metro turbo van
Turbo Mini Forums

hi all
well this project is all change and is still going ahead. i originally purchased a j reg van that wanted a lot of work to get it back on the road, the original J reg van ended up mothballed for a future date, as i purchased an a reg automatic mk1 van. the idea was to use the mk1 van and take the pressure off the amount of work for the j reg van, so my turbo van project went onto the back burner.





because there was no rush with buying the mk1 i almost forgot about the van, until a better donor van for the project came along, i have now decided to do an original restoration on the j reg van, and the latest ex seb van (van no3) will now become my 998 turbo van







this got delivered to me over christmas and i have already started it. i did sell some of the original bits and bobs for the project, but i have since collected some more. The plan is a standard exterior all apart from a rear mg tailgate spoiler (resprayed in body colour), a mk1 golf front chin splitter (also in body colour), and a set of gkn metro challenge alloys.



i still have the black mg metro seats, and the gauges and bits, and i have now got a set of grey carpets and mg door cards. so my plan is standard interior with a little added mg as i want the seats and rubber floor covering for the J reg van. because i had sold the steering wheel i got myself on ebay and bagged this astrali and boss (which i have now fitted) all the original parts will either go in a box and get mothballed or go onto the resotration of the J reg van.





I have started the project, i have pulled the engine out and ive started to strip the engine bay down, as im planning to paint the bay and front subframe before i put the engine back in ready for when i paint the rest (back to southern electric green). the next job to do is get the front wings off and do the bit of welding to the inner wings before i paint the bay, and underseal the the inner wings, and the back of the front wings. there is a couple of other little patches needed for the mot but these will come once the bay and engine is done and dusted. i have just got to pick a gearbox up and i can then buld the engine up ready.





i did find a little picture of when it was in its fleet days so i may reinstate the sign writing (will decide once its been painted).




anyway thanks for looking and i will update as i go along.
thanks Josh

Edited by metro-turbo-van on 21st Jan, 2017.

Sounds good... cant see pics tho

Do u have the gkn wheels?

Welcome btw!!

Hi,
I will try and sort the picture issue out when I get home from work in a bit...

Yes I do already have the gkns, they are the metro ofset type and are very slightly different to mini ones.

Josh

you need the image brackets before and after the link... as below but with only one /


[img] picture linky [//img]

That's a little better, I know what im doing when I post up in future now 👍🏼

Like it! That pic of the wheels actually them or is that off that mini wheels website?? I have a set of them... took me forever to get a set! And ive hidden them from the mrs ever since!

No that's off the dictionary site, the wheels are burried in my garage at the moment. I've got 5 (and a full set of nuts) but they've been shot blasted ready to paint.

Well I decided I wanted some extra gauges, but still wanted it to look stock... so I've made a insert up for the centre console. I'm please with it, but I've ordered some swirled stainless sheet to remake the face with. I've also ordered some gauges...

Boost
Afr
Oil temp and oil pressure





Josh

If I were you, I'd give consideration to mounting the AFR and boost gauge higher up. You are going to want to look at these, and you won't be able to glance at them if they are down in the centre console. You'll have to take your eyes completely off the road to read them, which might not be the best thing to do when you have your foot to the floor wondering how much boost you are producing and checking you aren't running lean.

Deffo need to put the sign writing back on her.

I reckon you should band the factory steelies if you're going to keep it the same colour and put the signwriting on it...

I'm swaying more toward reinstating the sign writing once it's been resprayed, sse heritage department have sent me some in depth photos from the time so it should be easy to reproduce. The only trouble with the factory steels is they are metric so are 12.4 inch and you can't get tyres for them, these I have were a period allot you could have purchased as a genuine accessory.

Josh

I was thinking abut this the other day. There might be a possibility of cutting the centre out of the old metric wheels and inserting them into a normal 12 (or possibly even 13") steels. If anyone has some 12"s to measure il see if its feesable.

I've got some mk1 metro steelies that take normal tyre sizes if needed

I have plenty of metrics and standard 12" steels around, this sounds an interesting one actually and not one I'd thought of.

Josh

If you could insert the metric centre into a 13 inch outer that would probably look the best.

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

I found a metric wheel/tyre in a skip the other day and decided to stick it on one of the metro facebook groups thinking someone wanting to do a mk2 resto might want it. Cue some retards on there bleating about how 'you shouldn't be using tyres over 5 years old or you will definitely crash into a school and kill children' (or something along those lines) but it got me thinking how to get around no metric tyres any more

I've got a large stash of metric tyres (some
Nos ones) as I plan to turn my J reg van standard and that means metric wheels aswell

I have remade the front plate now and it looks loads neater, I have used swirl polished stainless steel and I'm just on with fitting the gauges, pictures to follow soon.

Nice project.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Nice turning

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

Hi,
Well got a bit of an update (at long last), things are moving at long last !! I have dropped the engine, and front subframe out ready to start work in the engine bay. I have also took the front wings off as first job, is to sort the inner wings out.















Although I haven't got any pictures I have got the interior out ready to do the floor pan patches, and paint the inside, but that will Be after all the engine bay and underside is completed.



I have gone for something a little different with the side repeaters, I have gone for some off an innocenti mini, as I think these will be a bit more inkeeping with the style.



I have also started on the head work (12g295), and I have picked a gearbox up today to be looked over ready to get the engine and box built up.

Thanks for looking
Josh

What work is the front end needing?