my bedford ha

carmad.

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carmad.
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some off you will have seen pics as i went along but i realised i didn’t have a build thread on here

so due to photobucket looking a fortune to host pics i have lost so many photos during the first part off this build

this is my bedford ha van as i got it



as you can see the underneath is quite bad and no matter what i did it was never gonna be a show winner





i really wanted to keep the sign writing as it was all done by hand so any welding or patches are going to be tricky .

so as we tried and tried to work with what we had it was becoming more and more clear that with out a load off replacement panels it needed everything and was beginning to seam like a basket case .

so after a bit off brain storming from me and my brother we decided to look at making a chassis for it .

we came up with a few measurements and from another abandoned project and realised that a reliant scimitar chassis would be a very close fit

so we set about cutting out the ha floor after a bit of cross bracing

this is what we ended up with unfortunately all the pictures to this point are lost





so a few welds to get the chassis in line with the shell



after seeing some other threads with scimitars getting the vauxhall v6 i bought one and got it mounted



after this i lost my storage and going by the date off the first post on here i had it from 2010

so off it went to its new home



so now on to 2020 🤦🏻‍♂️ if you had told me i was gonna get a couple off months of with 80% off my wages i would have been better prepared for this .

so after speaking to the guy i sold it to he informed me that he hadn’t even touched it as it was parked in his dads garage

so after a bit off negotiating i bought it back



now i had a problem with no where to store it i had to get to welding it before the rest off it dissolves .

i had still quite a bit off bracing in it from my first attempt at a chassis swap and it wasn’t very neat so i decided to level and square it up again after all it had been transported twice and believe it or not most off the welds and bars held up

so i decided to cut them all out and square everything and start with the back end



at least now you can see why i decided to go this route because i have the scimitar diff and rear suspension 4 link and watts linkage 😜

so after quite a bit off head scratching and fabrication

i decided to go for a raised bed floor to accommodate the bigger diff and suspension travel but i also wanted to put the fuel tank underneath

it also gave me a frame to work off supporting the rear off the van body

i also got hold off a roll over hoop from a vauxhall frontera sport i figured if it could support the weight off a jeep on its roof ill be ok in the van should the worst happen

it also came with the seat belts and saves a lot off work trying to mount them

i started to do the floor in the back with temp tin some where to store the tools ect at night



also i didn’t want the floor just to be a flat sheet



so i purchased a cheap bead roller off ebay



so now on the the front











so i made the front floors and the first seat mounts

i managed to get a set off opel manta recaro seats so they should do the job





















so i managed to get the correct colour off green for it but it was to clean looking compared to the rest off the van

so a bit off artificial dirt required





so i decided that the v6 wasn’t gonna be for me and my wife bought me this for my birthday



so i set about getting mounts done and figuring out if i could get it on the omega gearbox



the driver side went ok but i had a real bit off head scratching to get the passenger side on with the turbo and boost pipes ect

but it’s in and changing plug number four is going to be fun lol

so i started to mock up the front as i wanted to see what clearance i have to different things

 

FM155

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This is class, love the patina of the original van bits and pieces.
Does it really say "Jim'll Fix it" on the front valance lol? I think you might try some signwriting of your own to at least alter that a bit.. 🤦‍♂️
 

carmad.

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so i wanted to move on with the arches

because the reliant axel is wider than the van and i didn’t want to do anything drastic i went for the jap style arches and they are a bit marmite but i think they work

so when i marked out how far i could cut and weld with out burning the paint i started making the inner arches







so once i got it all welded and seam sealed i put some paint on but the same as the out side the correct paint code was to “clean “ so i moved on to getting dirty


FM155 said:
This is class, love the patina of the original van bits and pieces.
Does it really say "Jim'll Fix it" on the front valance lol? I think you might try some signwriting of your own to at least alter that a bit.. 🤦‍♂️
Click to expand...
sure leave it on it just screams 1980s lol
 

carmad.

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so moving on an ordering bits in the middle off covid stuff takes wahhhyyy long than it should tho to be fair to these guys they really did step up





tho i did get a cheap set off toyo proxes that took for ever to come



and then i bought a donor car so i can use the wiring loom / steering and lots off other bits



 

carmad.

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martybelfastsri said:
that is epic lol done on your drive too fair play!
Click to expand...


yeah cheers marty i hope to get back at it soon i have quite a few parts ordered and i’ll try my best to update the thread as i go

i am back to work full time so no lock down for me but when the weather changes i’ll get it back over and see if i can get the inner wings made and start with the astra steering shaft

i honestly dunno if it has a lsd diff in it or it’s welded because when @southsky sunrise tryed to steer her on to his truck it needed pushed down hill

i also have picked up a really good set off reliant wheels so i am gonna get them refurbished asap

i know there is a long way to go i am trying to source a really cheap corsa c for the wiring loom it seams like the mk5 astra one needs quite a few things to run
 

Bryan

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This is awesome. Love a good classic van.

Whatever happened to Karlos de Jackle (I think that was his username). I remember looking at one of these lying in his farm shed many years ago.
 

carmad.

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Bryan said:
This is awesome. Love a good classic van.

Whatever happened to Karlos de Jackle (I think that was his username). I remember looking at one of these lying in his farm shed many years ago.
Click to expand...


i do love a good rascal aswell wish i had the time and space to take the ones you have on 👍
 

DavyC

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Class project here. You're brave for sure.

I hadn't paid much attention to the sign writing until you mentioned you were trying to keep it. Then it clicked. I know Jim quite well (Girlfriend's step Father). We haven't seen him much recently with Covid and all that but will look forward to a yarn about this the next time we're down.

In the meantime here's a 'photo of a photo' of Plantation Motors' yard back in the day.
IMG-20210112-WA0000.jpg
 

DavyC

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Lol, I know. I thought I remembered it in a photo somewhere but Girlfriend's Mum confirmed it's the Arial photo that's up in the hallway.
 

carmad.

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NI_Volvo_Nut said:
Is it still alive???
Click to expand...


no as far as i know when me and the mates had it we knew what it was

a mate at the time sold it to someone who realised some kid was gonna get it and insure it as a 1.1 and end up in a lot off trouble so he took the engine ect out and put it in a nova
 
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