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Post by n8rbos on Mar 21, 2013 23:43:29 GMT
If this is a panel van conversion....Im sure Ive read the supporting frames inside the transit are at a strange height which makes fitting windows at a normal height difficult. Dont know about the new just out Transit though. Yes citeron vans have a ford engine but all other diesel fords have a citeron engines As do volvos...which are a ford focus in disguise. Jaguars are mondeos. Fiestas are mazdas. Landrover freelanders have lots of Ford parts...very similar to Kuga which have VW transmission. I'll stop now...most stuff these days seem to be made of a collection of parts. And yes most transits are built in Turkey...this might surprise you though...Iran, who we are told is a bad! place that we have sanctions with etc etc....we have opened Transit wiring looms and writing on the wires says...made in Iran 07 > on transits are not bad to drive. Dash mounted gear change...copied from the opposition. In fact most of it is copied!! Ford are not great inovators Everything has been done before ford jump on the wagon. Transits are expensive, not near as expensive as VW...you get a lot more van for your money with Renault/Fiat/Peugeot/Citeron. Machanical reliability...hmmm probably not much in it. Compared to the good old days they are all reliable. I fix Transits everyday....and Ive bought a Renault Master. Why? You can stand up in a medium roof and it has 120 bhp. 85/90bhp transits are a bit...crap! All that could all change before your in the market though. Years (over 20)ago i read a book by lee iacocca, he worked under for ford many moons ago and re-invented chrysler when no-one wanted to touch it, he stated years before that that there would by the year 'x' there would only be four major car manufacturers, not far wrong was he! Regards your van anne, if you are happy with it and its simplicity why not have power steering fitted and lpg or a diesel engine fitted?, look after what you have and modernise it as you see fit . I have an ldv convoy ( all ford underneath) so i have a wider van but ford mechanics and will ( providing no-one writes it off) keep this van going as long as possible, the much newer fully electric vans do nowt for me except fill me with dread, there is pretty much nowt you can do with them nowadays,expensive bills .
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 22, 2013 19:35:31 GMT
Well you know what, I wouldnt rule it out, it would be a lot cheaper than upgrading to a newer van, and if I threw a few grand in could swap to diesel engine, power steering, get a respray, redo upholstery etc ...hmmm... only thng is it would have to last me for ever as i wont have much of a pension, and dont know how much better fuel economy would get on diesel, would get a bit more umph ging up hills though too...another one to add to the pot to be weighed! thanks for the suggestion
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Post by n8rbos on Mar 23, 2013 12:54:04 GMT
Well you know what, I wouldnt rule it out, it would be a lot cheaper than upgrading to a newer van, and if I threw a few grand in could swap to diesel engine, power steering, get a respray, redo upholstery etc ...hmmm... only thng is it would have to last me for ever as i wont have much of a pension, and dont know how much better fuel economy would get on diesel, would get a bit more umph ging up hills though too...another one to add to the pot to be weighed! thanks for the suggestion If you're not on the transit forum i suggest you join...free , i'm sure the equivelant diesel engine to the year was the 2.5di , which is bullet proof but sluggish but there is turbo version which would be sufficient to pull your van and return a good mpg. Transit forum would be able to tell you if there was a van fitted with the above and power steering that you could use has a donor vehicle, get the conversion done, sell off what you don't need/ use and hopefully not cost a lot to do your project. This is what i did when my engine blew up, i gained @ £250 but i did do the work myself . Regards respray , theres excellent paint which i use that you can brush or roller on , i do my xlwb high top convoy for @ £75 exc. fillers, but all in a large van can be done @£200 by yourself or grandkids lol. If you need any advice give me a shout .
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 23, 2013 13:07:37 GMT
I like your thinking N8Rbus - grandkifs are both under 2 so although they would enjoy iit they're not getting the chance - but daughters partner is extremley handy and they are very strapped for cash I did join the transit forum when I first got the van 2 years ago as I had problems with the carb at first and did get some really helpful advice, but not been back since - discovered the wild camping forum then and not looked back! ,So I had forgotten about it , but thanks for suggestion, I will have a look on there and see what info i can find re engine, and thank you for much for the useful advice-, grtting a donor vehicle is something would not have thought about. Would be a bit of a project though as van is my only vehicle so would have to get timings right as cant do without it for work. But certainly something I could keep am eye out for, and if I did fne something suitable theres a bit of a carpark at the back of where i live that already has a few old wrecks in there so could store it there until the time came to swap.
