Jcr's thread. 38k mile Convoy ex-minibus

[grogee]

4 minutes ago, jcr said:

Wasn't aware I was heading to an auction 🫨

You'll be a cloud of tyre smoke by 2.30, Shirley? 

[jcr]

3 minutes ago, grogee said:

You'll be a cloud of tyre smoke by 2.30, Shirley? 

I'm not sure this can break traction....

[jcr]

[High Jetter]

Vantastic! Has got quite a long roof too...

[bezzabsa]

58 minutes ago, jcr said:

Bagsies when you sell...put a high roof onit tho

[jcr]

Well got it home. The reason I went straight for this one is it has 38k miles on the clock (!!!). Still vague as fuck. But the engine is sweeeeet!! As you'd imagine.

Dual rear axle for 50% more tyres than necessary.

Rust wise, well, it's really quite good. There's the usual bit where the front arch meets the sill.... but amazingly that does seem to be it. Paintwork shit especially where it's been crunched into a concrete gatepost.

 

More pics soon.

[juular]

Nice longroof.

[Matty]

Awesome. Had loads of these for work when I was starting out. Last proper van.

[Shirley Knott]

Yep, quite fond of these.

I served 3.5 years of a 4 year heavy goods fitting apprenticeship for Leyland Daf (Left without getting my papers 😑) and we used to service and look after these as well as selling them new.

I worked on the LDV's and the Daf 45's pretty much exclusively for a good period of time before I was allowed anywhere near the 7.5 ton stuff or anything bigger.

An interesting story is that we used to park them in the workshop over the weekend, and the rear brakes/handbrake would somehow lock up even in that short period of time.... It used to be my job the bray the rear wheels with a hammer on Monday morning to free them off and get them reversed off the pits!

 

 

[jcr]

1k miles later.

I've stuck a new thermostat in before realizing LDV obviously didn't bother changing the gauge for the plethora of engines they fitted, so 33% is perfect operating temperature.

Think this peak van. Small enough to drive without worry, but due to the wider body than an equiv transit, still decent inside space wise.

 

It's solid enough, but the rear valance needs a bit of work. Not too many compound curves on this one so should be doable. Driver's side also has a little crumple after previous owner's son interacted negatively with a concrete gate post. There's some less than good paint on top... I'm thinking push out the parts I can reach from inside, sand, paint... it won't be perfect but won't be so conspicuous.

pictured at the world's poshest services on the M5

 

I used the previous camper conversion (read: bed) going to a mate's gig in North Devon. But now ripped this out for van mode: 

 

 

It's only the 75PS 2.4 Duratorq. So no intercooler. Potential to add an intercooler for a few more HP? Not sure if I'd see any gains without a map.

 

 

[grogee]

I do love a Sherpa. And an LDV. 

My mainly uneducated guess is that adding an intercooler would gain you a few horses but a map would gain you more. 

How about one of those knocky fuel pressure tricker things, that might be a cheap way to more horses? 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, jcr said:

1k miles later.

I've stuck a new thermostat in before realizing LDV obviously didn't bother changing the gauge for the plethora of engines they fitted, so 33% is perfect operating temperature.

Think this peak van. Small enough to drive without worry, but due to the wider body than an equiv transit, still decent inside space wise.

 

It's solid enough, but the rear valance needs a bit of work. Not too many compound curves on this one so should be doable. Driver's side also has a little crumple after previous owner's son interacted negatively with a concrete gate post. There's some less than good paint on top... I'm thinking push out the parts I can reach from inside, sand, paint... it won't be perfect but won't be so conspicuous.

pictured at the world's poshest services on the M5

 

I used the previous camper conversion (read: bed) going to a mate's gig in North Devon. But now ripped this out for van mode: 

 

 

It's only the 75PS 2.4 Duratorq. So no intercooler. Potential to add an intercooler for a few more HP? Not sure if I'd see any gains without a map.

 

 

You could fit a blue 3 wheeler in there, M9

[jcr]

10 hours ago, High Jetter said:

You could fit a blue 3 wheeler in there, M9

Hold that thought....

[2flags]

The Invacar race transporter! 😂 🤣

[tom13]

I have been looking at one of these recently, low roof as well. What can it cruise at on the motorway?

Could you put a tape measure the rear opening and the length if you get a min cheers?

