Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all.

I've said hello on the general forum and the thread has taken an interesting turn.

It would seem the van we've bought that we originally were led to believe had a 1.6 Aircooled petrol engine in it...may not!

It doesn't surprise me as the van was advertised as having a Viking roof, however it turned out to be a Devon Moonraker.

So.... What is it? Haven't picked it up yet, so I suspect there may be some more surprises.

Here's a pic......



I've had a little google and I kinda think it might be a 1.9 petrol, after seeing another pic from a thread on here.

I am however no expert and haven't even set foot in a camper let alone seen the one we've bought.

Big pat on the back for the correct answer. However you will have to fight amongst yourselves about what it is!

Seriously though..... I'd kinda like to know exactly what we have.

Does it look original?

What are the good / bad points?

What should I look for, as in common problems?

Any tips for driving it?

its Aircooled, so either 1.6 or 2.0

Twin carb so I'd guess its a 2 ltr CU.

Yep, 2.0 - equivalent to a modern 900cc engine

Just noticed the inlet hose is missing from top right. It'll mean the engine is sucking in warm air from above the engine instead of from below the air inlet on the right skin of the van. I've marked where it should be.



Everything else looks like it is where it should be I think. You might actually see 70mph on the way home now Unfortunately you'll also see 16 mpg

Ok. I'll get that attached before we venture down south.

Hmmm......

Looks like 2.0 it is then.

I may have to contact the DVLA.

I guess this is good news as the general thinking seems to the 1.6 is underpowered. But the idea in these bad boys is to get there in the first place, not in record time.

Over 70mph is as you say good.

16mpg is however horrendous! And I thought my X5 was bad at 25mpg!!!!

It'll be slightly better on a run...you might even hit the heady heights and bust the 20mpg barrier...

Martin

i used to get 25/ 28mpg regurlarly with my old van with just a few simple mods

A very dearly missed old chum chased us down from Taunton services through Devon and Cornwall on the way to Bashtie, we have a 2.1DJ on a carb running lpg and he had a 2.0CU with twin Dells (40's ?) It was going VERY nicely although I don't know what they were doing to the gallon

Ian

2L Aircooled.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say it's actually a CJ engine, i.e. out of a late Bay rather than a T3.

Engine serial number, just below the orange pipe in your photo, will give the truth.

Coil has been mounted in rather a strange location and I'm only seeing a single wire to the dizzy, so no electronic ignition, which is why I'm leaning towards a CJ motor.

Wiring looks a bit of a mess too...


On the other hand, I think I can read "CU" at the start of the serial number, so not so sure now.

Looks like a CU. CJ has a tin breather tower, that one looks cast with the crankcase.

How can I improve the mpg with "a few simple mods"?

28 mpg sounds a lot better than 12!

I'll post the engines number when we get hands on this weekend.

Is it worth putting the air inlet hose on before I do the long journey?

Can I source this hose easily, or is it a standard width that I can pick up from an auto factor shop?

Sorry if these questions are a bit "egg and spoon", but I'm a fast learner and won't need to be mothered for long.

definitely a cu engine ,the coil is where it is because its been removed from the engine bay and thrown on top of the engine.i think the cj has a different airbox and an auxiliary air blower.the cu engine only does about 70mph but it is a a flyer around town and you can rally them.they are heavy on juice but any petrol van is goin to be expensive to run unless you convert to gas.The carbs can be a nightmare if they havnt been looked after so start saving for webbers.

Flyingchunk wrote:How can I improve the mpg with "a few simple mods"?

Other than a good service to get the engine in as good a condition as possible you have 2 options ...

Prayer or lpg conversion.

Funnily enough my neighbour who works for BMW and used to work for Volkswagen/Audi also suggested swapping the carb/ carbs for webbers when I initially said we bought the van.

LPG conversion sounds like my kind on money saving plan if we can reach 35 mpg.

What's the damage for one of them?

I'll get the sewing machine out and make my own cushion covers I think now, as it seems I may need the cash!