danthecapriman

Great thread. These old Transits are worth putting time, money and Waxoyl into now. With maintenance they're just about unbreakable.
 
We had two of these back in the 1980's/90's. First was a D reg Transit 100 (2.0 Pinto, short wheelbase low top, one piece rear door). White, three years old and rusty bonnet. Replaced that, resprayed it and eventually rebuilt the engine as a regular 100 bhp unit with 10:1 compression, 32/36 Weber etc. D612EHY iirc.
 
Number two was bought from Blackbushe auctions in 1991. Its was a 1990 G reg Transit 80, 1600 Pinto, factory black and super clean. Absolutely stole it as all the traders wanted a diesel, think it was £2500 plus VAT. Gearbox (MT75) was fucked on 3rd gear but bought a Ford exchange unit. I fired a gallon of Waxoyl into it, mixed with paraffin. Inside the bonnet, front and back doors, the whole underside, into the front arches from under the bonnet. I saw it in a breakers about 10 years ago. Battered to buggery but completely unrusty. The 1600 went well too, surprisingly.
 
When you hear of modern shite such as a Renault Tragic that's shat itself..........

Lucky escape! Always check above where you are welding kids!
 

 
Yikes! (pic is sideways for some reason?)
Haven't had much time on it recently but some filler, sanding and a bit of primer has occurred.
I'm getting towards needing it done so have to make more time for it.

Some more I've missed.
 

 

 

 

 
Those are the, as collected, unwashed pics. The paint is not that bad underneath.
 
And in case anyone was wondering, I did cut out the inner arch as well.
 
 
 
 
Most new panels, except the wings, are galvanised.

It's very rare that I get all of my cars together. An impending wood delivery means the cars have gathered at the bottom of my driveway.

 
I'm very happy with the current fleet.

This weekend I've done a little more to this. I didn't really want to tbh given recent Capri related events, I wasn't in the mood at all for anything car related but forced myself out to do a bit.
 
Firstly the good news, last time I managed to get the sunroof open properly and gave the drains a better clean out. Well it's been very wet lately, sometimes the rain (and hail!) have been very heavy and I'm pleased to report that the leaking has stopped. The headlining is staying dry now and has actually stopped sagging in the offending corner so fingers crossed it's fixed now.
 
Now the not so good news, when I was cleaning the interior out I'd found the carpet was wet on the NS rear floor. Since then I've sealed up the front footwell vent seals and this has allowed the carpets to dry out and despite the shitty weather they are staying dry, all good.
But, under the car in the same area was a few rusty coloured stains! You know what's coming.
I decided to have a look so removed the front passenger seat and stripped the carpets and under felt out to reveal a grim sight.
It's been leaking for a long time and the water had all run to the lowest area and soaked the under felt which held moisture against the floor. This has left about 10 small holes through the floor. They are all fairly small, the biggest is about a 1p size, but it's also rotted out one whole corner of one of the front seat mounts.
I was mightily pissed about this given other troubles at the moment but this is all there is rust wise, the other side is pristine.
So far I've chopped out most of the rusted metal and need to make up a few repair patches and weld them in.
Luckily this is work I can do as/when and costs me nothing as I've already got the tools and materials.
 
As it's been pissing down again most of today I decided to have a go cleaning the front seat as it was out already so did this down in the shed.
I've got some leather cleaner and managed to scrub off an awful lot of the dirt and grime. It's never going to be the same as new again but it's an improvement.
Once it had all dried off I've used some leather conditioner feed on it to make the hide soft again. It's looking good now but just needs a bit of time for the conditioner to soak in and dry off.

This!
There is some shit goes on here occasionally but it's vastly outweighed by this sort of thing. There really are some great and honest people on here.
Thank you!

Another great autoshite day for me!
 
If being given a free winch and cable is not good enough, alf892 took me out in his pick up when I collected it.

Just-washed-Ebay-l@@k-dot-com

 
Gave the front bumper a bit of trim gel, but then it started bloody raining again (as it did when I was getting the suds on. Wales can piss off today). Rear bumper still needs it very much.

while I was having fun today I did a major clearout of the barn
 
Triggers Broom ?
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Believe me none of this is any good at all...
 
Apart from the nearside sill - heavy duty repro homemade sill - free to collector
 
And headlamp boxes - which I am keeping

next is to finish off the b - post
 
As usual, measured up and made a template
 

 
at this stage it is useful to finish off all those old cutting discs
 

 
Is it gone? chose another from the pile

 
After much fucking about an fiddlin I get to this
 

 

 

 

 

right chaps
 
Been back in Devon, my daily Rangie is working very rude at the mo so leaving him the fuck alone!
 
Been all over the 1972 Alan project, work this time is all about the drivers side rear quarter
 
here he is at the start having had much rustiness removed
 

 

 
Here is the boot side and arch welded 

 
the new curtain ready for prep

 
All clamped up

 
An welded in

 
happy days

This weekend I've done a little more to this. I didn't really want to tbh given recent Capri related events, I wasn't in the mood at all for anything car related but forced myself out to do a bit.
 
Firstly the good news, last time I managed to get the sunroof open properly and gave the drains a better clean out. Well it's been very wet lately, sometimes the rain (and hail!) have been very heavy and I'm pleased to report that the leaking has stopped. The headlining is staying dry now and has actually stopped sagging in the offending corner so fingers crossed it's fixed now.
 
