Van projects

[JhnBssll]

Wondered if anyone had converted their vans for specific roles... After all my troubles with my Passat I'm finally rid of it and have a fairly long wait until I get my next company car delivered, so have picked up a 2006 Ford Transit Connect as an interim, maybe longer term hack 😊 She's done a relatively low mileage for her age at 125k, has a full service history including belts and has just had the clutch and sills replaced so should be good for another 125k now

I intend to use it mainly to cart my bikes around with, it won't have a hard life, and am currently considering how to safely load and store the bikes in the back. I've seen solutions using the fork legs to clamp the bike to the floor with the front wheel out so thats an option, wondered if anyone else had seen anything different? It will need to carry both road and mountain bikes, theres plenty of space in the back but I'd like to use it as neatly as possible because I'm OCD about these things

I'll get rid of the roof rack, it's all bent up and I'm not sure I'll ever really use it. I may look for some sort of awning for the sliding door side and I'm tempted to pop some nicer wheels on it but theres lots of bits to tidy up before i start spending too much money. I will be looking to replace the stereo with something that will do hands free bluetooth connectivity and is compatible with a rear view camera as one of the first jobs, before I reverse in to anything I've gone from a car with a camera, sensors and a rear windscreen to a big van with just two wing mirrors - I'm sure I'll get used to it quite quickly but it'll be nice to see where I'm going none the less

 

[Gunk]

You are truly crazy John! What on earth are you thinking

 

[battered]

A toast rack and some bungees will do it. So will a hanging arrangement. This may not be neat enough for you. Part of your design needs to consider how to stop them flapping about and rubbing on the sides. Bungees and carpet will do this, but again, how aesthetically pleasing does it need to be?

 

[HMS_Dave]

An old school friend brought a van for his first car. He put a water bed in it and turned it in to a "sh@g" mobile... I saw him years later and he's still single.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

An old school friend brought a van for his first car. He put a water bed in it and turned it in to a "sh@g" mobile... I saw him years later and he's still single.

My first car was a minivan that the previous owner had converted into a passion wagon. He sold it when he got a woman pregnant.
I never found any girls willing to go in the back....despite the sheepskin rug😢

 

[Gunk]

My first car was a minivan that the previous owner had converted into a passion wagon. He sold it when he got a woman pregnant.
I never found any girls willing to go in the back....despite the sheepskin rug😢

 

[JhnBssll]

You are truly crazy John! What on earth are you thinking

The logic is pretty sound (in my head at least!)... I'm basically getting a free car when the company car arrives, but it will be electric and won't be a big estate like the Passat. I found the space in the Passat super useful, but being careful about keeping it clean when using the space for things like tip runs was a pain. Now I have a cheap van - even more space and I don't have to be careful We drove down to the sea front and ate our fish and chips in it earlier, it was great fun. My wife is already planning trips and earlier mentioned we could "fit a microwave" somewhere in it She's almost as bad as me

So far I've ordered: a Mk6 Fiesta steering wheel, a Pioneer head unit, some pioneer door speakers, a rear view camera, a dash cam hardwire kit and some bungs to fill the holes in the roof when the rack comes off 😄 I'm now looking for some nice floor matts then I'll be done for now

 

[fossyant]

Good choice. I'd be going for the fork mounts to hold the bike securely. Maybe some racking for bike kit/camping gear

 

[fossyant]

Oh and paint the ply a grey colour ! LED lighting... could go on... camping stove for brews by the sea.

 

[battered]

It's a bit small for stealth camping. The Tranny Custom is the size up and big enough for a bed. Good fun as a "day van" though. I once had a Renault Kangoo as a hire car on a climbing holiday, it was fantastic. The liftup rear hatch meant you ad somewhere to sit when it rained, and get out of wet gear. It was also big enough to toss rucksacks in without worrying about paintwork, it had 2 sunroofs (!) and the sliding side doors could be opened on hot days. If it were just a *little* bit longer you could make that work a treat. Ford do a Tourneo, a minibus (they call it a SUV but we know what that means) the size of a Tranny Custom, I reckon that might be ideal as a stealth camper and sufficiently pretty to use for work and domestic duties too.

 

[Salad Dodger]

Leave the roof bars on. Buy a small tarp and tie/karabiner it to the roof bars (when you are parked, obviously!) and get a couple of tent poles to prop the other end of the tarp. A couple of guy lines to hold it up. Sorted.

 

[Salad Dodger]

There is a YouTube channel called Athena Mellor. She and her partner have one of those vans and have fitted it out as a campervan. They did a trip to Skye(?) in it, where you can see how it was fitted out.

 

[JhnBssll]

I managed to source some bits from scrappies to convert the windows and mirrors to electric. Most of the bits arrived today so I've spent the afternoon playing with the van I stripped the drivers door down and gave it a bit of a clean inside as it was fairly grim in places I also cleaned the parts from the scrap yard as they were also a bit grim 😄 Here are the old and new winder assemblies, new electric on the left and old manual on the right...

And here are the old and new drivers door looms laid out next to each other...

Here's the door partially reassembled after I'd fitted the new electric winder and refitted the glass...

Then in went the loom before reassembling the trim... I haven't swapped the mirror on this side as the replacement hasn't arrived but the door trim will be coming off again shortly to replace the speaker so I'll combine those jobs.

Same again on the other side, but this time I had the replacement mirror so fitted that too. With two new fuses in the designated fusebox positions all is working as it should

The replacement steering wheel should arrive tomorrow so I can get rid of this grotty old one and fit some carpet mats. I've sourced a new centre dash console with a double DIN opening to replace the stereo with something that will do hands free voice calls and a rear view camera Good van progress so far Back to building for a while now

 

[BoldonLad]

It may be worth looking at products (cycle carriers) intended for use with Motorhomes. Fiamma and (I. think) Thule, do a variety of products to carry bicycles externally and internally (in Motorhome "garage"). The products include slide out units to allow easy loading/unloading.

 

[JhnBssll]

It may be worth looking at products (cycle carriers) intended for use with Motorhomes. Fiamma and (I. think) Thule, do a variety of products to carry bicycles externally and internally (in Motorhome "garage"). The products include slide out units to allow easy loading/unloading.

Good plan, I'll definitely investigate the slide out units as that sounds like a fun install

I had a few more deliveries today - The drivers side electric mirror arrived, along with the steering wheel and the first of the stereo bits

Heres the replacement steering wheel, not bad for £40! It looks barely used and is leather unlike the original

Here is the head unit and speakers...

I've already fitted the mirror and the drivers side speaker - I'll try and do the passenger side speaker and steering wheel tomorrow I need to wait for a few more bits to arrive before I can start hacking the dash about to fit the new stereo but that may be a job for the weekend