Mk1 and 2 independant front suspension conversion!

[sixwheelphil]

Errr, yeah. Different, I'll give you that. What did the MOT man say?.

[Luke]

What did the MOT man say?.

Good question! he was happy with the conversion!! but he was concerned about the corrosion on inner wings - as it was 300mm (thats 12" to you ) from a suspention mount, ie the strut top!
but i argued it wasnt it as it wasnt attached and therefore more than 300mm away!! after about 1 hour of argueing/ looking in mot testers handbook he agreed and passed it!
My regular MOT man would have been ok with it as he's sensable but the camper wouldn't fit in his garage!!!
The guy i sold it to 'Bob S' is an ex-mot tester and knows his stuff so he'll have no problems with it!! he's also doing most of the welding anyway!!!

[sixwheelphil]

Luke, I've sat and looked at the photos again, 'cos we thought, from the start, got to fit the MK3 inner archs, I look at how you've done it and wonder, how did he come up with that idea?.

[FredTransit]

I can't help thinking that it's very, very interesting that two Mk1 owners at different ends of the country should both think of doing this, all be it by different routes! What's the odds of that? I also wonder how many other owners have though of this, or tried it......

[Luke]

Well the guy who bought the camper also thought of the idea, and was going to do it to his, and when he saw mine advertised he bought it!!!

I was origanally going to join the shocker top to the existing shocker bracket but found it to be far too far out, but by then i'd cut it all to pieces I adopt the attitude IM GOING TO DO IT!!!! start it then work round the problems rather than thinking about it deciding theres too many problems and never starting it!!

[Gunslinger]

interesting ... i'll give you that, i'm surprissed that you didnt give it a good coat of underseal and say nothing to the mot guy

i considered something similar for my mkII, as i have a front chasis leg that should be replaced (but i will be able to get it through 1 or 2 more mot's before it drops off)
but decided that even for me (tend to make repair panels etc rather than buying them) that it was just not worth the time and effort needed to get it all to fit and line up .... especially as my van is basically needed for lugging stuff around and not a daily driver or going to be used for too much

(i did opt to fit a side loading door, will post about that later when finished)

[madmark]

luke when you perfect the conversion i have another one for you to do!

[Luke]

luke when you perfect the conversion

I think this time round im gonna try to do it without taking the van off the road for more than a couple of days at a time, do it in stages
1) convert steering box/column to 2piece mk3 type
2) fit mk3 inner arches using LWB mk3 shockers
3) weld in bottom half of mk3 chassis rails
4) then do swap to ifs - saves time no arch,column, or chassis problems to sort!!!
Ifs conversion in 4 weekends while still using van during week
What do ya think?

[FredTransit]

luke when you perfect the conversion

I think this time round im gonna try to do it without taking the van off the road for more than a couple of days at a time, do it in stages
1) convert steering box/column to 2piece mk3 type

stop right there! I would be interested in that, but I don't like the switches on the Mk3, let alone the Mk3 column trim/Mk2 Lower dash having a huge gap between them. But Mk2 steering boxes are getting hard to find, and haven't even had consistant success with reconning them.

[madmark]

luke what is your steering like has it got alot of play? are you on drums still or discs???????

[Luke]

Ive got mk2 front end (disks) i havent tried steering box yet i binned the old one was very "1950's film style driving" if you know what i mean!!
But the new(er) one seems ok but i havent been over 5mph with it yet!!

Ive got a mk3 one ready to fit - why dont you fit mk3 mark?

[Luke]

I would be interested in that, but I don't like the switches on the Mk3, let alone the Mk3 column trim/Mk2 Lower dash having a huge gap between them.

dont the mk2 and mk3 switches have the same plug/ fitting???

[FredTransit]

I would be interested in that, but I don't like the switches on the Mk3, let alone the Mk3 column trim/Mk2 Lower dash having a huge gap between them.

dont the mk2 and mk3 switches have the same plug/ fitting???

Yes the plugs on the switches are the same, I meant the gap betweeen the Mk3 column trim and the Mk2 dash/lower dash. the Mk2 is wider, and has a flred bit at the bottom to meet the lower dash, which the Mk3 doesn't, it's squarer.

[Luke]

im sure you could graft a mk2 cowl on a mk3 column!!!
When i did the mk1 i kept the mk3 stalks i was gonna swap em for mk2 to make it look better - its just there so much more practicle than mk1!!!

[FredTransit]

im sure you could graft a mk2 cowl on a mk3 column!!!
When i did the mk1 i kept the mk3 stalks i was gonna swap em for mk2 to make it look better - its just there so much more practicle than mk1!!!

God, I can't help thinking that Mk3 stalks on a Mk2 would not look good, though at least Mk2 wouldn't look too much out of place. We tried to get the Mk2 cowl to git, but it just woudln't screw down, the holes in the column/switch housing/cowl just wouldn't match up. i would like to post pics, but the conversion we did was on the one that was destroyed in the crash