Conrod's 1972 Mk1 V8

[conrod]

I thought I would start a new thread on this van. I bought it 5 years ago, and started a thread in the "members progress reports" forum, but it was scuttled when photobucket started being dickheads with the hosted pictures. So I will restart this thread, and give you a slightly abbreviated version of the story 5 years up to this date:

Short story is, previous owner bought it in 1976 from DB Breweries who were the first owners. At this point it still had the 2.0 V4. Shortly after he purchased a written off XA Fairmont, and took the running gear out, as well as a lot of other parts. Over the next 8 years (!) he fitted the engine, trans, nine inch disc braked LSD (from a Lincoln Versailles) into the van . The job was completed in 1985. He then used it as a service vehicle for his Gp.4 Escort rally car. It was parked up in 2006 and not driven again. I first spied it a couple of years ago, and he had made noises about selling it, and I have been in his ear ever since. Spoke to a friend of mine last week, and he said he was over at the Transit helping the owner get it started, and to come over, to which I replied " I know how this is going to end!"

Anyway, we got it running on 8 year old fuel(!) and by the next day a deal had been done and I owned it [:)]

I went to his place yesterday, fitted a new battery, poured in some 2014 vintage fuel, and fired her up. I drove it up the road to make sure it had brakes etc, seemed near enough so drove it to my storage unit about 25 minutes away without incident.

[conrod]

Something that occurred just after purchasing it was, "Mk1 Transit SWB, flat front, with a 5 litre V8" Sound familiar? To me I instantly thought of this, the iconic Transit Supervan 1:

Ford-Supervan-1.jpg

So after collecting the van yesterday I swung past a friends place and picked up a set of wheels off his Pantera, thats 15x10 fronts with 285/40x15 tyres and 15x13 rears with 345/35x15 tyres. It is just so happens by pure luck that the Pantera has the same Ford 5 stud bolt pattern as the Falcon running gear that has been fitted to this van, so on they went:

IMG_1757.jpg

IMG_1762.jpg

IMG_1765.jpg

IMG_1766.jpg

[conrod]

Followed by a set of "works" Mk1 Escort bubble wheelarches:

IMG_1768.jpg

IMG_1769.jpg

IMG_1770.jpg

So the plan at this stage is to get the van roadworthy, nothing major, new front brake discs and pads, sort the intermittent starting issue, get both sides repainted, good groom and use and enjoy it over summer. Then will start on the Supervan conversion next year sometime Happy days.

[conrod]

Been working on the van a bit. Front brakes were quite rusty from sitting around, and wheel bearings were knackered, so I bought a new pair of slotted DBA rotors, and Ferodo DS2000 pads, and overhauled the calipers at the same time. new wheel bearings fitted too.

IMG_1777.jpg

IMG_1792.jpg

IMG_1795.jpg

I gave the wheels a good polish, wet sanded them working from 320 up to 800, then finished them off with a polishing mop in my battery drill, only took about 40 mins per wheel and they came up mint

IMG_1796.jpg

[conrod]

and swapped out the orange front indicators for a pair of clear ones I had, as well as refitting the headlight bezels:

IMG_1797.jpg

IMG_1798.jpg

Got a kit for the carb on its way, gaskets are all dried out and accelerator pump not working properly, giving a big flat spot when the throttle is cracked open. Look forward to getting that in, should make it much better to drive

[Neil]

rear lights

[conrod]

Hahaa! XA Falcon my friend Probably from the same wreck the engine/trans etc. came from.
I have a new pair of rear "D" pillars (is that what you call them?) from Ralph, and a pair of NOS tail lights waiting to be fitted

[Tranny76]

Wow...nice one!!!!. I'm interested how far the engine sits in the cabine

Verstuurd vanaf mijn TA-1021 met Tapatalk

[Neil]

Hahaa! XA Falcon my friend Probably from the same wreck the engine/trans etc. came from.
I have a new pair of rear "D" pillars (is that what you call them?) from Ralph, and a pair of NOS tail lights waiting to be fitted

well that's odd as my v8 has a custom rear I also have a pair of pillars and tail lights just in case I get the urge to change it or maybe fit a pair with xa falcon lights already in

[conrod]

Wow...nice one!!!!. I'm interested how far the engine sits in the cabine

Verstuurd vanaf mijn TA-1021 met Tapatalk

It's a big engine cover!

IMG_1910.jpg

Hahaa! XA Falcon my friend Probably from the same wreck the engine/trans etc. came from.
I have a new pair of rear "D" pillars (is that what you call them?) from Ralph, and a pair of NOS tail lights waiting to be fitted

well that's odd as my v8 has a custom rear I also have a pair of pillars and tail lights just in case I get the urge to change it or maybe fit a pair with xa falcon lights already in

I can box it all up and send to you if you like? Out of curiosity, what lights are fitted in yours at the moment?

[conrod]

Moving along......... My door trims arrived in the post from Aldridge Trimming, they are really nice! They have the proper heat moulded seams, and chrome trims.(although the shape of these is not right, looks more like Mk1 Cortina than Transit. Anyhoo...) Fit is perfect, very happy with these Next step is to trim the inside in black loop pile carpet, as soon as I can find some!......

IMG_1902.jpg

Found some black loop pile carpet, and had the engine cover trimmed to match the door panels, much quieter inside now!

IMG_1967.jpg

And lastly, a bit of a makeover, it is featuring again on a TV production, and trying to make it look a bit different. Fitted Minilites, and some loud stripes.

IMG_1970.jpg

[conrod]

The Transit road train, needed both for filming on this particular day!

IMG_2015.jpg

[conrod]

The next update, quite some time later!....
I dragged it out today, brought it home, and spent a few hours fitting the bumpers. The front one is a NOS one I bought a few years ago for the LWB van, it was sold to me as a diesel bumper, only opened the wrapping about a month ago and discovered it was a petrol one! In this case that worked out well. It was painted, so I had it stripped, polished and chromed. Fark me that was an expensive excercise! About $900 (£450) in all to get it chromed. Factor in the £200 + shipping that I paid for it, and it is an expensive piece! Rear bumpers were slightly less exorbitant, both NOS items but original chrome on them, cost me £150 for the pair. I had the bumper irons coated in a very tough satin black coating (like paint, but much tougher) and had the bumper bolts chromed too.

Picture 041.jpg

Picture 043.jpg

[conrod]

And that just about brings this thread up to date. Last weekend I made a list and spent a day on the Mk1. It has always been a bit scary to drive. When the previous owner fitted the power steering, he used a Ford Falcon power steering box. The input shaft rotates the wrong way for a Transit, so he fitted a gearbox on the shaft to reverse the direction. The gearbox has some freeplay, and coupled with the freeplay on the steering box, it made for an interesting drive! It also has a Falcon steering column, complete with column shifter.

The plan is to ft a Mk3 Transit power steering box, Mk5 column an switches, and Lokar floor shifter. I have all of these parts already.

Todays task was removing the offending items!

2020-01-04 11.25.44.jpg

2020-01-04 11.25.52.jpg

2020-01-04 16.31.09 (2).jpg

[conrod]

I also have an Edelbrock manifold,carb and cam kit to go in. I removed the old inlet manifold ad timing cover, and did a quick dummy up with the shiny new parts because bling

2020-01-04 16.31.18.jpg

2020-01-05 20.27.58.jpg