With the recent talk here about modifications and insurance, I wondered if there is any authority which can pronounce that the mods you have done are "street legal" ?
By the time I have rebuilt the 101 Ambi with power steering, air bags and a new engine, the insurers might get sniffy unless its all formally inspected.
Who would do it ?
Steve
On or around Wed, 29 Jun 2005 11:39:21 +0100, Steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:
a qualified automotive engineer. Sometimes MOT stations will do these inspections as well. You'd need an inspection report for the PAS and the engine in any case.
Airbags? WTF for?
Suspension levelling.
Steve
Flotation?
Thats radically altered my vision... of course if it had been Martyn......
Lee D
Up, up and away in my bloody big purple balloon....
Steve
Before i became qualified - i used the local MOT station, back then they just charged me for 2 MOT's.
Gary
Steve Taylor wrote:
On or around Wed, 29 Jun 2005 13:49:02 +0100, steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:
ah. I thought you were putting them in the cab.
in either case, they'll need inspecting an' all.
Worrabout using bags instead of a leaf on the suspension, to make it more compliant off road ?
Steve
On or around Wed, 29 Jun 2005 21:48:39 +0100, steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:
why not just go the whole hog, and have full air suspension? If you're going to the trouble of installing an air system anyway...
Do-able ???? More practical than the straight 8 Tdi Austin. I figured the single leaf would still provide the guidance for the axles, but the bags the load bearing.
Steve
Indeed there are such systems available for camper conversions, but if you want to be truly off the wall go for a hydraulic system and have a dancing landie :)
On or around Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:50:31 +0100, steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:
The air suspension on the back of the LDV chassis is done with what looks like a single leaf cut off behind the axle, and the airbag between that and the chassis. The single leaf thus becomes a trailing link, referred to in the documentation as a "flexi link" (!). It also has a panhard rod fitted. It also uses an electric compressor, air tank and a simple ECU for height adjustment.
I wonder how it is for lateral stability ? I think something needs triangulating.
Steve
Would the Panhard rod not do that?
On or around Fri, 01 Jul 2005 09:29:25 +0100, Steve Taylor enlightened us thusly:
that's what the panhard rod is for. Effectively, it's like a
90/110/RR/disco front end, only facing the other way. The "flexi links" provide for fore-an-aft location and articulation and the air springs provide for springing and the panhard rod provides for lateral location.Looks pretty simple, actually. The only thing about a panhard rod is that it's inferior to the A-frame on the back of the RR etc. where larger articulation is required. Ideally, you'd want long trailing arms which have
2 mountings to the chassis, one at the edge and one in the middle of the vehicle, I reckon.That would require more work than the panhard rod, though. The one on the LDV is fairly obviosuly a factory-fit conversion of the normal leaf spring system - the first one I actually saw was on a chassis-cab, and at the time I thought it was indeed a conversion - twas only later that I discovered that it was a factory option.
Might look into this for the minibus. It'd ride better, I bet. Might be simpler and cheaper to fit lighter springs, though, if they're available.
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