05-07-2022, 11:30 AM
Question from Doob:
Hi, I am seeking forum comments on re-registering a Sopru ‘Campmobile ‘ and issues raised with engineering reports .
We are nearing the end of a long restoration project of our 1971 low light Kombi campervan.
I believe the original campervan conversion was done by Sopru in the early 1970’s probably in NSW. While we have the original Australian compliance plate behind driver’s seat, unfortunately there is no ‘E . Sopru & Co Pty Ltd’ name plate behind the passenger seat.
Nor do we have any documentation from the time of the conversion. But the roof and old furnishings are consistent with Sopru’s ‘VW CAMPMOBILE’ style conversions.
Our Bus looked very similar to this one, before our restoration work began.
https://gramho.com/media/2002312776374495783
The vehicle has been out of registration for a few years now.
I am expecting that when we go to re-register it (here in WA) , there may be questions raised about the pop-top campervan modification.
Given the lack of documentation, I am guessing we may be required to get an engineering report in order to get it re-registered.
Has anyone else been down this track recently, with re-registering a Kombi campervan?
Has an engineering report been required?
If so, what types of issues have been raised – and what modification has been required by the engineer?
For our vehicle, the conversion company simply cut a hole in the metal roof, which included removing the central roof cross beam – as required to accept the lower fixed fibreglass section of the pop-top assembly. No additional metal support or stiffening structure was added to compensate for the loss of the metal roof section and central cross beam.
Is this typical?
Given that our campervan conversion was done in the early 1970’s (almost 50 years ago) and the vehicle has suffered no adverse structural effects in that time, one might argue the loss of roof metal is not a structural issue! But I’m not sure if an automotive engineer would take this view?
I have tried to do some internet research on E . Sopru & Co Pty Ltd. There are a number of posts within this KC forum that mention Sopru Campmobiles (see links below). I found a PDF copy of a 1976 Campmobile owner’s manual on ‘thesamba’ forum. Also a good article in the November 2012 issue of the Club VeeDub Sydney magazine – see pages 30 to 33. (link below)
I would greatly appreciate any comments on more recent engineering reports done on Sopru Campmobiles, the need for any additional structural stiffening (or other engineer requirements), and any addition history on early Campmobiles by E . Sopru & Co Pty Ltd.
As you have read, a Sopru that has not run out of rego. may be reregistered as is, without further modifications.
However, once a vehicles rego expires and remains unregistered for a while, the vehicle will be inspected as if it is the first time.......this will mean that it will have to comply with current ADR requirements.......that’s where the engineering comes in. Typical requirements that have been discussed on KC by different members include requirements to stiffen the roof cut out, seatbelt replacements, rnr bed upgrade/anchor points and how the cupboards are secured.....
It can be a minefield and you are really at the mercy of whomever does the roadworthy inspection.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Mark
Sorry I have been a bit slow in updating this post. It only took us 12 years to do our restoration but we finally got our 'Campmobile' re-registered a few weeks ago.
As discussed above, my major concern was a lack of engineering paper work and lacking the additional compliance plate for the Sopru conversion of the roof structure. After much discussion with various folks the general opinion was that Kombi pop top campers are a fairly common well established iconic vehicle and that the inspector was unlikely to pay the roof much attention (unless the pop-top looked in poor condition). As such I did not seek any engineering report on the roof structure.
From a mechanical point, the vehicle was in very good condition. I had replaced any suspect parts, and I had a VW mechanic go over it to check my work.
Minor rust section had been repaired and the vehicle repainted. I had contemplated leaving the internal restoration until after registration. However I was strongly advised that the front cab seats (including the covers), door cards, and the roof headliner (including the cargo bay headliner) should all be in good condition before taking it for inspection. So I had the original seats repaired (broken springs replaced) and recovered. Replaced the seat belts. Had new door cards made up & covered (old ones not reusable). And replaced the headliner throughout the vehicle. Thus the rough cut hole in the roof is not visible.
For the pop top I replaced the rubber seals and canvas skirt.
Other than headliner and new door cards, the cargo bay was left as a vacant open space - i.e. no fridge, cupboards, beds..etc.. installed.
I had printed off a copy of a standard 1971 Kombi owners manual and a copy of the VW/Sopru Campmobile manual.
I had tried to keep everything as original as I could (as much as I could with availability of parts) and no significant vehicle modification (or so I thought!).
So off to the WA Dept of Transport inspection we go....
As suspected, this inspector did not pay much attention to the pop-top roof other than a brief look at the rubber weather seal.
[That is not to say other individual inspectors may not be more interested in the roof structural aspects! Might be just the luck of the draw on who does the inspection?]
However, he did come up with a few issues that caught me by surprise.
Such as, the inspector was not happy with the way the front cab seats were mounted - particularly the passenger seat. However I was able demonstrate, with the aid of the 1971 Kombi owners manual, that this was stock standard, without modification or damage.
The seats were then accepted.
One of the biggest and most unexpected issues I had was with the new seat belts.
The original non-retractable seat belts were 50 years old and looked in poor condition, with no indication of what standard they had been manufactured to.
So I had bought & fitted new retractable seat belts that complied to the current Australian standard.
These came from a local VW parts supplier. A very straight forward job using the same original anchor points.
However .... the fact that I had gone from the original non-retractable to new retractable seat belts was regarded as a vehicle modification, and initial indications were that I would require a full engineering inspection & report for this modification.
It took a couple weeks of chasing around but we eventually got the seat belts accepted without a full engineering inspection & report, just a note from approved seatbelt specialist and payment of a modification fee.
