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Ford Transit conversion to camper MKII
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Tackled installing the water tanks under the van.
Fresh water first:
Thought I took other photos of this one, but I guess not. I added a 1/2 inch tank fitting at the bottom of the tank for draining / pumping and wrapped it in the 2mm foam I head left over from lining the roof. Extended the cables for the water meter while I was at it.
Waste Water
My theory on this one is to use it as an indicator for the tank being full. When it is full it'll close the contact between the two bolts and I'll attach it to an led or something similar.....
Added the 19mm plastic inlet to the tank and also a 3/4 inch tank fitting to drain the tank. I figure this may have some particles and other stuff that you don't want clogging up the drain when you're trying to empty it. Wrapped it the same as the other one.
Some pipe lagging, galvo-band and some bolts later, they're in
Think I'll give it the stonechip treatment. The gold is a bit much under the van.
Next up will be pluming the drain valves etc...0 -
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Dug this bad boy out. Took a while - I'm convinced that it was glued in as it wouldn't shift at all. Eventually the heat gun was the job for it, just needed a little encouragement.
New valve arrived
I'm a terrible person for procrastinating. I do it far more often than I should and sometimes I find myself standing looking at something thinking about it rather than getting on with it. I'm actively trying to avoid doing that so I fitted the new valve and tested the water heater for leaks. One way valve does the job and no leakey leakey so I got stuck in to fitting the heater on the side of the van
chop chop
Bit of primer for the edges and job's a good-un
I've sealed it with silcone for a few reasons. Firstly being that it's simple to remove as the heater may need to come out every now and again. Secondly it'll not be letting in much water, moreso just that it'll keep the water out from when it's on the road. It should be adequate.
Speaking of leaks. I noticed a drip on the inside of the driver side window. The frame at the top of the drip (in the middle of the window that opens) is wet.
I've thought about it some and I've concluded that the window seal isn't the problem here. I made doubly sure after the last time that it wasn't leaking and it's only materialised now and not any time after the rain.
One of the kids was messing with the window so I'll check that that's not the issue of being slightly open but I'm doubtful. I think it's the skylight and the water is running down the vapour barrier and down the side of the van, though I need to do some more investigations to find the root cause. Suspicion is the skylight at the moment though.0 -
Made some drawers
I say made, more like I got the kits and cut bases and rears to size.
Not bad at all.
Did some of the gas plumbing today too. I installed the box for the 5kg cylinder. It can always be changed to the bigger one if needed. Added a drop vent in the box too, but no door built as of yet.
Leak tested all the fittings with soapy water and they're all solid. I'm confident there's no issues with leaks
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Been a while, so I though I'd post an update. I've been doing bits and pieces on and off, some things not worth taking photo's of.
Installed sockets in the kitchen and light switches. Had to run more cables. One of the switches controls the lights in the bed, and there's another switch in the bed to control them too. Other switch controls the lights in the front of the van, although at the minute there's only the one over the seats..
Ordered a fridge for the van. It's a domestic countertop fridge but larger than the standard ones there are so that's a plus. Also has a mini freezer. As a plus the appliance is also A+ rated and the ones I was looking at before were G rated.
Needed to do some fettling to get it to fit. One of the adjustable legs that was part of the door bracket was too far forward and wouldn't allow the fridge to slide forward enough so that had to go. I added a bolt further back to act as a leg and it's the job. I had to raise the fridge up by 9mm for the door to clear the conduit that's holding the cables. As a result I had to raise the rails for the bed by an inch and a half which is no big deal really.
Not permanently fixed yet but you can see how it's sitting together.
Started making the doors for the kitchen cupboards. Ran out of time today so hopefully I'll get more finished tomorrow
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More work on the kitchen. I've enlisted the help of my eldest, so there's painting taking place in the background too. The black looks quite good in the 'garage' area..
I'm no cabinet maker, but not a bad attempt when the highest precision available is a circular saw. I tried to keep the drawer lines matching on both sides. I'm not sure if I'm completely sold on the top piece. Looks like there's far too much on one side, but we'll see how it looks.....
They'll all need to come out again to be sanded and varnished to seal them, but all in all....... not too shabby.
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Added the control panel in the shelf above the kitchen will all my needed toys and accoutrements and wired them all in. I've not physically tested the water meter by filling the tank, but when I press the button on it, there is an additional power draw on the batteries. Minimal but around 300MA, so It's doing something anyway. I'll need to get some push button switch with an led or something like that for the waste water switch idea that I came up with.
I like the power meter very much (Cheers for the tip Sir Liam). Incidentally I was digging at the back of the alternator and I found a broken wire that goes into it. Not the main power one no, but could've been what the dash was getting sent. I repaired it and started the van and the meter is showing about 35A of a charge going into the batteries. Originally the batter light would come on when you were driving. I've not had it on the road again to verify this as of yet.
I know I said I was getting 12.something volts at the battery with the van running, but checking again now and I'm getting 14V at the alternator and the starter battery.