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Post by n8rbos on Mar 23, 2013 13:17:19 GMT
I have always had the 2.5di's convoys ( i run on wvo ) i now however have the 2.4 turbo, the difference in torque is superb ( but it does have electronic bits that i dread ) but after gud advice off the ldv forums will worry about them if the occur. Regards transport, you could sorn your camper forvsay 3 mth and get a little cheap run about with mot and tax for 3/4 month till vans done. If swapping to a 2.5 di engine its got only one wire make good use of the daughters partner , what area you from?
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Post by landydriver on Mar 23, 2013 14:48:27 GMT
There were turbo Dis but they were complicated at the time. First of the fly by wire ones. The 'banana' engine is probably the best of them and although the last forever they are slooooow For the expense and hastle you may be better off with an LPG conversion...cheap single point kits are not that dear. Then you have to weigh that against the miles you do. How many miles until you have recouped the outlay of either a diesel or lpg conversion. You still have to buy fuel of some sort, petrol is cheaper than diesel, so it can take 1000s of miles until you break even. Might be wise to just save the conversion cost towards a new van. Nothing lasts forever
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 23, 2013 14:50:30 GMT
Yeah thats a possibilty, will look into costs and what the expected fuel econonmy would be and weigh it all up.
If i got Damien (daughter's partner) to do it , it would be off the road for longer as he would have to fit it in around awork , 2 kids and my very demanding daughter!! But I know he would be up for it and up to it, and I would slip him somethingfor his troubles of course. If its literally one wire ....but you know what these things are always like... , the nuts that refuse to budge, the unexpected problems... always something!!, We are in West Yorks, near Todmorden, whcih is near Halifax and Burnley as you mst likely won't have headr of it! Very snowy right now, bit drifts outside!
Whats is wvo by th way ( you said I run on wvo)?I like the LDV convoys too, good size for a conversion .. but I think Vern mentioned parts are hard to ge now? What sort of mpg do you get on it?
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 23, 2013 15:01:31 GMT
There were turbo Dis but they were complicated at the time. First of the fly by wire ones. The 'banana' engine is probably the best of them and although the last forever they are slooooow For the expense and hastle you may be better off with an LPG conversion...cheap single point kits are not that dear. Then you have to weigh that against the miles you do. How many miles until you have recouped the outlay of either a diesel or lpg conversion. You still have to buy fuel of some sort, petrol is cheaper than diesel, so it can take 1000s of miles until you break even. Might be wise to just save the conversion cost towards a new van. Nothing lasts forever Oh no another option!!! Someone told me that LPG conversions are never that succeful as they re always a compromise, if they weren't built that way - dont know if thats true? . But you are quite right about thinking about the cost of fuel,...and that nothng lasts for ever...currently I use van every day as my only vehicle but only low milege as live near work, plus weekends away and holidays in it... but after retiringI wold hopeto do a lot more travelling. Currenly it can cost a LOT to do a long trip, and as going to SCotland for 2 weeks in May will prob spend hundreds on petrol - so that could alraedy be a good chunk towards a diesel engine, if itis that much nore economical to run it could be worth doing anyway ... then come retirement time decide if theres any life left in the old girl - and the van too!! In the meantime, I will of course be spending many happy hours drooling over ebay ads and searching for the Perfcet Van!!
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Post by Firefox on Mar 23, 2013 15:32:22 GMT
The modern diesels are great. LPG is for someone stuck with an ancient petrol engine that they want to cut the fuel costs for.
Having said that I'm sitting waiting for the AA. I've had this problem before. I think it is caused by a bad fuel load (water condenses from air in tank and contaminates the diesel). These engines are fantastic when they run but they are fickle about clean fuel. At least I think that's the problem anyway.
