Shanes Bedford / Windsor Project

[ShaneJ]

Well I have finally managed to get enough time to start on my van so I thought I would start my very own build thread. So here goes!

Up until late 2013 my van was off the road - all pulled apart for no good reason really but for the vague hope that big things were going to happen with my van.  When my girlfriend commanded that  we needed to camp in it over Christmas  in order to visit her family there was a mad rush to get it back together. At the time of demand it had the standard diff, limiting speed to about 80ks,but I knew that wasn't going to be suitable long-term so I started the ball rolling by getting my hands on a Ford 9" and popping that in. I also installed an F100 fuel tank to give it a little extra fuel capacity.

Other than that everything was standard and we did use the van to camp in over Christmas - it worked OK with just a mattress thrown in the back.  We pulled over a couple of times on the trip to prevent over-heating and we were in no danger of speeding at any point (!) but we reached our destination and got home again without any trouble.

Just recently I was browsing the online salvage auctions and found an AUII XR8 ute with low ks.  The description said the car was storm-damaged so after a quick viewing on the day of the auction to confirm the engine didn't appear to have been damaged, I decided to go for it.  The intention was/is to get the engine into the Bedford (obviously).  I was pretty nervous, having never bid on a salvage auction but I started bidding when the lot number came up and within 30 seconds it was mine. The very next day it was delivered and actually in my hands.

Of course it then rained every weekend and various other demands were placed upon me, but a few weeks later and a good mate and I got started:



Loaded on the hoist ready to lift the body off the front end:






The old 173 being retired from service:





The new 5.0 Windsor waiting for its new home:






A 2 post hoist makes this job easy:






New Windsor on engine stand filling the void:






The "larger" power plant will require a little better cooling than the old donk so to cover this I have an XF radiator and AU fans:





To get the wider radiator to fit a slight increase to the clearance is required:







New radiator sitting in place. I'll be lifting the radiator support to allow better air flow:





Well that's it for this weekend we're all out of time and out of parts.
Next weekend if time allows we'll be working on the radiator mounts and possibly start removing the wiring loom from the donor XR8. I'll need to get my hands on a rear sump to suit the Windsor before we can start working on the engine mounts.

Until the next installment!

Shane

[Postie Bob]

A good read Shane .
I`ll be following it with my bottom jaw resting on the keyboard  .
Would kill for a shed like yours , mine`s a carport with an old carpet over the gravel  at the moment so I`m  limited to minor mods only  .
Those palms in the background look familiar . Back in `97 I worked at the BMW complex in Norwell ( south of Brissy ) and their track was lined with `em.
Their workshops were something else... you could eat off the floor.
Cheers, Bob.   

[ShaneJ]

Ha ha yeah I would love a floor like that, at the moment the black plastic helps to ensure the cement doesn't get too bad before I can get someone to come and put an epoxy flooring down... although I've found it really difficult to find someone qualified that is interested in doing it (without resorting to just calling anyone in the yellow pages I mean - I need references!)

The palms and gardens are really my girlfriend's domain... to be honest, when we bought the house a few years ago I walked straight from the front door through to the back door with a blinkered focus on what would become my new shed.  I spend all weekend in there and I barely notice the house or yard.  The shed is definitely my favourite place to be and I'll post more pics next time.

Thanks mate

[mezzmo]

G'day Shane,

I got my epoxy coating from Bunnings, you can put fleck in it or just keep it plain. Its really easy and is as tough as nails against spills etc.

Save yourself $$$$$$$$$

[Gordon]

Shane, that is going to be one awesome conversion. I'm looking forward to your updates.

[John Abbott]

Hey Shane, when you say the car was storm damaged was that just hail or was it in a flood? Got any pics of it?

[ShaneJ]

G'day Shane,

I got my epoxy coating from Bunnings, you can put fleck in it or just keep it plain. Its really easy and is as tough as nails against spills etc.

Save yourself $$$$$$$$$

Hey mate, do you have any pictures of the floor you did?

When you put the epoxy down was the concrete new or did you have to prep it using acid wash etc?

[ShaneJ]

Shane, that is going to be one awesome conversion. I'm looking forward to your updates.

I cant wait to have it completed

200kw engine, 9" diff, disk brakes all round, dual F100 fuel tanks and one excited driver 

[ShaneJ]

Hey Shane, when you say the car was storm damaged was that just hail or was it in a flood? Got any pics of it?

Hey John, The Ute just had some slight hail damage on the bonnet and roof, apart from that it was in pretty good condition with factory XR8 mags and body kit.

I'll upload some pictures for you later on tonight.

Shane

[Floatncoffee]

This is gunna be sweet!!