With all the lights on at the minute, it shows a draw of about 4.5A, going up to 5 when the inverter is on. At that, it increases slightly again but the number escapes me when the fridge is plugged in. (It's an A+ rated fridge)0 -
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Managed to get in touch with a fellow builder who has a scrap 06 MK6 van and I've snaffled the missing bumper for the rear of the van. I also got the rear and sliding door locks. My rear door won't lock at all and when the sliding door does lock it generally doesn't open again from the key, it takes manual intervention. The new lock now locks at the back and the sliding door unlocks.
Honestly I think it's just wear and tear on the locks, after all this was a courier van in a previous life. The actuators for the locks work completely fine.
Installed the brackets and schutz'd them
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Went to town with the black paint. Also notice that I added a door to the gas holder with some rubber seal around the doors.
All the kitchen doors are being varnished at the moment, with yacht varnish. Should last the lifecycle of the van.
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In another edition of shit that need's fixing, the lcd on my instrument cluster has failed. It was working when I got it but gradually stopped working over the winter.
This van is reasonably high spec, in that it's got cruise control and an onboard computer. I got a replacement but it's for the poverty spec model of the van, and has the buttons on the display for the mileage and the time. consequently the onboard computer from the indicator stalks doesn't work so that's no use to me. (notice the red info light between the two gauges)
From ringing breakers they rekon that the RWD model of the van is different to the FWD model.
I found a replacement in a breakers in cavan but I'd like to know that this will fix it before I make the trip and fork out another bundle of cash on useless shit.
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Your carpeted window recesses in the back look great. Hadn’t noticed them before.
Thanks, though forgiving as that carpet is, it could have been a bit more forgiving.
Decided I didin't like the panel for the controls, so I changed it.
I fired up the gas boiler today and it started running no problem. The water filter was leaking above the heater during testing, and when I ran it it was working away for a while and then stopped with no obvious errors. The green light was still on but the red beside it was slightly lit too. I think the water may have leaked around the tank and into the control box under the heater. Time to research error codes...
Research done. The manual says that "No gas or air in the supply line" though there is gas, I can get the cooker running. When I do turn it on there's no real attempt to try to light again before it fails. I'll check it again tomorrow to see if it dries out or something.
Hard to see, but you can just about make out the red light lit here.
My zig water gauge isn't working either, though not the end of the world. There is resistance between the two probes, and voltage going to the meter. Might need a bit of googling / research.
Also noticed that when plugging in the shore power, if the breaker is up for the sockets (and in this case the fridge was plugged in) It'll occasionally trip the breaker on the shore power. I can put it back up again and retry and it works. Not sure what's causing that one0 -
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That's better, replaced the instrument cluster with another that has a working lcd
Replaced one of the 12V sockets with some usb sockets
Also added in the bed slats.
I removed the water heater and it looks as though the board is knackered :mad:
Really pissed at this. It was working fine before I installed it. Now I need to see about sourcing a replacement for it. It's back in the van for the time being to fill the hole. I've bypassed it for now.0 -
Buford T Justice wrote: »...
and it looks as though the board is knackered
Really pissed at this. It was working fine before I installed it.
That's usually a sign there's a fault in the installation and or installation method.
I've had several expensive lessons in not wiring live systems.
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For clarity, this is the wire i repaired:
There was no way the battery was < 80% charge to show 50A charging, so I'll add that to my list of things to be tested when on our first pseudo road trip after we pull a reasonable amount of energy from the battery.
In other news, I replaced the doors on the back of the van for some slightly less bent & cracked doors, plus the locking mechanism actually locks the doors - who knew?
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Failed, naturally but not for the reasons I'd thought it would fail for.
Two bushings in the rear of the front wishbones, insufficient braking effort on the rear and handbrake effort. Corrosion on the brake pipes on the rear axle.
As it transpires the handbrake cable was seized on the offside (the side I didn't replace earlier) so I replaced that cable. Tried to wind back the caliper on that side for new pads and it worked fine. As a result of the handbrake cable seized on, it had worn the sliders on the caliper so I had to get a new one from a dismantlers. New pads fitted to that side and all was good.
Tried to wind back the near side (the one with the better handbrake & braking effort) and the calliper was seized so I've replaced that caliper for a reconditioned one. New pads on that side too
Same discs as they are in reasonably good order.
Tackled the front wishbones but would they fuck budge. Offside rear bolt was seized solid but everything else came out.
Tried the nearside, but the bolt at the bottom of the balljoint was not threading out the whole way. Broke 3 T50's trying to get them out.
Thought about it for a while and I decided that heat and brute force was the order of the day for both issues.
Bastards!
Considering the prices and the amount of effort and guntering to get the wishbones out I decided against trying to press out the bushings so I've ordered two complete wishbones which have all bushings in them so they'll be all new. Have a new ball joint to replace the one that was persuaded out gently.
The brakes were sticking after a period on the front of the van, and it's a symptom of the interior of the front flexi hoses disintegrating and coming awaiting in bits and blocking the fluid. I've ordered two replacement hoses too.
SQI inspector is happy with the condition of everything with the exception of the bolts holding the rears seats in the van, he want's them plated so that's on my todo list this week too.
