New Red9 Design wishbone and R&P front end

Thanks Kaz, sounds like you've done a great job - pity you live so far away from me - logistical issues - would it take a long time to do the installation?

Ooh this looks fantastic - hubby won't drive our camper. How does this compare to the Danbury option?
(we're thinking this would solve our dodgy steering)

That looks an impressive bit of kit, wish I'd known about it 6 years ago. In retrospect I'd have gone for a LHD and got that fitted. (I'm assuming that the cost of LHD to RHD is included in the labour costs)

Not sure about the relative costs, but what I can glean is the Danbury RHD conversion is £2000, and direct drive was £2000 back in 2010.

Fitting the Red9 is £2000 for the kit plus fitting of £550 (more for a Brazilian, but even if it is £1000, it is still cheaper for a complete front end)

For this you get wishbone with coil over suspension, rack and pinion steering, and presumably a lot less maintenance.

Like it.

Hi this is the first one we have done , so took us a bit longer , i saw on a previous post that simon at Red9 replaced the steering colume and used a splitty colume , but i removed and modified my original one so was able to keep my switch gear , horn and steering wheel , had to make up a new colume floor mount , and a new heavy duty steering box mount , the beam is 40mm narrower and gives you lots of lowering options 6in lower than stock if you want , but honest the steering is like a modern car . I think if enough people were intrested simon at Red9 may make a kit specific for a brazillian that would make the job so much easier to fit

Kaz5997 wrote:

Hi this is the first one we have done , so took us a bit longer , i saw on a previous post that simon at Red9 replaced the steering colume and used a splitty colume , but i removed and modified my original one so was able to keep my switch gear , horn and steering wheel , had to make up a new colume floor mount , and a new heavy duty steering box mount , the beam is 40mm narrower and gives you lots of lowering options 6in lower than stock if you want , but honest the steering is like a modern car . I think if enough people were intrested simon at Red9 may make a kit specific for a brazillian that would make the job so much easier to fit

I'd be interested to see a photo of your steering box mount. Mine is a little exposed beneath the van, and I have to be careful about speed bumps.

next time its on the ramp i will post some more pics, probs be friday as ive also just rebuilt and done some engine mods

that ist very good inspiration for me, because i will cahnge my steering too. but this is not this year.
very good job!!!

what ist the price for this?

michel_bonn wrote:

that ist very good inspiration for me, because i will cahnge my steering too. but this is not this year.
very good job!!!

what ist the price for this?

It's about 2700 Euros. You'll need something to keep that Subaru in a straight line!

oh, wow,    but thank you for information,
i must save more money for that   ;-)))

Just booked ours in to have Wishbone Suspension & Vented Disk Brakes fitted
Great conversation with Simon, who was really helpful
Only sad thing is we can't get in until mid-October -
so will be wandering all over the road for this years shows...)

Scooby likes to wander
Typically slowly from A to Zee (not just A to Bee)
As they say; Its the journey not the destination

I've just come back from a visit to Red9, where I was booked in for the purpose of swapping out the bevel box on our Red9 beam in order to get more ground clearance. Unfortunately it proved to be impossible. It seems that the space available to fit the connecting rod between the bevel box and the rack is dependent on a number of factors, air-cooled or water-cooled, whether the van has been lowered, LHD or RHD, and how the RHD conversion was done. The bottom line was that even if the bevel box was swapped out it would gain less than 1cm of ground clearance. I could sort it by raising the van, but I don't really want to do that. It seems that the alternative would be to fabricate and fit some sort of bash plate to protect the bevel box, as Skytiger did to protect the brake adjuster. I will be starting a new post about the proposed bash plate project. By the way, Marcus's van is LHD, and I believe that Steve's RHD conversion wasn't done by Danbury, and neither of them seem to have had the same issues with ground clearance.

I've taken another look at the underside of the van, and noticed that the connecting rod from the brake pedal to the master cylinder passes underneath the chassis members, whereas in Steve's conversion it passes through holes in the chassis members. In Marcus's LHD the brake pedal and master cylinder are on the same side of the van, so the problem doesn't arise.

I am now a little concerned i have ordered red 9 and neil is fitting it with litesteer and we plan to drop it about 3 inches. Danbury seems to drop their vans about 2.5 inches. I have had my lowered van for 7 years and never had a problem is half an inch going to give me a problem. Thanks Tim

Our Red9 is fitted on the second set of holes from the top, which gives you the same height all round as Danbury's lowered van. The first thing to check is that you have the appropriate bevel box. I originally ordered the Bay version, but the bevel box had to be swapped out for the one that they normally use for Splitscreens. We have about 6 inches clearance under the bevel box. If you are comfortable with that then there shouldn't be a problem. You could PM me some photos of the underside of your van, and I can tell you whether it looks like ours. If you think there might be a problem you could talk to Neil and/or Simon at Red9. They are both good guys and very knowledgeable.

I believe ours is a splitscreen one too - I love the Red9 system handles so much better (even without litesteer).
Local garage had to redo the speedo cable (before they'd pass my MOT) the refitted one was catching.
Very pleased with the Red9 system.

Will have a look in morning raining her at present if i recall the lowest part is the anti rollbar. Have been speaking to neil and simon for the last month. And will deciede how low when it is fitted i want to beat it hard with the lowering stick. Cannot wait only heard good things about red9 and excellent things about neil. Tim

The whole front beam will go anyway, including the anti-roll bar.

I can judge my clearence because at present the anti roll bar is my lowest point. Tim

Please be advised that standard height measurement for a Brazilian Kombi must be made in 'Irn Bru cans', as demonstrated by @skytiger below.

Can i do mine with gin bottles !!!!

Dennis wrote:

Can i do mine with gin bottles !!!!

How many gin bottles to an Irn Bru can?

Haha! Irn bru is the only way to measure

Voyager wrote:

The whole front beam will go anyway, including the anti-roll bar.

You can refit the Anti roll bar with the red 9

(just takes a bit of engineering)

neillitesteer wrote:

Voyager wrote:

The whole front beam will go anyway, including the anti-roll bar.

You can refit the Anti roll bar with the red 9

(just takes a bit of engineering)

That's really interesting Neil, I never considered that possibility. We've had our Red9 for 2 years now, and the steering is really precise, but the van is still prone to gusts of wind from the side. It's better than a conventional steering set-up because there's no play, but it still takes you by surprise when you're hit by a sudden gust. Would an anti-roll bar help that? I also started a separate thread about the possibility of a rear anti-roll bar, which seems to be available for classic T2s.