1978 Mk2 Ford Transit Autosleeper Campervan

Mk1 Transits had the 60s / 70s front end with the sloping bonnet and more rounded headlamp surrounds;
Then they refreshed it in 1978 to fit with more angular styling of the time.
But they did this twice - the one in your Manual is the first refresh - more boxy with a metal grille and bigger indicators; I believe you could get round and square lights at this point.
They also painted black around the screen to make the glass area look bigger.

But that's not all - towards the end of that shapes life - 84, there was a final refresh with more 'aerodynamic' bits - bigger plastic grille with less slats, more rounded indicators with black surrounds, longer bumper ends and an airdam

I definitely think yours has had some work as the brochure has an early front (non plastic grille and lights) but yours is late; Also - your screen surround is white indicating a respray at some point.
None of this to take away from a smashing van by the way - I just get interested when little details add up to tell a story...

The round headlights were the poverty spec model option, spoiler is a sought after SVO option and fetch top money on ebay.

Yours is an early mk2 fitted with the later plastic grill and indicators.

Loads of info and help Fred's mk1mk2 transit forum

Either this has a double or I saw it on the A10 heading to Kings Lynn at around 9.15 this morning.
Either way, what I saw was in lovely condition!

That's identical to one my parents had back when I was a very young child, around 1985-6. Great vague memories of loading it up on a Friday afternoon for spontaneous weekend jaunts.

And, sleeping in the double bed whist driving!

Does it have the bunk bed hammocks?

Update on the weekends travels up to Norfolk broken with a stop just outside of Cambridge with the GF. This was the first time we had used the van so was a real test of how everything works, what’s good about the setup, what we want to change and hopefully get a list together of items to work through on the van to improve it.
We packed the van Thursday night so we could head off first thing after work. We had about an hour or so’s drive until we arrived at our first campsite:




It was great, really quiet, could slip the van into a space and couldn’t see any other pitches because of the orchard. We got the van set up and bought some logs to burn and said hello to a feathery neighbour




Setting up van mess…


The stove was fired up and we heated up a pre-prepared sausage casserole. The stove worked well! No issues at all! Whilst it was light we set up the bed for the first time. There are a few options you can arrange:
1. 2 single beds utilising the front seats
2. A small double the width of the van using the table to fill the gaps between the seats, that is
perfect size for the GF but being 6”4 a touch small for me.
3. Or what we did which was a combo of the above 2.



It was massive so good news there, probably queen size. The only issue we had is that there is a bit of a gap between the 2 front seats in the area in front of the heater controls, So have added to the list to do some carpentry to create an infill piece and get some foam covered up to fill the gap, that can be folded away and stowed behind the seat with the table top or outside table.
We chilled out around the campfire for a couple of hours having a few beers before heading to bed. Bed was really comfy only problem I had was the excitement of camping so I was up at 6 and greeted by this




I love camping.
As we were up early we decided to skip breakfast, utilise the showers and head up the A10 to get to to Norfolk where on arrival we had bacon rolls at Snettisham beach. View wasn’t that great from the car park but you get the idea…



Our final stop of the day in the van which was our campsite link
This was more of a traditional campsite with demarcated pitches, pretty close to each other, so not somewhere I’d normally choose but the friends who we were meeting had already booked and it had an electrical hookup which could use to test the system on the van! The campsite itself was actually really nice, everyone was really friendly and the toilets/showers were amazing. Really good site if you have a fear of campsite toilets. Didn’t get many photos of the pitch but this was the view out back


We went for a walk/trip to Sandringham estate then came back via a couple of pubs, had a bbq and played cards until it got a bit much for some of us.


The next morning it had rained and no leaks in the main area! We also needed to give the stove and grill a full test for hungover breakfast duties


To produce this…


We then cruised back home Sunday night after a day at hunstanston with views like this.





So that’s the write up for the first weekend. My list of improvements to make with the van;

1. The Journey was great, the van sits at 60-65 no probs and still has umph up the hills. I had driven it back from the Wirral and used it a fare bit to work a couple of times and down to sussex so was aware of this prior to heading off.
   
2. The gearbox and steering was a bit tough when I first got it, this seemed to of loosened off with some use so will grease the king pins. I think these have oil in the steering box so will check the trusty Haynes manual.
   Its only a 4 speed so it is noisy and there is a fare bit of heat coming from the heater box. So am going to look into insulation of the cab.
3. There is a leak from the windscreen area that is pooling under the rubber mats – so prior to insulating I'm going to check and see if I can seal up – the floor pan had some surface rust so want to make sure that’s treated also.
4. A strategic piece of tissue came loose and then the dash started squeaking and I found a few missing screws.  I will find some screws/bolts to hold it together better and hopefully remove the tissue.
5. The engine is leaded so needs additive, it pinks a bit under load which has seemed to of gotten worse since I’ve switched off the bottle of lead additive that came with the van. I will retard the timing slightly and keep an eye for an unleaded head or rebuild one of the heads I’ve got in the garage.
6. There is a squeak coming from one of the wheels – I think its brake related so will do some investigation to see if I can sort this weekend.
7. The big rear Cupboard fitted everything but by the time we had changed from our dirty laundry and rummaging in it a couple of times it just ended up as a big pile of clothes so  needs some shelves installing
8. In the same cupboard the Leisure battery and charger are not secured and also take up a fair bit of space. I’ve just got some battery cable so will relocate to the engine bay where there is a chasm of space to the side of the engine
9. As mentioned earlier I need to make an infill panel for the beds with some foam. Thinking is that it will fold up and live with the table behind the seats when moving/not sleeping.
10. The stereo itself is rubbish, it’s a brand I’ve never heard of and has no dimming facility so when driving at night it lights up the whole dash area. The signal it gets keep dropping off. I’m probably going to get a replacement with Bluetooth and rewire it so it powers off the leisure battery.
11. The gutter rail has a few crusty bits that will see if I can treat for the winter – also want to get underneath and waxoil as required.
    
