Dans Mk2 Transit thread. New carb.

[johngarty]

Mooar pics and updates please 

[danthecapriman]

These are from a bit earlier in the year, I just didn't put them up in this thread.

 

The Transit had a broken rear light cluster, it still worked but had been smacked and broken the fixing points and the grey trim around the light. Someone had also used completely the wrong screws to fit the light with which had cracked the plastic.

 

Old light.

IMG_0173 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Brand new, genuine Ford part.

IMG_0174 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Job done! Very easy little job but it makes a big difference to the look of the van.

IMG_0175 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

There was also some rust blisters on one rear door so these have been fixed now too.

As usual, the scabs quickly grew and left holes once the grinder went through them.

IMG_0064 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0065 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Rusty metal removed.

IMG_0066 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0067 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

New steel welded in and smoothed off.

IMG_0068 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0069 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0070 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

All filling done and paint going on.

IMG_0071 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0073 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

This was pretty easy to do but annoying as the van had been Ziebarted from new so as I was welding the wax melted and caught fire! There's no room inside the door to clean the wax away so I just had to stop every few mins and put the flames out!

[danthecapriman]

And finally, for now.

Got some pressed ally number plates made for the two of them.

 

IMG_0072 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

I got a pair for the Granny and one front plate for the Transit, since it's got an old serck plate on the back already which I wanted to keep.

 

Here's the Granny wearing them out in some south downes scenery from drive it day.

 

IMG_0590 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0589 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

 

More updates later this week hopefully once I get some of the work done.

[danthecapriman]

Just spent a few hours prepping the new bonnet.

There were three rusted sections of the inner frame along the front edge, two small bits and one long one.

I've used a dremmel type tool to cut out a tiny square around the small bits and had to get the grinder out to cut out the bigger one. The frame is quite thin metal, maybe .8mm or so and cut very easily.

Once the rusty crap was cut off I cleaned out the holes to get rid of any flakes and dust then gave the inner surface of the outer skin a quick skim with a power file to get rid of any surface rust.

Luckily the outer skin (thicker steel) hasn't rusted at all other than a bit of surface rust, and most importantly - no holes!

I've left some rust converter fluid on it now and let it soak into the seams and gaps so that should be ok now.

I've also cleaned back a few patches of surface rust on the frame ready for a coat of etch primer before painting.

 

 

 

So, tomorrow I'll get some steel sheet out, make up a few repair pieces and weld them in place. Once it's all ground flush I'll paint the Mineral Blue onto the underside of the bonnet, then flip it over and do the top surface, which will also be lacquered. Then once that's set properly I'll wax the front edge of the frame/outer skin.

[anonymous user]

Good work. Again I'm guilty of reading people's masking up newspaper and am a bit concerned to see that Doctor Who should be on trial for the death of a young mother.

[Shep Shepherd]

The existence of this Granada makes me happy

[danthecapriman]

The existence of this Granada makes me happy

It is a hideous old thing isn't it!

I like it's rough appearance though, it'll never be a minter but it's nice to see one still looking the way they used to be 20 years ago.

Keeping good mechanically but a bit of 'make do and mend' on the outside is how it's going to stay, similar to the Holey Grail Sierra really.

Maybe we should get them together. Like a mid 90's council estate scene!

 

Welcome back Shep btw!

[Shep Shepherd]

^

The Volvo's still presentable for a 1990 car which has never been garaged, but it's definitely a 'ten yard car' now, due to the paint being past its best.

 

However, I like the shabby chic/lord of the manor/country vet/professor emeritus look that it and most other 700s now sport, so in common with your Granada, I'm simply going to keep it clean, tidy, in decent mechanical shape and as rust-free as possible until I can find the time/inclination/money to get it resprayed

[Bren]

Like the granada. Sadly they are no longer safe even in locked garages. To be fair, all manner of old cars are being filched at the mo.

[danthecapriman]

Like the granada. Sadly they are no longer safe even in locked garages. To be fair, all manner of old cars are being filched at the mo.

