Hey Gary, I am not concerning myself with the weight. There is really nothing I can do about it. Granted it will be heavier with the full frame and all of the cage work but I think the 509 will be up to the task of moving the van down the road. My main focus has been in getting the CG lower. That and moving the engine rearward and down will definetly help in the handling department.
Things have been going slow although I have not been slacking!!! Got all of the chassis welds completed over this past weekend along with the rearend housing. I added some triangulation bars to the back side of the lower suspension cradle. Fabbed them up out of 1 5/8 DOM and fit them to the bottom of the side rails.
This is the passenger side (upside down on the rotisserie)
http://images51.fotki.com/v628/photo...MVC001F-vi.jpg
Looking at the rail fitup. This was a head scratcher... Took some thinking and mocking up to get the cuts right...
http://images56.fotki.com/v1298/phot...MVC003F-vi.jpg
I got the shock towers mocked up and welded tonight. That means the welding is about 99.9% complete. I have LOT of clean up to do to get it ready for paint but that will happen this weekend.
http://images56.fotki.com/v1298/phot...MVC019F-vi.jpg
After the welding.
http://images57.fotki.com/v1354/phot...MVC002F-vi.jpg
http://images43.fotki.com/v1505/phot...MVC005F-vi.jpg
This what I've been up to.
Thanks for looking
Mark