Well that didn't last long. Its currently broken down in the worst possible spot EVER!!!! Its outside the mother inlaws house!

Good news is we know what it is (probably). The ECU was left for easy access for when we swap maps etc on the engine and its obviously not getting any power. Monkey put his multimeter to it and its not holding a steady 12 volts so will have a bit more of a poke and prod on it during my day off and hopefully restore power.

 

Well we got it started again. Looks like it was a bad relay between the live and the ECU. We then spent the rest of the day soldering connections together, tiding up the rest of the wiring and then fitting the new rear shocks.

The ride seems to be pretty good now, and while I was under there I checked out the Ebach springs. They were one of the first mods I made to the van, and other than having the usual dirt and grim on them they were still in amazing condition.

 

Balls.

Tonight while driving back from a T4/T5 meet I lost 5th gear. I knew it was on the way out and had already bought the bits to do it on a suspicion. I think that as the gearbox hadn't been used in a couple of years while the van was off the road the rubbers in the linkage all perished. On the up side those bits to fix it only cost £16!

 

Nice to see the van working last night Jon A: your nearly there with a few adjustments . It's going to take a few miles to iron out the gremlins..

 

So since the van had been back on the road I had been complaining of sloppy gear changes, and the other day it popped out of 5th gear on the motorway and wouldnt go back in... It may as well have been in neutral! I took the wheel of the van the other day and opened up the gearbox, it turns out 5th had stripped itself of teeth and basically ruined the box!

I have been in contact with Glen from the Just T4's forum and he builds gearboxes. We have done a deal where I am part exchanging my current box for one that has the 5th gear mod as well as a DUJ to hopefully help strengthen it all up to prevent this happening again. Its an expensive repair which will cost me a few hundred to get sorted, but it will see me up and running again.

Hey ho. Another day with the van of dreams! T:

He can be found on Facebook under the Just T4's group his name is Glen Mills. He runs a company called Go Transporter (https://www.facebook.com/GoTransporter/) and has an ebay page http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322071075842?ul_noapp=true. We have spoken to him a bit and he really seems to know his stuff.

 

Then I'll get you over and I'll build your stainless exhaust from the turbo rite back Shineeeyyyyysss

 

Ok so... its been ages since I last posted, so thought it was time for an update. Well..... the van was on the road for a grand total of two weeks before the gearbox ate itself. The general theory is that it ran out of oil inside the box and then friction did the rest. Although the gearboxes are designed to be sealed units and the oil supposed to last the lifetime of the box, it doesnt! So learn from my expensive lesson, check yours and replace it with new stuff!!

I ended up contacting a guy on the just T4's forum called Glen Mills who works with gearboxes and he really seemed to know his stuff, so agreed to part ex the broken box for a new shiney upgraded one. The new one now has the 5th gear mod and a DUJ, which to my understanding is a bigger and stronger diff and pinion which will help it deal with the bigger bhp of my engine.

Annoyingly my garage is having problems with fitting the gearbox due to mechanics off sick, broken vehicle lift etc, so I am hoping to get the van back tomorrow.

 

Tell monk to pull his finger out then and man up lol

 

It's the torque that kills gearbox's not bhp be good to see you at an up coming Kent meet T:

 

We had a garage do the gearbox as I looked up the instructions on removing the gearbox and it looked like being a right sod to do. So for once let someone else do it. Besides... Jon still needs to sort out my rev counter, fuel guage and exhaust!!! Rasp:

 

are you back on the road then?. some epic effort there.

 

So, an update to bring things up to speed. The van is now back on the road (again!) with a shiny new gear box. Its running really well and has a nice slick motion to it. Certainly nothing like the agricultural gearbox I was used to. The van is ridiculously quick again and with the 5th gear mod it cruises really well. I can't wait to get the exhaust and remap sorted to finally dial it all in..

 

Have you remembered the fuel?

 

Not too much to say on that, turns out my fuel gauge was misreading so I ran out... luckily enough the pump and float for the fuel are dead easy to get to. In the grand scheme of things with whats gone on... thats nothing!

 

Hat off to you Jon. Great read and I feel your pain mate.

 

Well, last week I had a new exhaust fitted by pptuning and I am really pleased.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i2Sb2xMUNM
(Turn up the volume as I had a bit of an issue with the camera)

 

Have you managed to do anything else yet Jon :* you were talking about tuning T:

 

I have it booked in for mapping this week...T: Because of my shifts, I am dropping it off tomorrow and picking up first thing Friday morning I think....

 

Good news! The High Court Sheriffs have been in touch and have said that they have secured payment for the rest of the money owed, I just have to wait 14 days for it to clear at their end. So that means I will get ££££ back on what was lost on that original mechanic!

 

Well done mate.
You deserve a break!!

 

Really pleased, I picked the van up from being remapped and put on a dyno.... here are the power figures and the van drives fantastically.

The grey lines on the graph are the original figures for the van before it was mapped...