It's a shame, but you do sadly have to watch where you leave these. Even when it's parked on my drive, I've had people knock the door trying to buy it. Some are honest and want it for restoring or racing but I had one guy a while ago saying he was restoring a mk1 coupe and wanted mine for parts. He didn't look the sort to restore cars and there's not a lot of parts the mk2 estate and mk1 coupe share so I suspect there was another motive.

Trouble is, people get to know where cars like this live and it makes you wonder sometimes if they'll come back one day and take it.

Sad situation really but it's not going to stop me having the cars I like.

[danthecapriman]

For anyone interested here's a few pics and words that were lost after the recent forum outage.

 

Brakes first,

 

 

Old ones. Not looking all that bad but this one was sticking.

 

 

And new from the other side. The discs were fine but it's now got new calipers and pads both sides.

 

Next up was the rocker cover gaskets. The old ones were leaking and on removing the covers the old gaskets were squashed flat and rock hard, not very good at sealing anymore.

 

 

 

The rocker covers were cleaned up (yes they still look shit!) and this one got a new crankcase breather valve and seal, then the new gasket was glued in place with a thin smear of instant gasket before being bolted back on.

 

Once this was done the car was given a full service too.

A couple of days later it was in for MOT, which it passed of course! Only two advisories which were no big deal too.

[danthecapriman]

Bonnet next.

 

 

This was given a good go over with a DA sander using coarse pads to cut through the chips, scratches and rusty bits.

It's a good panel, all the rusty bits disappeared to bright metal after a few passes. Then I went over it again with finer pads to key the whole panel.

After this was done the panel was cleaned and degreased then primed.

 

 

The underside was then given a quick flat back and several coats of Mineral blue.

 

Once that was dry the bonnet was flipped over and the outside painted.

It had about 5 good coats, then I fucked it up by being impatient!

It was a hot day so I flatted the paint down, got it lovely and smooth the tried to spray the lacquer. It dried awfully, leaving a white powdery finish all over the panel. It looked like someone had poured a bag of flour onto the panel. I think it was excess heat and high humidity that did it.

So a few days later I rubbed it down and put a load more blue coats on, then wet flatted again.

This time I did the lacquer coats late one evening after the sun had gone down and temperatures dropped.

 

 

 

Here it is after a few coats of lacquer, still drying hence the patchy look.

Since it's dried it looks really good for a rattle can job and a 100% improvement over the rotten original panel.

I've also given it a wash with car shampoo and then a polish with Autoglym super resin polish which made it look even better.

 

I've also filled the front edge of the bonnet and frame with cavity wax to stop the rust starting in the first place. I did this with the panel stood on end and in full sun to let the wax get as thin and runny as possible then soak and creep into the seams.

 

All that's left now is to fit it and swap over the washer pipes and jets etc. I've also got a new bonnet prop rubber mount and the little plastic clip to hold it down, which are missing on the old bonnet.

[danthecapriman]

Got the new bonnet fitted today. It makes a huge difference.

 

 

It was dead easy to fit with my dad helping. Needed the catch lever, spring/latch, bonnet prop and screen washer jets/pipes swapping over from the old one. This done, the next step was to simply bolt it onto the hinges on the car. Slight problem here as on of the captive nuts inside the new bonnet had come off and was missing so I had to find a new nut and try to jam my hand into the tiny gap in the frame to get it on the bolt, it was a right twat and the edges of the hole were sharp too just to make it even more fun!

Everything aligned well after a bit of adjustment, the spring/latch mechanism needed a lot of adjustment to work properly but it's perfect now.

 

Here's the old bonnet for comparison.

 

 

 

 

It's absolutely rotten along the front edge. My finger actually went through it last time I opened it so it was ripe for changing.

The gaffer tape had probably helped it to rot out in fairness but it was helping stop MOT fails for sharp edges! One end was actually stuffed with filler too so I think this bonnet is beyond saving really. I did consider trying to weld it since I couldn't find a good bonnet but I think it's a bit past that. Good thing I managed to get the new one in the end.

