Best of British tow cars

[Marc.com]

The little V4 Transit engine was basically a V6 Capri engine with two cylinders cut off. As slow as they were, they were pretty reliable little bus.

Well yeah Mk4 Zephyr engine with 2 cut off, NZ used to get the pure Pomgolian versions of the British stuff so smaller power plants so V4 was 1700cc and lower gearing. So the V4 would rev its box off on the open road and then overheat. Had the same weakness as the Zephyr that over heating inconveniently went hand in hand with melting the oil pump drive.  However the V6 and V4 were not bad engines at all by the standards of the day. I had V6 in Mk3 Cortina, but chopped it in on 202 Torana which was vastly better. 

[firko]

the V4 would rev its box off on the open road

I solved that by fitting a Mk2 Zephyr diff....It was a bolt in and only took half an hour.

[Marc.com]

I don't know Firko about that time there started to be some good reasons to buy Australian and still are.... long may the Aussie car industry continue.

[vmx42]

Me good ole Vanguard six hauled Bikes around Un Zud during the mid to late 70's.
  '

Wow!!! That's pretty cool and unique - I betcha wish you still had it . It would be cool to arrive at a VMX meet with one today.

Come on, late 70's. We know they still use them. Always have and always will. 

[Davey Crocket]

The oil pump drive use to round off marC ( allen key type shaft) which caused loss of oil pressure and bang she went....I worked at Newlands Ford for a while in the early eighty's and they where a common sight......funnily enough those 351/302 Ford V8's do the same thing but it only stops the dissy from turning so no engine damage.

[Marc.com]

You are right.....its been a while and for some reason I have it in my head the gear was nylon in the earlier Mk4 engines. I think it was a pretty bomb proof motor that ended up in the Granada and RS3100 Capri

[firko]

funnily enough those 351/302 Ford V8's

Although nothing is interchangable the Windsor 302 has a lot of similarities with the little Brit V4 / V6.
The big conversion in the eighties was to fit Windsor or Chevy V8's to the Transit. I well remember driving a mates 302/C4 auto powered SWB ex PMG Transit to an enduro somewhere in the Hunter Valley, loaded up with three guys, their bikes bikes and all the gear. Compared to the old V4 it was a dream, except for one slight thing. Brakes.
Although he'd fitted the 9" ford diff and done the engine swap really well, he was still to fit the matching Falcon disc brakes and we were fully reliant on the drum brakes that had been inadequate even for the Harry Potter model Anglia they were derived from. You really had to be on your toes driving that car. To make it worse, it had 10" wide wheels on the rear, offset outwards to make up for the slightly narrower diff and the stock skinny's on the front. It was a death trap in the wet until he sorted the brake/wheel/tyre thing out.

[Marc.com]

It was a death trap in the wet until he sorted the brake/wheel/tyre thing out.

Yep these days you would probably never get on the road, it would have to have compliance, RWC, engineers report etc etc.... its hard to build a good death trap these days though the hot rodders still try.

But I mean hell you are probably not even allowed to weld up the back doors these days and hope you could get the paint on faster than the bog fell out