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Feb 10, 2010 23:38:51 GMT
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Hi All, starting a slightly unusual project so thought i'd start a build thread to go with it. This started off with the usual acohol+ebay=strange buying decisions, hoever feel it went a bit to far this time. Its a Commer chassis with a Perkins six cylinder diesel engine and a coachbuilt all alloy body by Lanbourn..... oh, and its a horse box (I hate horses). It was orginally plated at 10.5t but as down plated to 7.5t at some point so fools like myself can drive it on car licence. Anyway, it had no MOT and had not been driven for four years. Had to get it trailered away (along with a 73 DB tractor, another story!). This was in November last year, the good news was that it just needed the brakes overhauling and a good service and last week it sailed through the MOT. The bad news was the parts bills, I hadn't really considered how much more costly bits of old lorries would be over those of cars! Didn't really have a plan when I bought it, so have decided to do a very plush motorhome conversion plus some period mods to the exterior, plenty chrome. Will be starting this now its tested and insured (£83 full comp!) with the hope that it will be usable for the summer. Pics: s79.photobucket.com/albums/j151/boltonpete/?action=view¤t=062.jpg&t=1265844757297s79.photobucket.com/albums/j151/boltonpete/?action=view¤t=064.jpgs79.photobucket.com/albums/j151/boltonpete/?action=view¤t=071.jpgits 27' long, 8' wide and 11'6'' tall and gives a usable space 20' long in the back for conversion. Would appreciate any help or advice, first time i've owned something like this or done work on this kind of scale! Cheers, Pete
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1969 Commer VC Lanbourn
1985 VW Golf Cabrio 1.6 GL
1992 Fiat Tipo SX TD
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Feb 10, 2010 23:46:02 GMT
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That's going to make one immensely cool motorhome
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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RetroMat
Posted a lot
Column Shifting!
Posts: 3,444
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Feb 10, 2010 23:46:17 GMT
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Feb 10, 2010 23:53:55 GMT
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Cheers for sorting the pictures Matt
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1969 Commer VC Lanbourn
1985 VW Golf Cabrio 1.6 GL
1992 Fiat Tipo SX TD
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Will be watching this one unfold.
Good purchase Pete.
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Feb 11, 2010 10:40:05 GMT
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Wow, that is seriously cool. Looking forward to seeing the conversion!
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1967 Morris Traveller 1971 Series IIA Land Rover 1991 Golf GL 4+e 1992 Corrado G60 1986 E28 BMW 528i
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conrad
Posted a lot
Here to fix your cabin.......
Posts: 1,678
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Feb 11, 2010 12:10:31 GMT
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that is excellent
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Feb 11, 2010 15:31:51 GMT
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Ugly but strangely pleasing!! What an epic and bloomin' unique project to embark upon, good luck!
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Feb 11, 2010 16:57:55 GMT
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Now that's nice. It didn't come from Hagley, West Mids did it? Only there was one up the road from me until fairly recently and it's disappeared.... I think these VC-model Commers (which were the little brothers of the mighty Maxiload with its awesome-sounding two-stroke TS-3 three-pot diesel) had the Perkins 6.354 engine (six cylinders, 354 cubic inches which is 5800cc or thereabouts) which is good news if you need spares, as they were fitted in LOADS of trucks in the 60's/70's. MASSIVE following in NZ, where this site comes from: www.commer.org.nz/Commer_Connections/Home.htmlGood luck with it, looking forward to seeing it progress.
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Feb 11, 2010 18:20:26 GMT
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like it. so it came with a free tractor? (i guess they offered you some horses first?)
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75 Range Rover 2 door 82 Range Rover 4 door 84 Range Rover 4 door 78 Datsun 120Y 2 door 78 Datsun 620 Pickup 81 Datsun Urvan E23 86 Datsun Vanette van 98 Electric Citroen Berlingo 00 Electric Peugeot Partner 02 Electric Citroen Berlingo 04 Berlingo Multispace petrol 07 Land Rover 130 15 Nissan E-NV200 15 Fiat Ducato
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Feb 11, 2010 22:08:03 GMT
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Got a first good drive in this today and its quite a beast. No power steering but fine once moving, 1st gear so short its hardly worth bothering with unless loaded or on a hill. Its only a 4 speed box and at 40 mph in 4th its noisy enough to discourage going any quicker (can these be fitted with an overdrive?). Brakes are excellent and the ride is really good even though they are leafsprings.
