Hi - just bought a fab T2 Devon, beautifully restored. Should we get it lowered a tad or no? She looks lovely & handles beautifully but someone asked us if we were going to get her lowered?
Listen to the voices in your head saying "DO IT". Unless you want to drive around with the front end bouncing around like a German space hopper.
Remember one thing these things need maintaining and having a look is a lot easier like that And seeing over hedges can be fun , speed bumps hurt
I have no tattoo’s and I lowered my bus, I’m glad I did.... I have had a few mods and it feels so much more planted at motorway speeds.... scared the living daylights out of me before I changed it.
Theirs nothing like doing 70 mph across the dartford crossing in a gale 9 , it’s better than Disney or Thorpe park as you won’t be able to afford Disney anymore
Well That looks un molested ! It would be a shame to mess it up, I have to say I had mine lowered etc etc .. but the way things are changing re future MOT etc I wouldn’t touch it The modified van owners may one day be frantically trying to change their vans back to stock Be careful It look s lovely as it is ... and don’t start thinking about stupid engine conversions either But that’s another story
Nooooooooo don't!!! If everything else is right lowering won't improve owt. It's an expensive and time consuming alternative to basic maintenance. Looks well cool though.
Each to his own but personally I like stock height. It positively glides over speed bumps and the terrible road surfaces round here. My previous ride was a slammed, outlaw look Karmann Ghia. To my mind it looked great but was forever hitting drain covers, pot holes etc. My lovely painted pans took a hell of a bashing and the steering never self centred quite as well. My stock height crew cab is an absolute joy to drive in comparison. Stirlingmoz
I had a bit of a time with myself over the lowering issue.. I was advised not to, had a wee strop, and exchange of views on here, then lowered it, drove it for its MOT and back then immediately raised it.. So now in somewhere in between low and high and its all good. Drives like a car really, until there is an unsuspecting yump and it sometimes grounds the anti roll bar, but I will live with that.. Last trip across Islay I would have preferred it to be higher since the roads are pretty bad and the pot holes are lethal.. Im happy with mine in the middle ... Mine runs original spindles, original torsion leafs, heavy duty anti roll bars front and rear and Spax adjustables shocks all around and adjustable spring plates on the rear . Would add, ive been to places where a higher bus would have been a bonus, but I kinda like the ride as it is. I take it to some weird spots and never got stuck... yet.. and the biggest bonus, I can get it in the garage .. and under height restriction barriers designed to keep vans out
i kept mine stock because 'fashion' at the time was to lower... amazing how dull fashion can become when stock height becomes the 'unusual'. some friends lowered into the weeds and while looked 'cool' was a rough ride. some lowered a little, barely noticeable and swore the handling was better... i'm sticking with trusting vw and keeping mine stock. if i want a fashion accessory, i'll get a handbag
I think rather than going for lowered you should measure up and work out if the back end is a bit saggy. It looks like its slightly self-lowered, the torsion bars in the suspension do gradually develop a permanent twist. The rear torsion bar adjusting procedure can provide fine adjustments by the trick of rotating the bars relative to the bus on the inner splines as well as moving round on the outer splines.. different number of splines round each end of the bar so can effectively do fractions of a spline. Look it up . Whatever you do, dont swap left and right bars while adjusting. The metal grain "untwists" and can snap more easily if you swap them by mistake. I dont have the option of fixing my cut and twist lowering with a raise at the front until the beam rots out too much to be patched again... So I spent half the price of a new beam fixing the banging and rubbing of lowering with coilover shocks, and losing my front anti roll bar after grounding out in a new Dublin shopping centre finished after somebody had chained up the Celtic Tiger, and they had done the access road on typical style with bricks laid straight on the ground. It had ruts in the road surface so deep I grounded on a flat road... Try getting at the gearbox nose cone adjuster sunk in a muddy patch in a field.
There speaks the Subaru hating former bus owner. Nowt wrong with a Subaru engine its given me the confidence to do many more miles in the bus since it was fitted. Just had it MOT'd no problem. Lower or not? I say do what you want. Its your bus, but research carefully before you do, the cheapest easiest option might not be best, mind I don't know because mine is stock height.
Keep it stock height ...why pay to have something done which is quite unnecessary ....Do they really look better ? Mine is lowered 3inches But i bought it like that and have always not been happy the way it Looks . It has been cut and welded , so i am stuck with it until i find time and money for a new beam and put it back to as should . I am always envious of other peoples stock height busses ....Yours included .