[mercrocker]

Nice to see these two getting some lovin'

[Felly Magic]

You really are a blue oval headcase. So nice to see a BBC OB van surviving, and a late-ish Mk2 Granny getting some well deserved TLC too

[danthecapriman]

You really are a blue oval headcase. So nice to see a BBC OB van surviving, and a late-ish Mk2 Granny getting some well deserved TLC too

Yep! I've always loved old Fords, wouldn't be without at least one. Someone's got to love them I suppose!

[danthecapriman]

Update time for the Transit.

A little while ago I made a thread about carburettor options for the commercial spec 2.0 pinto. While I had dreams of sticking a twin choke weber on it and kicking some ass with my new super powered Transit the reality and general consensus was that plan would be a waste of time and money due to this Pinto being a commercial low compression unit.

The idea was originally to achieve smooth running and better fuel economy if possible anyway so the twin choke money pit idea was ditched and instead I bought myself a Weber 34ich conversion kit, specced for this engine and van model.

I've fitted a similar kit to my Capri years ago and did several on various other old Fords when I was working in a garage so knew what I would get and how to do it all.

 

So, the kit was £200 direct from Weber (I've since found it cheaper elsewhere but there you go!).

Basically there's various kits available depending on year, engine size and type etc. Mine is jetted and comes complete with everything needed to replace the original Ford VV carb and auto choke unit to a Weber 34ich and manual choke, ready to use on a mk2 Transit 2.0 Pinto. Everything including carb, fuel hoses, clips and fittings, choke cable etc etc is all in the box with instructions and diagram.

 

First job then is to remove the air filter box, pull off the vac advance hose, disconnect the fuel solenoid wire, and disconnect the two coolant heater hoses going into the old auto choke unit and finally un clip the throttle cable.

Then remove the carb itself. I was expecting this to be a bit of a pig since it's been sat there for 32 years. It wasn't! The two securing nuts removed from the two long studs and a light tap to the carb body and it was loose and lifted straight off! Easy!

I cleaned up the face of the inlet manifold but even that was already pretty clean and in fact the carbs original gasket came straight off in one piece.

 

One manky old VV carb! It's huge compared to the new one.

 

IMG_0293 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Next is to fit the new baseplate gasket, then the carb adaptor plate and then the thick spacer gasket. You don't need to, but I fitted these with a thin smear of instant gasket just to be sure.

Next, the new carb is bolted on the top and tightened down.

The new baseplate has an arm on one side to bolt the throttle cable onto, then the cable simply pushes onto the throttle linkage and the original clip secures it in place. I tested the throttle operation as it's not quite in the same position as original anymore but mine seems fine. Sometimes a little adjustment of the cable is needed.

After this comes the choke cable. As my van was an auto choke I had no existing fittings or location for this so had to make it up.

I had a look in the cab for a suitable location for the choke handle and decided on an easy to get at blanking plate in the steering column trim just below the ignition switch. This was convienient as it also was directly in line with a rubber bung in the bulkhead, so a 12mm hole was drilled through the dash trim, the choke cable pushed through and then bolted in place using the supplied adaptor plates sandwiching the dash trim between them.

The outer sleeve of the cable was then pushed through the bulkhead bung and routed behind the brake servo and across to the carb. Then the inner choke cable and handle were oiled and fed through, before being clamped to the carb and any adjustment made to operate the choke fully and smoothly.

I really hate drilling interior trim as if you get it wrong it means you've just made a right mess of hard to find old trim but in this case it was dead easy. Just be absolutely sure it's the right location and there's nothing behind the intended location that will foul the choke cable!

Home straight now, reconnect the vacuum advance hose. Mine was miles longer than it needed to be so I cut it down. The old fuel pipes and filter were all swapped for new ones supplied in the kit.

 

Convienient location for the new choke cable and handle.

 

IMG_0292 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

The next bit involves a bit of thought, remember the original auto choke? Well now I don't have one! This means I have two heater hoses going nowhere.

The option is suggested in the instructions that you could take the old auto choke unit off the old carb and reconnect it but then shove it out the way somewhere as it's no longer doing anything other than bridging the gap between the old hoses. I didn't like this as it would look a bit shit.

