Building a 2017 FG for medium to light mountain driving. Aluminum and composite body w/ steel rear structure.

[Alpina FG]

I started this in January 2019 and have the rear bumper structure, suspension, wheels, tires, body shell and interior pretty well completed. Now for the living interior. The layout has opposing (slam type) top-hinged doors at the front 60 inches creating a mechanical room about 60" wide, 48" high and the width of the body at 84". It also has a slide out tray for bikes and an inflatable boat. The queen size bed sits above with 30" of clearance. Overall height is 11'10" at the rear.

 

[Jesse42]

Looks great. Where do you expect to end up on weight?

 

[Alpina FG]

The box weighs about 2800 as is and the rear bumper and 16K winch is another 350-ish. I'm not sure on the interior of course, but I'd like to be at 5000 total, plus the truck. The three doors are 2.5" thick aluminum and foam "Slam" doors from a supplier that manufactures for ambulances and such. They are quite heavy duty and have a full aluminum jamb that is welded to the framing, so heavier, at around 85 lbs each, than a typical RV door. The interior now has BMW 3 series seats and a custom leather 18" wide console. The seats are at least twice as heavy as the FG stock seats.

 

[Plumb Bob]

Really nice work! Keep the pics coming. A custom cab paint color I assume? Any coating on the aluminum to protect from road salts and chlorides? How does the cab tilt for you with the extra seat weight?

It looks like you have a 12' overhead door or taller, I tried my best to stay under 10' total height to fit inside my shop. I ended up at just over 11' with 6'4" inside. I'm at 11,020lbs less 42 gallons water, two LP bottles, and personal gear. I hope to spend the winter searching out the best ski conditions.

 

[Alpina FG]

The cab is painted an early VW color. We are working on the colors or graphics for the white space and the doors. The doors have no finish at this point. Just aluminum. They may get wrapped.

The cab tilting is not too bad but you would not want to rotate it too quickly. A slight downhill does help.

 

[SkiFreak]

If you do not already know how to adjust the cab tilt mechanism, have a look through this thread.

 

[Alpina FG]

I will have to adjust the cab as you suggest. Thanks.

 

[IdaSHO]

Really digging that rear bumper/hitch/winch setup.
Any shots of that when it was built or prior to install?

Project looks great

 

[The Artisan]

The box weighs about 2800 as is and the rear bumper and 16K winch is another 350-ish. I'm not sure on the interior of course, but I'd like to be at 5000 total, plus the truck. The three doors are 2.5" thick aluminum and foam "Slam" doors from a supplier that manufactures for ambulances and such. They are quite heavy duty and have a full aluminum jamb that is welded to the framing, so heavier,View attachment 527088 at around 85 lbs each, than a typical RV door. The interior now has BMW 3 series seats and a custom leather 18" wide console. The seats are at least twice as heavy as the FG stock seats.

How large is the box being 5klbs. Nice console and good use of bimmer seats. I am using old school recaros in mine.
Kevin

 

[Alpina FG]

Here are some rear bumper pictures. It is upside-down on the bench. Maybe I'll post the drawings I did if I can find them.

 

[Alpina FG]

 

[Plumb Bob]

If you do not already know how to adjust the cab tilt mechanism, have a look through this thread.

Worked like a charm, thanks

 

[Alpina FG]