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 23, 2013 18:54:40 GMT
The modern diesels are great. LPG is for someone stuck with an ancient petrol engine that they want to cut the fuel costs for. Having said that I'm sitting waiting for the AA. I've had this problem before. I think it is caused by a bad fuel load (water condenses from air in tank and contaminates the diesel). These engines are fantastic when they run but they are fickle about clean fuel. At least I think that's the problem anyway. Very sorry Vern but I had to laugh at the bad timing of telling me how great modern diesels are!! ps - may seem funnier later once home and dry!!... and hope thats very soon xx
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Post by n8rbos on Mar 23, 2013 19:27:36 GMT
The old 2.5di's are bomb proof but as said sluggish,returning in a 3.5tonne convoy @25-30 mpg, the turbo can be converted to cable accelerator and bosch pump for @ £100, hence a 100 bhp van . 1 electric wire ,how simples that?no ecuto go wrong ..anotherplus. Wvo is waste veg oil, i've been into this fuel for @9 yrs now, we tour scotland for 3 weeks @ 1300 miles for @£60-70. Ldv parts are plentiful, ican get any part that i want and very cheap too, no massive bills for me. Parts will always be available for mainstream vehicles as they are now for classics, they are however more difficult for obscure vehicles. Parts can always be fabricated too. Talking of expense v's payback. If you spent say £1500 to do all the necessary mods thats it and you will start to recoup your money straight away. You buy a newish van in 10 years and it costs you £5000px, you have to spend the extra in fuel etc now and then never recoup your money on a new van .
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Post by Firefox on Mar 23, 2013 20:53:16 GMT
ps - may seem funnier later once home and dry!!... and hope thats very soon xx It seems funny now - don't worry I don't stress out over this kind of thing, it's part of life on the road. If one wants to spend time worrying over a van, I'd say don't buy one, just stay in bed all your life I'd have limped it all the way up to Saxilby at 20mph, but the only thing was, I thought it was a safety hazard in the condition on a fast road in the sleet and rain. I'd still stick by modern diesel engines though. In my current situation I don't have time to tinker. I used to do all my own car repairs including major stuff like replacing engines, gearboxes, suspension and brakes. The modern vehicles you can do 30,000 miles, 2 years of driving and nothing more than a couple of oil changes to maintain. I used to be friggin around with my points and my spark plugs or something else every 2 or 3 weeks to keep it running right.
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Post by n8rbos on Mar 24, 2013 13:09:59 GMT
Lotusanne, the good folk on transit havetold me the power steering and engine upgrade wouldboth be cheap and straight forward so should'nt really cost a lot at the end of the day.....just an option . You can use a mk3/4 vehicl donor vehicle, this would then modernise your vehicle somewhat but still keep in the low cost bracket for repairs. Modern diesels and petrols are good engines/ vehicles but when they go wrong they go wrong! With usually a big bill and you can't do it! Your beholden to garages who guessanyway lol.too many unecessary sensors for my liking.
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 25, 2013 8:53:33 GMT
Lotusanne, the good folk on transit havetold me the power steering and engine upgrade wouldboth be cheap and straight forward so should'nt really cost a lot at the end of the day.....just an option . You can use a mk3/4 vehicl donor vehicle, this would then modernise your vehicle somewhat but still keep in the low cost bracket for repairs. Modern diesels and petrols are good engines/ vehicles but when they go wrong they go wrong! With usually a big bill and you can't do it! Your beholden to garages who guessanyway lol.too many unecessary sensors for my liking. Thanks again n8rbus for all the useful info. It def seems a good idea and if it is as simple as you and good folks on the transite site say then that makes it vey appealing. Can't actually afford to do it now as totally skint but I think it is worth doing when I can and am quite excited about it. I think my van has the sluggish but bomb proof banana engine, it would really be nice to have a bit more umph and power steering - though it is surprising how you can used to not having either and just tootling along, the biggest benefit would be better fuel economy as its very poor at the moment. I really appreciate you lookimg into all this for me, its not something I would have given much serious consideration to and would have assumed it would be a massive job to switch from a petrol engie to a diesel one.
