What Have You Done To Your Van Today?

IanEx said:
I'm sitting in @BognorMotors reception area, waiting for the Hunter alignment and road test to be done now they've fitted their BMVS coilovers and a set of Supermetal Compass wheels to my T6. I'm so looking forward to the drive home!

Better pictures and a drive report to follow.
Click to expand...

Here's the update. I'm deliberately going to avoid phrases like "corners like it's on rails" and "night and day different" and try to put into words what's changed.

For context, I'm a staid, 57 year old, grey-haired bloke who has never felt the need to own a performance car. I had to sell my lovely Skoda Yeti when I bought the van and I still miss that car today. I drive a car like you ought to drive if you've stolen it - well within the law so as not to attract attention. But the van needed some work to fix things battered by our village speed bumps and I'd been persuaded by lots of posts I'd read on this forum that better suspension transforms the van and lowering would make it drive a little better.

So, yesterday morning, at 7am, I drove my 102HP T28 SWB camper van down the twisty and undulating A286, typical of Britain's shoddy, lumpy, potholed roads. Corner entry, even on slight bends, involved slowing down to avoid the potential of the van hitting a mid-corner dip and lurching towards the side of the road. Braking towards the apex of a bend risked even more lurching about as the van tended to rock forward and outward. Even the big, flat, well-surfaced roundabouts on the A27 involved a slowish, constant throttle trundle as the van would give that "I'm about to tip over" feeling if you went a little too quickly and had to back off. On straights, too, I've long been avoiding any kind of visible undulation, never mind potholes, as they would make the van jump just a little off track, which gave me no confidence at all with oncoming traffic and night driving on single-carriageway roads I found stressful.

All of this is in hindsight as I didn't know how bad the standard suspension, ride height and 16" wheels were or how hard I was having to work to make the van go where I wanted to. I found out on the way home.

I'd asked @BognorMotors not to go too mad with the ride height as I live in a village with some vicious speed bumps. In the event, they ended up going most, if not all the way down (80ish, I think) on the front and leaving 5mm extra height at the rear for the weight of the awning and other junk we take with us when we're going away. Here are before and after shots of the rear wheel.

old wheel.jpgnew wheel.jpg

Driving past Goodwood in the last hour of daylight, I fell in love with the van again. I was putting so much less effort into steering, making fewer inputs and gradually building confidence. It was coping with mid-corner bumps without drama, the wheel dropping into the dip without the van following suit. I had this odd feeling of being between the wheels rather than way above them. The light faded and my apprehension of night driving pretty much disappeared. The A286 was a joy to drive in the dark. And it cleared our vicious village ramps with ease.

So, what have I done to my van today? I've driven it on twisty A roads, looked at it a thousand times, grinned like an idiot at it and written this very wordy post about it.

I'd like to thank everyone at Bognor Motors for their help and advice, their friendly, completely un-pushy and professional manner and their coffee. I can't recommend them enough.

PXL_20231017_163411536.jpg
 
IanEx said:
Here's the update. I'm deliberately going to avoid phrases like "corners like it's on rails" and "night and day different" and try to put into words what's changed.

For context, I'm a staid, 57 year old, grey-haired bloke who has never felt the need to own a performance car. I had to sell my lovely Skoda Yeti when I bought the van and I still miss that car today. I drive a car like you ought to drive if you've stolen it - well within the law so as not to attract attention. But the van needed some work to fix things battered by our village speed bumps and I'd been persuaded by lots of posts I'd read on this forum that better suspension transforms the van and lowering would make it drive a little better.

So, yesterday morning, at 7am, I drove my 102HP T28 SWB camper van down the twisty and undulating A286, typical of Britain's shoddy, lumpy, potholed roads. Corner entry, even on slight bends, involved slowing down to avoid the potential of the van hitting a mid-corner dip and lurching towards the side of the road. Braking towards the apex of a bend risked even more lurching about as the van tended to rock forward and outward. Even the big, flat, well-surfaced roundabouts on the A27 involved a slowish, constant throttle trundle as the van would give that "I'm about to tip over" feeling if you went a little too quickly and had to back off. On straights, too, I've long been avoiding any kind of visible undulation, never mind potholes, as they would make the van jump just a little off track, which gave me no confidence at all with oncoming traffic and night driving on single-carriageway roads I found stressful.

