NEBS INTRODUCTION

[NEBS]

Hi All,
I am a swb Bedford CF owner from South Africa Have owned a few vans since late 70's.
I have a bit of South African vanning photos and history to share. Just want to try find my way around the site first.

[Marishka]

Cool, welcome,
Look forward to some photos
Cheers

[John Abbott]

Welcome Neb...We all love pictures here

[Gunning]

gday mate, welcome to the site

[Gordon]

Hey Nebs, good to have you on board. I'm an ex Durban boy myself.

Jag front and rear suspension conversions were popular in South Africa back in the day. There are a few on this forum who have done Jag rear suspension conversions and it looks like your Avatar picture has a Jag rear in it. We are all hungry for any info and pictures on Jag front suspension conversions. So if you have any info on this please share it with us.

[NEBS]

Thanks for the welcome guys. I built the Bedford in my avatar in the early 80's. I fiited a jag diff, but the front suspension was Bedford with a disc brake upgrade. The van had a beautiful soft ride with the jag rear, but had a tendency to become top heavy at a speed over 110 km/h on highway bends. I tried repositioning the shock/spring angles to rectify this, but could not get it to feel safe. Eventually sold the van in '89 with this problem. I would also like more info on the jaguar front suspension, as the Bedford balljoint and tie rod ends are not available here at all. I would have to try and import them for the Bedford I own now.
Her is a photo of the mentioned jag diff setup.
 

[Bean]

I had the same Jag configuration in my old van in Durban but with a Ford Granada front suspension, Really went well for a while, we were not the brightest engineers and the rods that connect the rear end assembly to the body cracked their mountings, we welded it over and over again  but never really solved the problem, It became too dangerous to drive because when you changed gears in a hurry you  inadvertently changing lanes as well - this time round I've stuck with the leaf springs and a 9 inch,2.75 diff. It seems to feel OK - time will tell.
"Hotel California" is a 2 year project that has to be right

[Gordon]

Hey Bean, there used to be a  custom van running around Jo'burg in the early '80s called Hotel California. Had a mural similar to your Avatar across the rear. Wondering if that van was the inspiration for your new project.

[NEBS]

Since this Bedford, I have also had a lwb, that was imported to South Africa. I bought it as an uncompleted project. Came with panels on sides and no side door. Back doors were also missing. I removed one of the side panels ( was factory spotwelded in with the factory sidedoor internal frame under it), fitted a fibreglass side door.  Came with a 350 Chevy, turbo 400 box and also jag diff fitted. I removed the jag diff and fitted a 12 bolt chevy axle with swb. rear leaf springs. Mounted axle on top of spring to lower van. Unfortunately also had to sell this van in 2004, to finance deposit for a house. Was called " Beauty and the Beast".
Here are some pics. Unfortunately only pcs I could find. Not sure of where abouts of this van.
Wish I could find it.
I will post pics of quite a few South African vans of those days.
Maybe you will recognize some of them.

[Bean]

Gordon, Nothing to do with the Van in JHB
I'm just an avid Eagles fan and I figured the Bedford kind of sums up the West Coat life style,
There are so many really good materials to work with now days  that were not that readily available back in the 80's -
its not that difficult to do a superb job on a 40 year old van now.