    So think that’s about it. Will try and get some stuff done this weekend
    
    
    Cheers
    Josh
    
    
    
    
    
    

Cheers mate would be interested in the battery tray. Have you got any details?

Used to old ford's so will go to town with protecting the floor. Ill have a look tomorrow morning I'm hoping its a grommet or something else but if not ill use some gasket sealer around the window which will hopefully solve it

Cheers

Josh

That's uber sweet
exactly the same as my old one, except mine was a 79 with the later lights fitted IIRC you have to cut the rear to get the later lights in not sure you can go back as the older smaller lamps don't cover the hole
could just be a bad memory but i seem to remember that but it was like 15 years ago




Diesel had the battery tray on the other side or 2 batterys fitted so you may be able to buy what ever battery tray you don't have already fitted these guys might help ?
www.transitcenter.uk/transit-1978-1985-c-105.html
failing that a Mk3/4 battery tray may fit?
I fitted a twin choke to mine and it certainly pepped the old thing up a bit and got better fuel millage
Be carefull with the fuel tank! they are a one off and smaller than the standard tank to clear the water tank, normal transit fuel tanks don't fit
I loved the way you could pop the top up and leave the side pannels down to watch stuff in the rain, handy to film from as well (at least from the sides lol

Been busy over the weekend…
Also to get some attention was the floor by the front seats. I had a leak and wanted to sort it. I got into the depths of the work by the previous owner and he liked wood glue! Also he didn’t build it to take apart again. I had to take out all the centre wall through area to release the carpet and expose the floor.
First thing out the water tank to access the bolts for the seats



Seats out and centre consule… The original mat was under the centre piece making it impossible to remove without the whole walkway coming out.


Matt out to expose the floors


Got side tracked removing the so I could trace any leaks. This meant I found a nest of wire


Had to sort this out before I could remove headunit


Interesting bit of history, written under the some trim. I wonder who K Maynard is?


Dash Out


And after all the work getting the dash out I found the source of the leak the seam between firewall and gearbox tunnel. The water was running down the firewall and making its way through here…


I gummed it up with some gasket maker stuff I had
Cleaned up the floor with a wire brush then stuck some Kurust on the rusty bits then scrounged my stock for some hammerite to use it up, hence going black



To silver


While that was drying I started on the Rusty gutter rail to try make it winterproof, it’ll need some proper sorting out with metal but it’lll do for now…



Via…



Some filler



And voila…



I had purchased some insulating foam as all the sound deadening is gone. Hopefully will make it quieter and warmer. This foam was stick on which I thought would be great however I reckon it’ll be a curse word when it needs to come off.  Looks smart though. (you can see the centre walk through section clearer)



Insulation up the firewall and matts all back in place. Also did the bit of foam on the heater box. There are 2 layers of matt. The first is the one that came with the van – a big rubber jobby that covers the whole floor area, and the others are some homemade affairs which previously were secured down which made it awkward to clean. I’ve released them now so they can be removed and cleaned . The big one was pretty knackered with tears and a load of holes where things had been screwed through it so I cut out the section which goes under the walkthrough bit so that it can now be removed independently of the rest of the camper floor.



Dash coming back together with tidier wiring



All that serenity up top with this behind!



Connectors replaced in radio so it can be plug and play. Also re-routed the wiring for electric windows and enabled to run without the ignition being on.



I need to go through the add on wiring at some point, there are a few of those blue connector things that crimp onto the wire whos source of power they want. I always treat with suspicion so want to remove and do a prober soldered joint.
Finally the day today got the better of me so called it a day just after dark.


Still need to sort the rear wheels squeak and go back through the wiring but all in all a good couple of days
Thanks
Josh

So following on from last time, I had left the van at my parents to use whilst I was away in the States for a couple of weeks. They absolutely loved using it and are on the lookout for a campervan themselves now. They did highlight a  few issues, one of which was a screeching alternator belt (easy fix with a 13mm spanner) and and the other was the leak that I thought I’d solved, thinking it was the windscreen had appeared again.

image.ibb.co/cUZdj7/1.jpg[/img

The water mark is just below the heater matrix and on the basis it only leaks when the engine is on I deduced it is probably the heater matrix.
So having ordered and received a new matrix I emptied the water



Pretty disgusting, it was black.
Removed the heater box



Portable dismantling table





Fan removed… Foam in good nick



Moved back outside when it got dirty and we have a winner!
 


The heater matrix was goosed.



New matrix in


Reassembly





I then got sidetracked by one of the windscreen vents that was damaged



I didn’t get the photo of the other side but that was worse with the whole tab snapped off.
Some duct tape fixing;





Not pretty but its not seen and will hopefully mean I’ll be able to demist the windscreen!
Back to the heater matrix… back in position.



Back together


The engine side attachment was painted over and sealed to the bulkhead so I couldn’t remove. So I gunked up with gasket maker to seal the hole


I reassembled and run up to temperature 3 times to try and flush out the colour of the water. It was better but will give it another change in the not to distant future.
Next was the air filter housing asking for trouble with rubber pipe.


So I broke the housing so that the nozel is turned 180 degrees


This has already been altered so will be picking up a K&N when some funds free up. In the mean time this will do.


The easiest oil change I’ve ever done.


There was a bit of swarf in the oil which is a concern. The engine was rebuilt so could be a new part failing or what I’m hoping is a bit of swarf left over when assembled. I’m going to change the oil again soon and fit a magnetic sump plug to see what comes out
The fuel filter was looking old


So I swapped it


All done and back together.


With my other steed;