Ford Transit conversion to camper MKII

This van hasn't been looked after, it was filthy inside and needed a major scrubbing

Today, I removed everything from the van including the passenger seats (though may have use for them at a later stage.
I powerhosed the underside of the van as well and took off all the dirt that had build up under the arches.

I intend to spray the underside of the van with schutz, and waxoyl all inner panels. I want to keep rust at bay as long as I can.

Looks much cleaner now

So there is rust on this van, but it is all surface rust, as seen below. There is no rust underneath on the chassis.

I removed the plastic of the step on the passenger side as these are notorious spots for rot and its all clean. I didn't look at the driver side yet.







All of this rust, including the holes that were drilled for the timer flooring will be treated with Loctite Rust Remedy before getting some red oxide paint over them. Obviously the outside is going to be painted.



This has to be the worst spot for rust on the van. This will be cut out and replaced with some new metalwork.

colm_mcm wrote: »

Is there signs of it being welded before?

I’d be shocked if it has survived underneath otherwise . The last van we did was a 50k mile Transit that had been babied from new and even that needed welding.

You’ve had a Transit before so I know you know the craic!

Have you any plans made yet?

None. I want to re-use what I have from the old van, but I'm not tied to it either, If spending a few quid means a big improvement - I'm all for it.

Though, I do plan to have the bed / bunks to the back of the van, like a u-shaped bench with a table converting to a bed, and the kitchen further up overhanging the sliding door. That way I can have the gas cylinder in the cabinet but only accessible from the sliding door being open.

I'm not tied to this either. We have some time to plan this while the mechanical stuff is taken care of first.

If I can help it, with the exception of the night heater exhausts, waste pipes & drop holes I want to avoid any holes in the floor where possible - not like the last van.

I've not seen any signs of welding, or any signs that things have gotten out of hand underneath. I could be wrong, but I'll soon discover when I treat the underside. Whatever I find will be remedied first. That last van didn't need any welding underneath for its first test with me either, only in the engine bay and on the floors before I started.

Put it this way, I'll do my level best to keep it at bay - I didn't do that the last time and I paid the price for it.

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Righto I best say something clever so I get notifications then.

I dunno about that waxoyl internally. I did it on my first then I waited 3 years for it to dry.

Axle slipped? Wow...hard miles...no better man!

Waxoyl never dries :eek:, but it'll be only on the inner panels at the bottom of the van, before the insulation goes in. help keep the rust out where it can't be seen. There and inside all the panel supports and so on - at the bottom anyway

As for the axle - the last owner said the handbrake cable broke a few weeks ago and it's been like that since, though he didn't notice it until it was pointed out to him.
My theory is that he hit something, and the u-bolts are stretched enough that the axle popped off the locator pin from the spring

You have a Sprinter too?

Got under the van today to have a look at the issue surrounding the back axle.

Turns out that the spring is broken on the passenger side, which was suggested to me by a parts dealer last week.

Will pick up another spring this week and replace it next weekend



As I was looking, there does seem to be a bit of rust around the spring hanger, but again it's all surface rust that hasn't gotten all the way through.

Will be treated as part of the Schutz-ing of the underside




Look ok other than that

I wire brushed down all the surface rust inside the van and treated it with Loctite Rust Remedy and then gave them two coats of red oxide primer to keep the rust at bay.

I'll do the same with the surface rust on the outside too.

In case anyone is interested in the potential layout of this build, these are some sketchup drawings of potential layouts that I can use.

Have plenty of the flooring underlay lying around so I can use that..
Did you screw them directly to / through the floor?

What purpose does the antinox serve?

Fixed a few broken bits today, found some more broken bits.

The spring wasn't without it's challenges, but given the state of the underside of the van (meaning really clean), and the fact that I dosed the bolts with GT-85 a few times last week - it went remarkable swimmingly.

All the bolts came out very easily. We did have a pneumatic air gun which helped immensely.
Since the spring was broken and about two inches of a gap between each piece, the axle had shifted backwards on that side. It was crabbing on the road when it was been driven, and the tyre was occasionally rubbing against the wheel well.
We tried pulling the axle forwards, hitting it with a sledge and tying a strap to it and pulling as it was ratcheting in. No dice, it wouldn't come forwards enough to the locating pin. We disconnected the shock from the axle and there was no tension on the drive shaft.
I figured that the other side of the van's u bolts were holding the axle at the wrong axle and since they were tight there was no give.
I loosened these bolts and bang, it flew back to its normal position.
A little sprinkling of copper grease, all torqued back up to 180nm and job's a good-un.

Replaced the drop link on the passenger side and the two rubber bushings on the anti roll bar are knackered. They need replacing.
The ECU was reporting open circuit on both rear wheels, and the culprits were most likely broken wires. They were. One of the sensors had a broken wire at the plug, there was another broken wire where the loom goes around the chassis. Repaired the wire and no more abs faults - Yaay.

Took the van for a run and the Battery light came on as I was driving. I got back and the alternator isn't giving out power, or it is at about 12.5v so it needs re-conditioning. Well spotted by Sir Liamalot



I didn't realise the image was blurry until long after I was finished.

That ugly builders bumper was cracked, and was catching on the passenger side rear door when it opened.

I got rid of it.

Some more minor updates for this week.

Picked up a set of anti-roll bar bushings for the van this week and fitted them this evening. Not a difficult job, but movement was quite restricted with a ratchet and socket and the effort needed to remove the bolts.
I ended up using a torque wrench because of the leverage I got with it. Bit of copper grease on them and they flew back in again. Nothing really exciting about it to be fair.