Van to Camper - a bus for everything

[Tampon]

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Updates of the build throughout-----

So after many different cars, mainly big cruisers, normally estates because of the dogs, Omegas, Vectras and currently a Subaru Legacy ( hopefully sold soon) my wife and I decided we wanted a camper van. I drove to Ghana a year ago from London in two Nissan patrols


Little video
http://vimeo.com/47162711

Took 2 weeks, a few scary bits and a bit of hiding from Al-Qaeda camps in Mauritania but over all I loved it and after breaking down in the Iron mountains and having to sleep in 50 deg heat at night I thought I would like to try visiting somewhere cold. I had a idea and rang my wife from the Sahara on a sat phone and said I want to get a camper and drive to the arctic circle (not as hard as it first sounds, just go on a highway from Norway!).

She said yes and then after a year of looking for a van, going to auctions, nearly buying a couple of post office vans we eventually came across this 43,000 mile vivaro on the south coast advertised.



Checked it out, test drive, little haggle and we bought it for £4500, bargain.

First thing first check all known weak points ( ie gearbox and gear selector cables), second thing order rock and roll bed for the back and also get some windows put in her.

We rang round a few places and found a guy on eBay who did a deal for 2 side windows and two rear barn doors windows fitted for £375. I was going to do it myself but when I added the price of the glass alone it would have cost me £340 without the equipment or other materials so a no brainer really. Headed up to Derby from surrey and Alan had the windows in in 2 hrs. Left it a extra hour for the glue/sealant/mastic stuff to cure and we headed down to Warwickshire to pick up a roll and roll bed frame with a draw from these guys www.camperking.co.uk. When we got there we were very impressed with the set up and the amount of work they do, they must have had 7 newish VW in production and they let us wander round and get some ideas. Spencer gave me a hand to load my frame into the van and chatted for 20 mins about how I should go about different aspects of the build. Lovely guy.








So the glass makes a MASSIVE difference. I have driven luton vans for work before and gotten used to no rear veiw mirro and blind spots. With this glass it is just like driving a car, so much easier and makes it less intimidating for the wife as well which is a good thing.

The biggest issue was the tinted glass or clear. I wanted tinted to add privacy when parked up ( and cos it looks cooler) and my wife wanted clear as she was worried it would be too dark inside. Well I won but she is happy as well. This is what it looks like from the outside ( ie blacked out)


And this is what it is like from the inside


All in all every bodies a winner

Edited by Tampon on Monday 17th February 21:16

[Tampon]

So on to the next stage, the actual interior.

So I bought one of these


I also purchased 11 yoga mats off ebay for the princely sum of £15. The plan is to put squares of flashband on the panel wall and then glue the mats over the flat surfaces to take the ring and booming out of the van and then to use plastic bottle insulation in the voids with foil coated bubblewrap for insulation. With the metal beams having plastic fibres stuffed down them and then carpeting the walls and ply. The floor being flashbanded wheelarches, yoga mat on the floor with foil coated bubble insulation on top then ply then vinyl.

I have started on the wall panels and am doing a section at a time. The ply has been cut to fit the spaces so I will need to buy some carpet in the near future.


Having never done any of this it does feel a bit exciting but being a upholster by trade everything is similar to the skills I have.

I will update as things are done, or if anyone wants to know anything particular in more detail let me know before and I will try and document things as I do them.

[Tampon]

So a bit more work this weekend. The back of the bus is a mess die to it being the storage space for the rock and roll bed and all the insulation and tools whilst I am doing it. That and I am a messy bugger.

So I have added flashbanding to the ceiling and wheelarches and also started glue recycled bottle insulation to the yoga mats and then seal that in with foil sided bubble thermal wrap. All the hollows in the beal has got the insulation ripped up and pushed into it to fill those voids. I used gaffer tape to attach the bubble wrp to the beams and seal the small holes to try and prevent as much condensation from us sleeping in there to move around behind the walls.




Flashbanding


|http://thumbsnap.com/WfruBoci[/url]



Then the plastic insulation covered with the therma wrap



Sorry about the sideways pics, the quick upload function here doesn't recognise portrait photos

Also I wanted to get alloys for the van next year, but the look of it with though slightly pitted steels looks a touch "traveler". So I had a hunt around and found that vauxhall did a alloy like hibcap but these were £150 a set new.

I eventually found a proper vivaro set for sale second hand on ebay that finished at 2 in the morning on a thursday, which I won for £40.

So today I spent a while sanding, cleaning and priming the steels, then used a whole 500ml can of matt black to spray them to hide the steel part behind the wheel trims.

I think they have turned out pretty well for a £40 stop gap

Before




After

[Tampon]

The flooring has been ordered so I think the next stage is to get the ply floor up ( not as easy as it sounds as alot of the screws are made of toffee and rounded out). Clean and then mark out and drill 9 bolt holes through the floor for the rock and roll bed, Bolt it in via 5mm steel bars underneath that runs side to side for the bolts to go through to prevent the bed bolts pulling through the floor in a accident.

Then glue yoga mats and maybe a layer of thermal wrap then relay the ply and cut out and attach the vinyl flooring, then bolt the rock and rock bed upwards so the nuts are in the van rather than underneath to make removing the bed for moving motorbike and large things a touch easier.

