G'day all. Just though I'd start a topic for my first Sundowner resto. It was my daily driver until I wrecked the engine, so while I pull out the seized block & throw in my new 2L I'm going to fix any rust spots etc. & give her a brand spanking paint job. It had already been customised when I bought it ( original paint gone, hacked interior ) so this puppy is going to be my pimp mobile. Full shag interior, sound system, mood lighting... the works. I've got another two vans in storage, which I'm planning on building up in to an all-original example of the bubble windowed beauty. One custom, one stock.

Will post some pics once I remember my website details. Cheers. COZ

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Well a lot has changed since then! I'm just throwing up a wish list of parts now needed for the van restoration.

A set of 205/60/13 tyres
A pillars for rust repair
Volvo break upgrade
Reco'd steering rack

If anyone has any of this stuff to sell, contact me on 0402683540 or via correctwait@yahoo.com.au. Cheers. Coz

Sounds cool, ive always wanted to build up a pimpn escy van

Looking for to see how the project progresses.

Cheers

Damion

good on ya i wonna do mine up a bit but aint got the money at the moment, should be good to see what u do to it.
got any pics of it now.
what are your plans for in the back.

Cheers

Jake

Yeah, I got myself a 9 -5 so now I can pour all my extra cash flow into my van! I'm gonna try to update this as much as possible. Plans are as follows...

* Bone/Stone coloured shagpile carpet from floor to ceiling. I want to pad it out with foam so it's nice & cushy.

* Install rope light or something similar along the roof line. I need to do some more research into lighting options. I'd like it to be hidden away to avoid looking tacky. The lighting will be hooked up to a dimmer switch & also pulse to the beat of the music! Yeah baby.

* Music system'll be fairly simple. Mount the speakers in the area behind the seats, near the wheel arch. Maybe some real small mid-ranges & tweets mounted up high somewhere... & some baby woofs possibly mounted in the back floor.

* Re-do door trims to match the back, maybe two tone canvas or corduroy, with shag trims...

* New paint work. Some sort of updated gunmetal grey.

That's all I can think of for now... here's some shots of the van & the rust...

looks awsome, did you paint it your self?
cant wait to some more pics of wots happein to it

Cheers

Jake

Sounds like u've got it all planned out ! keep us posted

Man, been doing too much sanding over the past week... not a lot of room to sit in an Escort engine bay. Anyways, firewall's been all welded up & grinded back to smooth ( cheers Dave ) so all that's left to is paint! Taking ages to decide on the 'right' gun metal grey, my neck is sore from car spotting.

Hopefully by about this time next week the bay will be painted & the replacment engine installed. I can't wait to get back on the road.

Woohoo, go the sundowner Mines in for some $$ in the next week or so too. I only have one, so I have decided to go pure sporty with it. I was interested in an orig resto, but the body was too far from it.

Look forward to seeing yours finished.

yeh, messing round, sanding in the engine bay and all that isnt much fun.. but itl e worth it in the end

Well, got off to a false start a few weeks back. Firstly, my new clutch kit hasn't shown up in the post yet, which is a pain in the ass.. so we'll se what happens with that. Secondly, after sanding the sh*t out of my engine bay, I faffed around trying to decide on a colour for the van & ended up using a sight unseen colour my panel beater mate had lying around at work. I took a punt... but I just couldn't live with the colour! So this week I've bought a colour I like ( which I should've done in the first place! ) & sanded back all the new paint/gloss in my engine bay - again!

On the plus side, it's given me time to do everything properly. Those little sills that go along the firewall have all been welded, & sanded back into like-new shape ( woo! ) I'd also like to spray that textured gritty stuff on the firewall before we re-paint.

Here are some pics of the wicked cut & shut job 'me mate Dave' did before we painted.