Now the not so good news, when I was cleaning the interior out I'd found the carpet was wet on the NS rear floor. Since then I've sealed up the front footwell vent seals and this has allowed the carpets to dry out and despite the shitty weather they are staying dry, all good.
But, under the car in the same area was a few rusty coloured stains! You know what's coming.
I decided to have a look so removed the front passenger seat and stripped the carpets and under felt out to reveal a grim sight.
It's been leaking for a long time and the water had all run to the lowest area and soaked the under felt which held moisture against the floor. This has left about 10 small holes through the floor. They are all fairly small, the biggest is about a 1p size, but it's also rotted out one whole corner of one of the front seat mounts.
I was mightily pissed about this given other troubles at the moment but this is all there is rust wise, the other side is pristine.
So far I've chopped out most of the rusted metal and need to make up a few repair patches and weld them in.
Luckily this is work I can do as/when and costs me nothing as I've already got the tools and materials.
 
As it's been pissing down again most of today I decided to have a go cleaning the front seat as it was out already so did this down in the shed.
I've got some leather cleaner and managed to scrub off an awful lot of the dirt and grime. It's never going to be the same as new again but it's an improvement.
Once it had all dried off I've used some leather conditioner feed on it to make the hide soft again. It's looking good now but just needs a bit of time for the conditioner to soak in and dry off.

This!
There is some shit goes on here occasionally but it's vastly outweighed by this sort of thing. There really are some great and honest people on here.
Thank you!

This!
There is some shit goes on here occasionally but it's vastly outweighed by this sort of thing. There really are some great and honest people on here.
Thank you!

Here is a little update on the little car.
 
The main problem identified is that I wasn't setting things up on the compression stroke.  I'd got so confused with all the information thrown at me I'd got muddled.  This is now resolved, it is now set up on the compression stroke.
 
The other problem is that the valve clearances had tightened up and were not letting the valves operate properly.  I haven't got my feeler gauges at home so I set them to as near as I could without.  I will reset these properly.
 
Sorting those two issues out in turn showed me that the distributor drive cog was in fact in 180 degrees out.  When I put it in with the engine out of the car I'd actually done it right so it had to go back to how it was.  I had definitely been overthinking this bit!  With that back in properly the rotor arm now points at #1 when it should.
 
Here is a little video demonstrating what it's doing.  The video is a bit crappy, apparently I used a potato instead of a camera.

 
You can see it's not quite right.  My understanding is that this is down to incorrect valve clearances.  Three of four bangs are going down the exhaust like they should, one is coming back through the carburettor, hence the little plume of flames.  I'm hoping when I set the valve clearances properly, all the bangs will go down the exhaust and the car will run.  That is what I'm going to try and I will see what happens.
 
One thing I did do was compare my brand new early R5 radiator with my old late R6 radiator properly.  I knew the new rad probably would fit as I'd seen videos of cars running with them fitted.  It's surprising how similar they are in size and should be able to be modified to fit without too much grief.

 
Both hoses line up exactly, the temperature sender looks to be the same (didn't have a big enough spanner/socket to find out exactly) and the only issue really is having the one long bolt sticking out the bottom that I need to chop off or drop in the bolt hole it lines up with.  To fix to the 6 I'll make some little clamp type brackets for the top and bolt it securely in that way.

 

 
It's not much, but it's progress at least.  When I've got tools and time next week I'll do a bit more, hopefully even get it running properly.

Everyone loves a happy ending, especially fans of old RWD estate cars like me. I look forward to following the car's continued fortunes 

^^What he said.

There is a brown Granada Chasseur for sale on the tat thread.  It's about eleventy kabillion quid, and has some minor snags such as no engine and so forth, but it does have bespoke matching luggage.  I am pissed off that the blue Granada does not have this, but may have come up with a solution:
 
 

Well, I'm disappointed to not be part of this caper.  The Sierra (which was a year ago on April 1st) was one of the most memorable days of all time.  I will certainly remember it to the end.
 
*knocking on random doors to find the owner
*getting onto the north circular remembering i'd not insured it
*having to get to Milton Keynes in it without fail within 90 minutes otherwise I'd have categorically been fired
*being too ashamed to drive it home as my Mother in Law was baby sitting
 
I hope that it brings much joy to the new ownership team.  
 
If shares become available at a later date, I would certainly be interested.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1967-DAIMLER-250-V8-10000-MILEAGE-BARN-FIND-FOR-RESTORATION-HPI-CLEAR-/232259724766

 
 
And on the car?

Didn't this already sell for ages last year?
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Standard-Ensign-Vanguard-1963-Blue-and-Grey-for-restoration-starts-and-drives/142293965653

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commer-Karrier-Gamecock-vintage-lorry-with-interesting-Royal-Mail-history/272571651300

 
 
Sadly knockerfree, though.

Woah!
 
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/studebaker-champion-conestoga-station-wagon-american-classic-car-barn-find-/201842718394

OOOF
 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1980-FORD-FIESTA-MK1-GHIA-H-B-RED-1YRS-MOT-NO-RESERVE-/201842210009
 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-PRESIDENT-Sovereign-VIP-/192120042727?hash=item2cbb3f34e7:g:AI8AAOSwOgdYuvWV