westyss
Explorer
Thanks everyone for the nice comments, and sorry for the delay responding but I got busy with work.
To answer some of your questions:
I really tried to keep the whole rig as low as I could, but you can only do so much, and I would say the lower profile you want to go, the more it will cost you and the more compromises you will have to make. That said, a higher top will make having a solid, one piece door nearly impossible or very , very short, I compromised on the door height and it is at a minimum height for me, not ideal but managable, my wife and I are both fairly tall, and some stooping is needed to get out. The other option is a fairly complicated double door system, that makes sealing for the wind a bit of a problem, but its obviously been done. I wanted to be able to use the door and all the facilities inside even with the top down, and this is what I came up with.
The tape and velcro work so well, but its really only because right now its in try out mode so the interior is not really fully commited, but man it holds strong, the cabinets are basicly not moveable, you need to pry it off from top to bottom with gusto.
BaseCamp, the rims I had made from 'Stockton wheel' they are 19.5 x 8.25 and I have michelin XDE2+ mounted on them, I went with these due to the amount of paved road travel I do and the fact that they are good for alot of miles, I was looking at Toyo 303 but could not get them here, I am a big michelin fan, every vehicle I have had I install them on, except my westy, no sizes available for it, but I really like the ride that they give me, and it sure changed the ride on the FG but apperantly they are not too good in mud, so far the mud I have gone through, around 16" deep, I had no problems, again everything is a compromise, give and take every where.
To answer some of your questions:
I really tried to keep the whole rig as low as I could, but you can only do so much, and I would say the lower profile you want to go, the more it will cost you and the more compromises you will have to make. That said, a higher top will make having a solid, one piece door nearly impossible or very , very short, I compromised on the door height and it is at a minimum height for me, not ideal but managable, my wife and I are both fairly tall, and some stooping is needed to get out. The other option is a fairly complicated double door system, that makes sealing for the wind a bit of a problem, but its obviously been done. I wanted to be able to use the door and all the facilities inside even with the top down, and this is what I came up with.
The tape and velcro work so well, but its really only because right now its in try out mode so the interior is not really fully commited, but man it holds strong, the cabinets are basicly not moveable, you need to pry it off from top to bottom with gusto.
Haven, This was to be a bit of a test build as I did have another person that wanted one, due to the delay in getting the composite walls, he had to go a different route, but that said, I think building for others needs alot of added items, like the most important one in our world right now; LIABILITY! that ugly word stops alot of good ideas, unfortunately.
Vic, It did not have a box when I bought the truck, it was decked out with a dump box that was never used, was all ordered up and the guy bailed on the final purchase, the truck sat for several years until I got it. It is a 2007 that I bought in 2009 with 300 km on it and no DPF burn thingy. The fuel mileage I posted in the "fuel economy" thread was on my cross Canada trip with a barely broken in engine, but I do know about drag coefficients, hence the lowering roof. On my trip I got 16.7 mpg imperial so around 13mpg US.fully loaded, and those numbers are adjusted for tire size,and are the whole 8,250km devided by the litres of diesel purchased for the whole trip: so as accurate as I can get, I really have a hard time believing some manufacturers on board computer mpg's, before I had the cabin on I did a 500km trip into the interior of BC and got close to 18mpg. After doing a little research, I think the FG is still one of the best vehicles for economy in its size range.
BaseCamp, the rims I had made from 'Stockton wheel' they are 19.5 x 8.25 and I have michelin XDE2+ mounted on them, I went with these due to the amount of paved road travel I do and the fact that they are good for alot of miles, I was looking at Toyo 303 but could not get them here, I am a big michelin fan, every vehicle I have had I install them on, except my westy, no sizes available for it, but I really like the ride that they give me, and it sure changed the ride on the FG but apperantly they are not too good in mud, so far the mud I have gone through, around 16" deep, I had no problems, again everything is a compromise, give and take every where.