Back to the issue of structural stiffness of the roof. If I had my time over again, prior to painting, I would do a roof mod similar to that done by 'rstucke'
Hi, I am seeking forum comments on re-registering a Sopru ‘Campmobile ‘ and issues raised with engineering reports .
We are nearing the end of a long restoration project of our 1971 low light Kombi campervan.
I believe the original campervan conversion was done by Sopru in the early 1970’s probably in NSW. While we have the original Australian compliance plate behind driver’s seat, unfortunately there is no ‘E . Sopru & Co Pty Ltd’ name plate behind the passenger seat.
Nor do we have any documentation from the time of the conversion. But the roof and old furnishings are consistent with Sopru’s ‘VW CAMPMOBILE’ style conversions.
Our Bus looked very similar to this one, before our restoration work began.
https://gramho.com/media/2002312776374495783
The vehicle has been out of registration for a few years now.
I am expecting that when we go to re-register it (here in WA) , there may be questions raised about the pop-top campervan modification.
Given the lack of documentation, I am guessing we may be required to get an engineering report in order to get it re-registered.
Has anyone else been down this track recently, with re-registering a Kombi campervan?
Has an engineering report been required?
If so, what types of issues have been raised – and what modification has been required by the engineer?
For our vehicle, the conversion company simply cut a hole in the metal roof, which included removing the central roof cross beam – as required to accept the lower fixed fibreglass section of the pop-top assembly. No additional metal support or stiffening structure was added to compensate for the loss of the metal roof section and central cross beam.
Is this typical?
Given that our campervan conversion was done in the early 1970’s (almost 50 years ago) and the vehicle has suffered no adverse structural effects in that time, one might argue the loss of roof metal is not a structural issue! But I’m not sure if an automotive engineer would take this view?
I have tried to do some internet research on E . Sopru & Co Pty Ltd. There are a number of posts within this KC forum that mention Sopru Campmobiles (see links below). I found a PDF copy of a 1976 Campmobile owner’s manual on ‘thesamba’ forum. Also a good article in the November 2012 issue of the Club VeeDub Sydney magazine – see pages 30 to 33. (link below)
I would greatly appreciate any comments on more recent engineering reports done on Sopru Campmobiles, the need for any additional structural stiffening (or other engineer requirements), and any addition history on early Campmobiles by E . Sopru & Co Pty Ltd.
As you have read, a Sopru that has not run out of rego. may be reregistered as is, without further modifications.
However, once a vehicles rego expires and remains unregistered for a while, the vehicle will be inspected as if it is the first time.......this will mean that it will have to comply with current ADR requirements.......that’s where the engineering comes in. Typical requirements that have been discussed on KC by different members include requirements to stiffen the roof cut out, seatbelt replacements, rnr bed upgrade/anchor points and how the cupboards are secured.....
It can be a minefield and you are really at the mercy of whomever does the roadworthy inspection.
Good luck.
Cheers,
Mark
Sorry I have been a bit slow in updating this post. It only took us 12 years to do our restoration but we finally got our 'Campmobile' re-registered a few weeks ago.
As discussed above, my major concern was a lack of engineering paper work and lacking the additional compliance plate for the Sopru conversion of the roof structure. After much discussion with various folks the general opinion was that Kombi pop top campers are a fairly common well established iconic vehicle and that the inspector was unlikely to pay the roof much attention (unless the pop-top looked in poor condition). As such I did not seek any engineering report on the roof structure.
From a mechanical point, the vehicle was in very good condition. I had replaced any suspect parts, and I had a VW mechanic go over it to check my work.
Minor rust section had been repaired and the vehicle repainted. I had contemplated leaving the internal restoration until after registration. However I was strongly advised that the front cab seats (including the covers), door cards, and the roof headliner (including the cargo bay headliner) should all be in good condition before taking it for inspection. So I had the original seats repaired (broken springs replaced) and recovered. Replaced the seat belts. Had new door cards made up & covered (old ones not reusable). And replaced the headliner throughout the vehicle. Thus the rough cut hole in the roof is not visible.
For the pop top I replaced the rubber seals and canvas skirt.
Other than headliner and new door cards, the cargo bay was left as a vacant open space - i.e. no fridge, cupboards, beds..etc.. installed.
I had printed off a copy of a standard 1971 Kombi owners manual and a copy of the VW/Sopru Campmobile manual.
I had tried to keep everything as original as I could (as much as I could with availability of parts) and no significant vehicle modification (or so I thought!).
So off to the WA Dept of Transport inspection we go....
As suspected, this inspector did not pay much attention to the pop-top roof other than a brief look at the rubber weather seal.
[That is not to say other individual inspectors may not be more interested in the roof structural aspects! Might be just the luck of the draw on who does the inspection?]
However, he did come up with a few issues that caught me by surprise.
Such as, the inspector was not happy with the way the front cab seats were mounted - particularly the passenger seat. However I was able demonstrate, with the aid of the 1971 Kombi owners manual, that this was stock standard, without modification or damage.
The seats were then accepted.
One of the biggest and most unexpected issues I had was with the new seat belts.
The original non-retractable seat belts were 50 years old and looked in poor condition, with no indication of what standard they had been manufactured to.
So I had bought & fitted new retractable seat belts that complied to the current Australian standard.
These came from a local VW parts supplier. A very straight forward job using the same original anchor points.
However .... the fact that I had gone from the original non-retractable to new retractable seat belts was regarded as a vehicle modification, and initial indications were that I would require a full engineering inspection & report for this modification.
It took a couple weeks of chasing around but we eventually got the seat belts accepted without a full engineering inspection & report, just a note from approved seatbelt specialist and payment of a modification fee.
Back to the issue of structural stiffness of the roof. If I had my time over again, prior to painting, I would do a roof mod similar to that done by 'rstucke'