Al's Adventures In Conversionland

[Strange Al]

Welcome to my conversion thread.

We bought out van back in Feb, since then I've been carrying out work in fits and bursts as time allows but with easter holidays upon me, it's now full steam ahead with getting as much done as possible before work once again ruins my fun.

Before

• Strange Al
• 17 Feb 2019

First thing first involved loosing the seats, seat brackets and carpet.

Carpet out

• Strange Al
• 2 Mar 2019

We fitted a camping heater, yes I know shuttles already have an aux heater but for the price of adapting it to be a parking heater that wouldn't kill the van battery, it made more sense just to get a dedicated unit. Fitting was actually made simpler having the aux heater already installed as I just took a Y junction and installed it into the existing fuel line. Fitting the rest of the heater was straightforward - the video on the Kiravans website is excellent and a must watch for anyone thinking of attempting to fit one.

Fuel Pump Mounting

• Strange Al
• 17 Feb 2019

Heater mounted

• Strange Al
• 17 Feb 2019

Next up, fitting the electrics, leisure battery, charger controller and associated cabling. What a mammoth task, front seats out carpet up, and then getting all of the cables to the right length. Martin at Travel Volts supplied all of the equipment. I went with the Voltronic 30-20-250 three way charger. I know this is an unusual choice seeing as how most people normally go with the CTecs, but I wanted something that would charge DC-DC, from 240V mains or from Solar, the Voltronic will do all three and protect the battery all in one box.

Floor up, charge cable running commence!

• Strange Al
• 17 Feb 2019

Voltronic Charger going in, with 12v distribution box.

Mains fuse box going in.

aaaand in. Somehow managed to get it so that none of the cables touch the hot air pipe, though I might wrap it in some insulation just in case.


Pro's of 110Amp/hr batteries - long life. Downside - bloody big!

...but I got there in the end. Even managed to make the cables look not a complete rats nest!

Next up, Insulation!

 

[Strange Al]

Turns out I'm bloody lazy when it comes to updating my own posts!

With the van not due to have its roof fitted for a few weeks, it was time to crack on with the batons and sound insulation; inspiration and direction courtesy of the forum .


Pre Tecsound fitting


Tecsound down.


I didn't go for the full coverage on the panels. The sound proofing pre fitted by VW had already gone a long way to cutting out the worst of the usual tinniness of the panels, so I just added a few extra sheets to increase the effect. Seemed a shame not to put the original soft pads back in on top of the Silent coat as well - couldn't hurt could it?


Bit of spare Tecsound around the wheel arch.


...and then the original covers back on as well (too much?). I wouldn't recommend doing this if you're going to carpet the wheel arches normally as the finish looks terrible, but as mine are hidden by the side trim and cupboards I don't mind.

 

[Strange Al]

I got the van back from VanDoc who fitted my HiLo just in time for Easter. Time for more work...


Any template to remind me where the batons were for screwing down. The vinyl was fairly straight forward which surprised me; I'm the kind of guy who can't even fir a phone screen protector without having a dozen bubbles in it! Not sure if this is normal though, but the vinyl did require quite a bit of trimming down to make it fit, and that was without the issues i was always going to have converting a shuttle and not a panel van!

With the floor down, I got sidetracked with fitting the lights down the passenger side. I fitted a dimmer switch at the bed end to control at night and a 3 way switch by the sliding door which i patched into the side step light feed so the lights come on when the door is opened - that was to stop my daughter trying to mess with them constantly as much as it was for convenience!


Yes yes I fitted insulation. Wanna fight about it?

 

[Strange Al]

Electrics: 2 x 12v for usb chargers, 240v mains, video and audio cables to run to the head unit that I planned to fit at some point and the rear heater unit controller that had to be extended back by half a meter to make it reach.

I had originally hoped to keep the trim panels on both sides of the van, but a quick test with the Eco units showed that this would be a major faff, so I went with the traditional ply and carpet option on the drivers side.


Before.


Top Tip; when mounting your electrics, don't forget that you have an over kitchen locker to fit as well! But more on that later...

I wanted to run the output from the heater to the middle of the van in front of the rib bed, so the lower outlet was routed forwards behind the panel.

all ready for the carpet.

which actually went in really nicely. I'd had sleepless nights over doing this bit but in the end I was really happy with the finish (though not as happy as my wife was with her efforts mowing the lawn ). Though as you can see I still hadn't remembered about the over kitchen locker .

 

[Strange Al]

So with the panel all carpeted, i could move onto fitting the units i'd been slowly assembling over the last few months. I had to do some serious work to get them cut into the side properly, mainly on the kitchen worktop and on the rear most panel of the cupboards. I also had to take the kitchen end panel off of the cupboards and leaver it and the rest of the unit into place - it was a seriously tight fit.


The high outlet for the rear heater unit was concealed in the cupboards themselves, and mostly in the gap where the trambor doors run into. They both still fully open, and as a bonus, I'm never going to have to worry about them disappearing wholly into the void and the duct stops that from happening.

Installed and not going anywhere.


Fast forward to having the RIB we took from our old T5 back from Vision Leisure who reupholstered it and our front seats. Love the finish, hated the fitting experience. With the original panel trim on the passenger side, it just (and i mean only just) fitted. I had to do a little cutting to make space for the back board adjusting handle but got there in the end.