My Ford Transit project...

Hi everybody!
New member of the site...

Here is my current truck project, a 1979 Ford Transit.
As purchased it was scruffy but sound, and registered.
4.1 crossflow Falcon motor, and the 3 speed gearbox was replaced by a 4 speed one.
Even so, she was screaming its guts o ut at 90 kmh...so it's currently in the process of having a 5 speed fitted to it.

Here she is as I bought her...









As yo ucan see, a lot of surface rust, but basically no real rust.
Also the cab is fairly straight apart from the front panel, and also it has a kind of crane bolted on the back which has an electric winch to go on it and will be invaluable for moving around lumps of old car when I get it wired up...

The tyres were scary ten year old retreads which were shedding chunks of tread, so a trip to they tyre shop owned by my boss got me 7 brand new Bridgestones.

Also the front brake hoses were leaking so $125 later a set of custom hoses was made up...little did I know that I could have gotten new ones from the UK for about 10 quid apiece!



This little bit of damage was done soon after I got it but not when I was driving it. Slid down a muddy slope and tagged a car trailer...




Out with the 4 speed...




...and in with a 5 speed.
If only it were that simple!!!

Clutch cable is on the wrong side, cue custom cable.
Several bits of Transit want to occupy the same real estate as several bits of 5 speed...cue the angle grinder and welder...
Gearbox mounts are inthe wrong place and wrong hole spacing...cue the adapter plate, which holds a story of its own.

Then wait three months for the correct bellhousing after the wrong one was sent, and you have a recipe for an angry Transit owner...





The "plumber's nightmare" shifter that brought the 4 speed lever out from under the bench seat...I will have to do similar for the 5 speed but obviously a LOT neater!




This is getting pulled out and replaced by a TE Cortina Ghia Sports dash which fits and has a tachometer...










Some shots of it in the shed undergoing its surgery...






It its natural habitat, towing old cars around...I cannot wait to have it on the road again!

I will post up more stuff later...

hi and welcome

I love the old trannies. there was a 73 lurking down the road a bit that I tried for years to get ... dude kept sayin ..."no ... I'll fix'er up one day.

never happened ... he moved and couldn't take it with him so it went to the scrappers :

Anyway ... check the diff. some were fitted with 9" diffs in the mid 70's ... and still with the duals. if it is a 9" there's a stack of ratios you can change to

I don't mind the transits myself, but do youself a favour and throw the boat anchor away and fit a Windsor or a Cleveland.

I used to drive one with a V4 engine, totally underpowered but had a beam front axle and brilliant turning circle.

Now your talking my language

I used to sell Transits back in '70s. Perkins 4-108 Diesel
or 2 litre V4 Petrol,were the standard engines, but if you were prepared to wait you could get a SVO (special vehicle option) of a 3 Litre V6 Petrol with Auto transmission as a further option !

I lived in Southampton for 30 years and drove past the factory several times a week and once had a tour of the factory.
Did the Oz transits come direct from the UK, or by some other route ?
I know there was a factory in Genk, Belgium also.

Cheers
RS

A two litre V4, sheer grunt Roland, I think the one I used to drive was only a 1.5 litre. The bloke I worked for had 3 of them, one V4 manual, one V4 auto and one 6 cylinder manual. The auto had the gear lever of the RH side of dash but I think it was only a two speed. They used to suffer from vapor lock in hot weather but were ideal for milk deliveries because of the sliding doors and good turning circle.

The last of the early Transits were available with the V6 here...they had the extended snout.You could buy the tin ware separately,so a lot were converted with Falcon engines,the red rocker cover 250 was best because it had more low down grunt than the X flow.I don't remember the later models having anything but the OHC 4 cyl,with single barrel carb.Was the Falcon engine ever an option in OZ?

I ride a trials motorcycle,and we hold trials meetings on farms - I like to check out old abandoned machinery lying around the farms.One day I found the remains of an old truck...no cab left,just the driveline,tray and seats left.There was a slant 6,but the rest didn't look Chrysler,specially the Morris Marina dash.The hubcaps were Ford - and the square back axle nailed it as a Transit.

Welcome aboard, carnut1100. Hope you enjoy it here. Good to see the lighter end of the scale getting some attention. The Transit is certainly one of the icons of the industry. Any plans for another one?

Am a bit concerned about Eddy and his love for old, ahem, trannies though...

.Was the Falcon engine ever an option in OZ?.

Falcon engine became the only engine from about 68 (??)

we have had a few transits over the years ..first one was in the early 70s (V4 powered table top) have had about 4 since then .. the 6cyl ones were good ...but all seemed to have a problem with the steering boxes ..