All about Chris Cowdery
My Sherpa Van project
A Sherpa Van looks like this:
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For those of you who know nothing about Sherpa Vans, a detailed history can be found here:The Unofficial Austin Rover Web Resource
My plan
My intention is to purchase a fairly old (pre LDV facelift) Sherpa Van with good bodywork but knackered mechanicals. In white.
Then, I plan to severely modify it so it's spec list is something like this:
- 3.5 litre Rover V8 EFi
- LPG conversion
- 4 speed auto box with column change
- Electric windows
- Unbreakable windows
- Engine coolant powered rear heater
- Car instrumentation
- Central locking
- Fold away rear bed
- Cooking facilities
- Drying cupboard for caving gear
- Scrolling LED display in rear window
- Rear limited slip diff
- LED indicator and brake lamps
- Trip computer from Rover SD1
- Cruise Control
- Air Con
So what have I done?
The engine / gearbox conversion is detailed here
I have converted the back into a camper
I've also fitted an LPG conversion
How have I done against the plan?
I have managed these:
- 3.5 litre Rover V8 EFi
- LPG conversion
- 4 speed auto box with column change
- Fold away rear bed
- Cooking facilities
And I haven't yet done these:
- Electric windows
- Unbreakable windows
- Engine coolant powered rear heater
- Central locking
- Drying cupboard for caving gear
- Scrolling LED display in rear window
- Rear limited slip diff
- LED indicator and brake lamps
- Trip computer from Rover SD1
- Cruise Control
- Air Con
But it does have a microwave, fridge and lots of cupboards! I also fitted power steering
My priority really is to get the engine running really well, which basically means a mapped fuel and ignition system. I might design my own, or I might purchase something. The big issue for me is that I want liquid phase LPG injection, which seems to be slightly tricky....
And how is it?
So now she's back on the road, how does she go?
Well, there's bags of power; before you had to drive it like you'd stolen it, flat oot in every gear. Now a mere glance at the throttle pedal and you're exceeding the speed limit. The trouble is that the power is not matched by traction, so on a wet road you can loose the back end at 50MPH.
She's also returning about 20MPG compared to 40MPG before, but an LPG conversion should help matters here
The LPG conversion is also sapping considerable power, but that should be fixed by the addition of a decent mixer
The ZF4HP22 is supposedly a bulletproof gearbox. Natually mine broke in an amusing way which necessated a gearbox rebuild
