Club 80-90 Forums

I was quoted 10k - 15k to do the body work on mine - so I went sticker mad.

You won't get 40 mpg but you will be 50% less for the fuel purchased.

Most points have been mentioned about the voyage you're about to embark upon, may I make a suggestion? Change the passwords/pins on any joint bank account you may happen to share with your better half - you know it makes sense

all the parts...with invoices...come to my work place...
SO I KNOW!!!!

I've found out it has a single weber carb so must have been upgraded.

Not exactly an upgrade

Are we sure this is a 2.0ltr and not a 1.6? Either way LPG will cost the equivalent of 40mpg to run and if it is a 2.0 it will easily cruise at 65mph (as long as you flatten out the hills). It will also sound so much better than a diesel especially with a nice exhaust.

ermie571 wrote:hello! where are you mate?

I have a garage full of LPG bits - tank, vopourisers, some carb rings and bits n pieces

sure we can come up with a non scene tax price

ran my old Aircooled on LPG for years before the bodywork on the old girl was totally uneconomic to repair....

Now run the water cooled version on it too



Just remembered - you put it in the intro....Southampton isn't a million miles away

That would be very helpful!! I'd massively appreciate that. How does lpg work exactly? You have to fill the petrol tank up as normal and lpg? Lpg is 50p a litre? What sort of mpg do you genuinely get? I suppose it's all relevant though because you'll be paying for lpg and petrol, so even if mpg is good hour still paying more for fuel?


Where are you based?
Thanks

Oh! Me being stupid, didn't realise there was a second page with a load of replies?

I'm sure it's a 2l comes up under the reg as a 2l

Why is the weber not much of an upgrade?

If I keep the 2l air cooled, what do you guys recommended for the best fuel economy carb wise?

Soo much work to do!!! I appreciate all the support and help guys! Really do

First you need to check if the engine is actually a 2ltr, It could have been swapped out at any time in it's past for a 1600 single carb motor.

z3i wrote:

ermie571 wrote:hello! where are you mate?

I have a garage full of LPG bits - tank, vopourisers, some carb rings and bits n pieces

sure we can come up with a non scene tax price

ran my old Aircooled on LPG for years before the bodywork on the old girl was totally uneconomic to repair....

Now run the water cooled version on it too



Just remembered - you put it in the intro....Southampton isn't a million miles away

That would be very helpful!! I'd massively appreciate that. How does lpg work exactly? You have to fill the petrol tank up as normal and lpg? Lpg is 50p a litre? What sort of mpg do you genuinely get? I suppose it's all relevant though because you'll be paying for lpg and petrol, so even if mpg is good hour still paying more for fuel?


Where are you based?
Thanks

I get between 17 and 24 mpg on LPG. We run on LPG 99.9% of the time. I just run for a few miles every now and then on petrol just to stop the fuel lines drying out and splitting. I get slightly more on petrol but it is very slightly. But it feels like I have more power on LPG and she seems to run that little bit better as well.

You have LPG tank fitted and the various gubbins in the engine bay.

I get 17-19 mpg on LPG but mine is a 1.9 watercooled with a hi top and an auto gearbox. Hardly ever run on petrol. Depending on your vans layout you can put the lpg tank under the bed, in the wardrobe or like mine where the spare wheel used to go. My spare now lives in the upper bed when travelling(strapped down). Mine holds just 49 ltrs of LPG but you can fit a tank that will hold 58 ltrs under there.

Ow! More important news I drained the oil last night and it was basically grey with metallic. Dropped the gauze filter and there was metallic silt at the bottom

I noticed when I drove it 150miles home that the oil pressure comes on alot at low rpm when hot. I also noticed the guy had been using 10w40? Would this be too thin? Would that be what caused the low oil pressure?

I've bought some straight 30w from just campers, I imagine this would be much thicker and might up the oil pressure?

z3i wrote:Ow! More important news I drained the oil last night and it was basically grey with metallic. Dropped the gauze filter and there was metallic silt at the bottom

I noticed when I drove it 150miles home that the oil pressure comes on alot at low rpm when hot. I also noticed the guy had been using 10w40? Would this be too thin? Would that be what caused the low oil pressure?

I've bought some straight 30w from just campers, I imagine this would be much thicker and might up the oil pressure?

See parallel thread...

ajsimmo wrote:

z3i wrote:Ow! More important news I drained the oil last night and it was basically grey with metallic. Dropped the gauze filter and there was metallic silt at the bottom

I noticed when I drove it 150miles home that the oil pressure comes on alot at low rpm when hot. I also noticed the guy had been using 10w40? Would this be too thin? Would that be what caused the low oil pressure?

I've bought some straight 30w from just campers, I imagine this would be much thicker and might up the oil pressure?

See parallel thread...

I posted there as well - link = https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... 0#p8130210" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi, my son did the same as you 4 years ago. He saw a cheap air cooled Devon on Ebay and went to a farm in Devon and bought the van on a whim. Unfortunately I could not go with him to put him off.

His van was much the same as yours, nearly ready for scrap. Pretty much all you described was the same as his Devon. I remember going to see the van when he got back from Devon. I checked the oil and it was at the bottom. It leaked like a sieve.

The van came with a years MOT but it was rot and the MOT tester must have been a relative or friend to pass it with such obvious rot.

You are at the beginning of a long road to restore your van. Unless you have a bottomless pit of money, you are going to have to learn to do most of it yourself.

First of all, I would do another oil change with the correct 20W50 oil and a new filter. The sludgy/metallic oil suggests lack of maintenance by the previous owner.

Then get it checked out by someone who knows the T25 and draw up a list of what the faults are and work out a priority of what needs to be done first to make it safe.

On my son's Devon, we replaced all of the brakes first, front and back, then steering and suspension and sorted out wiring and lighting issues.

We replaced the leaking exhaust and heat exchangers.

We put new clean oil in the gearbox as the old oil was low and horrible.

New starter motor and wiring and earth strap as engine would not start.

New electric fuel pump as old mechanical one failed, plus wiring for pump. All new fuel lines and hoses, your old ones may be rot and dangerous. Change the fuel filter next to the tank outlet.

New van rated tyres as the old ones were worn and not van rated.

The chassis was bad in places and we had to pay about £2000 to patch it up after getting it MOT'd and failing badly.

The panels were pretty horrible in places and as we could not afford more welding, we filled the holes and rusty seams and painted the entire van and the grp high top using Rustoleum Combicolour with brush and roller (see on this forum for Rollering your van).

We can offer you lots of advice but it will be about money in the end and how much you could or should afford. Whatever you spend keep in mind that your van would never be worth what you spent on it.

You have spent about £3500 so far. You could just clean it up and resell it. Or treat it as a long term project and accept it will use up a lot of your time and cash.

There are lots of folks on the forum who have restored their vans and help is available to you.

As others have said, I would not waste money going for a diesel conversion. The value of your van is in its originality as an early air cooled T25 and you should keep it that way.Air cooled T25's are becoming quite rare. Most are water cooled.

Sure, they are thirsty vehicles, but the cost of fuel is small compared to your future restoration costs. Maybe your carb setup is wrong as you should have twin carbs.

You will get help on here with that issue and going for lpg may be an option later on.

Let us know how you are progressing.

did any picks get posted up of your van
mm