So.. I'm posting this for my brother. Hopefully I can get him on here so he can start taking credit for this madness. It looks pretty cool in person, but he needs some pointers from you all... The rest is his wording:
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thought you'd enjoy seeing my latest project. I needed some therapy so I took it out on two of my vehicles. I've “harvested” pieces from my Land Rover Discovery including it's brush bar and roof.
I took the brush bar and welded sleeved plugs to widen it for the excursion…
We've had two “high –top” conversion vans over the years and we really like them.
I've seen a few attempts to create similar conversions with Ford Excursions over the years but they just didn't look right. They didn't capture the spirit of a rugged truck combined with the spacious and luxurious benefits of a high-top conversion.
I cut off the roof of the Land Rover and fixed it up to fit on the top of the Excursion. Then, I cut a 7'X4' hole on the Excursion between the luggage supports for added support. What's amazing about the marriage of these two pieces is that the Land Rover roof is an independent structure which is fully framed for strength and tough as a tank. It also has lots of Aluminum to save weight. As for the Excursion, all of it's structure (much like a van) is around the perimeter of the roof.
If you think about it, the roof is the most distinctive and attractive part of the Land Rover. I've got the best of both vehicles!
I couldn't be happier with how this turned out!
Another great addition to this project is a luggage rack that was given to me by the owner of my company. He had it for his Rover but didn't like it because of the vibrations and noise that it causes on that vehicle. I've tried it on our Rover and he's right! But with the larger size and weight of the Excursion there's no vibration and little additional noise. I can't wait to put some lights on it!
So far, the only significant expense has been about $325 for painting the Rover roof which, ironically is what they paid me at the salvage yard for the old Rover.
I'd say the old Rover has given something nice to remember her!
I hope you get a kick out of this. Future efforts will be to create a pop-up tent for it. I designed the roof to be able to easily jack up with ratcheting poles and then quickly (and securely) retract and look like a luxury conversion SUV again.
This will give you some idea even though it's not elevated very far….
Here is an example of pop-up tents to help you visualize what this will look like. Mine will have a cab-over element as well as a lifted hard top similar to this.
It just goes to show you, a little madness can go a long way!
The interior has much more headroom now and the effect is awesome. I still have interior work and wiring to do so I don't have any pictures that do it justice.
My biggest challenge is just finding time to do those things. At the rate I'm going it may be awhile before its all done. But that's ok. It gives me a little something to look forward to.
This is an old picture. Its cleaned up much more now…
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thought you'd enjoy seeing my latest project. I needed some therapy so I took it out on two of my vehicles. I've “harvested” pieces from my Land Rover Discovery including it's brush bar and roof.
I took the brush bar and welded sleeved plugs to widen it for the excursion…
We've had two “high –top” conversion vans over the years and we really like them.
I've seen a few attempts to create similar conversions with Ford Excursions over the years but they just didn't look right. They didn't capture the spirit of a rugged truck combined with the spacious and luxurious benefits of a high-top conversion.
I cut off the roof of the Land Rover and fixed it up to fit on the top of the Excursion. Then, I cut a 7'X4' hole on the Excursion between the luggage supports for added support. What's amazing about the marriage of these two pieces is that the Land Rover roof is an independent structure which is fully framed for strength and tough as a tank. It also has lots of Aluminum to save weight. As for the Excursion, all of it's structure (much like a van) is around the perimeter of the roof.
If you think about it, the roof is the most distinctive and attractive part of the Land Rover. I've got the best of both vehicles!
I couldn't be happier with how this turned out!
Another great addition to this project is a luggage rack that was given to me by the owner of my company. He had it for his Rover but didn't like it because of the vibrations and noise that it causes on that vehicle. I've tried it on our Rover and he's right! But with the larger size and weight of the Excursion there's no vibration and little additional noise. I can't wait to put some lights on it!
So far, the only significant expense has been about $325 for painting the Rover roof which, ironically is what they paid me at the salvage yard for the old Rover.
I'd say the old Rover has given something nice to remember her!
I hope you get a kick out of this. Future efforts will be to create a pop-up tent for it. I designed the roof to be able to easily jack up with ratcheting poles and then quickly (and securely) retract and look like a luxury conversion SUV again.
This will give you some idea even though it's not elevated very far….
Here is an example of pop-up tents to help you visualize what this will look like. Mine will have a cab-over element as well as a lifted hard top similar to this.
It just goes to show you, a little madness can go a long way!
The interior has much more headroom now and the effect is awesome. I still have interior work and wiring to do so I don't have any pictures that do it justice.
My biggest challenge is just finding time to do those things. At the rate I'm going it may be awhile before its all done. But that's ok. It gives me a little something to look forward to.
This is an old picture. Its cleaned up much more now…
)
