My creative concept conversion – part 5

Drove over to have a look at the progress today (23/4/12), this is three weeks since the last post. There has been considerable progress and it now looks like the chassis part will be finished this week. They are about to place the vehicle into the trim shop but want to make sure all is done mechanically, they were having a small issue with an air leak in a distribution manifold which needs sorting and also want to make sure that the bags are positioned right for height. All’s well! I had a chat with Phil regarding the GVM and we are still aiming for 4495KG for a couple of reasons,
1) Our licences can remain as standard vehicle and we will not need to go to a light rigid (heavy vehicle licence),
2) We can keep our “private use” rego and will not need to go commercial,
3) Commercial rego may require annual inspections,
4) Most likely that the vehicle will come in at around 3000 Kg unladen which will provide about 1500 of carrying capacity, and
5) The transport legislation that permits these changes is being reviewed (for the last 3 years) and once done may permit a higher GVM for this vehicle. This has something to do with the ability to attach these modifications to commercial vehicles which they currently cannot do.
Phil suggested I should keep in contact to see if this has changed at some future date. You do end up talking about what you’ll carry and how much carrying capacity you need but the reality is that we rarely know this. On the surface it all sounds OK because even allowing for weight on the towball I still have about 1000 Kg. I will weigh it when it’s all done and again when loaded.
The auto electrician caught up with me to make sure he knew what was what and where things like the second battery would go. He also checked the camera location and I took the opportunity to see if he could fit, led work lights at rear, voltmeter in cab for second battery, in cab switch for work lights. I know he also does part time work for concept but has limited time and can’t do complete fit outs.
I also popped over to concept and they had just started my canopy, by that I mean they had just welded two parts of the door frame.