AdeB
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| posted on 10/1/16 at 04:51 PM |
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LH DRIVE TO RH DRIVE?
Evening all,
How easy is it to convert a left hand drive to a right hand drive?.
What legal requirements are there if the vehicle is already iva cleared??
Thanks for your time,
Ade
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sprintB+
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| posted on 10/1/16 at 05:11 PM |
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I do this in reverse, convert kit cars to LHD for the French and German market. I always find the steering column and pedal box is the most awkward to
realign, something always clashes, exhaust manifold/pipe, oil filter etc. worth doing a dry run seeing whats going to hinder your progress. Dashboard
and wiring are the next and finding something to attach the column to isn't always there. I take my time and it takes me two weeks. If you need
any pointers give me a u2u. good luck.
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Brook_lands
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| posted on 10/1/16 at 05:14 PM |
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Well that is an interesting question.
First, it depends what you are talking about, if it is a vehicle that has been designed to be either then it might not be too bad a job. If it is a
kit car and worse still a home built from scratch Locost then the work involved would probably be significant. Knowing that mine was going to be RHD
from day one then I positioned things accordingly. Getting a steering column and pedal box into the LHS would mean major relocation of just about
everything else (battery, heater, fuse box etc.) but it could be done.
The question then would be, would that make it a radically altered vehicle or not? Does putting a few holes in the footwell panel constitute a chassis
modification, debatable on a spaceframe chassis. What if they were already there at SVA/IVA. If your dash instruments etc were in the middle it could
be as simple as bolting on a LHD rack, and moving the steering column and pedal box across. Or vice versa for LHD to RHD.
[Edited on 10/1/16 by Brook_lands]
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v8kid
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| posted on 10/1/16 at 09:46 PM |
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I did this with a Tr8. Used RHD parts from a scrapper to convert. Dead easy the only hard bit was the wiring loom I decided to modify the existing and
it took ages - the mech bits were straightforward..
Having said that I was doing a bare metal respray and had stripped the chassis completely - might be a tad more difficult if the engine/box was still
in 
Cheers!
You'd be surprised how quickly the sales people at B&Q try and assist you after ignoring you for the past 15 minutes when you try and start a
chainsaw
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SJ
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 08:07 AM |
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Interesting. I was wondering what the legal situation was with this after looking at LHD Alfas the other day. The actual job seems pretty
straightforward assuming the RHD dash, steering gear etc. are available.
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v8kid
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 08:29 AM |
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Just get a MOT in the usual way - it was 10 years ago I did it though dunno if requirements have changed.
Cheers!
You'd be surprised how quickly the sales people at B&Q try and assist you after ignoring you for the past 15 minutes when you try and start a
chainsaw
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nick205
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| posted on 11/1/16 at 01:56 PM |
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I'd imagine most cars start as LHD and have to be built RHD for sale in the UK. By that token converting shouldn't be too difficult to
do.
My guess is the internal changes would be the hardest work - swapping dashboards and peddles would be hours of faff!
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