Can't sleep been thinking too much

[petrolhead]

Been awake for 1/2 hour allready thinking "can it be done?" so I'm going to need some info' from you guy's.

MaTTe I'll need some dimensions off your van as per the following,
1) height from the top of your roof to the ground level,
2) inside the van the height from the rear of the van(the high roof section) to the floor level,
3) inside the van the height from the middle of the roof to the floor level,
4) dimensions with the rear doors open height & width,
5) dimension from lowest point on steering wheel to the floor,
6) distance from left side of drivers seat to passenger door,
7) distance from rear floor area to ground level.

PHOTO'S REQUIRED OF THE FOLLOWING
1) floor area behind the seats,
2) floor area on the passenger side.

INFO REQUIRED ON THE FOLLOWING
1) the floor area under the drivers seat is there any thing under there? could it be modified, lowered?,
2) The floor area on the passenger side does it have room if a set of controls were put there as in dual controls,
3) At the back of the van what is underneath,anything important?

BEN
1) Your one piece rear fibreglass door skin could it be extended upwards?
2) How much is your rear door skin if extended a foot?
3) How much is the HX-HZ boot spoiler?
4) Do you do the Van Craft Nose, bonnet & set of flares, also how much.

Now you are probably wondering what I'm up to well I havn't driven for nearly 4 years & it's driving me nuts and I used to love driving, the missus hates driving & won't drive in the wet as she gets "flash-backs" from a bad car accident that wasn't her fault. Now with the right modifications I think I should be able to drive my wheel chair into the back of the van & right up to the steering wheel, the reason for the dual controls is I'm not to be on my own & if something was to happen the passenger could take over

Regards
Petrolhead

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hey clint, as you know i am a double amputee. I assume you can use the normal handcontrolls, if so, they are a standard set up for able bodied or disabled, my cruiser is set so my wife could take over the driving in an emergency, in my case, my wife driving would be the emergency. lol 

As for the rear door, i would strongly suggest you go steel or aluminium as you will be driving an electric wheelchair in and out, and there is some weight in that. You could go fibreglass as your skin, but where you want ben to extend, i would do that in steel plate for wear & tear.

As for your set up for locking your chair in, you are going to need to completely re-design your shifter/handbrake location, something like rogue did with his van. You are going to have to get everything done by a professional crew that do wheelchair set-ups, i can tell you from experience, if you do it yourself, they will drag you through WA Transport for ever and a day.

 Get a licenced crew to do it and you dont even have to go to transport, their licence is your certificate.

For all my disability stuff ie: handcontrolls, i am getting a licenced installer to deal with it, in my case i can scamper across the floor from the cargo door and jump into my seat, so all i need is hand controls. Here is a pic of my hummer and the hand controlls.

george.

[ben]

ill pm you

[BusyKiwi]

INFO REQUIRED ON THE FOLLOWING
1) the floor area under the drivers seat is there any thing under there? could it be modified, lowered?,
the gas tank starts not far from back of front step
2) The floor area on the passenger side does it have room if a set of controls were put there as in dual controls,
yes the firewall and floor are dual left/right hand drive, both sides have prints for steering and booster but you could do chain drive between the two columns
3) At the back of the van what is underneath,anything important?
diff?

[pickmeup]

Contact T&L Engineering in Bayswater. They had a bedford van done up for wheel chair drivers for years.
They were dealing in special controls etc as well.
Same people own it today so they may well be a big help.
I think they supported the ASRF for awhile too.
Maybe, just a suggestion.

[Bas NZ]

3) At the back of the van what is underneath,anything important?
diff?
Have you got one of those too............

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hey busy, unless he has just won lotto, dual controls would cost him a fortune. All you really need to do clint is get a set of handcontrols like the ones above, that way anyone can drive your van as a normal van, and not have to master the controls. Second, you need to get the locking mechanism mounted to the floor when the drivers seat/box is removed, and a secondary lock put in if you think that at some stage someone will need to take over the driving for you if you take ill. The biggest job of all will be to move your shifter and brake accross to the left or move them forward to allow your chair to drive straight in and park in front of the steering wheel. In the scheme of things it really is not a big job, doing it this way, at best a week maybe 2, but to keep costs and time to a minimum you do need to get a licenced shop to do the work, the last thing you need is an unsafe modified beddy. 

george.

[petrolhead]

Thanks for the ideas guys I'll give T&L a ring, I can drive an auto now no probs but it's a safety issue if any thing goes wrong somebody else can take over, not that it will
Regards
Petrolhead

[ben]

3) At the back of the van what is underneath,anything important?
diff?
Have you got one of those too............ Cheesy

yeh most of my vans dont lol

[petrolhead]

The rear door I want it to open up not down via remote actuator I'm looking at a tail lifter system where you drive on the tail lifter then it raises you up then you drive in the van. Now I don't need hand controls as my right side works fine I just want some controls on the left sideof the van so that the wife can take over if need be, the steering column can be connected via a chain box as per some left to right conversions. When we did a L to R conversion on my Dad's Galaxie we had a bar as thick as your finger going from the brake pedal on the right side to the booster on the left side. If it all works out it will have two steering columns and pedal assemblies one either side, thats what I ment by dual controls, wouldn't that look funny a van with two steering wheels, that would have them guessing
Regards
Petrolhead