In appreciation of vans

[seattle smitty]

This is probably dumb. Wouldn't be the first time for that!

One of the automotive sites I visit has a section on full-size vans, with much useful info. The other day a guy was asking for advice about his van and posted a photo the looks to me as if he is using it to carry a couple of roadracing motorcycles. The bike racers have long been heavy users of full-size vans, and seem to have a million stories about them. For some reason, it struck me that with all the reminiscing that old racers do, I have never seen anybody write a tribute to the lowly van, so I posted the following, which few of you will see so I'm pasting it here for what it's worth:yawn::

I'm an old man, got into racing outboard hydros in the era of the Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys. Whether cartopping the raceboat or towing a light racing trailer, nothing was better than a van! If you were carrying the racing machine externally (unlike most of the bike and kart racers), you probably had room to camperize your van with a fold-out cot for two, maybe even a sink and icebox and a fold-out table (my '66 Econoline Supervan had all this). This meant you had a LOT more fuel-efficient and handy set-up for two-day races than did the guys who had big pickups with huge drop-in camper units (which however were more commodious and wife-friendly).

I wonder if any old amateur motor-racer has ever written a paean of tribute to the lowly van. At club-races of boats, roadbikes, MX'ers, enduro and trials bikes, karts, sleds, sportscars, dune buggies and sand draggers, . . . if you were in the parking lots and pits at any of these events you'd see vans all over the place. Nice ones, crappy ones, all makes in all lengths. Yeah, we certainly could have used pickups and station wagons, and even old ambulances and hearses and run-out commercial step-vans (which are all geared wrong for highway use), but the vans that started coming out in about 1961, IIRC, turned out to be the nearly-ideal set-up for low-buck racing use.

So here's to the vans! Thanks for all the good times!!

If y'all are like Stateside bike racers, crazy van stories should soon appear . . . .

[chrisc]

Vans are awesome! One of the best purchases I've ever made. I sleep in the van next to my bike with some of the seats taken out. Meanwhile suckers are putting up tents or paying for hotels. Mind you I don't have a wife to force me into a moving hotel

[cynna]

no quite big enough for a bike but i had a falcon panel van for years that i travelled all over nz in. sleeping in the back when ever i needed. had to sell it since fitting in a kids seat was a pain

sold it about 8 years ago and just brought another one last month

[Buddha#81]

And you look like a dirty old man crusing around the eastern burbs in it too Col!

[cynna]

And you look like a dirty old man crusing around the eastern burbs in it too Col!

wait till i get the windows tinted and my free hugs decals on the side

[F5 Dave]

We don't go too big here, the roads just are more suited to smaller vehicles with our hilly terrain. Plus our petrol prices would make you spit. I thought this war on terror was supposed to be a front for stealing all the oil. Well where's my cheaper petrol then? I doubt I'll vote for that Obama chap again, which was difficult as ai had to handwrote his name on the voting papers, they seem to have left him off last time.

I bought a car once. And only once. I've had a C20 Nissan which was great at the time & could fit 2 dirtbikes or 3 buckets at a squeeze. But last 16 yrs my short whl base HiAce has been my hauler & can fit 3 dirtbikes or 3 buckets with ease to 5 if yer really keen.

A nitrous conversion would be nice for overtaking.

[Kickaha]

My Transit is FUCKING awesome, big enough to live in, fits an F1 sidecar and gear with room left over, probably about an 8-10 Bucket van

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/p180x540/1376562_10151623982930216_1174500840_n.jpg?oh=8da1 31fadfd5b24617f449c7270050bb&oe=56048544&__gda__=1438675246_ce34b4bb868e829d791a0541fc9141b 0

[Grumph]

Anyone know what the statute of limitations is on van racing on the public road ? There was a lot of fun had in the 90's by guys doing the National series. Mostly illegal...
Transits are an interesting van. weird motor but bloody quick with the right optional diff ratio. Some years back I was going South on one of the typical SI long straight roads, driving the nice Mk2 Jag we had at the time...Cruising at (cough) around 90mph, as you do...I saw a dot in the mirror which rapidly became a blue Transit van signwritten in the colours of a well known carpet laying firm. It passed me and disappeared into the distance. Must have been a bloody urgent carpet laying job somewhere...

[Motu]

Most handy van I had was a MkIV Escort - car size, open one door, open 2 for a bigger load, put stuff behind you from the drivers seat, the perfect workshop hack. I used to put my trials bike into it - loosen the bars and lay them down, the front wheel between the seats. And I could sleep in it too. It had to go because of body parts issues, mechanical were no problem. I'd like to find a MkVI to replace it.

[swarfie]

Sidecar Bob is pretty stoked with his new van. There's not many larger...or at least longer. Scrivy reckons they could load the sidecar in the front of it in Towel Ronger and then unload it at Hampton Downs out through the back without even driving it anywhere :laugh:

[Gremlin]

I've had a big Hiace (ZX latest shape) with AWD for the last 6 months. Loving it so far in terms of carting bikes (or anything else like furniture). It's the seats/lined version so a bit quieter, but I've removed most of the rear seats and it will take two road bikes easily, even 2 adventure bikes depending on size. Still a 4 seater, extra room for gear etc. Fantastic for mountain biking as well as the AWD allows us to get up the rougher trail heads.

