130 school minibus project

This is just speculative you understand but...

I am toying with the idea of building a 130 stat wag as a motor project plus second school minibus. Perhap gas powered.

Any problems leap to mind immediately? Here are some of my thoughts.

  1. Insurance.
  2. Staff find it too heavy to drive
  3. too noisy
  4. too uncomfortable
  5. doesn't seat enough ppl
  6. too difficult to find parts

I have built my current 109 from chassis upwards and it has since gone through 10 MOT's(consecutaive years not re-takes ;-) ) and 80,000 miles and know that it would be great educationally but I am looking for somone to talk me INTO the idea. (Although more negatives would be useful too)

Reply to
andy richardson
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Inward facing seats will cause you major problems transporting kids.

Reply to
Mike Buckley

On or around Mon, 03 Nov 2003 18:28:00 +0000, andy richardson enlightened us thusly:

shouldn't be too bad, though all minibus insurance is a rip-off.

not if you have power steering on it. It will, however, have the turning circle of an oil tanker.

nope. put normal exhausts on it, which all fit, near enough. RR down pipes and Y pipe will interface with the main pipe and rear pipe, if my experience with the 110 is anything to go by.

might need to select springs carefully, but it's more about choice of seats

- I'd be inclined meself to fit ford escort front seats, say, which are easily available ex-breaker, and recline. All you'd need is a suitable mounting for 'em. Nearly got around to putting a set in a minibus once. Ford sierra are another option, and you can get 2 in the front.

very likely. You could do 2, 3, 3, 2 if you can get enough doors in (i.e. 3 sets of side doors) or failing that, 2, 3, 2, 2. including driver. The latter would get it into the "heavy motor car" category (8 passenger max) and avoids needing a D1 class licence to drive it. Don't recommend 3 in the front, ain't enough room, really. You can fit the rear seats from the sierra as a "middle row" in a 110, if you make suitable mountings. Much better than the standard LR middle row seats. You'll have to have forward-facing seats, for school use, so you can't have benches in the back

- I have 2, 3, 2 in my 110 - an extra 20" would get you another row. If you use the forward-facing fold-up seats in the back, and put 4 in, you'd be able to fold/remove 'em which would make it more flexible if you wanted fewer seats and more cargo space.

nah, LR parts very easy - you can do nearly all of it with standard body parts - you'll want 2 roofs, and cut/join 'em to make a long enough roof - at a guess, if you go for just the 5 doors, you'd use a 110 CSW for the front part, and add a 110 hard top with extra side windows for the back part. This would be the easiest body option. to put the extra 2 doors in would be more tricky, but can be done, people have done 'em.

My pet daydream project is a 6x6 Range Rover with a steering rearmost axle,

100"/140" wheelbase, made out of 2 RRs, you could either make a very cool 4-seater pickup, or go the whole hog and make an 8-seater, which, if you got it set up right, would have the same turning circle as the RR.

The other option is, of course, a 90"/130" based on a brace of 90s, in the same way.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Not 2 3 3 3 or even 2+a little one 3 3 3?

Some schools use 110s for Outdoor Education with Over 16s on the rearmost (side facing) seats. Would this be a possibility?

Did you ever see the LongRanger? Used to be at

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but no longer there. It was a 110 HCPU load bed welded to the back of a Classic body. Looked great, but I imagine it would be a bit of a sod to manouevre.

David.

Reply to
David French

Suggestion - put the extra length between the front and rear doors, and put three rearward facing seats as the second row. Removes the access problem for the third row - and rearward facing seats are safer than forward facing ones. Also, I seem to remember seeing somewhere an article about a 140 inch seven door Defender entering limited production in South Africa recently. JD

Reply to
JD

On or around Tue, 4 Nov 2003 10:35:17 -0000, "David French" enlightened us thusly:

2 3 3 2 works if you put extra side doors in. 2 3 3 3 won't unless you get the last row facing backwards - no access. froward-facing fold-ups are only viable if you fold one up to get in, then fold it down to sit on; the gap between 'em is too narrow. You also don't get much legroom where you've got wheelboxes for a 3-seat option. 2+aLO works in the front, but it's a pain driving with middle-front passengers.

I think the regulations cover children under 16, or possibly 18; I'm not aware of regulations governing adults and sideways seats. There may be such though. Note that the restriction on children and sideways-facing seats a) doesn't apply to strictly private use and b) doesn't exclude the use of rear-facing seats.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

On or around Wed, 05 Nov 2003 06:44:45 +1100, JD enlightened us thusly:

neat idea, and yes, ISTR they are producing a very-long station wagon, dunno if it's type approved for this country though, you might have to get it single vehicle approved.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Foley do just this as a variant of their 130 Station Wagon conversions. They did have some pics on their website. Mine has the body lengthened at the back and is therefore 2 (it's a ZF auto so no room for the middle seat) +3 +4 +4 (both 4's inward facing) for a total of 13 passengers.

I would be very surprised if anyone found it heavy to drive (except on juice!)

The South African 147 would be a nice option but very expensive (assuming you could actually get one) but the insurance/licencing issues remain... and I wouldn't want to even think about the lack of turning circle, as the

130 is dreadful.

Malcolm P.S few pics of mine at

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Reply to
balloons

On or around Tue, 4 Nov 2003 23:29:05 +0000 (UTC), snipped-for-privacy@cix.compulink.co.uk enlightened us thusly:

that's the drawback, right enough. By cunning choice of wheels, you can gain a bit, but in an ideal world I'd want more lock still, hence the 90/130

6-wheeler plan, with the rearmost axle countersteering - that or the 100/140 range rover, of course :-)

not sure if you can get side doors into a 90/130" configuration, it might need some cunning way of having seats down either side, to make it into a 2

2 2 2 configuration - you still get the wheelbox/access problems as per the 110, though it'd be possible to mount the seats a couple of inches further outboard, if you accept that they don't then fold up properly - they'd still be removable, and the backs would still fold down.
Reply to
Austin Shackles

How about converting an ex MoD 127/130 ambulance? V8, PAS, twin batteries, flourescent lights, 240v mains laid on, engine preheat, Eberspacher heater - I mean it's all there!

Steve. Suffolk. remove 'knujon' to e-mail

Reply to
AN6530

On or around 07 Nov 2003 00:30:42 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.comknujon (AN6530) enlightened us thusly:

'tis, innit.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Cor Flippin' blink folks,

I now got lots to think about. Rear-wheel steering - only just within my grasp practically, but way out of my league on paperwork for school minibus. Rear facing seats..... hmmm suddenly my 109 StatWag starts to look like a feasible second minibus. and as for the ax MOD ambulance idea - I had to go and change my trousers I got so excited.

Now how many could I sit in a 101? Only kiddin'

Oh and I loved the pics of those fancy lookin' 130's. Er my paintwork isn't quite up to that standard

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Cheers again landrover dudes

Reply to
andy richardson

On or around Fri, 07 Nov 2003 22:37:53 +0000, andy richardson enlightened us thusly:

like the slideshow. and you seem to be using it properly.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

14 in mine :-) (1 more than the 130 CSW). Only problem is that the side door sill height is probably higher than the kids :-)

Malcolm.

Reply to
balloons

On or around Mon, 10 Nov 2003 00:47:45 +0000 (UTC), snipped-for-privacy@cix.compulink.co.uk enlightened us thusly:

When I got the 110 and started using it for the school run, I went to considerable pains to get the side steps to work. None of 'em use the darn things, despite the step being above waist height for some of the smaller ones. I think they see me not using it... however, that's 'cos there ain't one on the driver's door position, due to a gas tank mounting.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

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