[somewhatfoolish]

9 hours ago, tom13 said:

I have been looking at one of these recently, low roof as well. What can it cruise at on the motorway?

Could you put a tape measure the rear opening and the length if you get a min cheers?

They'll wheeze up to 70 odd on the clock even with a Luton body so the panel van should be good for 10-15 more, expect to go deaf though. Screen grabs from the Commercial Motor archive.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

They'll wheeze up to 70 odd on the clock even with a Luton body so the panel van should be good for 10-15 more, expect to go deaf though.

That wil take a while tho, not sure any have bothered a speed camera

[jcr]

9 hours ago, tom13 said:

I have been looking at one of these recently, low roof as well. What can it cruise at on the motorway?

Could you put a tape measure the rear opening and the length if you get a min cheers?

Absolutely fine at 70. Did a big motorway journey to Devon and was remarkably pleasant.

Will get you the measurements tomorrow. This is a swb dually for reference 

 

[jcr]

 

Unrelated: Ordered a forscan obd2 cable off eBay yesterday. I think the advance solenoid has gone.

[Matty]

Still going though. Grand old bus

[wuvvum]

On 21/09/2023 at 20:20, somewhatfoolish said:

They'll wheeze up to 70 odd on the clock even with a Luton body so the panel van should be good for 10-15 more, expect to go deaf though. Screen grabs from the Commercial Motor archive.

Fun* fact: an older XD3T-powered van with 95bhp is actually slower than the 75bhp Duratorq version.

[Matty]

3 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Fun* fact: an older XD3T-powered van with 95bhp is actually slower than the 75bhp Duratorq version.

One of the first vans I was given for any length of time was an ex transco 400 twin wheel with the Peugeot turbo lump. That actually felt quite sprightly. Though compared to a 2.5 DI in fairness. 

[wuvvum]

The one I had would go from 0-60 in 29.5 seconds.  The DI Transit I owned shortly afterwards (admittedly a SWB low roof) took 26.5.  To be fair the turbo LDV was still noticeably quicker than the non-turbo Peugeot-engined variant, which took 38.5 seconds.  I'd imagine a DI-engined Convoy would be slower than the Transit too as it's a rather bigger van.

[mat_the_cat]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

The one I had would go from 0-60 in 29.5 seconds.  The DI Transit I owned shortly afterwards (admittedly a SWB low roof) took 26.5.  To be fair the turbo LDV was still noticeably quicker than the non-turbo Peugeot-engined variant, which took 38.5 seconds.  I'd imagine a DI-engined Convoy would be slower than the Transit too as it's a rather bigger van.

32 seconds for my turbodiesel LT, albeit high roof and almost 300k miles on it now.

 

[wuvvum]

Sounds a lot nicer than an XD3 though!  I actually found with my LTs that it was quicker to set off in second gear with a bit of clutch slip - the lost acceleration was more than compensated for by the time gained through not having to shift from first to second.  Your gearshift might be less clunky than mine was mind...

[Talbot]

I love that all of these 0-60 times that are being compared could be measured on a calendar, and that 30s is "fairly quick"

[Dyslexic Viking]

I should have had a 0-60 measured on the Mercedes, they weren't fast as new, but with 60 years and with  worn out transmission linkages preventing fast gear shifting, thing are probably interesting now.

[wuvvum]

57 minutes ago, Talbot said:

I love that all of these 0-60 times that are being compared could be measured on a calendar, and that 30s is "fairly quick"

They are quick compared to the Iveco Daily I had - best time I managed in that was fractionally over a minute...

The Maxus will do it in 15.5 seconds.  Or at least it will when the back isn't full of crap.

[Talbot]

6 hours ago, wuvvum said:

They are quick compared to the Iveco Daily I had - best time I managed in that was fractionally over a minute...

The Maxus will do it in 15.5 seconds.  Or at least it will when the back isn't full of crap.

Did you see the video that Richard Kitchen (Up-n-Down on youtube) did when he put it on the Dyno?

Frickin' hillarious.  It's making about 35hp at the wheels!

[Matty]

17 hours ago, mat_the_cat said:

32 seconds for my turbodiesel LT, albeit high roof and almost 300k miles on it now.

 

Sincerely hope you advised to the poor old lass afterwards !