DIY very cheap day camper/ jetski / motorbike van

[OldGermanHeaps]

Ok, I have bought a very cheap swb trafic from the scrappy and I am in the process of cutting the roof off a mazda bongo friendee aft with an electric pop up roof tent with a double bed in it. I will chop a hole in the trafic roof, make a reinforcing frame from box section and weld in the full bongo roof.
£500 into it so far.
It has a towbar and rear side windows and is fully insulated already so a good start.
I am open to suggestions for floorplan, double bed and seating would like 2 seatbelts in the rear for 5 passengers total, want a hob, microwave/oven combo and a wee sink and a heated shower on a long hose out the back door, and when travelling I need space for a 50cc kids quad and a 50cc kids motocrosser.
I also plan on a tall cupboard with a waterproof interior, drain in the floor and a small fan and vent, for hanging 5 wetsuits in.
Any suggestions welcome...

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Friday 16th August 11:44

[Shuff4]

Will follow this with abit of interest,

I’m also looking into this idea, but solely for kids motorbikes and a adults trials every now and then, but a rear mount may suffice for this.

[OldGermanHeaps]

a sprinter would be good for that, sprinters have a better drivetrain and fixtures and fittings, the reason I went for a renault is in my opinion renaults are the most rust resistant vans out there, and i will be launching a jetski into the sea from it, I suspect a sprinter would last about 2 outings to the beach before dissolving.
I just hope the gearbox lasts.

[zoom star]

I thought the traffic, vivaro, etc had big issues with injectors, rusting/ welding themselves into the block

[OldGermanHeaps]

zoom star said:

I thought the traffic, vivaro, etc had big issues with injectors, rusting/ welding themselves into the block

thats the early 2.0s, this is a 1.9, doesnt suffer the same fate, bits are cheaper and better on juice.
cambelt is a knuckleskinner though

[OldGermanHeaps]

I havent got the papers yet, no new keepers suppliment or anything like that, waiting on them from the selle, but I need a rear plate to get it through the mot.
Is there anywhere left online where I can order one without all the fking about and jumping through hoops they make you do now? This is beyond a joke.
EDIT - nevermind, every ebay seller and all the websites I checked wanted your birth certificate, registration documents, originals sent in the post, your inside leg measurements and naked selfies but amazon doesnt seem to give a st about any of that.

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Friday 16th August 22:20

[OldGermanHeaps]

ok, purchased
all 4 discs and pads
1 rear caliper
2 front caliper rebuild kits and slide kits
drop links
d bushes
rear springs
wiper blades
number plates
timing belt and tensioners
water pump
aux belt
air oil fuel filters
synthetic oil
hazard light switch
used but working abs pump
called in a few trade favours so that little lot only came to £300
probably could have spent less on the niceities and more used bits if I was properly tightfisted but my mrs is going to be driving this so I want it to be as good as it can be within reason.
I had one of these with 270k on it and it drove like a dream, the guy I sold it to is still happy with it. This one only has 114k on it so i have high hopes for this one.

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Friday 16th August 22:48

[227bhp]

OldGermanHeaps said:

zoom star said:

I thought the traffic, vivaro, etc had big issues with injectors, rusting/ welding themselves into the block

thats the early 2.0s, this is a 1.9, doesnt suffer the same fate, bits are cheaper and better on juice.
cambelt is a knuckleskinner though

No that's all of them. They had an issue with a poor design meaning rain water dripped onto the top of the engine.

[OldGermanHeaps]

227bhp said:

No that's all of them. They had an issue with a poor design meaning rain water dripped onto the top of the engine.

Most of them should have the scuttle fix by now, but the 1.9s the injectors come out reasonably easy with a slide hammer even when they are waterlogged, the 2.0s have a habit of snapping.
injectors are fine on this one though, runs well. I will investigate the scuttle seal when I am servicing it.

[ColinM50]

Which one's yours OGH? The one on the left or right?

