1978 Honda Acty Panel Van - For Sale...maybe...?

[darrenh]

would look cool one of those caravan wind slammer things for the step between the cab and load space

[niwid]

Jun 12, 2015 17:43:51 GMT darrenh said:

would look cool one of those caravan wind slammer things for the step between the cab and load space

You are so right. I reckon in faded white, signwritten to match something on the sides and that would look great.

I'm not planning on changing anything on it though as we will probably be selling after the summer

[blackbullet]

Very nice van. Here's my 77'Tn-7

[niwid]

Jul 11, 2015 20:07:46 GMT blackbullet said:

Very nice van. Here's my 77'Tn-7

Fantastic! Would love to see more photos and hear it's story. Do you have a thread for it? Also how do you find part sourcing for it? The Acty is pretty difficult but I bet the tn7 is even more so

[niwid]

Anyone else fancying one, check the link out. This is the only other van I have seen for sale, and in fact the only van that seems to exist in this country. Yeah, ok so it's not quite as original, untouched and solid as mine (what is?) but it doesn't look all that bad from the photos...

m.ebay.co.uk/itm/1980-HONDA-TN550-ACTY-VAN-Mk1-How-rare-is-this-little-beast-mid-engined-rwd-/351465474632?nav=SEARCH

[niwid]

Last year, after 6 weeks of hard work, we failed to get this to RRG. We were beyond gutted, so this year it just had to make it.

Our issues from last year, debris in the fuel tank and a knackered alternator, had been fixed and the Acty has since done around 500 miles, so we were relatively confident that we should make it to Shelsley. I spent a couple of hours cleaning and waxing, and we left at around 5:30 pm.

Unfortunately, less than a mile down the road, a horrific noise forced us to pull over. There was a nasty banging noise coming from what seemed like the rear corner, increasing with road speed and causing vibrations through the truck. It sounded pretty damn catastrophic but with the back end jacked up and after trying everything to work out what was causing it we just couldn’t seem to figure out what had gone wrong. We were pretty much ready to call it quits and jump in the ever exciting ’12 plate Golf Bluemotion when I had a wander round to the front of the van and noticed the wheel nuts on the front right were a couple of turns away from falling off.

Yeah, my bad.

25 drama free miles later we pulled into the campsite at Shelsley, feeling pretty damn proud having finally achieved what we set out to do last year.



I failed to take any photos of it at the show, but fr€$h&m1nt¥ managed to get a set of corkers, that really capture the little vans vibe as well as proving it was actually there on the day.











Unfortunately, upon leaving the showground, the brake pedal took on a considerably spongy feel. We knew the brakes weren’t great when we’d left, but it seems they had decided to take a turn for the worse. I wasn’t comfortable driving it as it was, as the brakes aren’t exactly confidence inspiring even when they are working beautifully, and we had all the stuff with us to give them a quick bleed anyway. Luckily, the van is small enough to fit in the tent so we could work in the dry



Unfortunately, a brief test run revealed that bleeding the brakes had made the problem considerably worse, so we called the AA and cracked open another beer. I was really hoping that they would send a huge flatbed to run us home, thinking they were picking up a normal sized van. Still, we were very nearly too small for the towing dolly. The driver said if we had been an inch narrower he may not have been able to take us.



So now it will sit on the drive for a few weeks until we find some money to get the front brake cylinders refurbed and get it through another MOT. Fingers crossed we don’t come across anything else wrong when we take it in.

I’ll keep y’all posted

[The Jackeria]

Good luck, I'm glad you're persevering with it!

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

Glad my photos were of use but sad to see the problems you've had with the brakes - at least it will be something else that's been refurbed and as good as new once done.

[MK2VR6]

Great that it made it to RRG, but shame it didn't want to leave! No biggie I guess though. Quick thought on the patina - have you used a decent seal such as Ankor wax? May be my eyes, but surface rust looks to be accelerating?

[grizz]

Continue to love this van Tim.

Happy to have one on my drive.

[niwid]

Aug 30, 2015 10:38:57 GMT MK2VR6 said:

Quick thought on the patina - have you used a decent seal such as Ankor wax? May be my eyes, but surface rust looks to be accelerating?

We use Ankor wax at the moment, although we did skip a month or two, but as it didn't see the road in that time it doesn't seem to have affected it much at all. The only parts where it has worsened are on the roof, where paint has flaked away, revealing unprotected bare metal. It is still only very light surface rust though. It may also look worse as the rust patches have darkened in colour due to redness of the wax and light exposure. Also, a lot of the recent pictures have been taken with a much higher quality camera than the earlier ones.

We are still very confident that it isn't rusting away in front of us, although it might be wise to address the flakey roof paint at some point

[niwid]

Thank you all for the positive comments. We seem to have dug up a little cash to get the cylinders sleeved and rebuild so hopefully it will have another MOT on it soon

[jabbo]

Still got so much want for this van. Absolutely love it.

[stevietuck]

Hey Tim thought I would pop over for a look at your thread, so glad I did, what a little gem, good on ya for getting it up and running

[The Jackeria]

Look what my brother found







Only been off the road a year too.

[dikkehemaworst]

Thats just beautiful!
Did he buy it?
You really need this for the gathering 2016

[niwid]

Winning! Those graphics have to stay. Let me know if he needs any help with anything and I will help where I can. Nag him to get a thread up for it too!

[The Jackeria]

Unfortunately, he just found it, I think he's going to try and convince the owner to part with it, how well that goes is yet to be seen. (I want it too as it would be so fun!)

[voodoo57]

I remember going to North weald about 20 yrs ago where a couple of younger lads were laughing at one of these painted white with faded floral designs etc on each side ready to race the 1/4
I said to them 'you haven't seen this go before? They replied 'No'
their faces ! what a picture! it went like a rocket! mid mounted Hyabusa Engine propelled the Sleeper at about 100+!

[ferny]

Oct 10, 2015 9:49:49 GMT The Jackeria said:

Look what my brother found







Only been off the road a year too.

In my head, that is what it'd look like it Brum became a psychotic ice cream van in a childs nightmare.