All of this is in hindsight as I didn't know how bad the standard suspension, ride height and 16" wheels were or how hard I was having to work to make the van go where I wanted to. I found out on the way home.

I'd asked @BognorMotors not to go too mad with the ride height as I live in a village with some vicious speed bumps. In the event, they ended up going most, if not all the way down (80ish, I think) on the front and leaving 5mm extra height at the rear for the weight of the awning and other junk we take with us when we're going away. Here are before and after shots of the rear wheel.

View attachment 217225View attachment 217226

Driving past Goodwood in the last hour of daylight, I fell in love with the van again. I was putting so much less effort into steering, making fewer inputs and gradually building confidence. It was coping with mid-corner bumps without drama, the wheel dropping into the dip without the van following suit. I had this odd feeling of being between the wheels rather than way above them. The light faded and my apprehension of night driving pretty much disappeared. The A286 was a joy to drive in the dark. And it cleared our vicious village ramps with ease.

So, what have I done to my van today? I've driven it on twisty A roads, looked at it a thousand times, grinned like an idiot at it and written this very wordy post about it.

I'd like to thank everyone at Bognor Motors for their help and advice, their friendly, completely un-pushy and professional manner and their coffee. I can't recommend them enough.

View attachment 217228
Click to expand...
The A286 was a joy to drive in the dark....

I take it you have LED's then?
I had the same feeling after Steve in Cannock upgraded my suspension, but not driving in the dark until Chris @Dav-Tec does his thing next month with THQ LED's being installed.

Your van looks great after it's procedure!
 
IanEx said:
Here's the update. I'm deliberately going to avoid phrases like "corners like it's on rails" and "night and day different" and try to put into words what's changed.

For context, I'm a staid, 57 year old, grey-haired bloke who has never felt the need to own a performance car. I had to sell my lovely Skoda Yeti when I bought the van and I still miss that car today. I drive a car like you ought to drive if you've stolen it - well within the law so as not to attract attention. But the van needed some work to fix things battered by our village speed bumps and I'd been persuaded by lots of posts I'd read on this forum that better suspension transforms the van and lowering would make it drive a little better.

So, yesterday morning, at 7am, I drove my 102HP T28 SWB camper van down the twisty and undulating A286, typical of Britain's shoddy, lumpy, potholed roads. Corner entry, even on slight bends, involved slowing down to avoid the potential of the van hitting a mid-corner dip and lurching towards the side of the road. Braking towards the apex of a bend risked even more lurching about as the van tended to rock forward and outward. Even the big, flat, well-surfaced roundabouts on the A27 involved a slowish, constant throttle trundle as the van would give that "I'm about to tip over" feeling if you went a little too quickly and had to back off. On straights, too, I've long been avoiding any kind of visible undulation, never mind potholes, as they would make the van jump just a little off track, which gave me no confidence at all with oncoming traffic and night driving on single-carriageway roads I found stressful.

All of this is in hindsight as I didn't know how bad the standard suspension, ride height and 16" wheels were or how hard I was having to work to make the van go where I wanted to. I found out on the way home.

I'd asked @BognorMotors not to go too mad with the ride height as I live in a village with some vicious speed bumps. In the event, they ended up going most, if not all the way down (80ish, I think) on the front and leaving 5mm extra height at the rear for the weight of the awning and other junk we take with us when we're going away. Here are before and after shots of the rear wheel.

View attachment 217225View attachment 217226

Driving past Goodwood in the last hour of daylight, I fell in love with the van again. I was putting so much less effort into steering, making fewer inputs and gradually building confidence. It was coping with mid-corner bumps without drama, the wheel dropping into the dip without the van following suit. I had this odd feeling of being between the wheels rather than way above them. The light faded and my apprehension of night driving pretty much disappeared. The A286 was a joy to drive in the dark. And it cleared our vicious village ramps with ease.

So, what have I done to my van today? I've driven it on twisty A roads, looked at it a thousand times, grinned like an idiot at it and written this very wordy post about it.

I'd like to thank everyone at Bognor Motors for their help and advice, their friendly, completely un-pushy and professional manner and their coffee. I can't recommend them enough.

View attachment 217228
Click to expand...
An illuminating and erudite review. Thank you.
 
