browndog

Haven't touched the van for a while, but got back into it last week. Wheels were looking a bit second hand, so I stripped the tyres off, had the rims powder coated, and fitted the new tyres I bought, old school BFG T/A's in 225/60x14 for the front and 245/60x14 for the rear. Despite powder coating being a pet hate of mine, they were done this way from new, and painting was going to be very expensive, so I decided to go this way. I have the diff out at the moment, changing the ratio from the 2.7 that the previous owner fitted (ridiculously tall in first and reverse) to a more clutch friendly 3.45 from an EL Falcon. Van has a T5 box fitted, so will still have long legs in fifth gear. This van is also going to be used in a TV mini series set in the late 1970's, so getting it ready for its starring role, makeup, hair, wheels ..... Discussion thread: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45067-browndogs-1978-ford-transit-sundowner/

At the moment the Tranny is earning it's first paycheck, starring in an upcoming TV mini series, of which I am not allowed to disclose any details First day on the set was on Wednesday, and it behaved like a seasoned pro, amongst all of the other oldschool cars. Meanwhile, the REAL Supervan arrived in the post today:) //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45289-browndogs-1972-v8-transit/page-2

Nice! I will be round in the Transit and we can load it in the back

Might have to start a new class for vans, who is in? borrowed, but might be able to buy them. The tyre profile is a little bit low, but I thiink they would still pull off a pretty good impression of the origjnal.

Been studying pics and video footage, and I am pretty sure they are Escort flares that have been modified to fit. yep there were a lot converted to 6 and V8's, usually after the V4 blew up! Check out some of this footage, such a badass van, and all in 1971

do you know of such a beast on our fair shores? And I know of a few other fella's with the same disorder, we gather for a monthly meeting. First rule about Transiit club is you do not talk about Transit club Oops

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To be honest I had no intention of buying this! I went to the owners place to help get it running, and he offered it to me for a price I could not refuse. It is so well built, I had to have it That manual would be great, how can I contact you? Hello group, my name is Conrad and I have a Transit problem There is a strange disconnect between this and my other project/toy which I have not been able to figure out. Oh well!

nah I'm good, they are stored off site, so the po po won't suspect actually I sold the 2.0 Mk2 chicken/egg van last week, and will probably sell the Turbo LWB too. So just the 2x vans.

discuss: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45288-browndogs-1972-v8-transit/

I bought another one of these damn things last week, told myself I wouldn't buy any more, but this one was too good to pass up (ever said that to yourself before?) Anyway, short story is, previous owner bought it in 1976 from DB Breweries who were the first owners. At this point it still had the 2.0 V4. Shortly after he purchased a written off XA Fairmont, and took the running gear out, as well as a lot of other parts. Over the next 8 years (!) he fitted the engine, trans, nine inch disc braked LSD (from a Lincoln Continental) into the van . The job was completed in 1985. He then used it as a service vehicle for his Gp.4 Escort rally car. It was parked up in 2006 and not driven again. I first spied it a couple of years ago, and he had made noises about selling it, and I have been in his ear ever since. Spoke to a friend of mine last week, and he said he was over at the Transit helping the owner get it started, and to come over, to which I replied " I know how this is going to end!" Anyway, we got it running on 8 year old fuel(!) and by the next day a deal had been done and I owned it I went to his place yesterday, fitted a new battery, poured in some fresh 2014 fuel, and fired her up. I drove it up the road to make sure it had brakes etc, seemed near enough so drove it to my storage unit about 25 minutes away without incident. Something that occurred just after purchasing it was; Mk1 Transit SWB, flat front, with a 5 litre V8. Sound familiar? To me I instantly thought of this, the iconic Transit Supervan 1: So after collectimg the van yesterday I swung past a friends place and picked up a set of wheels off his Pantera, thats 15x10 fronts with 285/40x15 tyres and 15x13 rears with 345/35x15 tyres. It is just so happens by pure luck that the Pantera has the same Ford 5 stud bolt pattern as the Falcon running gear that has been fitted to this van, so on they went: followed by a set of works Escort arches: So the plan at this stage is to get the van roadworthy, nothing major, new front brake discs and pads, sort the intermittent starting issue, get both sides repainted, good groom and use and enjoy it over summer. Then will start on the Supervan conversion next year sometime Happy days. Conrad //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=11

yes I am already working with my signwriter on this It is possible to make the stripes from the photos, but the more measurements that we can get, the more accurate they will be, and less guesswork! I am quite anal about stuff like this, some signwriters work on the "looks near enough to me" principle, which doesn't cut the mustard with me .

