Leightweight body parts

[CovKid]

You can get white-faced hardboard too. Such a pity they don't do grey.

[faggie]

why not just fit a bigger more powerfull engine then a little extra weight in bed and cupboards wont make that much different there used to be a van running around the exact spec you are thinking of building it had a mid mounted rover v8 may you can track it down ,,,

[magicbus]

Thing is if I make the bus more powerful without lightening, lowering and possibly stiffening it then it's going to handle like a brick! A fast brick I'll give you that but a brick none the less and i don't fancy driving something at speed that could go on an unplanned off road adventure without warning!

[lloydy]

and does this loydy chap have some lightweight units?

this is what i have, they don't really show up that much though


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[magicbus]

Ah right, so is that sink hobs and storage? Who made it?

[lloydy]

yes, also has fridge and water. I think it was originally for a mazda bongo. It is very good, but if i was designing my own i'd want something built in

[CovKid]

The ideal (I would have thought) is a unit or units that clip in place and can be removed for those times they just aren't needed. You could always stow away a portable stove in case you really do want a cuppa. This has always been my bugbear with fully equipped campers - they're so darned heavy. Mine is a daily drive and I'd soon get fed up carting around tons of chipboard, gas bottle, fridge and the like when they're only getting used for a proportion of the year. Thats the main reason I won't have a fridge. I run with powdered milk for starters.

The perfect solution would be a kind of flatpack setup that doesn't take long to assemble but looks good too. I can remove my cooker/kitchen unit without too much trouble but I'm still working on a more ingenious solution that I can get in and out of the van without haslle and weighs practically nothing. I was discussing this with 1664 at 'Back To Basics' and I see his point that the weight of say a water container is no heavier than an extra person but if my van is empty its goes a darned site quicker!

I've seen a few attempts at this but none really tackle the weight issue. On the flipside, it also has to be fixed properly and not so flimsy it all lurches forward in an accident. You can lighten the body to a certain degree but its strength (like all v-dubs) is in the sum of all the parts. Aluminium cabinet frames would be nice though

[faggie]

my cooker cupboard i can lift out of the van myself its originaly made by reimo but its a few years old in light grey fleck colour as i said before if you fit a good suspension kit h/r and gas shocks and then fit uprated front and rear antiroll bars and wider wheels low profile rubber it will handle just fine ,

[CovKid]

Not so much handling as all that weight actually slowing it down

[faggie]

if you have enough power you wont be able to tell its slowing it down or even notice it , but i know what your saying an empty 1,9 van will do 100mph when new and has reasnable performance and handles ok kit it out with a camper interior and it handles terrible , and the acceleration dissapears as if by magic