My Ford Transit Hi-Cube Conversion

Buford T Justice

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

Glad to help , you had enough cable so? I don't understand why you couldn't earth the fridge to the chassis? I only sent the black cable "in case" if I'd thought you needed it I'd have sent more! Doh!

Re the lock , try Transitparts.com

oh stop , my sides are hurting , you should be on stage!:D
I don't get paid monthly...I get paid weakly!

Hahahahahahaha
That's the thing, there's absolutely no reason why I couldn't use the chassis, I just didn't. I'm positive I had some crazy reason as to why I did it, but I'm struggling to think what it was. Maybe I was over thinking earthing the 240 to the chassis and it interfering with it. Pointless really since I grounded the leisure battery to the chassis. Still, live and learn.
Now that I have the spare cable I can replace some of the split charge wiring in the engine bay, which reminds me, must stick up a photo or two of it.

Buford T Justice

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

Tis great to cross things off , ain't it?

Oh yeah, definitely. Especially when they don't take as long as you thought they would ;D

Buford T Justice

Look what came for me today!!!
Lots of things to play with.

Got me a new exhaust, set of keys & locks, track rod ends & shock tops.

Buford T Justice

The ignition lock was simple. Turn the key on to position 1, and there's spring pin on the top of the barrel that you press down, and the lock pops out.

Out with the old, and in with the new, as they say.






The shocks were easy to remove from the van. Three nuts on the top of the shock and four bolts on the bottom and hey presto.

All was not well however, as the allen head on the top of the shock was rusted badly, and it rung on me. Went down to a guy I knew who had one lying up and whipped out the shock quickly. Replaced the two shock tops and that was that really. Also replaced the track rod ends while I was there, but not pics of that I'm afraid.



You can also see that one bushing was gone completely, as below. This was from the drivers side.




I cut the exhaust between the two silencers underneath, as I only needed it from the second silencer back. After a bit of fiddling it went back in very easily ( was quite surprised at that). Few things though. I need a clamp to hold the two pipes together, as one slotted nicely into the other, and I need to fix a mounting to the back of the van. The old exhaust was modified with the pipe out the side behind the wheel, and this one goes out the back. Nothing major though and I should sort it tomorrow easily.

Old bit of exhaust. Fairly rotten I think you'll agree.

Aidan_M_M

where'd you get the Tranny bits , after?

Buford T Justice

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

where'd you get the Tranny bits , after?

Transit parts centre in Athlone. Delighted as he gave me all the gear with 40% off as he was trying to shift stock. Score!

Got the exhaust from GT exhausts in the north, and turned out quite cheap too.

http://www.transitpartscentre.ie/transit-parts.html


Tried them for the door lock when I was on to them, but no dice I'm afraid.
transitparts.com seems to be an american place.

MidlandsM

nice work!

Aidan_M_M

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Transit parts centre in Athlone. Delighted as he gave me all the gear with 40% off as he was trying to shift stock. Score!

Got the exhaust from GT exhausts in the north, and turned out quite cheap too.

http://www.transitpartscentre.ie/transit-parts.html


Tried them for the door lock when I was on to them, but no dice I'm afraid.
transitparts.com seems to be an american place.

ooops! I meant http://transitparts.ie/

GT Exhausts are nice people , and good to deal with.

Buford T Justice

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

ooops! I meant http://transitparts.ie/

All bar the exhaust came from them. Don't have a few bits of what I need though....:(

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

GT Exhausts are nice people , and good to deal with.

Yes they are. I was quite surprised. They really know what they're talking about, and after you factor in carriage (£9 STG) from them and everything, they're still very affordable, even after factoring in their carriage which is next day delivery btw.
Plus, they're website is very user friendly, so (in my case anyway) there wouldn't be much room for you not getting what you wanted or ordered, (providing you actually ordered the right thing........)

redcube

Nice work you have done if you don't mind me asking how much did the exhaust cost as mine as gone to

Buford T Justice

£65 STG including Delivery
http://www.gtexhausts.co.uk/product_details.php?id=855

It depends on how much of the exhaust you need though. I only needed from the second box back to the back of the van, which is two parts on this link,

GFE654 & GFE659

If you need GFE648 &651 you're looking at £150 STG plus roughly £10 carriage.

Make sure its the right exhaust though. There are two very similar ones for this van, one with oval boxes and one with round boxes. Mine is the oval ones.

Voodoomelon

That old exhaust was lethal, good work.

Buford T Justice

So, came back from my hols today (:() and I had a letter waiting for me from revenue.

The news (good or bad, I don't know) is that they've told me that the assessment they've made has concluded that the VRT due on my van is €665. So they've valued my van at €4925

Less the €50 that i've already paid to import it as a van leaves €615 due.