Took loads of measurements of the space in the back that i've got to work with, 20' long inside with an extra 4' over the cab, 7'3'' wide internally and 7'2'' of headroom. Looking at potential layout options, however a bed over the cab and a second bed over a rear storage area seems a likely bet.
First job is to strip out all the horse box partition fittings (will try and flog these in the Farmers Guardian to some horse loving folk), clear out and then check the body for leaks. Then need to decide how to insulate, not sure yet on the spray on stuff or the rigid sheets.
Going to try and source an accident damaged caravan to provide the shower room / kitchen / heating, basic wiring loom etc.
Yup its the Perkins 6.354, the service items where very reasonable (£7 for an oil filter) its the more rare commer bits that have proved more costly (front brake cylinder £130 a pop and there's four!).
Got the project from a farm in Cheshire, would be keen to know if there are any out there for spares although i'm not holding my breath.
The tractor is my dad's, when we went to see the commer before arranging to collect it the farmer flogged him a near dead David Brown 780 selectamatic that he is now busy working on.
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1969 Commer VC Lanbourn
1985 VW Golf Cabrio 1.6 GL
1992 Fiat Tipo SX TD
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Graham
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,282
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excellent
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Maximum signature image height: 80 pixels
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this will make one epic motorhome!!!
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'90 Audi B3 Coupe 2.3 Auto [gone] '92 Audi S4 Avant 2.2 AAN Turbo Auto [gone] '93 Audi 80 Avant 1.9TDi [gone] '96 Audi A4 Avant 2.6 Quattro [gone] '97 VW T4 1.9td LWB [gone] '03 Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi [gone] '05 VW T5 Shuttle LWB 1.9TDi '15 VW Caddy Maxi Kombi 1.6TDi
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Feb 12, 2010 10:30:54 GMT
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A really well proportioned lorry, that. Will make a cracking Brit-spec RV. If I were you I'd use the foil backed Cellotex insulation board. It can be cut to shape and is the best. Plus, it's easy to plywood over. I'd personally use bunk beds and fittings from Ikea or '70s stuff from ebay / car boot sale. There's a lot of space to fill!
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bryn
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,913
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Feb 12, 2010 15:40:41 GMT
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I got a slightly excited, sick feeling in my stomach when I saw the pictures... That is all kinds of immensity right there. I love the shape, the doors, the everything There was a gorgeous Commer housebus for sale on trademe.co.nz that saved a load of pictures of, I'll upload them but they're tiny. Think natural colours and wood. As far as buying a caravan goes, I wouldn't bother, having done something similar it turned into a mess. Everything broke when it came out or was not quite right... By the time I'd bought it, stored it, stripped it and disposed of it I wish I'd just bought the items I really wanted instead of those presented to me. Like Jon says, Ikea is a good start, easily adaptable... Or go full custom, just watch out using Celotex or Kingspan as it can sweat without proper ventilation, creating pools of water at the bottom of panels. Roof vents are your friend... I love this truck ;D
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Volvo, Buggy, Discovery and an old tractor.
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Feb 12, 2010 17:38:12 GMT
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Brave man, looking forward to stealing some good ideas for our future bus project
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remmoc
Part of things
Posts: 931
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Feb 12, 2010 18:33:53 GMT
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Fantastic project , Great to see another Commer on here , although mine is rather smaller , in fact I think it would fit in the back of yours easily , looking forward to the progress on this one.
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Feb 12, 2010 20:19:28 GMT
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Cool project! Took loads of measurements of the space in the back that i've got to work with, 20' long inside with an extra 4' over the cab, 7'3'' wide internally and 7'2'' of headroom. Looking at potential layout options, however a bed over the cab and a second bed over a rear storage area seems a likely bet. Let me know if you'd like some help designing the layout - part of my job entails designing the interior layouts of yachts, so I'm used to working with strange shaped spaces, and squeezing a lot of interior into surprisingly compact perimeters
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,824
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Feb 12, 2010 20:29:54 GMT
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Anybody into period motorsport would love that to convert into a race transporter,
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Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style. Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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Feb 12, 2010 21:26:42 GMT
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Thanks for the offer Paul, would be really appreciated, would be useful if you could give me some basic idea of the space to allocate for a shower room (inc wc) and kitchen plus the widths for circulation space. Cheers, Pete
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1969 Commer VC Lanbourn
1985 VW Golf Cabrio 1.6 GL
1992 Fiat Tipo SX TD
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