Kiwi Mk1 LWB Turbo 4L

[nscvr6]

belting unit you have there
buddie of mine lives in snapper rock and some good kiwi guys i know in havelock north hoping to get out there soon catch up with everyone
keep us posted on your progress
conrad

[conrod]

Yeah the best thing about this unit is that it is going to cost us nothing! It is a "spare" unit in a large warehouse building a friend of mine has leased for his company, so he kept this unit "spare" for a few of the boys and our toys. We build that mezzanine floor from a load of steel we got for nothing from a demolition job, and it has several cars stacked on it now (it is very strong!) We are going to fit a two post hoist in there, paint walls/floors etc and a lot more lighting still to go in. So basically just what we spend on the renovation, and then no rent/power or anything like that to worry about for the next 5 or 10 years - mint:) Beer fridge/bar is already installed too

Conrad

[nscvr6]

Yeah the best thing about this unit is that it is going to cost us nothing! It is a "spare" unit in a large warehouse building a friend of mine has leased for his company, so he kept this unit "spare" for a few of the boys and our toys. We build that mezzanine floor from a load of steel we got for nothing from a demolition job, and it has several cars stacked on it now (it is very strong!) We are going to fit a two post hoist in there, paint walls/floors etc and a lot more lighting still to go in. So basically just what we spend on the renovation, and then no rent/power or anything like that to worry about for the next 5 or 10 years - mint:) Beer fridge/bar is already installed too

Conrad

hope it is full of tui.... awsome set up dont get any better than that freemans and space to
good luck with the build conrad

[conrod]

Finally managed to spend a bit of time on the old girl last week. Fitted the 6 stud front axle back in, and the correct wheels back on. Diesel front just sitting on there at the moment, there is a bit of work to do on that lower panel. Have been buying a lot of parts off Ebay lately, and will be getting those shipped back soon. Popped all of the side windows out, they will be panelled over, as I like the look of the panel vans.

Conrad

[Altransit]

[conrod]

Been doing a bit of work on the old girl lately. Cut both front guards off ("wings" to you poms ) ) and there was the usual rot around the headlight area.

Underneath not so bad, some rust on the bracket that I assume the side loading door stopper attaches to, and a hole down the bottom at the front end of the sill.












Looking down into the blower intake:


On the RH side it is a bit worse, rust down the A pillar near the place the front wheelarch is welded on:



And a little bit at the base of the screen:



The engine bay is fairly clean though:





Made a "prototype" of the dash panel, there are some nice gauges available from the US that you can "customise" online - they then make them to your specs.







Finally took the engine to the lockup, and sat it in front of the van so that the two could get aquainted slowly




This shows the front crossmember cut off, it will be getting the diesel "bullnose" front, but I may make this removable, to make engine installation/removal easier.



Conrad

[conrod]

............

[Altransit]

Not too bad at all

[conrod]

Not too bad at all

Yeah it is all fixable, nothing major So bloody hard to find a LWB here, so I won't complain!

Conrad

[Altransit]

Yeah it is all fixable, nothing major So bloody hard to find a LWB here, so I won't complain!

I wouldn't complain if I were you my Mk6 has more rust than that

[conrod]

Yeah it is all fixable, nothing major So bloody hard to find a LWB here, so I won't complain!

I wouldn't complain if I were you my Mk6 has more rust than that

We are a little bit spoilt down here when it comes to rust, or the lack of it. I see some of the rotten projects you guys start with, and think to myself never- ever would I want to try to rebuild something like that! I really hate doing rust repairs. The downside for us is that Mk1's and Mk2's are much rarer here than they are in the UK, (about 85 of each still registered and on the road) and not all of them are this clean either.

I worked in the UK in the early 1990's, and could not believe how rusty even late model cars got, from the salt/grit that you put on the roads. I remember working on a Cossie, I undid the wheel nuts and couldn't get the wheel off, as the rust had swollen the brake disc where the wheel spigots on! I reckon you could have driven it around without any wheelnuts, it was that tight!

Conrad

[Altransit]

from the salt/grit that you put on the roads.

You're not wrong

I spend a lot of time on the M40 motorway going to London and back, and I seemed to have been following a salt spreader practically every journey last winter, (except maybe on the days it was actually snowing )

[conrod]

Spent yesterday working on the old bus. Did a trial fit of the engine, and reasonable happy with it. Its a big old lump though! Looks like I will be better off to put a front mount intercooler in there, the top mount intercooler is a long way belong the bonnet and would require a large duct, and they are not that efficient anyway as the engine tends to radiate heat upwards through it. The sump pan is the right shape to clear the front axle and steering drag link. Obviously quite a bit of work to do as far as fabbing up an engine cover goes. Also will need to make engine mounts, and a front crossmember for the rad and intercooler to sit on. I will make this and the front valance removable, I don't think I could get the engine in otherwise! Rad and intercooler pipework will all have to be custom, as the original pipework simply does not fit. I still have to find a transmission too.

Conrad

[Vandalism]

some nice work there....ill be going for the tried and tested pinto engine..slow but...i dont want to gut the bulkhead so i have to stick with somthing that will fit in there..just

[conrod]

I had a large shipping crate turn up yesterday from England, mostly full of NOS Transit parts that I had been collecting over the last year or two, and sending to a friend of mine in Birmingham, who stored them for me and crated them all up. It was like an early christmas Anyway, I will post some pics of the parts over the next few weeks.

First up is the brakes. In the shipment was my long awaited for "Black Diamond" grooved brake discs. Now to be honest I am not sure if these things are just a bunch of marketing hype, and a nice pretty black coating with some grooves in them, at twice the price of a normal set of brake discs, or if they really are a super duper product as claimed. A few magazine reviews would seem to suggest they are the dogs bollox, so I am sure I will find out! One of the discs with a front hub sitting on it:



Next up are the brake calipers. These are 4 pot AP calipers from an LDV Convoy. Conveniently enough, they have the same bolt mounting pattern and offset, so they bolt straight on to the Transit stub without modification. I have bead blasted them, had them gold passivated, and have new stainless pistons and seal kits to go in.



But the really cool thing about these is they are larger than the Transit calipers, but still fit inside the stock wheel rim (just!) They have 46mm pistons (compared to 40mm on the Transit) and a brake pad that is about 30% larger. I ordered a set of Mintex M1166 race compound pads, which have an operation range up to 750°C, so it will be interesting to see how they cope

LDV pad on the left, Transit pad on the right: