Conversion

[sickrick]

Hi, I'm new to the Morris Minor scene, and was wondering how possible from the registration point of view it would be to convert a standard moggie to a crew cab pick-up using a self built chassis. I've built a couple of replacement chassis' before for existing chassis vehicles so the practical side isn't a problem I'm just wondering if I can escape the dreaded SVA by using all of the original vehicle albeit boot area removed and the rest dropped onto a chassis to replace the floor pan. Thanks.

[Robins]

Why not start by using a pickup, the LCV's already have a seperate chassis. That way either lengthen the existing chassis or shorten the rear bed. There was a crewcab pickup built on the isle of wight some time ago. Nearly built one myself on a rangerover chassis with a 5.7 diesel v8 to make it really useful, but changed my mind.

[iwsmithy]

When I built mine I lengthened the existing chassis used on the Minor LCV. As you can see from the pic below I shortened the pick up bed, and built an additional set of doors while using a Minor 4 door saloon as the centre pillar. The trickiest part is making the roof section to blend it all together, though I cheated and used a Webasto sunroof to avoid any tricky fit up problems.

Regarding the SVA test etc.........well I never told anyone that I lengthened the chassis, and no MOT tester would ever know. Being a qualified engineer I have built everthing to last, a belt and braces approach, and the truck is more structurally sound than it was as a standard Pickup.
I'm only 5" longer in wheelbase and it's so subtle many people don't even realise that it's longer. If I did it again, (and I wouldn't), I'd say 5" is not enough, it's tight in the back.