Good thing I use motorbikes for daily commuting though, I can't fit in most parking garages and three clients have garages I can't fit in either. :sweatdrop

[Grumph]

Sidecar Bob is pretty stoked with his new van. There's not many larger...or at least longer. Scrivy reckons they could load the sidecar in the front of it in Towel Ronger and then unload it at Hampton Downs out through the back without even driving it anywhere :laugh:

Yeah, I was impressed. But more impressed with the spoils of the raid on the SI sitting in it. Just as well i have a big property, he could drive it in - and turn round too.

[Kickaha]

Sidecar Bob is pretty stoked with his new van. There's not many larger...or at least longer. :
Side by side I'd say it's another 2-300mm or so longer than my Hicube

Anyone know what the statute of limitations is on van racing on the public road ? There was a lot of fun had in the 90's by guys doing the National series. Mostly illegal...
Coming back from Puke one year towing a trailer we swapped drivers at Taupo and a certain multiple NZ sidecar champ drove from there to Masterton where him and the trailer were getting dropped off, pretty sure I saw 140kmh on the clock at one stage

[pete376403]

We have some Hyundai turbo diesel vans at work. Really nice to drive, huge in the back, they make the previous Mitsi L300s and Toyota HiAces look crude by comparison.

And , there once was a magazine article about the bike mover vehicle - years and years ago Dirt Bike did a writeup on the GYDBT - the great yellow dirt bike truck, an El Camino if I recall correctly. They are appreciated.

Edit - the internet, nothing ever goes away http://superhunky.com/store/index.php/best-of-the-dirt-bike-tests.html

[speedpro]

Pete may remember the old Boyle Kawasaki HiAce. Old man Boyle dropped in a Holden 173 with Traumatic box and zephyr diff. Brother Doug bought it from them and I bought it from him. No problem hauling anything you could possibly squeeze in and also no problem getting the speedo needle round to "A" in the "BRAKE" light at the bottom of the speedo. The drum brakes gave up a few times most notably through the paraparas once. I also had a CF Bedford. Gearing was way low for open road use and you could hear it rusting out in the driveway. We had a HiAce LZ(?) van in the shop in Wellington It had something like 300K on it and even towing a fully loaded horsefloat style furniture trailer, and fully loaded it still got along OK. Seemed quite perky after unloading and ditching the trailer though I must admit.
You can't beat a van on raceday when it's pissing down with rain and there are no undercover pits.

[Grumph]

Van engine swaps can be fun. Before my current HiAce - a turbo'd diesel coach with the seats out - I had a CF Bedford for years. Locally converted to the ubiquitous LD28. Previous owner had inserted a PC Cresta Diff head before I had the LD put in. The outfit who did the conversion loved it, reckoned it was the fastest one they'd done. Problems - couldn't put it on 14 inch wheels as the gearing would be too high, cut out the 13in rears too easy...And as Speedpro says, you could hear it rusting...finished up with a CF shaped block of bog.
The wife loved it, swears she dragged off a Porsche at lights in town. It would just lift one front if you were really savage off the line. Cruised easily at around 130Km. Took bikes from Puke to teretonga several times...

[Kickaha]

I had a CF Bedford for years. Locally converted to the ubiquitous LD28. .
I can remember you bringing that into the Moorhouse branch probably 20 odd years ago

[F5 Dave]

Funny the reference to the Paraparas. I borrowed Chris Sayles Bedford to pick up my dead roadbike & went that way. I was thinking of going back to erect a sign that said

"Have you had enough yet?"

at the summit. But I couldn't live through that again. What a workout in that thing. Glad it was night so you could see the approaching lights almost.

[seattle smitty]

Kiwis!! First you tell me about your sky-high fuel prices, and after that you start bragging about hopped-up engines that will propel your vans to twice the legal speed limits!!:eek5:

Maybe we merkins don't pay so much per gallon, but we have 4X farther distances to drive, so my deal is creeping along at legal speeds with a combination that has better-than-factory fuel efficiency, not better top speed. For my purposes (some in-town chores, and mainly cross-country travel/camping/hunting/racing) a mid-'70s to mid-'80s Ford Econoline E150 standard-length full-sized van (GM and Chrysler have or had equivalents, but I'm a Ford guy when it comes to vans) is just heavy-duty enough to tow a pretty good-sized trailer when called-for, but with a maximized-for-practical-street-torque 300 cubic inch inline six it doesn't break the bank account as compared with the various big heavy V-8s that more frequently are thought necessary by van owners here. Rebuilt with "long" rods, pocket-ported head and big exhaust valves and a little higher lift, an aftermarket intake manifold and small spread-bore 4bbl carb, and street headers, the dynamic compression ratio is considerably improved over factory. I should add that I much prefer these older vans to anything from late-'80s on partly because they can be had cheap, and partly because the new cars/trucks have gotten FAR too complex, and I like SIMPLE.

