1984 R4 F4 Van

[Tomcat]

It is the little things that can be very frustrating.
Fitted a high level brake light to the rear window. It and the offside brake light worked but nearside dead. Another bulb still same so detailed check to find cable had frayed where it went through grommet into light assembly.
After much fiddling underneath spliced new length in all working OK now. Ah well the joys of ownership!!

 

[Tomcat]

Little bit more done on Van.
High level brake-light added, doubled up on rear fog lamps, added reversing lights, fixed broken wire to nearside rear light cluster.
Painted rear bumper in matt black. Area around light cluster needing white paint. New number plate

 

[Tomcat]

Front now. Matt black bumper and grill. New Cibie headlights, new side / indicator lights.
Vertical struts to be done in black.

 

[Tomcat]

First fix on spotlights. Took both seats out to clean and rustproof area under and behind .
More wiring tidied up. Then the rain came.

 

[mojobaby]

Your tyres look wider than normal. What size are they? Nice number plate too!

 

[Lobster]

Liking this, vans with spotlights are a good thing

 

[harbourseal]

Spotlights belong on vans for some reason. Here's some more examples.
The green one is mine. I have only one but it gives a hell lot of light.

 

[Tomcat]

I do like a van in green, one light or two!!

 

[Tomcat]

Your tyres look wider than normal. What size are they? Nice number plate too!

Hi
Tyres are 165 / 60 R13 on Gordini rims.

 

[Tomcat]

Have been offered some seats for the van. From MGF.
Seem to fit in space there and will need some sorting out of fixings.

 

[mr-reno-139]

Trickiest bit adapting seats is when you make all the adapter plates and then find the seat won't slide all the way back to allow normal size people to drive

 

[Tomcat]

Ah Paul
I am planning to do it so normal people can drive OK and shorter people need to do the adjustment!!
Well, at least that is the plan.

 

[Tomcat]

Better view of the underside of the seat

 

[mr-reno-139]

Quite a lot of modern car seats are too tall from mounting points to seat cushion height as they are designed to be fixed directly to a flat floor pan
R4 has a crossmember which raise seat by good few inches making pedal operation tricky and steering wheel rubbing your legs

 

[JonathanT]

Wow van looking remarkably rust free.... Just a few dents. I've just bought some panel beating hammers from Machine Mart. Quite expensive at £40 but hopefully worth it . I expect some of the van panels are not so easily obtained so tapping the existing straight would be a good thing if that's what you plan ...Found some really excellent panel beating tutorials on you tube. In particular these :

 

[Tomcat]

Quite a lot of modern car seats are too tall from mounting points to seat cushion height as they are designed to be fixed directly to a flat floor pan
R4 has a crossmember which raise seat by good few inches making pedal operation tricky and steering wheel rubbing your legs

Paul
My initial assessment is that the height of seat etc., will allow good operation. Plan to do more planning & preliminary first fix work to ensure this is the case.

 

[Tomcat]

Wow van looking remarkably rust free.... Just a few dents. I've just bought some panel beating hammers from Machine Mart. Quite expensive at £40 but hopefully worth it . I expect some of the van panels are not so easily obtained so tapping the existing straight would be a good thing if that's what you plan ...Found some really excellent panel beating tutorials on you tube. In particular these :

I was attracted to the 'quirky' nature of the bodywork. It will be a working vehicle where areas will be rustproofed and protected, but not to anything approaching concours standard.
I have always found a mine of information on You Tube and most certainly will be looking at what is on offer there.

 

[Tomcat]

Managed to get some more work done on seat arrangement.
Basically I am utilising the existing seat fixing points and spanning across with 25 x 4mm strip drilled to suit.
Then another 25 x 4mm strip is attached to seat mounting points and these will be tack welded to fixing strips.
Hope pictures make it clear!!

 

[mr-reno-139]

Not criticising at all but from experience depending on your weight 4mm may prove a bit flexible once you sit in it as I used 6 × 40mm when I last modded a seat for a different car

 

[Tomcat]

Not criticising at all but from experience depending on your weight 4mm may prove a bit flexible once you sit in it as I used 6 × 40mm when I last modded a seat for a different car

Hi Paul
Existing centre to centre on van is 475mm. MGF seats are 420mm.
From edge of box section to centre rear strip is 140mm.
I looked at fact that except for this 140mm distance the strip will be totally supported on the box section.
Additionally the offset is only 27.5mm so there is deflection but only minimal.
If the box section was not there I would have used a 25mm square hollow section to span.
Reaction at front is due to an overhang of about 40mm. Again not excessive enough to cause concern.