[getawayturtle]

Great work! Love reading about leftfield vehicles like this, will be good seeing how the rest of it turns out, and to hear how your expidition goes!

[Rumple]

Watching with interest, im thinking of doing something similar.

[RumpleFugly]

Fantastic! Looks like a lot of fun.

Watching with interest

[mattman]

Try fitting an air filter in the roof - one of those spiny things - provides a bit of ventilation when sleeping at night without comprising security

[anonymous-user]

Looks fun!

[Tampon]

mattman said:

Try fitting an air filter in the roof - one of those spiny things - provides a bit of ventilation when sleeping at night without comprising security

K.I.S.S rule.

No hole in the roof means no leaks.

I am going to get some tinted wind deflectors for the front windows which will allow them to be cracked open when parked up and be protected when raining as well.


Also means I can trail a camping 240v hook up lead with rcd and sockets into the bus throw the slightly opened window if on a campsite. No need for complicated inverters and wiring systems or 240 volt plug hole in the side of the van either.


Keep mentioning ideas or flaws, I have done a lot of research but am a novice at this so there is tonnes I have probably missed.

[mattman]

Angry hornet graphics aka 90's Jordan F1??

[jamiebae]

Looks like a cool project. Why did you pick a Vivaro, was it a deliberate choice or just what you could get hold of?

[Tampon]

I have always like the shape of the Traffic/Vivaro/Primastar ever since EVO car mag ran one as a pool vehicle.

When I was looking into the vans I got scared off them due to their dodgy gearboxes and the problem with stuck injectors and the scuttle tray.

I started looking at Ducatos, transits and Maxus's. Ducato where over 2m tall and the maxus seemed to be made of clown car parts so were ruled out.

So that left Transits or LWB Partner/Expert/Relays as a smaller left field choice.

Then when we were properly looking at the auctions and going every week we saw a ad for a low milage vivaro in bright yellow ( I always wanted it to be black ideally but definitely be colored not just a white van ) I weighed up the chances of it having the issues at such low milage verses the price, and to seal the deal he had taken the wack on the VAT as he was a private buyer ( small non Vat reg business).

Did a bit of research pre purchase and found a healthy market in recon gearboxes fitted for £600 so figured it was doable worst came to worst.

So the plan is to do it up by the end of winter (has to be done by spring sue to the camper van insurance policy I have, on another point mega cheap compared to normal insurance!) and then drive it for a couple of years and then sell it for a profit ( it will stand me in for about £5700 when done) and then buy a better, newer base van with the money and do it again).

Only thing I have to worry about is a stuck injector but since I don;t know how to pull it out, I will fix the scuttle leak problem and keep spray injector release fluid in when I can, same for the gearbox cable attachment. A healthly does of WD40 every month or so to down to the selector bearings and keep the "no 1st or 2nd gear" problem away, and a liberal coat of thicker grease on the plastic cable fitting should prevent them popping off and leaving you with no gears at all. Also a regular change of the gearbox oil should help with the gearbox eating itself.

Preventative is better than reactive.

[Mark Benson]

Rumple said:

Watching with interest, im thinking of doing something similar.

Me too (on both counts).

Van buying seems to be a bit of a minefield, it's the bit I'm least looking forward to.

[Mashedpotatoes]

Bookmarked

[irish boy]

Great project....all the best with it!

[magooagain]

If you are heading up Norway etc. Have a good think about mosquito's. Open windows is not a good idea unless you have got some sort of fly blinds.

I hope to get up that way at some point. We have a campervan now but before that we went all over in our LWB transit high top work van.

We could fit our whole double bed in it,so it was very comfy. Dont skimp on your matress.

[LouD86]

Tampon said:

Only thing I have to worry about is a stuck injector but since I don;t know how to pull it out, I will fix the scuttle leak problem and keep spray injector release fluid in when I can

Have been reading this, and finding it interesting. Im in used Van Sales. So I deal with a lot of these.

Dont worry too much about the injector issues, I have great news.

If you have a decent service history, go to your Vauxhall dealer should you get any issues. Its not official release, but they will take the injector out, replace all four with brand new ones, under extended warranty. They have now admitted its an issue. Just had four 57 plate vans done at work, so a little more relaxing for you!

Better than 330 for an injector, and £120 for an injector pull!

[Tampon]

LouD86 said:

Have been reading this, and finding it interesting. Im in used Van Sales. So I deal with a lot of these.

Dont worry too much about the injector issues, I have great news.

If you have a decent service history, go to your Vauxhall dealer should you get any issues. Its not official release, but they will take the injector out, replace all four with brand new ones, under extended warranty. They have now admitted its an issue. Just had four 57 plate vans done at work, so a little more relaxing for you!

Better than 330 for an injector, and £120 for an injector pull!

Wow, to be honest I have been thinking worst case where they have to remove the head and smash it out from underneath ! Grand upwards for new injectors and head.

Good to know though thankyou, I will modify the scuttle to prevent the leak and fingers cross it will give me a couple of years motoring before I sell her on for another project.

[LouD86]

Worst case is then, they pay for a new head etc. So your covered, don't worry!

Always happy to help if I can, nothing worse than having another fellow PH'er going off and paying for work they don't need to!