In the end I removed the shorter hose completely and re routed the longer one below the manifold and then up onto the original inlet manifold pipe union. Luckily it's already the right length and shape to do this! It also looks much better than the other way.

The other option was to use a bit of old copper pipe or similar the join the original hoses together. Whatever works!

After this it's a simple case of refitting the air filter box and running the engine to set up the carb.

Sadly I ran out of light this evening so the last bit will have to wait until next weekend.

 

IMG_0291 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0290 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

They are great kits and go together really well. I think they're great for the cost too and dead easy to fit.

[DodgeRover]

I'm fitting a twin choke weber to mine, I doubt the fuel consumption could get much worse anyway and every extra pony helps

[danthecapriman]

I'm fitting a twin choke weber to mine, I doubt the fuel consumption could get much worse anyway and every extra pony helps

I did really want to on mine too but just came to the conclusion it wasn't worth it because of the LC commercial engine.

What was the killer was when I priced everything up. I don't like using used bits like carbs tbh and always try to get new, which were expensive! For the use mine gets it's just an easier, cheaper job to use the ICH kit.

 

 

What carb has yours got at the moment?

[DodgeRover]

A teeny tiny single weber only about 60mm diameter, coupled to a tiny inlet - no way could it flow enough cfm. I had to get another manifold to go with the twin choke

 

If you need any other panel swap able stuff for the granny ask your local banger racers, as long as your panel will physically go on to be raced that's all that's really needed.

[danthecapriman]

A teeny tiny single weber only about 60mm diameter, coupled to a tiny inlet - no way could it flow enough cfm. I had to get another manifold to go with the twin choke

If you need any other panel swap able stuff for the granny ask your local banger racers, as long as your panel will physically go on to be raced that's all that's really needed.

I've had a few bits off racers, even so though these old Granny's aren't as numerous as they once were on the oval.

I did try to get a good bonnet off a racer locally but he wasn't interested in my old one + cash for the good one! He wanted a good looking panel for his nice paint job! I couldn't understand it.

[DodgeRover]

Back on carbs our local recovery guy used to run a petrol transit and said his fuel consumption went down when he put the bigger weber on as he didn't have to rev it so hard to make progress. Need to get a water elbow and some flexible tubing to connect the gas carb up and I guess I'll find out....

[danthecapriman]

Back on carbs our local recovery guy used to run a petrol transit and said his fuel consumption went down when he put the bigger weber on as he didn't have to rev it so hard to make progress. Need to get a water elbow and some flexible tubing to connect the gas carb up and I guess I'll find out....

Let me know once you've done it, it'll be interesting to know for sure.

I think I'll keep this little single Weber on mine though. I don't really use the van that much and it's a big high roof too so it'll never win any races! Just making it run smoother and a bit more efficiently is good enough for me. Besides that I really want to keep the original air filter box, just because the van is such a solid and original one, I want it to stay as much as possible like that. I don't think you can use it again with the twin choke?

 

I'm positive the running will improve though with this carb. With the old VV the idle was very up and down, it was fine sometimes but it would randomly start dipping on it's revs. The idle on choke was crap too, ok to actually start but it was soon a bit rough. This should sort it out I reckon.

It's amazing how original this thing is though. Even the hose clamps were all Ford branded, the ones on the fuel hoses and servo vac hose were those old compression style clamps so it doesn't look like they'd ever been off before. Even the old zip tie things holding some of the wiring/pipes in place were all original Ford ones.

Looking at it, I don't think anythings ever been taken apart before. All the manifold gaskets etc etc all look to be original. It makes you wonder if the BBC really needed these vans tbh!

[danthecapriman]

Finally managed to fire this up and fine tune it after running out of daylight last weekend.

 

I removed the air filter box and re-checked everything was right and tight just incase.

Then tried to fire it up.

A couple of cranks to get some fuel up to the carb and it burst straight into life. But it was running very fast! A quick check revealed the throttle cable wasn't adjusted right. It was way too tight so was pulling the carb's throttle mechanism over so it was idling with the throttle half open!

That was easily sorted so tried again, and it was perfect.

