My new workhorse/project combo van

[deanogl]

I recently bought this little combo van off ebay. It had tax until the end of jan but only 5 weeks MOT. The guy said he was a mechanic and had already done everything needed for the MOT so I decided to take a chance and bought it for £550. When I went to collect it, it was just as he described, a bit rough and ready but spot on where it matters. I got it home and spent the whole weekend cleaning it inside and out, it had been a farm vehicle for the last 10 years. I had a good look round the van and it seems to be solid. It needed 1 little patch of welding doign to one of the rear floor braces (about 4inches long). I dont think it would have failed the MOT on it but I have done it anyway. I also replaced the nylon bushes in the gear linkage as it was a bit loose but everything else is spot on. It has the 1.7 non turbo Isuzu engine which has no oil leaks at all and it has lots of history.
These are the pics of the ebay listing as I have misplaced the lead to connect my camera to the computer.







My plans are to replace the doors and front wings to make it a bit straighter. I also want to fit alloys and a face lift front bumper then maybe look into lowering it a little. I am not going to go too mad with it as I bought it mainly to carry tools and parts for my main project, a mk2 cavalier, which I will start a project thread on in the near future. I am concidering a turbo engine though as its a bit slow. I realise its not as excited as some projects but any comments are welcome.

[Joker]

good lad, it's all about the van'tings! your already getting carried away wanting to turbo it haha! looks ok though ive seen worse

[ripandy8]

ive always fancied a van but always gos stuff going on and have no ime keep updating mate looking forward to future reads

[deanogl]

good lad, it's all about the van'tings! your already getting carried away wanting to turbo it haha! looks ok though ive seen worse

When I said turbo I was meaning the Isuzu 1.7td from a cavalier. I must admit a c20let would be fun but I need the diesel economy.

[Joker]

lol I said the same with my kangoo but low and behold its not got a c20xe in lmao! Lucky for me I've jumped on a new job which gives me a work van

[deanogl]

Well I got the van through its mot with no advisories. I fitted some astra sport front seats I had in the garage. I have now bought a corsa td that failed its mot. I plan on using the engine and as many parts as possible on the van. This is the corsa



I will start stripping this weekend then update some more.

[deanogl]

I havent been very good at updating this thread really. I got the engine and other bits off the corsa and it is all ready to go in the van. I havent seen my van for 2 months, I lent it to a mate. I am finally getting it back in the morning so work can commence. I have also bought a fibreglass replacement roof panel and a face lift front bumper. The lad who has been using my van says he may have some 15" alloys for me to use on it too. My plan for the weekend is to get the non turbo engine out and get the td lump ready to be fitted (new timing belt and some gaskets). Then it will be a case of getting the roof panel and bumper painted up ready to be fitted. I will be taking pictures as I go tomorrow so hopefully will update a bit more often now.

[deanogl]

I got quite a bit done this weekend. I went over to glasgow on saturday morning to pick up a face lift front bumper. I got back and had some lunch then got stuck into the van at 1:30pm. I had the old engine carefully removed by about 3:30. I then started to prepare the td engine ready to be fitted. I replaced the timing belt kit and fitted a new rocker cover gasket. I then got the engine bolted into place and called it a night at about 5:30pm. Today I got the engine all plumbed in and wired up. There were a couple of mods to do to make the looms compatible but nothing major. I filled the engine with oil and connected the battery, it started first turn. I still need to get some gear oil and antifreeze before I can test drive it, hopefully tomorrow night. The other thing I am doing is replacing the front roof pod and mine has rusted through and leaks quite badly. I looked on ebay and found a company called Rotex making fibreglass items. The listing was for a perfect one but at the bottom he said he had some with slight damage and to email him for a price, so I did. Got a 'damaged' one for £60 less than the listing price. When it arrived I was a bit worried about the damage. I opened the package and the only thing I can see is some slight pitting, nothing at all really. Hopefully I will get this fitted this week as well as we seem to be in rainy season now and Im sick of getting wet.
This is just after I started on saturday:


and this is where I left it on saturday night


Here it is all fitted and running

[deanogl]

Well I have had mixed results with the van tonight. I got my new roof panel fitted and my facelift front bumper. I think its starting to look a bit better now, just bonnet and rear doors to sort



The not so good news is engine related. I drove the corsa up my street before I pulled the engine out and all was fine. I fitted it into the van and it runs fine. I filled up all the levels and ran it up to temp. All fine, nice and quiet with no smoke. I then drove it down the street, got to the end and the engine started to knock. I switched it off and rolled back to the drive, sounds like it is a bottom end fault. I will be taking the sump off tomorrow night to investigate as it needs a new gasket anyway. Im hoping its something like the water pump failed. I have to say Im quite annoyed about it, hopefully wont cost too much to put right.

[deanogl]

Been a while since I updated this. I sorted the engine knocking noise, turned out the water pump had play. I replaced that and all is fine now. The engine is now running spot on and pulls a lot better than the N/A engine that came out. Ive done a few other things to it as well. I lowered the front 60mm and flipped the rear axle which drops it about 90-100mm. I also changed the roof pod for a fibreglass copy as the original had rusted through and started to leak. I fitted a face lift front bumper and grill and some 15" alloys. I think it has turned out well, just need to sort a few bits of rust then it should be done.

[Joker]

Looks spot on that does mate! them colour coded bumpers have transformed it! How long before you decide an engine transplant is in order I always buy a diesel for financial reasons then get mega bored and end up engine swapping haha, which totally goes against the whole idea of getting a derv but Just get carried away lol

[deanogl]

Cheers mate. Ive already ditched the N/A 1.7 and put a 1.5td in but I know what you mean, still a bit slow. Im toying with the idea of upping the boost and altering the fuelling to give it a bit more poke but dont want to ruin the economy.

[Joker]

yeah those isuzu lumps are better / more tuneable than the gm engine which I had in mine lol. Top stuff bud

[GaryVaux]

What an improvement! looks smart, and almost factory. good work!

[deanogl]

yeah those isuzu lumps are better / more tuneable than the gm engine which I had in mine lol. Top stuff bud

Yeah I had a cavalier 1.7td a couple of years ago that I tuned and it was pretty nippy like.

[deanogl]

What an improvement! looks smart, and almost factory. good work!

Thanks for that bud. Gonna get some black bumper paint for the trims as they have faded badly. Hopefully match in well with the mirrors. I dont recomend the corsa mirrors on the combo though, cant see that much with them!

[GaryVaux]

ha ha, there a must though! combo mirrors are rank!!!

Sounds good! just make sure the plastic is de-greased and plastic primed. Nothing worse than seing plastic with paint flaking off it

[deanogl]

ha ha, there a must though! combo mirrors are rank!!!

Sounds good! just make sure the plastic is de-greased and plastic primed. Nothing worse than seing plastic with paint flaking off it

Haha yeah I know. Will get some proper degreaser from the body guys at work.

[gazturbo]

Thats smart mate.

[M Beirne]

That looks alot better top work

[vauxal]

Nice looking combo!

[deanogl]

Well my van is going to be up for sale shortly. Will be putting a for sale ad up on here shortly, just waiting on logbook to return from DVLA after changing the engine. Im gutted to have to do this after the work ive done but my circumstances dictate it. This van will be missed when its gone as its good fun to drive.

[Kev_G]

looks fresh as a daisy

[deanogl]

looks fresh as a daisy

Thanks. There is some rust on the front of the bonnet which doesnt really show up in the pics and the bottom of one of the rear doors has gone. Its a cracking little van though and solid underneath.