Ford Anglia 307e Thames Van

After getting the van home there were a few things I knew I would need to address straight away. Firstly It needed a damn good polish as the paint seemed to be covered in what looked like overspray. The photo bellow shows before and after as I'm halfway through machining the roof.

With the paint sorted for now it was time to get it up in the air and have a ganders underneath and find out where the clutch fluid is going, where the oil is leaking from and why the cabin fills with exhaust fumes. The exhaust is solidly mounted to the manifold and thus rattles about, and a combination of that and an ill fitting front connection means the fumes are coming right out here and straight in through the floor around the handbrake gaiter, also it hangs bloody low and the pipe reduces to some tiny bore to go up and over the axle (will sort this asap)

The clutch slave is pissing fluid out so a new one was ordered. Oil appears to be merrily leaking from all over the place, the gearbox leaks from the speedo drive and the output seal. The engine is leaking a bit from the rear crankshaft seal, the fuel pump and the oil filter adapter. will keep an eye on these and see how bad they are as I don't want to spend too much money on the engine as its not going to be staying.

With some bits turning up in the post it was time to get cracking, firstly I popped the old breather hose into a beer can (temporary fix) as oil drips out a little, will see how bad it gets as I might have to get a nice catch tank but again don't want to spend too much as new engine is on horizons. I changed the engine oil and filter and also the gearbox oil using a handy little manual oil pump I had from doing the BMW. The rear axle has no drain plug on the diff casing so I checked the oil and a finger dip through the filler suggests its pretty good anyway although a touch low so I topped it up with some molyslip. Then for the real jobs. I removed the old leaking clutch slave with much persuasion from a big hammer and drift as it was royally stuck! new one popped right in and bled up lovely. Also greased up the front steering ball joints and whilst greasing the prop noticed it needs new hardy-spicer bearings.

A trip to Halfords (for a fan belt) ended in a noisy journey home after one of the bastard bolt down speed bumps caught on the front exhaust U-clamp and damaged the exhaust. Will have to fix it sooner rather than later. The rest of the day found me replacing the sealed beam headlamp units with H4 compatible ones that should prove more effective than the current ones which are a bit dim to say the least! When fitting the new sidelight connectors (decent unsheathed automotive ones not Halfords crush me ones ill have you know) I found the first dubious wiring attempts. The sidelight supply wires were both twist and tape affairs! not even dodgy crimps but just twisted and tapped up! god knows who did that but its not really too safe is it! looking forward to rewiring the whole car when the new engine goes in. To finish off I fitted LED stop/tail bulbs which should make the back of the van a bit more visible too, although they are weird to see as the stop lights illuminate instantly unlike filament bulbs which have a fading transition as the element heats up and cools.

After much struggling with the tiny excuse for a steering wheel I gave up and bought a 12" Mountney. much much better. Just need to find a centre boss now. Also just doing some checks I took the air filter off and noticed that when the pedal was on the floor only 2/3 throttle was achieved with the second butterfly only just starting to open! drilled another hole in the throttle actuator arm and now when the pedal hits the deck both butterflies are fully open, looking forward to testing it when I've sorted the exhaust.

Time to crack on with the exhaust, I turned up an alloy adapter on the lathe to fit into the bike can so I could fit the Saxo exhaust pipe to it. I repacked the TSR titanium can and refitted the centre baffle tube which had come loose. James donated a bit of packing and it was just enough to sort the can out :). The alloy adapter fitted a treat and after some hacking and welding away I raised the manifold outlet about an inch and fitted a 106 style flexi joint to allow some exhaust movement. Two straps and a length of tube between the can and manifold and its a nice clear exhaust note and it drives better too but I'm guessing that is more to do with me getting full throttle now!

After work today I setup the headlights as they were too low, now they light up the road much better and look awesome too. got a few piks whilst I was doing it. Fitted the new piston gear knob I made from an old generator piston. half filled the inside with chemical metal which I drilled and tapped when it was dry. Then a quick skim on the lathe to get rid of the sharp skirt and a polish and it looks spot on fitted! Finally before wrapping up for the night out with the shitty old points and in with the magnetic points replacement ignition set. Runs sweet without having to touch a thing! note the dodgy brass vernier adjuster I had to make as the original fell off??