my custom/camper SWB twink project

[ray900tap]

hi all..
signed up before Chistmas so thought it about time to show my (slow) progress..

my plans..

simple camper conversion on the inside, cooker sink combo with 3 way fridge, simple bed/bench seat/storage,
small sound system with a tv (maybe)...

this unit will be painted white..

I have two rover 820 recaros for the front cab that I'll retrim, still looking for a third?

lowered, rimmed, with simple subtle mods to the exterior..

I plan to fit two windows either side, it will get a full repaint in the same colour, wheels will go a dark grey along with the bumpers etc..
it'll get a cheaky hidden de-cat along with the EGR getting binned, plus I have two new slant cut cherry bombs to anounce my presence

progress..
this will be slow, I'm mainly working on it in my dinner hour.. (currently I have 5 projects.. so its hard finding the time, my fault tho!)..

1st I wanted to lower it simply, didn't want to heat the rear springs and deform them for fear of altering the temper/and or weaking them.
so I brought another rear axle (cheaply) and looked at how it would be possible to convert it to run on top of the springs rather than underneath..

so I set about removing the locating plates for the leaf springs with the intention of re-welding them on bottom thus place the axle above the springs..







thats how the axle sits at the moment, its pretty much ready for paint, just unsure red? or black?.. once painted it'll be treated to new bearings wheel cylinders shoes etc..
with this done I calculate I'll get around a 110mm drop, this maybe too much, if so, I shall make some adjustable spring hangers so I'm able to adjust the stance to what I require..

other progress, I was able to find some steel wheels without the 'holes' on the face..

I've stripped them of their paint, and today they were posted off to be banded, 9J for the front, 10J for the rear..

so thats where I am at the moment..
hope you enjoyed my thread/plans..
cheers
Ray

[AlanN]

I shall be watching with interest, I'm on a waiting list for getting my rims banded, but it could be a while. Like what your doing the axle, its been thought of before, but with lowering blocks to set the height, but I'm not sure thats legal... I was thinking of sending the leafs off one day to be decambered, but its all expense

[redcube]

I like this going to keep an eye on it

[AndyA]

Loving your work so far. Will also be keeping an eye on it.

[ray900tap]

cheers lads for the interest..
Alan, I never knew lowering blocks were ilegal? I used to work for a firm restoring and building mk1 & mk2 escorts and this was the easy way to achieve a good drop?..
anyhow, I'm thinking mine will be too low, hence with adjustable spring hangers I can raise the rear a little..
who's banding your wheels once its your turn on the list? I had to wait nearly 3 months, but it soon came around! and I can't wait...

[AlanN]

Im not sure of the legalities of them being a light commercial, a bit like the wheel spacers...

[bigmastif]

nice start bud, you got a bay and split hideing in there as well

[transitandy]

nice work m8y

[Luke]

subscribed

can't see lowering blocks being illegal old wives tales

[ray900tap]

oh I see Alan, yeah I guess I see how they could be frowned upon..

bigmastif.. their at my work, you can't move for VW campers.. their every bloody where haha..
which, kinda makes me think how different 'vans' are seen in the eyes of vosa/mot testers/insurance companys..
I mean taking what Alan has mentioned about about lowering blocks/wheel spacers being iffy in the eyes of the law.. I pass through (and have been pulled in the transit) a occasional vosa check point in my home town, I've given it some thought that once its lowered my pull rate is going to increase as they'll assume I'm over loaded.. but! I regularly take VW vans/campers home for test purposes and have never been pulled?... some are practically undriverble due to their low'ness..
ho hum... my choice haha

thanks again for the comments guys

[AlanN]

Totally agree, if a VW van/camper is lowered, it looks cool, transit lowered your over weight

[bigmastif]

think the biggest thing in this country is now, makes like transits are now being looked at for serious modding again, its swings and round abouts the van scene in britain in the 70s and 80s was dominated by transits now its vw`s but the scene tax is showing it up now, so maybe just maybe moded transit slammed like bays and splittys will soon be seen as teh nrom at some point think this site proves there is more and more van owners looking to mod there transits

[pat stevens]

transits have always had their fair share of custom fans ive had quite a few ,wheel spacers adaptors ive used for many years and never had a problem with either mot or the law the mk 5 i sold last year was running 10x15 rears and 81/2 fronts using spacers used to get through wheel bearings on front every cpl of months so i had hubs redrilled cured the problem since ive sold it its had a couple of owners and no probs ,although im having all the hubs redrilled on my mk1 when i put single wheel axles on it purely as i can get this done cheaper than having spacers made

[ray900tap]

managed to get a couple of hours on the van today, hopefully this trend will carry on through the weekend

anyhow, I decided to remove the EGR valve today, that'll just leave my cheeky cat by-pass and centre silencer removal for sunday...
as always I forget to take pictures from the beginning, so a quickly pushed it back together to give an idea..




so my plan was to salavage parts from th EGR system to re-use..

the small plate with holes is from the inlet manifold side of the system

here you can see the sandwich plate I made to blank the inlet side off..


here you can see how I made blanking plates for the pipe retaining 'nuts'
I shall puddle weld the tops of these tomorrow..


and all done


for the vac hose's I blanked the top EGR one, and looped the 'rail' ones with a little joiner...

[ray900tap]

hi all, tiny update, things are going slower than I thought, really wanted to use it for camping this year but we'll see..

anyhow, progress..
the axles almost ready, its painted and piped..
new wheel cylinders etc.. stainless bolts and such, need to paint the drums and T piece bracket red..


finally got my wheels back.. sneak preview without giving to much away..



thinking I'll need to go lower once the axle and wheels are on, but shouldn't be to much trouble?..

decated the van plus removed the centre box, it sounds amazing haha, like a pinto'd mk2 escort on full chat! only down side its highlighted a irritating problem with the motor returning to Idle? theres a very slow delay, picks up great tho?..
thinking maybe a small air leak was causing it I decided to remove the inlet manifold to investigate, didn't find anything?
but while apart I ultrasonic cleaned the injectors..


like new..

other news, change direction on the unit for the interior, the one from earlier in the thread was way to exspensive (£350 for unit £250 for sink/hob!!).. couldn't justify that, so got an old knackered camper unit, cleaned up the sink and hob ready to transfer to a unit I shall custom make (wood/mdf around £30, old knackered hob/sink/unit free!)



and scored a brand new 3 way fridge for £85! was fitted to a camper, but the customer didn't like the colour haha



cheers all...