I want to go 100% original of the resto, as they are such a rare van; only 140 ever built, and not many left! The stripes won't be easy, nobody makes repro stripe kits, so we are going to have to make our own! Managed to find a sliver of the original stripe, where it was wrapped around the door edge, so that will give us the colour match. I am communicating with someone in Brisbane via email, who owns an original Sundowner that has never been painted. She is helping with measurements and photos so we can make an accurate copy of the stripes and decals

Spent a few hours on the van yesterday. Decided I did not want the LPG fitted, so proceeded to remove it all. Only took a couple of hours to get everything out. Discovered the tank was full,(it was damn heavy!) and as I dropped it out on the ground the back of the van jumped up, must be a good 30mm higher in the rear now, sits level instead of bum down

Discussion thread for : //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45065-browndogs-1978-ford-transit-sundowner/

As some of you have probably gathered, I have a bit of a thing for old Ford Transit vans. Not sure why to be honest, they never featured in my life when I was growing up, apart from the ones I saw driving around . I have owned loads of old Fords, (40+) from 100E's to Cosworths, and pretty much everything in between, so I guess that might offer some clue to why I like them Anyway, I have always thought the Sundowner would be the ultimate Transit van, Ford Australia built only 140 of these in 1978, and very few have survived. They featured the "new" 4.1 crossflow iron head engine, 3 speed manual (with option of an auto) high back "captains chairs" with swivelling bases, Sunraysia eight spoke wheels, full length carpet and headlining, pushbutton radio (wow!) truck style mirrors and of course the stripe kit and Sundowner decals. I did not really ever expect to find one, and I literally stumbled across this one being advertised on a UK Transit forum, and after contacting the owner in Adelaide a deal was done, and I had to wait 8 long weeks for it to arrive, back in August! After arrival I booked it in to the compliance centre, and it came back with a long list of things to sort Rust, brakes, non standard gearbox (previous owner had fitted a T5 5 speed) lights,tyres, lpg cert etc. etc. etc. The plan at this stage is to get all of the issues sorted, and tidied up so I can use it this summer. I will strip it back to a bare shell probably next winter, and give it a full resto. Anyway, enough chit chat, here are some pics: Original ad: and another: It arrived mid August, on board the "Courageous Ace" - an absolute monster of a ship, as big as a city block, and can carry up to 6400 cars: Prior to repaint by previous owner: As it appears now: These vans had the Borg Warner (Falcon) diff fitted: Sunraysia wheels: the mighty big block 4.1: I got these NZ P plates, to match the original Aussie plates: faded original tail lights: replaced with NOS tail lights I had "in stock" ditto for front indicators and headlight surrounds: I also bought a set of K Mac anti roll bars ( or "sway bars" if you are Australian!) Which about brings me up to date. Progress will be fairly rapid on it, as I want to get it roadworthy for summer, so I will keep this updated. Discussion thread here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/45067-browndogs-1978-ford-transit-sundowner/

I asked my signwriter dude about vinyl on the side windows on mine, wanted perforated vinyl in gold, to match the body colour. Turns out it is only available in white, which would suit yours! Looks good even with signwriting over the top of it, and cuts out most light. I don't think it looks as good as panelled over, as you say you will still see the rubbers, but way quicker and cheaper.

thanks for the offer, I will keep it in mind. Too many other projects/work to sort at the moment, but might get back to you on that when I am ready cheers Conrad

nice work on the panels, and thanks for sharing Time for me to hunt out a rotten van that I can cut the sides out of for mine! cheers Conrad

wheels looking good, but will be fun to mask up! Coffee table, TV on, beer or 2, rolls of masking tape, scalpel and of course wheels. And don't let gf/wife/mum catch you

Chopper Bloody Read - I thought you were dead you bastard! As well as being an all round bastard, you are quite right too! As an example those Escorts pictured above would have 3-4° positive castor from factory. By jacking the back up the way they have, that figure would be around zero, give or take. I don't know if any of you have ever driven a car with zero castor, but it is bloody awful, not to mention dangerous! At any sort of speed it is nearly impossible to keep straight, it will dart from side to side. Steering becomes very light, and when you turn it just wants to keep on turning in tighter. And self centering of the steering wheel disappears. If you are unfortunate enough to have negative castor, and let go of the steering wheel, it will generally shoot off to one side all by itself.

I don't even think he has a phone where he works! It is a small Skyline garage at the end of a block of buildings, go to end of Parity place, turn left at nine o'clock in the cul de sac, between the buildings, straight ahead until you can't go ahead any further, then right and he is around the back. Only works until 3 pm though. But worth the trip!

wheels are 13x7, a rare size for Tridens, I have never seen this size before, and I regard myself as a bit of a mag wheel trainspotter! Tyres are 215/60 rear and 205/60 front, BF Goodrich Radial T/A's, no longer available in 13" unfortunately . I like tall sidewalls, not a big fan of really low (50's) profile 13's, to my eyes they look a bit small on most cars, apart from Mini's.... Lowering blocks are either 1.5 or 2" according to the eyecrometer , I haven't measured properly yet. Front is quite high, will do that first. Not quite sure that I am ready for the jacked up rear look yet! Never seen airshocks before? Thats showing your age! I think they were invented for people towing caravans, so that their car did not sit its bum on the ground when towing. Custom car people started fitted them to their cars in the 1970's and 80's to jack up the rear.(instead of, or as well as extended rear spring shackles) This meant no guard rub on those fat feet (spelt "fat" not "phat" back then!) and anyway, jacked up rears were "the look" back then, just as slammed cars are now:) Just like these fine specimens that I found; check out the rake on these bad boys! Probably all handled like shit, just as most slammed cars do nowadays, but the all important "look" was far more important back than anything else back then, just as it seems to be now!

M3 is ready if you want to come and take suspension pics sometime. Taking it to Taupo in a week for a new M3 launch for BMW NZ. It will be there for a week, then back at mine. The Escort is a bit of fun, but not THAT special. Not yet anyway!