1997 LDV Pilot KOLLEKTED

[Lankytim]

Hi shites,

 

Collected the LDV Van that was up for sale on the forum yesterday, so I thought i'd stick up some pics and words about the adventure* that was had.

 

My oldest daugter had gone off to Chester zoo with friends and the wife didn't want to be left in all day with our youngest, and thought we needed to spend quality time together, so I did what any smart shiter would do and combined the task of tat collection with quality family time and all three of us piled into the Multipla and set off to Bolsover in Derbyshire via the local Asda cafe, where we filled up on tea and sausages and bacon.

 

We turned up at the pub/club type establishment where the LVD was being kept and found it was ready to go and had even been cleaned up a bit.

 

The seller Jack was a nice fella and gave me a bit of history about the van, owned for 10 years +, never let him down e.t.c. oh, and it's SLOW.

 

The deal was done, A frame attached and the return journey commenced.

 

 

 

Turns out LDV Pilots don't like being A framed by fiat Multiplas, so the A frame was ditched, insurance was taken out and the van was driven home.

 

 

The fuel gauge either shows full, quarter full and empty apparently and when I filled up I only managed to get 20 litres in before it overflowed so it mustve already had 30-40 litres already in. Quality.

 

Boy, the van is SLOW. I joined the M1 at 25 MPH but managed to drag it up to 60 mph which it seemed to be happy with. The steering is seriously wayward, but once you get used to it it's fine. The driving position is pretty comfortable too and once I settled down the return journey was quite pleasurable. I found that pushing the throttle pedal hard to the floor gave a sudden burst of speed- maybe it needed adjustment. 

 

It's LOUD and it bounces around like a kangaroo with bulldog clips on it's bollocks ,the axle sings on the overrun and the heater blows out cold air,  but it's FUN.

 

Back at home I cleared out all the offcuts of carpet in the back and got a hot air gun on the graphics...

 

 

 

 

They all came off easily enough and I think the an looks much tidier for it. Does anyone know the best way of removing the sticky residue that's left behind?

 

The throttle cable had a load of slack and after adjustment it goes like a rocket in comparison, 80mph being achieved (probably more like 75 tbh- and downhill a bit) One issue I've had is the one time I started it up to move it onto the driveway it wouldn't rev past approx 1000rpm, then after a minute or so the engine "woke up" and normal service was resumed. Any ideas on this out there in shiteland? It's a lucas pump btw...

 

Also, the driver door is a sliding jobbie while the passenger side has a "normal" door. Whats' that all about? surely it must be a special order affair?

 

The inside is ply lined, and it's been used for transporting sofas and carpet, so refreshingly for an old van the body hasn't been dented to fook

 

I think a deep clean, hoover out and machine polish would do this van wonders. 

 

MOAR TO FOLLOW.

[Guest Hooli]

Lack of revs could be air in the fuel, blocked filter, dodgy lift pump etc. Or just a combination of them all & lack of use.

 

Oh & the best way to sort the sticky residue is to put the stickers back!

[SherpaMog]

Xylene thinners gets the residue off easily and doesn't damage the paint if you wipe it off quickly, just work in small sections at a time. Wear a mask, it stinks.

[Guest Hooli]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sticky+stuff+remover&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-ab&gws_rd=cr&ei=n7uNWID3EeOegAbbn7aACg#q=sticky+stuff+remover&tbm=shop

[Cavcraft]

I found T-cut and plenty of elbow greases eventually removes the remnants of lettering, made easier if you spray WD40 onto a cloth which you then use to remove the T-cut. Jet wash can help too.  

 

Aren't these quite well known for steering issues and a new (steering) box or adjustment does the trick?

[nacho man]

I used some commercial grade turns your hands to bleached white in 3 seconds tfr, does a good job of removing the sticky crap. Wear gloves!!!

[Pillock]

I used "sticky stuff remover" on some crappy stickers on an old Polo, it got the sticky stuff off but also fucked the paint, just like when you get suncream on it and you never get rid of the mark. It went all chalky.

 

Personally I'd have left the stickers on and called it "patina" but it's yours, not mine

[Guest Lord Sward]

I'm jealous. Commercial Class at its finest.

