conrod wrote:You're welcome!
Yes that was quite a collection of 315's, I had never seen a 315 2 door before, and he had two there! As for that "brand new" 315, well that was quite a find!
On the Transit I noticed there was some rust under the steps, and one of the rear chassis crossmembers was a bit rusty, but nothing major and easily repaired, most are far worse as you know. Also noticed the left front guard had been pop rivetted on - must have been replaced at some stage! I have noticed these old things are normally rotten behind the headlights and yours was really good there, as pretty much everywhere else. I was wondering how to attach the back of the cab, the factory way of welding then folding that seam over would have been very hard to replicate, I think you have done the right thing by cutting and welding the way you have, nice work! I really liked that it had all of the original interior trim still there, and in really good shape too. That sort of stuff is almost impossible to find for these old things, and really makes a big difference to the overall finish in my opinion. . You have one of the best original examples in the country I am sure!
After looking at a few (mostly rotten) Mk1 Transits, I gave up and bought something else, its not a Transit sorry!(but at least its British!) Its an LDV 400 (DAF) van, ex police,only 53 000kms with a factory Rover V8 and 5 speed.(its bloody fast for a van! ) A real minter too, still has the protective plastic on the door trims! Funnily enough it has quite a few MK2 Transit parts on it, same wheels, same single leaf springs, same front brakes (and possibly the whole front axle) and I suspect the rear axle might be the same, if not very similar.
If you need good front brakes for yours try to find a Mk2 front axle (must be from a "dually" though) with the disc brakes, they have big four pot calipers and are much better than the drums. I could take some measurements of my van if you like, the front axle might be the same so at least that would give you some more options to source parts?
Conrad
Really interested to know where this LDV V8 van is now conrod??!!