What does anyone think of this, good figure / bad one?

stevire

Fingers McGee wrote: »

So, came back from my hols today (:() and I had a letter waiting for me from revenue.

The news (good or bad, I don't know) is that they've told me that the assessment they've made has concluded that the VRT due on my van is €665. So they've valued my van at €4925

Less the €50 that i've already paid to import it as a van leaves €615 due.

What does anyone think of this, good figure / bad one?

Sounds reasonable to me! They put the same figure on my conversion of a 94 310d and yours would be worth a lot more so I would see that as being pretty reasonable... There's also an appeal process if you think the OMSP is too high, you can state your case that it's not a factory built camper so it's value will be less than the average value of a factory built camper. I'm pretty sure you can only appeal after you pay the VRT!!

Plug

Just seen this build and I have to say, very nice fingers, Very nice:cool: Now you got yourself a little shaggin' waggin!:D

Buford T Justice

Cheers Plug. Hard slog but worth it in the end.

Not sure if it'd be appropriate with the lil'uns asleep in the back though..... :cool:

Plug

Look at the money you have saved though! $$$

Buford T Justice

I know... I've definitely saved a couple of grand easy.....:D

paddyp

stevire wrote: »

Sounds reasonable to me! They put the same figure on my conversion of a 94 310d and yours would be worth a lot more so I would see that as being pretty reasonable... There's also an appeal process if you think the OMSP is too high, you can state your case that it's not a factory built camper so it's value will be less than the average value of a factory built camper. I'm pretty sure you can only appeal after you pay the VRT!!

Don't know anyone that got back more than 10% in the appeal either regardless of how ridiculous the OMSP. Some people have managed to get them to take into account costs incurred so if you submitted the receipts for all the parts, exhaust etc, you might get another few quid off.

My dads camper was a 1979 308D still on the road as far as I know on its 4th or 5th headgasket.

Buford T Justice

Yeah, I don't think I'll bother to appeal it tbh. I was just wondering what other people were charged in VRT by comparison to what I was charged. to look at a yardstick if you will......

Buford T Justice

FINALLY!!!!

After a whole bloody rigmarole in trying to get this done, the van is now sucessfully taxed as a Motorcampervan. Its Official, its no longer a van.....

meercat

well done fingers
hard work and persistence pays off
think you need new project now to keep us followers entertained
wear well and safe travels

Top Dog

So when does the sequel begin? Conversion Part Deux

Buford T Justice

meercat wrote: »

well done fingers
hard work and persistence pays off
think you need new project now to keep us followers entertained
wear well and safe travels

Thanks for that. Hope to have many years safe travelling in it.

Top Dog wrote: »

So when does the sequel begin? Conversion Part Deux

Ah lads, don't get me started jaysis........:D

I've been on the lookout would you believe..... I can't help having a look..... Almost like an itch that needs scratching....:D

Not sure why, but the notion of an ambulance appeals to me for some reason...

Still, reality check. I'm unemployed with no cash so its all pipe dreams. I spent all I had on this one and I'm definitely not selling it to raise the cash for another one. Roll on euro millions........





Need to finish off the niggley little bits on this one too... Nothing major though, and I'll keep this updated as I go.

Top Dog

Fingers McGee wrote: »

I've been on the lookout would you believe..... I can't help having a look..... Almost like an itch that needs scratching....:D

Easy to believe - nice to have something to do with your time rather than sitting on your hands

stevire

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Thanks for that. Hope to have many years safe travelling in it.



Ah lads, don't get me started jaysis........:D

I've been on the lookout would you believe..... I can't help having a look..... Almost like an itch that needs scratching....:D

Not sure why, but the notion of an ambulance appeals to me for some reason...

Still, reality check. I'm unemployed with no cash so its all pipe dreams. I spent all I had on this one and I'm definitely not selling it to raise the cash for another one. Roll on euro millions........





Need to finish off the niggley little bits on this one too... Nothing major though, and I'll keep this updated as I go.

Go for it... Converting an ambulance is the way to go

defike

Great sense of satisfaction seeing MTRCVAN written on that disc in the window.

Buford T Justice

defike wrote: »

Great sense of satisfaction seeing MTRCVAN written on that disc in the window.

Oh yeah. That's for sure.

Aidan_M_M

Fingers McGee wrote: »

Not sure why, but the notion of an ambulance appeals to me for some reason...





Need to finish off the niggley little bits on this one too... Nothing major though, and I'll keep this updated as I go.

NOO!! No matter what you do , they ALWAYS look like an ambulance! And the rear door , and window layout rarely suits a Motor home ..

joed571

Aidan_M_M wrote: »

NOO!! No matter what you do , they ALWAYS look like an ambulance! And the rear door , and window layout rarely suits a Motor home ..

i agree, dont do it, if the itch is that bad go for a vw or a sprinter to convert