Need Advice

[Autosleeper]

Hi all,
I got the bug when me & the mrs bought a cf1 poptop camper in NZ about 6 years ago when on a working holiday, it almost killed me when i had to sell it for peanuts when my visa ran out and had to leave. Its took me a few years but recently persuaded the mrs to let me buy another. This time a cf2 autosleeper, its in good order bar some blistering on the top of the wings and a leaky LPG conversion. Its currently tottaly standard, but not for long!
As this will be my first project im gonna need some advice -

1- How can i get my hands on bodykit - i fancy flared arches front scoop, also want to do something at the back
2- Whats involved in bringing her a little closer to the tarmac?
3- What can be done with the standard 2.3l engine to get a little more out of her?

All advice gratefully recieved

Cheers

[Warren]

Welcome Auto sleeper.

This is an Aussie based site, but Colin Birch has a site in Old Blighty look  Here

But to answer your questions

1 - a few blokes on here maske parts - either in Oz or NZ - not much help for you, from memory there is a link on here to a French site that does wild kits - use the search button.

2 - body kits can make it "look" closer to the ground, with the added bonus of NOT actually reducing the ground clearance. Have a play with a picture of the camper lower the bottom of the camper area down and see if that works. cheaper to add a bit of skirting to the body than stuffing around with lowering.

3 - Nuffink - really - In OZ we have 3.3 litre straight 6 motors in them, and a lot of people update to V6 or V8 looking for extra power. An alloy rover V* would make a nice transplant

Warren

 

[Autosleeper]

Nice one, cheers mate!

[Rogue Trooper]

We had the 2.3 over here and from a very distant memory, if it's working then don't screw with it.

The only way to make them go any faster than standard is to remove 2.3 from the van and drop it over the nearest high cliff.

I sure couldn't wait to rip mine out.

[ben]

my dad "pull out the 2.3 and put a 6.3 in" - hehehe

[Sundownernz]

Hi Autosleeper and welcome to the BUGA site.

Like Rogue said, there's not much you can do to the 2.3 to get more power and you're moving a pretty big box around with that small motor. You need plenty of torque not revs so a turbo wouldn't help much. The best bet is to ditch it and fit a bigger engine. The old 3.8 alloy Rover V8 works well but the bigger Chev or Ford smallblock could be a better option. I wouldn't worry too much about gas milage upgrading your engine size either. I got 21 mpg out of my 2.3 and 18 mpg out of the 350 chev 'cause the engine (normally) isn't working as hard until you put your foot in it. Your call though. It's not that difficult to install and the cost really depends on what you can do yourself and how far you want to go. If you want to fully rebuild everything before fitting (recommended by the way), the cost can get up there. You need to way up things like insurance etc as well.

To get an idea of what's involved check out the VANZ website. On there I have a article under the workshop page on how I put the 350 chev in my van. Swapping in any engine is the same procedure, just different dimensions etc depending on what you use. Site address is www.vanz.net.nz. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Garry.

[hunterbynature]

excellent advice garry sbc, way to go cheers stevo

[Bas NZ]

Yep I say the same, have a 202 in mine fully worked with trimatic overdrive 3.5 rear end, good power but sbc would be better. The only reason I kept it is because it is factory fitted. If I take out the 3.5 diff and put the standard drive head back in I can smoke the wheels standing still, runs out of power at 80k kick in overdrive and shes good up to 150k.
Garry will PM you soon had a bad month with the health, but when you are over this way please stop in, would love to catch up and see your van.
 Cheers Bas

[obsession]

never even seen the 2.3 over here.

[Bas NZ]

You guys got it right, the 2.3 was standard here, just like our Transits had the V4 and then the 2L, I think you had the 250 Falcon, but then you never got the Mk2 Beddie.