[FredericRobinson]

I've got a same vintage Trafic with sink, hob and cupboards, and a rock n roll bed, I'm not sure how you'll mange to fit the other bits in you're looking for though? I'd guess you might have to compromise on the bed and get a tent or awning to sleep in, mine's barely a single and a half rather than a double as it is and there's no room for permanent seats.

[OldGermanHeaps]

ColinM50 said:

Which one's yours OGH? The one on the left or right?

the one on the left was my first attempt at using a hotspanner. I think I have it sussed this time though.
Hopefully.

[OldGermanHeaps]

FredericRobinson said:

I've got a same vintage Trafic with sink, hob and cupboards, and a rock n roll bed, I'm not sure how you'll mange to fit the other bits in you're looking for though? I'd guess you might have to compromise on the bed and get a tent or awning to sleep in, mine's barely a single and a half rather than a double as it is and there's no room for permanent seats.

I am trying to decide between a 3/4 double rock and roll bed and one of these https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...
and a fold away table, the tall unit would fit the wetsuits, and the quad and motocrosser will fit behind the cab seats when the table is folded away and the ringo can sit between the back of the rock and roll seat and the back doors.

this layout here
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...
or go with this layout here:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...
with a bigger bed but more pissing about at bedtime, and the wetsuits would be folded and stored in plastic boxes under the seating accesed via the back doors. I would need to measure if the quad would still fit.
either floorplan its getting an electric popup roof with a double bed in the roof, stripped from one of these: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

[hyphen]

Has that funny looking blue and white smudge been removed from the front yet?

[bristolracer]

Post some pics up of the bongo roof when done.
There's going to be loads of bongos dying soon of rust and emissions issues so will be interesting to see the roof done.


Maybe a box trailer?

[OldGermanHeaps]

hyphen said:

Has that funny looking blue and white smudge been removed from the front yet?

was considering vinyl wrapping the bonnet in blue chrome then a white saltire over it, but unfortunately the saltire has been hijacked by independance tadgers and I'm not for that. still might end up with a union jack bonnet but not sure because of some of the places it will be getting parked.
Havent done a thing to it yet, still gathering parts. Unfortunately the van I was stripping bits off got torched yesterday so need to find another abs pump, and instead of rebuilding the calipers i was going to take off the other van I will just rebuild the calipers on my van.
the bongo roof swap will be well documented, there are quite a few bongo roof swaps on vitos, trafics and transporters, but only completed pics, only came across 1 example of work in progress pics.

[OldGermanHeaps]

mixed bag today, the van i was going to take the abs pump off was torched and the other ones at the breakers had the wrong pump,
the code is c0133, which is often a dry or corroded joint, but in this case the return pump motor one of the magnets had cracked and the fragments damaged the brushes

the control board and hydraulic block are good so I will have a wander round the scrappy looking for a TRW pump with the same return motor.
on the plus side finally got the bongo roof motors unseized, plenty of gt85, hammer taps and when rocking them back and forward with 12v failed, they were only moving half an inch I started rocking them back and forward with an 18v drill battery which shocked them free, a bit of grease and they are now free and easy, fair zips up and down just off 12V off the jump start pack.

another plus is theengine and boxin the trafic is great, pulls hard, no smoke, box looks recently rebuilt and the clutch is1finger light, no bangs rattles or clonks and the steering is tight.

Edited by OldGermanHeaps on Monday 19th August 22:29

[bristolracer]

Good news about the vivaro.
I think they are great vans, yes they can have faults but they are well documented and fixable.

That bongo is looking well crusty, the previous owners have clearly spent cash on resprays/wheels but couldnt fight off the rot

[OldGermanHeaps]

yep its a fred flintstone mobile, big holes in the floor and sills plus the timing belt is snapped. no rust on the roof though.

[OldGermanHeaps]

got these, they are pretty gubbed, but nothing that a bit of sandblasting and some high build primer wont solve. The tyres off my old allroad wheels fit and are suitably load rated.