mk1 pickup project

[oldskooler]

heres a bit of a mad project ive been working on over the last few months.

i had an idea floating around my head for some time and decided to put it into action recently using a mk4 van i got for nought with a very solid front end and chassis legs etc and mk1 chassis/cab i got hold of a while back with only the upper cab in good condition and the lower sections in very poor shape.

ill let the pics explain!!

[oldskooler]

bit more progress on this girl, we got the front end (bulkhead and inner wings) more or less figured out and made up. the original inner wings were shagged so new ones were made up to join onto the mk4 ones. the original plan was to keep the mk1 pedal box setup and run a mk4/mk5 servo and cyl same as my other transit but after some head scratching and mocking up to check column to pedal clearance we managed to graft in the mk4 bulkhead panel and pedal box which will make a massive difference to me and my long legs as it ill leave the pedals a couple of inches further away from me!!! these cabs are tight for room where letting back the seat is concerned so its great to gain a bit the other way and it means using all the more modern bits including the clutch cable.


anyway enough of my waffling, heres a few pics!!!




























i have the two lower pillar sections cut from a mk2 cab im breaking which will be fitted next.











still loads to do but gettin there!

[oldskooler]

heres a few more pics of the latest goings on with this project. its actually coming together pretty good as it turns out. there is a serious amount of "figuring it out as you go along" but so far so good!!


i got my hands on this mk2 cab for breaking recently which was sitting in a shed for 20 yrs but still well rotten in the chassis legs, but had decent lower pillars which were used to replace my fooked ones.








i had a pair of genuine sills i picked up ages ago for 15 quid a piece which was a bit of a result. rather than remove the bracing bars from the cab yet to hang the doors for alignment we took in my mk2 van which has untouched sills and pillars, leveled both vans and projected levels down from the gutter rails of the cab to measure from to get all more or less in the right place. it meant getting a bit of strength back into the cab by fitting the pillars and sills tying it all up before hanging the doors for a check.
























huge credit has to go to "frank the fabricator" for making these two back cab corners. they still need to be finished underneath but im delighted with how they came out. these two sections were more or less made from filler (like a lot of parts of the cab) when we stripped it down!!















i also got the mk5 pedal box and mk1/mk5 hybrid steering column mocked up and its working out very nice. i got the upper mk1 section swaged down at the hydraulic hose shop to fit snugly into the mk5 section which makes for a sweet job when its welded up.











the mk1 heater ill just go in there!!







the next job was to drop in the engine to be sure the bulkhead step join didnt throw up any clearance issues. all was good as it turned out.







front panel clearance is good too with room for the di rad along with its own viscous fan id say.





















mite not have room for the battery in the original location to use the factory mk5 leads but mite set a box into the inner wing under the servo/master cylinder.






beginning to resemble the finished article a little, although still a long road to go!!

[Luke]

wow is there no end to this mans talents

[Mr RVM]

Absofookinlutley AMAZING now that's what I CALL a conversion job, a brilliant Idea Fantastic work carried out with great care and skill

[unclealec]

Great work. Registering it is going to be interesting!

[Mr RVM]

Great work. Registering it is going to be interesting!

Chassis/floorpan is Mk5 so that should be "what it is" (in theory) but a Mk1 that has had its "running gear" updated is still a Mk1 vin number is stamped on steps that can be changed/repaired/renewed (lots of transits on the road don't have vin number stamped on them, only on vin plate) sure this is ok as vin number only has to appear once on vehicle for MOT will be interested to know how it turns out

[malta transit]

Unbeliveable project Well done!!

[Frank190]

Cracking job

[oldskooler]

wee bit more progress on this one. the welding is not that far off finished. sorry bout the crap pics, my camera was acting up for a while!


got the steps finished, we made em so the plastic mk5 edge trims ill fit to work with the mk5 floor mat that will be fitted.










all tied up nice and strong underneath!






the r/h spring/subframe hanger on the mk4 section wasnt in great shape so it was replaced with a new one.






as im planning on this being a useable truck i decided to go for a pair of fibreglass wings from smith and deakin. i also got a bullnose front valence off them. it all looks like good quality gear. will see what its like to fit although i cant complain if theyre a difficult fit after the chopping about this one has seen already, lol!!







so after some measuring we took out the angle grinder once more! the back skin of the mk4 crossmember can be retained and ill get a piece of sheet steel folded to box off the front of it behind the fibreglass valence. will be tight enough for the rad but should be ok.











next major task is to get the wings and front sitting on the truck which will take a bit of effort id say. meanwhile just when i thought there was no more previous bodges left uncovered i came across this suprise on the scuttle! at least when this is sorted there cant be much else left as most of the steel is now replaced or changed!!





the two corners are already repaired, thankfully they werent that bad.








im beginning to feel a bit of progress on this one now, still a nice bit of work ahead but i like the way its turning out. just hope the wings and front ill turn out half decent.

[RustWidow]

Wow, fantastic...

[transitandy]

Good thread m8y

[oldyellar]

top work

[stevenet15]

Always had a soft sport for mk1s, There's a Irish traveler near me with a mk1 it's mint he used to use it back in the day to trade pallets but since packing up he's given it abit and bolt restore with gypsy sign written boards I'll have to try get a pic

[oldskooler]

well heres another report on progress of this project, mind you it ill be the last update for a while. i had my back operation on tuesday after having problems on and off for a long time. i finally bit the bullet to have it done and all seems to be going well so far.
it will be a couple of months at least before i can get back at any sort of manual work if im to give my recovery a proper chance.


so now that the boredom is kicking in i thought id update this thread as far as i got before packing up!!


repairs to the scuttle panel is almost complete. i put a shot of paint on the fresh metal to hold the rust back a while when its sittin up








one wee bit yet to be done.





i recently invested in this little toy which is a great help on those small hard to access repairs.






next we made a start on figuring out getting the front end panels sitting in place.


i came across a nos bullnose front panel on my travels which should give good reference for the fibreglass wings etc..







the l/h wing didnt look too bad but the r/h side did not look that at home!! its going to be a bit of a challenge getting everything right as the cab has been chopped about so much. i guess the fibreglass wings should make it a bit easier if stuff needs altering.





i used every bit of help i could find to figure out gaps and positions from pics etc!




to get some more measurments i hauled up one of my donors from the yard which even though isnt in great shape has untouched front end panels.




we set about making up a sort of "jig" that could be mounted on common positions on both vans to take some measurements for where the wings should be sitting to be in the more or less correct position. it proved helpfull as theres more or less no original original points left to measure off on the project truck!! :rofl:




















after a lot of shuffling and panel swapping etc we got things looking half decent. still a nice bit to do on this but its looking do able at least. the doors now need to go back on to double check everything.













meanwhile i got the piece of sheet metal folded which will taper off at each side to box off the front chassis crossmember behind the bullnose fibreglass valence which will only be there for looks rather than mount the bumper brackets as id did originally. i intend to weld tubes through the box section behind the valence which will take long bolts through and will be strong enough to hang the bumper brackets off and still look original.











the old donor tranny will also hopefully supply the outer valence corners as they look pretty decent. will see when theyre chopped out, but thats a bit off yet im afraid, still a lot to do!!