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Been thinking about this for ages, these original sketches date back to 2003 -

The idea being to get a Vitara and get it in half and make a camping trailer out of it...!

Something that would tow behind the Vitara, and be lifted and painted to look the same,... errr, only half-a-Vitara!

I did have an "offroad caravan" that I used to tow behind the Superzuki -

That had a 3" lift and grasstrack "All Terrain" type tyres on it... the problem with the caravan was that it was a little big - even though it was tiny! - to store at home, and I had to pay to have it stored at a caravan compound, and that made it awkward to arrange to pick it up, etc...

So, I bought a tent, that's quite good fun, but not when we go "extreme-camping" say like we did in April to a transport show...

And, with the ill-fated Stumpy project in the back of my mind, I don't want to do any extreme modifications to the current Vitara, so this idea of a camping trailer / mini-caravan popped back into my (tiny) mind!

And, as luck would have it, a good friend mentioned online that he was breaking a long wheel base / 5 door Vitara... so I PM'ed him and asked what he was doing with the back of it...

So, in May 2008, I went to collect it -

Drove down for 3.5 hours to get to Ian's house...

... to find the donor Vitara sat ready and waiting with the front doors already removed. The engine, gearbox, transfer-box, etc. had already been removed as they were sold...

So we set about cutting the Vitara in half! We went for the easy cuts, just to get it split in two, I can cut it properly when I get it home and start work on it... it's supposed to be a project for winter 2008, when it's wet and cold, and I can sneak into the garage and have a tinker!

Then we cut straight across the floor... I used a zip disk in the angle grinder, one of those 1mm thick blades that go through steel like a hot knife through butter... I took a big 9" angle grinder with me as well, but the little one is a lot safer to handle, and I feel much more comfortable with "Mr. Angry" - as he's been christened - in my hands! We did use the big one to cut straight through the floor and into the top of the chassis rails, as we couldn't cut all the way round the chassis rails from underneath... You can see the big cut about where the passenger's feet would be...

A bit more cutting with the disks, and hammering a cold chisel through the bits we'd missed and the car starts to split in two!!! LOL

And then Ian "drives" the front of the Vit back into his drive! At this point we collapsed into giggling fits like a couple of little schoolboys!!!

Especially to see half-a-Vit! You get the idea now? imagine it with a suspension lift, body lift and some knobbly tyres...

Loaded up and ready to head back to North Wales... a 4.5 hour drive back due to a horsebox fire on the M6! :(

Back at home, and a borrowed a couple of wheels off my Vitara to get the Half-a-Vit into the garage... now you get more of an idea! ;)

The nose-weight feels about right, there's a bit more steel there than I need, but I wanted to keep more of the chassis intact that where the body had been cut, and also to retain the handbrake assembly... but it should be a nicely balanced trailer... it was effortless to roll it into the garage like a giant wheel barrow! LOL

More soon!

10/08/08

(Not exactly soon!, but then this is supposed to be my "winter project")

Bit more today though, the ProComp springs finally arrived, so I thought I might as well LIFT IT! ;)

So, this is where we were, I wheeled it out of the garage on it's 31"x10.5" Bronco Rough Rider tyres, got them for a reasonable price off eBay, and the alloys to match the truck came from Dacar Automotive - Suzuki Breakers. Tyres look a little tight though? Might need a bit of a lift?

That's better! A bit higher...

... ProComp 1.5" Lift Springs and some of those sexy Orange Spring Spacers ;)

Body Lift next... and being as it's stripped and doesn't weigh much, I took a rather un-orthodox approach and lifted the body by sticking the Hi-Lift under the spare wheel carrier! LOL

And the front using the scissor jack from my Grand Vitara!

Half of a 3" Bits4Vits Body Lift ;)

And a little bit more height!

I then decided to attack the rust, and see how much useable metal is left! I knew it needed some work on the sills! ;) These will be replaced with box section once I've worked out the length and cut the body properly (it was just a rough cut to get it home the first time).

Oooh dear! LOL

Pushed it out of the drive to sweep up all the rust...