IanEx said:
Here's the update. I'm deliberately going to avoid phrases like "corners like it's on rails" and "night and day different" and try to put into words what's changed.

For context, I'm a staid, 57 year old, grey-haired bloke who has never felt the need to own a performance car. I had to sell my lovely Skoda Yeti when I bought the van and I still miss that car today. I drive a car like you ought to drive if you've stolen it - well within the law so as not to attract attention. But the van needed some work to fix things battered by our village speed bumps and I'd been persuaded by lots of posts I'd read on this forum that better suspension transforms the van and lowering would make it drive a little better.

So, yesterday morning, at 7am, I drove my 102HP T28 SWB camper van down the twisty and undulating A286, typical of Britain's shoddy, lumpy, potholed roads. Corner entry, even on slight bends, involved slowing down to avoid the potential of the van hitting a mid-corner dip and lurching towards the side of the road. Braking towards the apex of a bend risked even more lurching about as the van tended to rock forward and outward. Even the big, flat, well-surfaced roundabouts on the A27 involved a slowish, constant throttle trundle as the van would give that "I'm about to tip over" feeling if you went a little too quickly and had to back off. On straights, too, I've long been avoiding any kind of visible undulation, never mind potholes, as they would make the van jump just a little off track, which gave me no confidence at all with oncoming traffic and night driving on single-carriageway roads I found stressful.

All of this is in hindsight as I didn't know how bad the standard suspension, ride height and 16" wheels were or how hard I was having to work to make the van go where I wanted to. I found out on the way home.

I'd asked @BognorMotors not to go too mad with the ride height as I live in a village with some vicious speed bumps. In the event, they ended up going most, if not all the way down (80ish, I think) on the front and leaving 5mm extra height at the rear for the weight of the awning and other junk we take with us when we're going away. Here are before and after shots of the rear wheel.

View attachment 217225View attachment 217226

Driving past Goodwood in the last hour of daylight, I fell in love with the van again. I was putting so much less effort into steering, making fewer inputs and gradually building confidence. It was coping with mid-corner bumps without drama, the wheel dropping into the dip without the van following suit. I had this odd feeling of being between the wheels rather than way above them. The light faded and my apprehension of night driving pretty much disappeared. The A286 was a joy to drive in the dark. And it cleared our vicious village ramps with ease.

So, what have I done to my van today? I've driven it on twisty A roads, looked at it a thousand times, grinned like an idiot at it and written this very wordy post about it.

I'd like to thank everyone at Bognor Motors for their help and advice, their friendly, completely un-pushy and professional manner and their coffee. I can't recommend them enough.

View attachment 217228
Click to expand...
That’s great feedback and good to hear. Thanks for the kind words. All will Be passed onto the team.

Thanks for using us

Enjoy
 
A small couple of jobs with one satisfying an irritation i have had with the Van since i bought it. It had been previously converted by Revolution. For some reason the base of the Drivers seat had matching hacienda furniture board to the Cabinets but the passenger seat did not? Fixed that.

Second job was to fit a new bracket for the projector. Unlike the previous one, this can move forward and back, up and down such that the image fills the screen

IMG_4982.jpeg

IMG_4976.jpeg
 
dcpen43 said:
A small couple of jobs with one satisfying an irritation i have had with the Van since i bought it. It had been previously converted by Revolution. For some reason the base of the Drivers seat had matching hacienda furniture board to the Cabinets but the passenger seat did not? Fixed that.

Second job was to fit a new bracket for the projector. Unlike the previous one, this can move forward and back, up and down such that the image fills the screen

View attachment 217394

View attachment 217395
Click to expand...
Loving that projector mount Can you post the details of where you bought it. Cheers.
 
Iany1954 said:
Yep, uses the same fixing points as the original and fitted perfectly on my 2016 T6. The sliding door had been filled with insulation by the original builders, I just had to remove it from the areas that the storage pod impacted.
Click to expand...
Thanking you, next on my never ending shopping list...
 
A coat of Lanoguard on the newish suspension components before the salt starts being laid. It goes a long way and managed to do everything I could reach underneath with a 500ml top up bottle.
 
sipep said:
Hi, how did you get this for £140? Seems more expensive on their website
Click to expand...
It was on offer at £140 for several weeks, I was lucky to purchase at that price. It must have recently increased to £155. I still think it’s good value compared to others!
 
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