Newby needs advice

[gracon73]

Ok so we have recently got a T25 Viking, 4 speed, 2 litre petrol engine. She needs a lot of love but is still usable for now. Ideally we want to respray, re-do the inside and fit a more economical engine / gearbox.

Where are we best to start?
What engine / gearbox is best fitted?

any other general advice you have would be appreciated.

[Ian Hulley]

The most economical thing to do would be to have it converted to LPG. These things are big, heavy and in almost every case thirsty old lumps, I get 18mpg on lpg from a 2.1 watercooled which equates to 30-ish pound for pound compared to unleaded. If that sort of figure is still intimidating then I'm afraid you've bought the wrong van

Ian

[mgbman]

Hello Newby, welcome to the Forum. I am wondering why do you want to spend a lot of money and spoil the lovely van you have now. Mine is a 1980 Devon 2l air cooled and far from perfect but it is fun and very original which is its charm. The Devon has done a lot of miles, does 20mpg and slow up hills but we love it.

We roller painted the van last year with Rustoleum for a total cost of £100 and the results were amazing. It all boils down to cost. Your thoughts about new engine and gearbox etc. means lots of money. Professional respray paint jobs are very very expensive. lpg conversions are very expensive and would take many years to recover the cost.

Are you going to do the work yourself?

From what I have seen on ebay, even the very best T25 vans sell for not much more than £8000

Sorry if I go on a bit, but I think you should cost out your proposals carefully and meanwhile use your van and have fun with it.

[jason k]

8k yeah right!! Try doubling it!!

LPG is useful esp if your gonna do mileage in it!!

[mgbman]

I agree that lpg would be good for high mileage use. The point I wanted to make is that there is an initial cost of conversion which has to be offset. There has been lots of discussion on the Forum about the pros and cons of lpg.

For most of us these days money is tight and I wanted our newby friends to bear in mind the costs of everything they would like to do with their van as in their post they are thinking of doing several major improvements.

A further point is that while all the work is being carried out, the van would be off the road instead of being enjoyed.

[kevtherev]

Where are we best to start?
.

start with a sound chassis, suspension, steering and engine.

If you must change the engine, then the cost is huge...it's Aircooled, so to go to watercooled..is a big ask.
The 2L Aircooled engine can be liberated and produce some serious power, but like all gains there's a price to be paid in fuel
LPG is a relatively smaller cost, and as you get some money back every time you use it, with smaller fuel bills, you can use it more!

then the interior, tidy it up and use your imagination for recovering and renovating.
finally the body, it's the crowning glory to a long story, having new panels and fresh shiny paint

[mgbman]

I agree with you totally kevtherev. Sound advice.

[gracon73]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the advice.

We really don't want to change it too much, just looking to get some advice before we start messing around with it and find we've done the wrong thing. As for cost's it really doesn't come into it as we want to keep her for years and not a quick tidy up and sell on. We both love our van and want to make sure the money we spend is not wasted by doing the wrong thing.

I think the general advice I've got here is work with what is there and not change her too much.

Is it worth me looking at putting a 5 speed box on what we already have, that should help with the fuel costs shouldn't it? I don't begrudge the petrol she uses as it's always a fun drive, I just don't like giving so much to the tax man and fuel companies!

Thanks again for the posts, it's always good to talk to people that have a better knowledge.

[Ian Hulley]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the advice.

As for cost's it really doesn't come into it as we want to keep her for years and not a quick tidy up and sell on. We both love our van and want to make sure the money we spend is not wasted by doing the wrong thing.

Your reply is sweet music to my ears

Look forward to seeing you around

[ghost123uk]

The general consensus on here is that a 5 speed box does not contribute much to MPG and would cost quite a lot of dosh anyway.
LPG is the way forward

[Ralf85]

5th gear on a standard gearbox is the same ratio as 4th on a four speed. So no advantage there, and the four speed box tends to be more robust than a five speed box.