[Dave_Q]

Sounds like a GR14 family day out, shame my family wouldn't agree.

 

I'm glad you didn't frame it all the way as that rig doesn't look great even by shite standards.

 

I've had great success getting very sticky stuff off windows with WD40 and a scraper, would probably work here if you use a credit card or something to scrape with.

[cms206]

Electrical cleaner should dissolve the residue fairly easily, I use it on our coaches when I've run out of thinners.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[dollywobbler]

Sliding driver's door is pretty standard. Don't think it was the norm to have two sliding doors. Excellent tale though. Glad you've got a little bit more performance out of it!

[Eddie Honda]

Petrol soaked rag.

[Vince70]

I think a tin of pound shop lighter fluid will get it off a treat. I got some fabric glue on the interior of my car and looked up online and used the stuff and it didn't damage any of the trim in the slightest and got a bit on the paint and it didn't do it any harm.

[Mally]

Petrol soaked rag.

 

But wipe it off as you go and be careful.

[Lankytim]

I tried a petrol soaked rag and it only had a little effect, I've heard that limonene works well, whatever that is.

[oldcars]

Autosmart tardis would take the sticky stuff off, then a machine polish to removed the ghosting left behind. Well bought, looks class.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

This is THE TITS, I am coming round for a shot in it

[Lankytim]

This is THE TITS, I am coming round for a shot in it

Come round then! I'm not

Planning on using it for a little while so I'm going to cancel the insurance on Monday. 14 days cancellation innit?

[DVee8]

Lighter fluid that is used in zippo lighters will lift all sticky stuff.

[scdan4]

babywipes and elbow grease can be surprisingly effective with sticker residue.

[oman5]

I love it! Yes steering issues and noisy axle is representitive of the breed, they all do that. Steering box can be adjusted, it's also worth checking the kingpins as these need regular greasing.

 

Didn't cavcraft have a cheap 306 turbo diesel? That engine would go lovely in this. Just planting the seed, like!

[beko1987]

Amazing! Looks the tits too! A few cans I'd brake cleaner and removing little bits of engine one at a time and cleaning the shit out of them should help I expect

[wuvvum]

Vehicles with beam front axles rarely like being A framed for some reason.

[trigger]

It's great seeing this old girl go to a good home, the sliding drivers door would have been for multi drop deliveries. As said on Facebook i find white spirit or panel wipe works well for the sticky shit.

[Ghosty]

GT85 is good for residue.

[oman5]

Hmm. This has got me thinking, I wonder if you could sherpa-ise a Pilot? i.e give it a reverse facelift to make it look older? You'd need the front panel work and detail bits and pieces from a sherpa, and it would be utterly pointless, but still..

[Lankytim]

I've thought about that too. I'm not sure how different the front structure is under the outer panels but I bet it's doable. One big difference that you can't get around is the B pillars lean forwards above the waist line on the older Sherpas, meaning the front doors have a funny shape. Weirdly this Pilot has a modern straight Pillar on the passenger side and the older "leaning" pillar on the drivers side with the sliding door.

[cobblers]

Top stuff Tim! I bet that drivers door lets a right draught in at 80mph! That's probably double the speed it's done in the last decade. I must admit I'd always wondered if you could swap the front ends round, but I bet you would have to cut and shut the wings or something.

[Retro_Auto]

R??? COG's were all part of a fleet in white supplied to an offshoot of Parcelforce for multi-drop Home deliveries. All of them had the Royal Mail inspired single, slam-lock, front door (not funny when you leave the keys in the ignition !)

 

I made a study of this fleet when I had two R??? COG's that I converted to campers using rotten Sherpa campers as donors of the roofs and domestic stuff.

 

The fleet was supplied with a de-tuned version of the Peuguot engine, as fitted to Royal Mail Vans, making them even slower than standard.

 

I seem to remember there were two versions of this engine, one had round inlet tracts in the head, the other had square inlet tracts, one replaced the other as the early one was prone to cracked Cylinder heads.

 

Apart from the above I have very little Knowledge of Pilots 

[stephen01]

Looking great, when I decided stickerd my van, it took fooking ages, like days, I machine moped it with t cut to remove the sticky crap. And then gave it a polish, looked brand new