... and glass! Took a hammer to all the glass on the offside of the ViTrailer as this side will be plated over and the door welded up... a nice big Bits4Vits logo will be stuck on this side... and shelving will be made on this side on the inside as storage space will be tight!

Back on the drive now all the rust and glass has been swept up!

Inside has been stripped out too...

And I got the tape measure out and started measuring...

Errr, and then had a little nap in it! LOL

Looks daft, but I had to lie in it to get an idea of how much length I needed... A wall will be built just in front of the rear doors, and where my feet are there will be a "false" gas cylinder cupboard like you get on caravans, and that will have an inside hinged flap which folds down to meet the bench seat, which in turn folds flat too, and I lie with my feet inside the pretend gas cupboard... LOL, that's the idea anyway, just got to build it now ;)

More soon(ish) !

24/05/09

Hmmm, define "Soon(ish)"... :\

LOL.. taken a while to get back to this, but inspired by my mate Richie's progress on his trailer - http://shropshire-suzuki.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=7555 - I dragged mine back out of the garage and resumed (started?!) work on it...

So, having sourced a "Knott Hydraulic Damped Trailer Coupling Type Hydratow KF9 (Part No. CC B0900KP)" 900 Kg braked towhitch off eBay, I set to work... The above photo shows it resting on two 3"x2" lengths of box section while I was pondering what to do...

But, more importantly, you can see that the old LWB body tub has been cut flush in readiness for the front "wall" being built...

So, again, this large section of the floor and transmission tunnel has been removed.

Remember that when I originally went to Northampton to pick it up off my mate Ian, I cut the chassis and body tub roughly, and well over the intended length, just to get it home, and including the handbrake and cables... these will re-used / utilised to give the trailer it's brakes and handbrake... Saying that, I figure it should still be under the 750Kg limit for an unbraked trailer, but I'd rather err on the side of caution and make it braked anyway... for safety's sake! ;)

Next, I drilled the ends of the 3"x2" box section rails of the towing A-frame, and bolted the towhitch on... you can see in the above photo that the angle of the rails will be all wrong, and the A-frame would be far too long to meet up with the chassis rails....

So, I decided to splay them slightly... above you can see the splayed angles of the A-frame's rails, and a new 2"x2" crossmember inserted... the 1" Angle Iron is merely there as a temporary brace ;)

With the splays achieved and the crossmember welded in, back to test fitting on top of the Vitara's chassis rails... so the next job is to cut them and angle them back in to meet the top of the chassis rails...

Aha! cut and bent to suit...

About the right look and length I was looking for too... ;)

Again, another crossmember is cut from 2"x2" box section, and the A-frame rails notched to accept it...

...there we go ;)

Next, marking out the chassis rails to be cut at an angle to join with the A-frames rails, and to achieve a decent looking amount of ground clearance...

No going back now! The first triangle is cut out of the Vitara's chassis rails...

The other side is cut, and then the bottom of the rail is bent up to the new angle...

The other side is done to match...

... and then ground back to fresh metal, and then MIG'ed up...

Two sides done to match and the point of the rails is folded up, MIG'ed and shaped back with the grinder...

It's at this point that I realise... that the trailer is now perfectly balanced and acts like a huge seesaw...! When touching the front chassis rail points with a grinder, the whole trailer tips back and sits on the rear tow ball (yet to be removed!), so I sat this box and plank under the back to keep it from tipping over! LOL ;)

Next the ends of the 3"x2" A-frame rails are sealed by cutting up some smaller box that fits inside...

Then the A-frame is set up on top of the chassis rails, and ten minutes of measuring and re-measuring enthuses before I'm happy to MIG weld the two together... But then!...

LOL! push the trailer out into the road outside my house and attach it to the back of the "Stealth" Vitara to see how it looks! :)

From the front...

The back...

Back/Side...

The towhitch in all it's glory (for now) attached on top of the Vit's chassis rails...

A neat job, plenty of offroad-looking ground clearence!

Looks a big gap between the Vitara and the trailer, but that will soon be closed up when the false "gas cupboard" is formed on top of the A-frame... more on that later, but I need the extra length to get my calves/feet in when sleeping in it... LOL