new mk 2 78 mini bus owner ( hello from australia)

[richo93]

howdy all

alex here from australia, i have recently come in to ownership of this lovely little 78 mini bus and plan on restoring it and sharing the build with you all. hopefully in return you will be able to give me advice and ideas as i have limited knowledge on transits, there are many plans for this little van and i look forward to sharing them.

cheers alex

[Neil]

hi alex and welcome looks in good shape on the body

[ausrally]

Hi Alex, welcome, nice find, look forward to the progress reports

Ian

[richo93]

some small modifications have taken place in the van over the last few weeks.

i have removed the headliner and all mdf panels out of the cargo area and off all of the doors.
then started replacing the mdf with new and more durable panels and planing to do the cargo area floor in the same panels as the walls ad door ( pic of the first door so you all get an idea of whats going on). i also have got the engine to a some what working state and am now looking at starting to modify the engine ( currently the falcon xd engine) or do a complete engine and transmission swap, potentially using a ford ba falcon xr6 turbo.

(last first two pics just messing around with air filters not to sure if the exposed pod filter will pass rego in Australia )

[greek]

Nice tidy body be lucky to find one in the UK as good as that keep those pics coming.

[richo93]

howdy all

its been a few weeks since i have had a chance to get any work done on the van but finally i have made a plan off attack.
the plan is starting with a full rebuild of the breaking system pulling them apart and cleaning / repairing them and re installing hopefully as god as new.
i also pulled the rocker cover off to check how the condition was, and was pretty happy with what i found. as in the moment thing i
decided to paint the rocker cover which will match up with the calipers

[AussieXLT125]

Hi Alex, thread mining, I was a member a while ago, I think... joined again to see if I can get the ball rolling with my build again.

I’ve got 2 lwb xlts.

The crossflow with a nice cam and carb should be a good yield in power.

I’ve looked at a Barra conversion, but I don’t want to modify the firewall to fit the intake,

So I’ll be looking at upgrading the crossflow, roller cam, and roller rockers, ported head, mine came with extractors, and I’m planning a 3” exhaust.... just because I can... but will attempt to keep it as quiet as possible.. I know defeats the purpose of the large diameter.