Horrible van for a horrible person

[Lacquer Peel]

Hey crew! I swapped my Skoda Fabia SDi for a Japanese mid-engined rear-wheel drive two-seater with a 2.3 OHC engine, sounds exciting eh?

 

 

"Oh."

 

 

The ICE installation looks factory.

 

 

It needs a few things for the MOT in a few weeks - left handbrake cable, wheel cylinder and exhaust bodging, but one fix was free and easy.

 

 

The engine resides under the seats in a thoughtful piece of design, it's a lot more accessible than conventional vans with their engines buried under scuttles and against bulkheads. The valve cover gasket leaks a bit of oil, I don't know when the timing belt was last changed, I am scared to look at it, but it's supposed to be a 1-2 hour job. It is distantly related to the Datsun 240Z engine.

With a new fuel filter replacing the one that looked original, it loves the veg.

 

It drives pretty well considering the terrible reputation these things have based on the similar Serena being an unacceptable passenger car. It's no speed machine but like all old diesels it plods along well once it's up to speed. It understeers horribly at "helmsman" speeds, might be down to the teflon 185R14Cs, but at sedate speeds it's a decent drive, seems stable and safe.

 

 

Even with 1t* of hardwood in the back.

 

I looked at buying a few vans before this one, including overpriced 'Tw4t' Transporters - the basic engines in them are just as lacklustre as the Vanette's, but they are 2-3 times the money in similar condition. MENTAL.

Plans? Tidy up, service, use to help renovate house/garden, collect free sofas on gumtree, deliver firewood to mutha_ and granny_Peel.

[dugong]

Your van is worse than mine. MY REIGN WAS BRIEF AND GLORIOUS.

[Lacquer Peel]

Incorrect, this is the van of winners.

[Partridge]

It also has much more wood inside of it, Dugong. Meet LOG_VAN.

[HH-R]

What was more miserable, an SDi engined Fabia or this?

[forddeliveryboy]

Bloody posh colour for a van. Like it, if for no other reason than vegability. And since when did vans have to accelerate to 60 in under 12 seconds? 

[Jim Bergerac]

Very miserable. Sadly it's no LDV Cub.

[Bren]

Slower than a week in custody.

 

But more interesting than a skoda.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Very miserable. Sadly it's no LDV Cub.

but it could be with fleabay

[filthyjohn]

TRU BUT BORING FACT: I was taken to Sunderland General Hospital (yeah we have one) via Nissan Serena from the NMUK plant when my tonsils started pissing blood at work. They wouldn't let me leave until I threatened to gob bloody phlegm into the K12 micras we were building.

[Jon]

Nice* van there. It certainly does LACK APPEAL [/pun]. Does look from your first photo as if the front end's partaking in a bit of belming.

 

It seems like the Spanish built Serenas and Vanettes were a bit of an anomaly from what I can work out, as they seemed to run LD23 engines, which as you say is distantly related to the 240Z. Looks like most of the Japanese ones ran CD series engines and there's plenty of them knocking about over here. Anyway, if Wikipedia is to be believed, all LD series engines ceased production in the mid-80s but there's no mention of an LD23 at all on the L-series page. Either way, I reckon you'd be warmly welcomed at the US-based Nissan Diesel forum, which caters for like-minded diesel foamers:

 

http://nissandiesel.dyndns.org/

 

 

Looks like I may be an antipodean version of you, what with using my LD-engined wagon to gather wood. A farmer mate told me of a tree that had fallen down in his paddock which I was welcome to cut up and here's what I found:

 

 

My piddly 16" bar didn't do it much justice but some of the lesser branches kept us warm for most of the winter. I agree with your comments about acceleration and speed, though I do wish mine was turbocharged, as it's all mouth and no trousers, really. I think the cone air filter is pretty badly placed tbh, so I'll look to re-route it, as it seems to be down on power since fitting but has worked wonders on the brake pedal feel, since it must offer a better vacuum. Anyway, until today, I'd only heard mine running from outside once before, so I made a little video. If you want to hear what a straight six LD28 with a mildly silly exhaust sounds like, click here

 

 

[rml2345]

"Autoshite - Your means of moving some goods about is our concern."

These things and their Serena siblings have a sort of woeful appeal about them. Like a puppy with three legs or something.

When I was growing up we had a Serena for a bit which earned the nickname "Cabbage" on account of it being green, rotund and a bit unpleasant but we liked it more with time and were a bit sorry to see it go really.

This one looks like it'll serve you well.

[Cavcraft]

This has travelled so far back through awfulness, it's actually come out the other side into ace.

[Lacquer Peel]

What was more miserable, an SDi engined Fabia or this?

This has a sort of rubbish appeal, the Skoda has no appeal whatsoever.

[andy18s]

I've had 1 of these in LDV flavour. As you say it's not a speed machine but will go anywhere at a steady 65-70 regardless of how many huskies/weight of caravan is attached to it.

2.7 td from a Mav or its jap cousin will fit if you change the bellhousing

[Richard]

I've only driven one once and that was within an industrial estate but it didn't seem that slow to me, is the 0-50 time more respectable than the 0-60 time?

[twosmoke300]

Just look at how easy a clutch change must be . Soooo much room round the bell(end)housing bolts . For that reason , Im In

[mercrocker]

My sis had a Serena but I never saw it (she lives in Canada...).   didn't realise what engine layout they were - that's bloody excellent.   Are Cubs the same as well?

[cort16]

You have to appreciate Nissan's imaginative van naming policies.

 

Vanette

NV (Nissan Van) 200

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I've only driven one once and that was within an industrial estate but it didn't seem that slow to me, is the 0-50 time more respectable than the 0-60 time?

 

no, actually the 0-60 time is quicker than the 0-50 time

[inconsistant]

 

 

 

 

^^^ TREE AS FUCK

[sierraman]

My mate had one, diesel it was. Was pedestrian slow. 2.3 diesel I think as fitted to all the best black cabs.

[Noel Tidybeard]

^^^ no the black cab is fitted with a TD272 OHV donk whereas the serena/cub was an OHC LD series

[Lacquer Peel]

Nissan manufactured a baffling range of similar but different diesels.

[Asimo]

Shite Van envy!

 

I was browsing ebay last night for these, shame I've got a good modernish van already.

 

You just can't beat the "I don't give a shit"-ness of an old van.

[Timewaster]

A skip on wheels is one of the handiest things you can have on the driveway.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Our local Police had a Cub for many years,presumably as a high speed pursuit car.

[Lacquer Peel]

 

BEAT THAT.

[KruJoe]

Under the thirty!

Good going.

[Richard]

This is the man who thought a Xantia 1.9D was too slow.