how low can a beddy be dropped

[Allan]

Why has the blue van got sliding door covers on the back(not front) with no doors. whats going on?

[Bedfordcrazy]

hey allan, there is a side door, and it is a slider, with shaved handles.

george.

[vintageholden]

its also  a chev van..

what about cutting the front chassis to lower the front cross member..
or modifying the cross member so it sits higher into the chassis rails...

i have the rear how i want it...lowered 5"

[ben]

i recon that would be the best. same suspension travel.

[outriding]

what about cutting the front chassis to lower the front cross member..
or modifying the cross member so it sits higher into the chassis rails...

I was thinking about this now and you probably have to cut the firewall and make a taller doghouse as the engine will not fit then...

[vintageholden]

looks like it been done before ....
notice the chassis has been lowered....(cut out)

firewall cut out as well

[BusyKiwi]

the up side is it can be done (i did it), down side is you loose elsewhere.

example, say you want to lower it 4inches, grab a tap measure and measure from your floor up your engine cover (or door, or seat ...) this is where your new floor would be, now do again on top of your engine cover (dont forget the wiper is up there).
Also depending how much you do you might have to move your steering shaft to clear, but you'll have to either modify or get another steering column anyway.

If you do 3 or 4 inches you also have to cut out your inner guards as the wheels hit on lock, and re-angle your pedals which can mean lifting your brake booster.

way more to it than just sinking the beam

[Sundownernz]

There was a van over here a bunch of years ago called Mirror Image owned by Grant Downing, now of US funny car fame. It had been lowered heaps. Easy 4". I'll see if I can find some pics of it. Not sure of all the details but the rear was 9" I think and lowered easy but with a big dome in the rear floor to take the diff head. The CF front end was ditched and replaced with a full holden front end from something. Was heaps of work, looked good but drove like a pig. Problems with bump steer etc. I'm sure there was an article in a late issue of CV&T.

With all the hassles of changing the suspension, cert etc, why not just leave the suspension at std height and achieve the lowered effect by modifying the body with flares, spoiler etc in such a way that you pull the body down. It's the exterior look your trying to achieve so start with your custom body line say 100mm of the deck and build it up from there to blend in with the van body at what ever height it is at the moment. That way you can have the look at whatever body height you want without changing the suspension at all.

Garry.

[Rogue Trooper]

[BusyKiwi]

Grant used a commodore front end in mirror image, the struts came into the floor area.
If you look close at the picture Rogue put you you'll see the front flare is not round as he had hell of a job reattaching them as had to cut so much of the inner guard out.

I was lucky enough to see him do parts of it at his work down span farm, I was in West City vans with him

And last I heard that van was rotting away in long grass somewhere in south auckland