More to come.0 -
Had my wallet lightened this evening with the arrival of the SQI inspector. He's happy with the plates under the seats and has issued my SQI certificate.
Ironically enough, I sent him photos of the plates under the seats (below) as he had asked, but when he arrived I had the seats out of the van. I'm sealing the floor to take a self adhesive flooring. Alls well that ends well.
Jobs done in the last week:- 2X wishbones replaced - Luckily I had only one partially sized bolt on the offside, and the balljoint bolt on the near side.
- 2x new flexi brake hoses on the front wheels
- new nearside balljoint
- new caliper on the nearside rear
- new rear pads
- new offside handbrake cable
- 2nd hand offside rear sliders
- Sanded & painted the rear brake lines on the axle
- Spray grease on the brake lines to keep dirt / corrosion at bay
Took her for a few spins and dragged her around the place with the handbrake on to clear the rear discs / bed the pads in and it's much improved
The oil leak that sprun was caused by this bad boy - the inspection cover on the timing chain cover. I took it out, cleaned it and re seated it again but it made no difference. Seconds our round 2, instant gasket to the rescue and that sealed it nicely. The below pic makes it obvious.
DOE round two tomorrow.0 -
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Sir Liamalot wrote: »I always check the rear brake balance by sticking the rear axle in the air, engaging neutral and spinning the driveshaft by hand with the handbrake 3 clicks in.
...mostly because I have a leaky diff. bleeding into the drum on one side.
They heart failing people on rusty brake lines...wire wheel on steel lines is better than replacing them for copper if you ask me.
Meanwhile, I built that inverter transfer system:
"Buy some fancy stuff of I'm not interested in doing it", - I lol'd
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Added a floor. Not sure about the quality or longevity of it, but we'll see. Also decided to mount the bathroom door on the outside of the bathroom rather than the inside. God know's why but here we are
As it turned out, the join between the two sheets on the sub floor matched the joint between the boards, so the height difference at the front is obvious. I couldn't get the two boards to sit side by side.
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Decided I wasn't happy with the galvoband straps holding the tanks under the van so I made some steel brackets that are bolted to the chassis. Surprisingly, the fresh water tank didn't fully drain when it was left to do so.
I think both tanks will need a vent at the top of them.....
Applied some wallpaper. Hopefully like shit when you throw enough of it, it sticks
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So the insurance company have said that they want the signage removed from my van, as they won't provide cover with advertising
Signage
On the van
Sigh. So I had to tackle the paint on the front of the van. I had to tackle the rust spots on the roof. I cleaned them off and added some kurust to stop the tin worm.
I thought I might as well do the bonnet while I was at it and have them the same colour.
Couple of problems:
I used too rough a grit when I rubbed down the bonnet so I can see the scratches under the paint now, although it needs a second coat.
The divots where the rust was ground out is visible over the roof too. Trying to get over to the middle of the roof was a nightmare on a ladder, so I'm not entirely happy with it.
I think the solution (since I'm not a bodybuilder) when it's time to paint it properly is to stone chip it all the way up, and paint over it. Stone chip on the bottom of the van was very forgiving.
Guess I'll see how the second coat looks tomorrow.0 -
Second coat does look much better I have to say, but I'm still not entirely happy with it. I'll do for now I suppose
In a stroke of genius I managed to bungle the manifold on my air compressor. It's fucked, so no more stone chipping / spray painting or anything of the compressed air variety until I get this fixed.... Bollox
Not entirely sure where I can get another manifold one for a reasonable price
Anyhoo, I ordered some curtains from china a while back and was a bit disappointed when I found out they weren't wide enough to fit the windows of the van. Was a bit bummed out until I thought to order another set. They came and my local seamstress (aka my mother) made extended my curtains for me.
Nice.
I've only done one side of the van yet. Tackling the sliding door is still on my todo list.0 -
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So where was I before the big lockout?
Aah yes... Since the success of the wallpaper and how it was working quite well, I thought I'd extend its use. Paste the wall paper flew on with complete ease. I panelled out the back doors, which was easier than you'd think when you realise that you already have old panels to use as templates. Insulated the doors, but not the bottom panels where the locking mechanisms are.
Bittov paste the wall paper and bob's your uncle. I'l also mention that they were all primed with a pva / water solution beforehand.
Since I was on a roll here I ripped out all the plastic sticky stuff from the bathroom that was coming away and it got the same treatment
Before I completed the doors i tackled the spare wheel. Since I don't have a carrier under the van and I can't fit it with the water tanks there the only logical place for it is on the back door. I got the carrier from an aul mitsubiishi jeep and made some modifications to it. Along with that I welded in a bit of unistrut inside the door to give some rigidity to the top to stop it wobbling on the road and it's fairly solid now
Insurance is a bitch now. I've sent all the forms and stuff off to the revenue which will take a while to come back sadly. Dolmen won't provide cover until I get an acknowledgement from the revenue so that's out. Stuarts won't provide cover because I have a claim on my policy within the last 5 years.
I'll have to ring the MCC tomorrow and see if there's anything they can do for me as I'm afraid that waiting on the revenue will mean the summer will be over before anything else happens
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