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Post by n8rbos on Mar 25, 2013 11:02:43 GMT
The 2.5di's are the 'banana' engines due to the shape of the inlet manifold over the top of the engine. There may be modifications to your petrol engine you could do cheaply to save the expense of swapping engines. I'm quite happy tootling along and i'm sure when you are retired and touring you'll be wanting to race nowhere . A damn good service and electronic ignition would be two improvements, your driving style ould also be an issue.
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 25, 2013 11:30:22 GMT
Oh, not the banana engine then!! Dont know where I got that idea from.
Think engine is OK - did get it well serviced, btand new carb, FlyBy who is a mechanic said its sounded sweet when running. Hadnt thought about electronic ignition - what would that improve -the amount of petrol it uses to start it? Hope its not my driving style!! Don't think I over rev or use wrong gear, always try to get into 5th if I can. I used to warm it up for 5 mins before setting off but got told (on the Transit forum actually) that this was pointless so I stopped. Part of trouble is s that i literally worl 2 miles away, and come home every lunchtime to walk the dog so often is is just not getting a chance to get warmed up. Currenly i am only getting about 50miles for a twenty quid , but if i go on a trip that goes up to nearer 80
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Post by Firefox on Mar 25, 2013 12:52:20 GMT
So you're getting less than 20 mpg on short runs? A modern diesel will give you 50% better mileage. I reckon 30 round town and 37/38 on a long run.
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Post by lotusanne on Mar 25, 2013 13:35:11 GMT
Sigh...yes terrible mpg currently. I like the figs you quite a lot better! Do u think an old diesel swap would make a significant improvement? Would certainly be achievable a lot sooner than ugrading to newer van and might pay for itself if gain enough extra miles - though of course diesel is currently a lot more than petrol..sigh again!!
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Post by Firefox on Mar 25, 2013 14:08:33 GMT
I think a swap to an old diesel would give you 20% improvement on those - perhaps 25 round town and 31 on a trip. It depends a lot on driving style.
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Post by n8rbos on Mar 25, 2013 17:39:47 GMT
So you already know its your driving style , well your daily journeys, when you retire the mpg will improve straight away, unless you use the same garage for fuel mpg per £20 is a guesstimate. Lets just say you spent £5k on an upgraded van that gives you a return of twice the mpg that your present vehicle does, to do the sort of mileage to get your money back would take years, your insurance would probably go up as you move into a different mileage bracket i.e. 6k to 10k, fuel will keep on rising too, it will never pay for itself if this makes sense. Older engines were built cruder but bomb proof with less to go wrong, newer are temperamental and expensive to put right AND unlikely to be repaired by the roadside. You know your van inside out, thats got to be a plus, when buying secondhand you sometimes buy someone elses trouble.. Lol just more things to chew on .
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Post by landydriver on Mar 25, 2013 19:55:32 GMT
Depends who comes to repair it Ok if you can DIY it but some (lots) cant/wont. Our old apperentice...now 23 bought himself a MK1 Escort with a 2l pinto (probably what your van has) and didnt know where to start. He had never seen 'points' or worked on anything with a carb so let alone twin 45s. If your old van breaks you better hope its an old timer that comes to fix it. Last carbs were 92 (k reg) when cats were introduced. Last 'points' I remember were probably around 90? in a Metro. Thats 20+ years ago so quite a few of todays mechanics wouldn't know where to start Assuming that your van has a 2.0l pinto changing your engine for a Di may improve MPG but definatly dont expect better performance
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Post by n8rbos on Mar 25, 2013 20:11:44 GMT
Depends who comes to repair it Ok if you can DIY it but some (lots) cant/wont. Our old apperentice...now 23 bought himself a MK1 Escort with a 2l pinto (probably what your van has) and didnt know where to start. He had never seen 'points' or worked on anything with a carb so let alone twin 45s. If your old van breaks you better hope its an old timer that comes to fix it. Last carbs were 92 (k reg) when cats were introduced. Last 'points' I remember were probably around 90? in a Metro. Thats 20+ years ago so quite a few of todays mechanics wouldn't know where to start Assuming that your van has a 2.0l pinto changing your engine for a Di may improve MPG but definatly dont expect better performance Have to agree with you on them points(excuse the pun), we have roadside recovery now who can't work on old vehicles because of the above points and also now because they need sophisticated equipment in workshops .
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