Ozrockrat
Expedition Leader
I managed to get to North Carolina yesterday and checkout Chris's new shop and his van and kits. It was well worth the drive.
Now just for background info I have worked all around the world as an engineer/reliability engineer including doing quality audits on external manufacturing/rebuild providers. I own an Advanced Four Wheel Drive converted 1996 E350 plus a 94 E250 Sportsmobile (2wd).
Summary
A good example of what I found is the front spring hangers. When I had a look at a raw steel set I checked for a couple of indicators for construction quality. The first is the way holes are done. There was no spawling or scouring of the hole, the laser cutting left a neat hole with no stress points. The I checked to see if there was any machine/brake marks from bending the plate which also can cause stress points. There was no scratches or press marks on any of the bends or folds. Then it was onto the welding. At first glance I thought they had been TIG welded the welds were so neat. Clean consistent welds with no undercutting and suitable penetration (as far as I could see without destructive testing).
This quality of engineering and construction displayed in the spring hangers was also apparent in all the other components.
So I am looking forward to getting a bumper from UJOR when they become available.
Now just for background info I have worked all around the world as an engineer/reliability engineer including doing quality audits on external manufacturing/rebuild providers. I own an Advanced Four Wheel Drive converted 1996 E350 plus a 94 E250 Sportsmobile (2wd).
Summary
- Chis seems like a good bloke and I will be using his products/services when I need them.
- Quality of the components and the methods of making them are all first class.
- The design of the conversion components easily surpasses stuff on my van.
- His van is awesome!!!
A good example of what I found is the front spring hangers. When I had a look at a raw steel set I checked for a couple of indicators for construction quality. The first is the way holes are done. There was no spawling or scouring of the hole, the laser cutting left a neat hole with no stress points. The I checked to see if there was any machine/brake marks from bending the plate which also can cause stress points. There was no scratches or press marks on any of the bends or folds. Then it was onto the welding. At first glance I thought they had been TIG welded the welds were so neat. Clean consistent welds with no undercutting and suitable penetration (as far as I could see without destructive testing).
This quality of engineering and construction displayed in the spring hangers was also apparent in all the other components.
So I am looking forward to getting a bumper from UJOR when they become available.
