I had planned to do this van up and use it as a basic camper as well as occasional van duties, but a combination of rubbish weather this summer, sorting the rest of the fleet taking a lot longer than anticipated and a general lack of mojo means that it's not going to happen any time soon.
The MOT expired a couple of weeks ago. It was put in for a test by the previous owner last October, for some reason, and it failed on three bits of welding (front of the nearside sill which has been repaired using a pop rivetted plate and needs redoing, rear of the same sill and nearside chassis leg near the rear spring hanger), a PAS leak and the fact that almost none of the lights were working. I've fixed the lights (all except the rear fog), I've put a bottle of Lucas stop leak in the steering which may or may not do the trick (it wasn't a massive leak anyway), but the welding remains to be done, and I've found another bit which was either missed by the tester or has deteriorated since October - the offside rear inner arch will need welding where it joins onto the floorpan.
The van drives OK - the PAS can be a bit notchy when first started but it's OK after that. The engine and gearbox both seem fine, and the brakes are decent. It's a 2.5D so although not a fast van by modern standards it's not as hopelessly slow as most Trafics of this generation, and it will do 70 on the flat if you need it to. Being a good old fashioned indirect injection engine with a Bosch pump it will also run on veg.
It was a camper in a previous life and the rear is still fully carpet lined, with ply on the floor and some (rather worn) floor tiles in the middle. There is a side window on the offside which is tinted - the glass is cracked but it's still holding up OK. The rear windows are clear but currently have plywood covers over them. I've fitted a Chinese diesel heater in the back which works well, although the wiring really needs routing properly. I've also fitted LED strip lights in the back which do a reasonable job of lighting things up.
The van electrics now mostly work apart from the aforementioned rear foglight. The wipers work but the intermittent setting doesn't, and they don't self park. Also the radio speaker in the driver's door is intermittent.
Bodywork isn't too bad for one of these, although there are a few rust scabs and a couple of minor dings - the nearside rear light unit is also slightly damaged but works OK. There is a towbar fitted but no electrics - there is wiring under the back end which I presume was once to do with the trailer plug, but helpfully* it's all the same colour so I haven't been able to work out what should go where. The door locks are problematic - the nearside door locks are seized, I replaced the locks in the driver's door and the rear door but on the rear door the little plastic arm which operates the locking mechanism has fallen off and is somewhere in the bottom of the door, and the driver's door lock also has plastic-arm-related issues. Both cab doors and the rear doors open fine, but I haven't been able to get the sliding side door to open (not that I've tried particularly hard).
It can be driven away to a pre-booked MOT and I would imagine it will get you anywhere - mechanically it seems pretty robust. I've priced it at slightly less than what it owes me to take into account the fact that the test has now expired. It could be used as a van or converted back into a camper fairly easily if you know what you're doing.
Photos:
The MOT expired a couple of weeks ago. It was put in for a test by the previous owner last October, for some reason, and it failed on three bits of welding (front of the nearside sill which has been repaired using a pop rivetted plate and needs redoing, rear of the same sill and nearside chassis leg near the rear spring hanger), a PAS leak and the fact that almost none of the lights were working. I've fixed the lights (all except the rear fog), I've put a bottle of Lucas stop leak in the steering which may or may not do the trick (it wasn't a massive leak anyway), but the welding remains to be done, and I've found another bit which was either missed by the tester or has deteriorated since October - the offside rear inner arch will need welding where it joins onto the floorpan.
The van drives OK - the PAS can be a bit notchy when first started but it's OK after that. The engine and gearbox both seem fine, and the brakes are decent. It's a 2.5D so although not a fast van by modern standards it's not as hopelessly slow as most Trafics of this generation, and it will do 70 on the flat if you need it to. Being a good old fashioned indirect injection engine with a Bosch pump it will also run on veg.
It was a camper in a previous life and the rear is still fully carpet lined, with ply on the floor and some (rather worn) floor tiles in the middle. There is a side window on the offside which is tinted - the glass is cracked but it's still holding up OK. The rear windows are clear but currently have plywood covers over them. I've fitted a Chinese diesel heater in the back which works well, although the wiring really needs routing properly. I've also fitted LED strip lights in the back which do a reasonable job of lighting things up.
The van electrics now mostly work apart from the aforementioned rear foglight. The wipers work but the intermittent setting doesn't, and they don't self park. Also the radio speaker in the driver's door is intermittent.
Bodywork isn't too bad for one of these, although there are a few rust scabs and a couple of minor dings - the nearside rear light unit is also slightly damaged but works OK. There is a towbar fitted but no electrics - there is wiring under the back end which I presume was once to do with the trailer plug, but helpfully* it's all the same colour so I haven't been able to work out what should go where. The door locks are problematic - the nearside door locks are seized, I replaced the locks in the driver's door and the rear door but on the rear door the little plastic arm which operates the locking mechanism has fallen off and is somewhere in the bottom of the door, and the driver's door lock also has plastic-arm-related issues. Both cab doors and the rear doors open fine, but I haven't been able to get the sliding side door to open (not that I've tried particularly hard).
It can be driven away to a pre-booked MOT and I would imagine it will get you anywhere - mechanically it seems pretty robust. I've priced it at slightly less than what it owes me to take into account the fact that the test has now expired. It could be used as a van or converted back into a camper fairly easily if you know what you're doing.
Photos:
