Fronty Mods / Market research discussion

Well as the heading would suggest I'm opening up a thread for a debate / idea's of what products people would like to see available for their Fronty's ?

Was having a chat with Gregster the other day about parts that each of us are considering manufacturing and marketing and it got me to thinking, what would people actually like to buy for their motors? If you look at the like's of Landrover, the list of Mods you can buy off the shelf is endless but it's very limited for the Fronty.
Now obviously their are some bits already in production such as one members body lift kits, my spacers, hopefully soon will be Gregsters rock sliders and of course there's a well known company that make Trugga's winch bumper but what else would you want?

So here's your chance (should'nt need to say it but sensible suggestions only please

) what would you like to see available and would you want bolt on / weld on / wire in type goods????????

A light weight but effective set of rock sliders or sill replacements of box steel would be on my wish list.

I figure axle breather kits and viscose fan to electric fan wiring kits would be popular, they are available on ebay as kits but are very expensive considering what the kits are made up of.
Even roof light wiring kits could prove popular along with a custom roof bar?

lightweight Expedition style roof rack
Snorkel (although that may be solved in poland)
rock sliders
sensible priced lockers
replacement bumpers front and rear with suitable recovery points
diff protectors
breather kits

Drawers and cupboards for the boot that form part of the floor.
Something like these.
http://www.allterrain4x4.com.au/4x4-acc ... gory_id=16

I'm hoping to eventually persuade my brother (a Joiner) to make some for me.
Be good to have a flat pack system for easy purchase and erection.

hi guys not to step on others toes but i might be able to help on the breather kits as i make ones for vitara's for a well known vitara modding company

wud only need a fronty for a few hrs to check wots needed

just a thought

Simon

You are not treading on anyones toes megafronty....the kinda idea is that between a few of us we might be able to offer a complete range/catalogue of great mods for our members to benefit from...

Great idea for a thread Mark, to see what members want....a lot of things mensioned so far would be do-able if sufficient interest to make purchasing of materials in worthwhile I reckon...

I am thinking of doing weld in sill replacement rocksliders, and replacement diff covers (heavy duty beastys that wont rot out and dont have the silly flange that catches everything at the bottom) ...and maybe some tube rockcrawler styley winch bumpers for A series fronties...if the interest is there.

Other ideas...what about

B series bash plates
B series winch bumpers with quick release removable bullbar so legit on road and yet with protection for offroad...
anti-roll bar disconnects (made some before for my surf, so can mod the design to suit)
snorkel kits (nice looking :wink:

)
Extended spring hangers, and maybe dislocating ones
fiddle brake kits using milner levers but brake lines all made up so easy fit..

A boot seat that would fit 3 kids would be great im 3 seats to short for a family day out With out the need of a mini bus

As a thought, would a list in the [linkurl=http://www.fronteraowners.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Main_Page]wiki[/linkurl] of where to get after market modification parts not be helpful. There are countless threads in the forum of part numbers and supplies for shocks and springs, but pretty much nothing else.

Re, snorkels - the one on my Fronty was made and fitted by [linkurl=http://www.southdown4x4.co.uk/]Southdown 4x4[/linkurl], who still have all the info should another member want to purchase one from them
Otherwise, I'd like to be able to buy rock sliders, electric fan conversion, expedition roof rack, and extended diff breathers

Something like the skid plate on the pic of this Volvo XC90 that could maybe utilise the front two mounts from bash plate and extend to the bumper/bull bar mounting points .

http://www.seriouswheels.com/2005/2005- ... 80x960.htm

Four branch exhaust manifold to replace that cast hunk of junk.

I would love a set of these to fit a fronty leafer...

They are made for those horrible green oval things by "Gon2far"

They work well Rich, stop the springs twisting giving more flex...had a set I made up for my patrol a few years back...they the hanger mount ones I think?? (I made axle mounts so the axle flexed around the spring...)

Some nice idea coming out Guy's thanks very much.

Keith if your looking for somthing like the boot storage in the link you posted, I have a freind / neighbour who refits & builds some very tasty looking interiours for VW Campers, I'm sure he could knock somthing like that up for you at a sensible price. If you'd like he's contact number just drop me a PM.

Megafronty, that's a great idea. Perhaps we could try and sort out getting you an late A & B series Frontys for an hour or two and you can see if it's viable to make off the shelf kits.

Barrie (Mr Mud) there was a guy on here, think his Forum name was Wizardovoz (or somthing similar) that made tubular manifolds. Think he was based over Oxford way. Might be worth a quick search if your after one ?

Think the re-ocurring ones seem to be snorkels, bumpers & roof racks.
With regard to snorkels, how about a single peice of stainless steel tube that's been mandrel bent that will simply slide through a hole in the wing and secure to the A-post and inner wing, with the obligitory bit of flexi from the end of the pipe to the air box ?
As for Bumpers, what type do people actually want ? Do you want to pay the £250 - £350 for a full size winch bumper like Trugga's or the one on my old B series or would you prefer to see somthing cheaper made out of Tube, a bit like the ones normally seen on Landrover Defender's, etc?
Now with roof racks, strong & light weight arn't things that go easily hand in hand without using more expensive materials like Aluminium & Titanium. Would people be willing to pay more for somthing that is top spec or do you just want somthing that's heavy duty, will take a spare wheel, a jerry can and a bit of lugage, etc and only want to spend a couple of hundred quid ?????

As for maunfacturing diff lockers, it's a really nice idea but to be honest it would be cost prohibitive.

It takes a lot of money to set up tooling for an initial production run on somthing like that and for the low quantity's that your likely to sell, sadly it just wouldn't be worth it, or at least not if production where to kept in the UK anyway......

i do remember greg mentioning in the past knocking up some wheel spacers, dont know if they ever materialised but it would be a lot easier than the hastle of maybe getting another set of wheels which might require a different offset to get the desired wider track effect :wink:

also can you get coil spacers of different lengths mark ? 1" & 3" maybe

im sure steel bash plates for a b would be a good seller

The main thing to bear in mind is cost with everything, everyone knows they will never get back the money they have vanquished on their cars and many baulk at the thought of spending half the worth of their car on one item so with that thought it may be more prudent to manufacture cheaper tube bumpers winch and non winch type and the same for other items.
This way you are more likely to have a higher turn over.

The wheelspacers were put on ice as my machinist buddy has been flat out with a huge contract making bike bits....as soon as he's quiet its still possibly on the cards along with poss a short shift kit and some other goodies...

wot about an external sun visor , bonnet bug deflector , i know you can get these aftermarket, How about side exhaust pipes built into the side steps,
wot we gonna do pimp my ride,, thinking about it side step exhaust dont sound a bad idea ,,