EXTENDING MK6 CHASSIS (loads of pics)

[ARTCARCOM]

As you all should know ive never put images on before but here we go.

Ive recently bought a transit 350 MWB 2.4 . (why you ask when i need LWB ) well it was cheap and i thought id have ago extending it so this is what ive done please bare in mind ive never done one before and all you see is what ive done on my own
its started life as a dropside with taillift on out of hewden plant hire , tacho fitted showing about 140,000 km on a 02 as shown below
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so what do i do first i thought ?
get rid of that dropside body , so you guessed ebay buy it now £250 went in a couple of days . so lifted it off and started


so i thought get rid of those stickers and give it a good steam off to get rid of all that muck ,wasnt having much luck pulling stickers of but steam cleaner managed



almost looks like ive painted it doesnt it well not yet

right getting somewhere now . so needed a section of chassis so off i go on a hunt my intention buy a chassis off a long wheel base simple .
guess again every one had MWB chassis not LWB so i give in i bought another MWB chassis as below and propshafts

next step took chassis to sandblasters
and got on and stripped rear end down brake pipes ,prop axles wire loom exhaust everything that had bolt or screw in it sat about alot scratching my head thinking

well 12.30 am post a bit more tomorrow , dont want to bore verybody to much

[ARTCARCOM]

well i went and got some petrol . i thought if things go wrong ill set fire to it
no for stihl saw



to late to turn back now
now to dress up to accept donor chassis
thinking ill put 2 foot in the length of the short propshaft
hence no alterations to prop
that was the idea but ideas can change
off to get some steel bent to sleave chassis
upto now
£100 chassis
£40 propshaft
£50 sandblasting

[KiloKilo]

Amazing to see what a bit of steam can do.
Nice photos so keep them coming.

[transitgeoff]

strange place to cut unless your gonna cut the yellow bit twice ?? ive done this and cut one right behind the cab and another 1 meter from the cab,and extended it by 1 meter but you have cut it on a tapered bit

[ARTCARCOM]

i i thought play safe and leave a bit on. on next pics you will see cross member cut out and cut to length

[jace]

a company near me called alko kober (caravan/camper chasis people) do a lot of alterations to fwd stuff they cut chasis behind cab weld a flange into it then bolt there own ladder chassis to it admitedly on a fwd theres no prop etc but would a simlair flange bolt arangement not work for u one van u see now and again is the talbot freeway minibus thts how there done

[ARTCARCOM]

there will be a great deal of different ways to do this and all suggestions are taken on board as ive changed thoughts a few times . after talking to people and listening to there thoughts some good some bad but please any thoughts please reply thankx

[jace]

they buy fiat/reno/pug vans in two bolted together pushme/pull me style with no chasis between them quite funy sight!

[ARTCARCOM]

hello again . so recieved chassis back from sandblasters so etch primed it
then did a bit measuring
to add my two foot prop in with out alterations
i would have to alter the cross member that carries centre carrier
2 options in my case
1. alter cross member length that carrys centre carrier the one down the middle of chassis
2. fit cross member into exhisting one to make it look like factory and i will have to alter propshaft

well i took option 2 so i set about and cut the cross member out of cab side

and un picked a section of the flat plate off the top of the chassis
so as you saw were i chopped chassis and i left cross member in , ive cut it out and left that section on the donour chassis confussed i am and im writing it
i also got two 4 ft lengths of steel pressed to sleave inside of chassis for strength

as you see the grey is donour chassis
and yellow exsisting chassis
so they both meet nicely the grey cross member is originaly the one were the yellow one is , so the distance between them is 27 inch 3 inches longer than propshaft but looks neater
this is chassis cut ready for welding


this is chassis welded

this is the steel i got bent to sleave chassis welded

then i capped of with original plate


so propshaft to be extended 3 inches
dropped off to get altered measured between both carriers and they said they can sort it from there
well enough for today next step but prop on and axle on and into paint end for paint

[ARTCARCOM]

also i forgot to mention the piece i origanally cut off were it norrows down
i welded on to back of donour chassis for the angle to accept recovery body which is next to build


which i got my angle from the previous recovery body i built on a mk 5 transit

then welded it up

[ARTCARCOM]

i also fitted back axle on just to move next door to paint chassis

[KiloKilo]

Recovery vans and projects are populair on the island I notice.
Nice job.
By the way did you decide to use the chassis for the angle instead of a recovery top like mk5 transit recovery? Do you think like this it can carry more weight?

[ARTCARCOM]

on my mk5 transit i used mark 5 chassis so when you look under it just looks one complete chassis right through , just some look bear dont think its any stonger but looks neater especialy when i paint recovery body different colour to chassis

[Nathan_Cardiff]

since joining this forum im liking these recovery conversions a lot
nice job keep up the hard work and the piccies fella

[ARTCARCOM]

well here we go again fitted back axle and when i disconnected brake pipes i made a loop so had enough brake to drive and\ stop as havent got handbrake yet fitted new propshaft had a spot of luck
i bought a seperate prop when i bought chassis for the 2 ft section . well the slide i couldnt get off so left it on , for them to take off and went to local car shop and bought an extra cen tre carrier same as mk5 £24 .
so when i went to pick prop up and said how much he said how abought i keep this slide and you give me £20 cos ive put a new centre carrier on . well took me a bit of time to agree all of a second so i took the one i bought back and got refund so didnt cost nothing to alter prop

so pulled outside

and pulled into the paint bay and stipped back axle off and prop to paint chassis
so primed welded areas with etch primer


then i primed it


and then i painted it[IMG]
looking ok now

well aint much i can do now so off i go for some parts
i thought an extra leaf making 4 leafs
handbrake
well they all cable not like my mk5 with the conventional threaded rod adjuster so i would go to scrappy and get one
and 2 brake pipes 27 inches long with a male and female on each end
im off .
right what have i bought
do you know when you see something and you say im having this
well i got it well i got 2 infact wife doesnt no she wouldnt understand especially if told her how much

great or what 840 long x 400 deep x 400wide
i have 2 plastic ones on my mk 5 and each alloy one is the size of 2 plastic ones
so i was on a mission so i bought these as well

10 lights all together
well i did get the bits what i went for
well more tomorrow
i will get axle in
extra leafs in
prop on
brake pipes on
handbrake done
weight compensator on
exhaust on
well ill try
people say i should do more work and take less pictures