About the van
the van is a 1990 Vauxhall Rascal (or more accurately a Bedford Rascal since back in those days Vauxhall sold their vans under a different brand name)
The original engine (shown on the home page) was a 970cc petrol 4-cylinder coupled to a 5-speed manual gearbox. It has been replaced with the later electronic fuel injection version (1051cc, shown here) that was only sold in Asian markets. With EFI there is no longer any carburettor, choke or distributor to fiddle with.
Designed as a city van to be used to haul cargo, the engine/drive train is geared more towards strength rather than efficiency... unfortunately it only averages about 35-40mpg! Having the aerodynamics of a fridge doesn't help either, but it's a notable improvement over the original engine's 25-30mpg.
The bodywork was done by Planet Performance in Ayrshire. The van was silver when bought but resprayed blue (RAL 5007). The other colours are in fact vinyl wrap, with a top clear coat paint applied all over to seal it in.
The interior was done by us, we applied DynaPad and a simple stretch fabric to cover most of the metal. A rear bench seat has been added, the legs of which where fabricated by T A Tait in Finstown. The seat can be easily removed to allow for more cargo space.
We also did most of the mechanical overhaul on the original engine whilst it was still in the van. The progress is documented in this forum thread at Retro Rides. Following the installation of the new engine, further updates to van will continue to be added there, for those interested.