had a minutes problem with her , mot every year no probs except for the out of balance drum brakes they could be a nightmare but as it went to the same garage every year and the mot guy was very tolerant and always sorted that problem ,and one front damper oh and i replaced all brake cylinders and shoes in the six years i had her .[/Q

Plenty more to come the photos that I am putting up now are what I done 2 years back , the inside is almost finished now in a steampunk , gypsy caravan , 1950s chitty chitty bang bang style

cannot wait . looking forward to the rest ,thanks

 

[wildebus]

I had a look at the build on the other forum mentioned.... :bow: :bow: :bow:

Love the design flair and quality of the work. Just Brilliant :wave:

 

[boneheaddread]

I had a look at the build on the other forum mentioned.... :bow: :bow: :bow:

Love the design flair and quality of the work. Just Brilliant :wave:

Hi yes I only recently joined this forum as I am into trucks , motorhomes , wild camping ect , and the ahem other forum does tend to go wildly off topic from anything to do with wild nomadic living , or motorhome conversions , I did not intend to show the build on this site but had a lot of requests to do so ,
hopefully it will pass some ideas on to other home converters

 

[Polar Bear]

When in the 'motor trade' at one time I had a queue of these in the yard waiting for me to fit new floors and ramps. Interesting just what damage horse pee can do?

Looking good so far, keep the photos coming please.

 

[boneheaddread]

When in the 'motor trade' at one time I had a queue of these in the yard waiting for me to fit new floors and ramps. Interesting just what damage horse pee can do?

Looking good so far, keep the photos coming please.

Hi yes I think if you are looking into buying a horsebox or horse trailer to convert , first job is new floor , I have since removed the side ramp as that was also rotten but the back one is staying ,to sit on in the sunsine

 

[boneheaddread]

With all the running gear and the engine sorted it was time to start on the inside , all I wanted to be able to use the truck was a bed and a burner Hear is the bed now finished I wanted a double but the space over the cab was only wide enough for a single , as I did not want to come out into the rest of the living space I copied the gypsy caravan pull out style bed , so you can have a single or pull out into a full size double





And all finished carved painted and lined out

 

[campervanannie]

That is just beautiful .