The trick is in tuning the new combination, dialing-in a new spark advance curve, since the factory curve no longer applies. Well, another trick would be to recalibrate the crankcase ventilation system, which is similarly made less-than-ideal by the changes from factory specs, but there is very little info on doing this, and the only guy I know who has real expertise (ex-Ford engineer) hasn't said much more about this than, "Well, it's pretty complicated . . . ."

[Grumph]

Kiwis!! First you tell me about your sky-high fuel prices, and after that you start bragging about hopped-up engines that will propel your vans to twice the legal speed limits!!:eek5:

The trick is in tuning the new combination, dialing-in a new spark advance curve, since the factory curve no longer applies. Well, another trick would be to recalibrate the crankcase ventilation system, which is similarly made less-than-ideal by the changes from factory specs, but there is very little info on doing this, and the only guy I know who has real expertise (ex-Ford engineer) hasn't said much more about this than, "Well, it's pretty complicated . . . ."

V8 vans are pretty rare here - and the sixes are diesels almost invariably. Getting a vacuum in the crankcase of a six isn't terribly easy either as the volume changes aren't as dramatic as other configurations. You could always simply fit a reed valve on the breather...In my experience, PCV valves are not always sensitive enough when the pulsations are either small or odd - spaced. The Britten V twin works motors with a reed breather valve have less problems bedding rings than the later customer ones which used PCV valves.

[Kickaha]

Maybe we merkins don't pay so much per gallon

A merkin gallon is smaller as well about 3.8 litres compared to 4.5 litres

[F5 Dave]

I was talking to a fellow HiAce owner when he lifted the seat to show a Lexus V8. Have the pics on me fine. Big brakes etc.

Still wonder if I could squeeze a bunch of spannies under there and fit a real engine.

[awayatc]

Maybe we merkins don't pay so much per gallon, but we have 4X farther distances to drive, so my deal is creeping along at legal speeds with a combination that has better-than-factory fuel efficiency, not better top speed. ."

Fuel efficient American vehicle ......?

that's a bit like saying you know an intelligent retard.....






oops, sorry .....
forgot you not only know of a few,
You vote them into office......

[speedpro]

We have a very tidy hiAce running round here, West Auckland, that is nearly a 2-stroke. Clearly has a serious PP rotary in it. No clue at all apart from the crazy idle.

[Kickaha]

I was talking to a fellow HiAce owner when he lifted the seat to show a Lexus V8. Have the pics on me fine. Big brakes etc.

There's at least two of those in Chch, I was told they are ex Japanese ambulance/emergency vehicle and the V8 was factory fitment

[sidecar bob]

The worst van is better than the best tent.
Although the Merc is huge & is by far the fastest van so far, good times Were had in my '73 Austin J4. Quite apart from all the shagging that was had in it, there was the ritual that whenever another race team caught up to us in between national rounds, it was compulsory to crank up Roadhouse Blues (the doors) & Scrivy would do the roof surfing thing, out the L/H door & leave it swinging in the breeze while he cavorted around on the roof doing a Jim Morrison impersonation. It was 1987, these things weren't as frowned on as much as today.
Then there was the time we missed the turn off to levels, realised our mistake, I ripped up the handbrake at 70k & turned it, I still don't know how the fuck it didn't tip over. The tools & parts & everything in the back was all against one side in a hell of a mess.
It was easy to change drivers without stopping. The driver just pulled the cable on the steering colum that I had attached to the throttle linkage & slid off on to the engine cover in the middle while continuing to steer & the replacement driver dropped into the drivers seat over from the back.
It was the only van that I've owned that I carried a spare freshly valve ground head that could be swapped out in case of a burnt valve while on tour.
Hi Ace, Transit & Mercedes storys to follow.

[Grumph]

Oh god, old pommie vans...I remember a trip to Levels from ChCh in a Fordson van. we ran into a mild southerly south of Ashburton and had to tack into it to pull top gear...
One of the BEARS founder members had a Thames with a Mk2 Consul engine and box. Dreadful van but at least it had enough power to go places in a reasonable time...

Rotaries - an older guy here in ChCh ran a race shop for mainly rally and the odd circuit race car. His shop hack and service van for rallies was a 60's Fiat van - think Combi with a normal rear axle - which had a 13B grafted in. Went very well. He's dead now and i imagine the van was probably wrecked for the rotary.

[Muzzab]

My bike mover started off as a necessity when we had to many kids to fit the car seats across the back of the Subaru.
When I needed to shift bikes I'd remove the middle 2 seats and fold up the back row and can fit 2 (smallish) bikes in the back and a swag of tools
and camping gear as required. It'll cruise at legal speeds easily, but when required has been known to nudge the "ton".
Fuel consumption another matter though. Guess that's due to the supercharger hidden away on it somewhere. it's also "All Wheel Drive" and has had
curious looks from people when it's got to the top of Porter's in the snow and the people looking were fitting chains to their 4WD to go down the hill.
It's a 1995 Toyota Previa 2.4lt petrol, I don't know if I'd recommend it as a bike mover, but I have no plans on getting rid of it.