It ran so well straight away, the choke was working perfectly. So I left it to run up to operating temperature then set the idle speed which wasn't far off anyway.

Then got my elderly gas analyser out to set the mixture. Again, this wasn't far out either, so a quick tweek of the mixture saw it running beautifully.

 

Job jobbed I reckon. It's so smooth now, the idle is constant and it doesn't stink of petrol anymore either. Revving the engine it's much more responsive and smooth too. Overall I'm pleased with that and it's made a huge difference to the vans running.

[mercrocker]

Nice job, then!    New carbs are dear but the only way to go.   They usually need the minimum of faffage on a stock engine.  

[danthecapriman]

Fark me, not far off a year since I did anything with this thread either!

 

Well, the Granada is now gone to a new home so that unfortunately won't feature here anymore.

The Transit however is still alive and with me, but given everything else I've been doing and spending money on this year (Capri and its garage!) it's been a bit neglected and barely used sadly.

 

I think since I put that carb on last year it's been on the road once!!

Today though I've decided it's time it was started and given some use since it's a nice warm day. That and the MOT is about to expire (5 Sept) so I've had it out and checked it over.

Can't find sod all wrong with it tbh, I'd expected the brakes to be a bit sticky at the very least but it seems perfectly fine.

It's done about 60 miles today and it's faultless. The new carb has made an enormous difference to the way it runs and drives. There's much more power now and I'd even say it feels much quicker and smoother. In fact, it even sounds quite good too! There's not much when in 1st (never has been but it's only really to get going) so pulling away from standstill is still a bit slow but it seems to hit its sweet spot at around 45/50mph then it really does start tanking along quite nicely. This has however highlighted even more how much a 5th gear is needed but it's fine if you just plod along at 60mph or so.

I'm dead pleased with it actually, the carb swap seems money well spent and leaving it unused for months doesn't seem to have effected it much either. Just have to book it in for MOT and see what happens...

 

Here's a pic from today.

 

IMG_0676 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Hopefully once I've got the Capri home and sorted out this can be finished off. It's the rear interior area that's still a half finished mess!

 

IMG_0675 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

IMG_0674 by Dan Clark, on Flickr

 

Another thread of mine I now need to go back through and update thanks to Photobucket!

I won't bother redoing the pics of the Granada though since that's gone, just the Transit.

[danthecapriman]

This went in for MOT today...

 

Fail, sadly.

But all it went down on was the screen wash pump not working, and high emissions.

Emissions I knew would be an issue, after the carb change I set it up by ear and until it ran well on my basic emissions tester, which was clearly not good enough!

The screen wash pump looks like it's simply reached the end of its life but easy to replace.

 

I've left it with the garage to sort, little point taking it away for the sake of those things. I was due a fail really, it's passed easily the last load of years.

Not a bad result though given it's age!

[tooSavvy]

I've left it with the garage to sort, little point taking it away for the sake of those things. I was due a fail really, it's passed easily the last load of years.

Not a bad result though given it's age!

Hopefully, I may be as philosophical* with ToMM© at MOT time..

 

*with a PASS

 

 

TS

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

When my Dad was still around and had a dyno, we found that the cars gave more power with the VV. They were roundly derided, but normally only required some very simple servicing to be very effective. New diaphragms every 2 years, clean out with carb cleaner and set the auto choke that 9/10 was clogged up with shite due to old antifreeze. I ran a series of Escorts, Cortinas and Sierras with the VV and had no problems at all.

 

Now, the Pierburg garbage fitted the VW's, Audis.............Jesus 

[danthecapriman]

I've kept the original VV. I'm not a fan of them tbh, they work well when they behave but they seem to take a bit of looking after to keep them like that.

These Weber jobbies are a bit more fit and forget!

 

The VV off this will be a good candidate for a full rebuild if anyone was so inclined, 18k miles is all it's done!

 

 

I've just ordered a new rear 'Transit' badge for this too. New old stock! They weren't fitted to these later mk2's for some reason, only the original mk2's but it's another nice little bit of shiny stuff and should look good on this van once it's mounted to the rear door.