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Van and traveller (estate) differences?
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Author:  HPDesign [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Van and traveller (estate) differences?
OK so I have a spare round roof van with sliding windows, with rear windows as a shell...... I wouldn't mind a four seater. I have seen a four seater van done up as an estate. is that original or has someone parted it together? what are the differences, becuae apart from the rear seat the external wood trims and the larger windows what's the difference. I have the parts to make it into a van and was just wondering if anyone else has one this I really like the travellers. Being 25 I have only ever seen one though they are so rare that I was wondering if their all that different?
Author:  poeee [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:36 pm ]
Post subject: 
Not overly different no. You can cut the floor back to where needed. I'd be looking at talking to people who have done it before you start hacking it up. Right place to start is here, so get your information before you fire the angle grinder up!
Author:  Timbo [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:30 pm ]
Post subject: 
Well you can fit a seat to a van, but really there are a lot of differences between Vans and Travellers. Here's a few things that come to mind.

1) Rear load floor in Traveller sits higher and has a depression for the spare wheel and battery (like sedans)

2) Side companion pockets for the rear passengers (like sedans).

3) The seat platform is unique and there are two brackets that the seat back leans against to support it when its in the upright position

4) The side panels are different, the estates are a different shape around the windows.

5) The insides of the sides and the panels around the rear doors are a little different too, they have channels, various slots and holes where trim clips fit to mount all the bits of trim around the window frames and down the sides.

I may be wrong, but I think that the only major items of rear sheet metal common between the vans and the estates would be the roof and rear doors, all the rest are a different. However, if you really wanted to make a van into an exact replica of an estate you could make or modify most of the panels. I reckon you could cut up sedan panels for things like the wheel well and the companion bins, but it would be a big job and you'd want to be an experienced metal worker. You'd also really want access to a real one to measure up.

Tim
Author:  Timbo [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:40 pm ]
Post subject: 
As an afterthought, this PDF is part of the panels catalogue from Somerford Minis in the UK, it shows the rear floor panels for the van and for the estate to give you an idea where the biggest differences are.

http://www.somerford-mini.co.uk/pdfs/Catalogues/Body-Panels/16-Rear-Floor-Panels-Traveller-Clubman-Estate-Van-and-P.pdf

Tim
Author:  Mister White Keys [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
There is quite a lot of differences between the vans and travellers. As Timbo has said, most of them are in the rear. The load area of a van is waaaaaay different to that of a traveller.
There has been many people to put a rear seat in the back of a van by simply cutting back the load floor a bit for footwells and adding in the seat. If you do a quick search you can even find the factory rear seat option!

Just to show the differences, heres a couple of photos

Panel Van

Image

Traveller/Countryman

Image

I'm sure a replica traveller could be made but it would be a fair amount of work.

Hope that helps
Author:  Kennomini [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
I've sat in the back of a van that was cut and fitted with a rear seat and I liked it, theirs more leg room than a sedan (around 100mm due to the longer wheel base). The one I had was done very poorly though and was not legal. You will need to get the seat, seat mounts and seat belts/mounts checked and passed by an engineer and the car will need a mod plate up grading it to a 4 seater.
If I was going to do one I'd look at folding bench seats out of small 4WDs and see if one of these will fit into the space. Otherwise you'll need to custom build the entire seat and folding mechanism yourself and then get that passed.
Here are the pics of what mine was, it may give you some ideas.
Bracket on each side to secure back of seat
Image
Image
Image
Battery was mounted here
Image
Image
Crude folding mechanism
Image
Image
Author:  toymini76 [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:04 pm ]
Post subject: 
That looks like a pretty good idea being able to fold the seat flat to have full load space still but also looks DAMN uncomfortable. :lol:
Might fall through the rust floor too. :wink:
Author:  Timbo [ Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:07 pm ]
Post subject: 
Mine's a very early traveller and the rear floor panels are a different shape again.

Image
Tim
Author:  Angusdog [ Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:26 am ]
Post subject: 
The rear seat is fairly flimsy and I haven't seen one with seatbelts, but putting in seatbelts is more or less impossible. Lap seatbelts are pathetic and lead to terrible abdominal injuries, and there is nowhere to mount sash seatbelts. In fact, we almost never carry anyone in the back of our Clubman estate and never for any substantial distance for that reason. For that alone, I'd say it's not worth the effort.

Interestingly, in the UK, the vans meant you didn't pay car tax when you bought the vehicle, thus making it quite a bit cheaper (like motorbike-cheap). So people would buy a van and stick seats in the back, but risked getting caught and fined. I think there was even a rear seat conversion kit that someone sold for this purpose.
Author:  bnicho [ Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:55 am ]
Post subject: 
The last clubby estates allegedly had mounts in the floor for rear lap belts.

You can put three point belts in a Traveller by putting big strengthening plates above the side windows and using a drop-link seat belt. But it has to be engineer passed.
Author:  Angusdog [ Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:43 am ]
Post subject: 
Hmmm, yeah. But there is so little strength in the shell as there's next to no bracing that I wouldn't like the liability of it (and certainly wouldn't carry kids in the back). Likewise, because my Mk II saloon needs an engineers certificate (metro engine, brakes etc), I'm going to remove the rear seats and build some kind of storage / stereo space and have it certified as a two seater.
Author:  TheMiniMan [ Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
rear side pockets are much longer than std sedan ones
Author:  1071 [ Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
While the effort to convert a van might be not inconsiderable, I can't see why they didn't sell Travelers in Oz. Being able to reach in and dump stuff in the rear seat is just soooo convenient. .... and then there's all that other room in the back as well. I've had the dishwasher in the back of mine .. and the seats are there if you need them.

There's not that much more rear leg room (if any) as the rear seat sits in front of the rear arches instead of along side them as in a sedan. There's about 15 cm between the front and rear seat in mine (front seat pretty much as far back as it can go).

Rear seat belts would be on about the same level of usefulness as in any early sedan (check out a Clubbie for the reinforcement that Leyland added when they fitted rear belts).

Cheers, Ian
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