T6 Swb Kombi To Camper Build Thread -stan

[Chris Joyce]

Hi all!

I've been lurking on the forum since early last year whilst looking into getting a t6 to convert in to a camper, picking up ideas and learning as much as I could, I have to say, this is a fantastic place with some very knowledgable people and I certainly wouldn't be able to take on a conversion without you all.

So after hours and hours of searching and a near purchase of a brand new t6 we decided to go for a White, SWB T28 that had been converted to a Kombi by James at custom transporters, we made the hour trip to take a look and after chatting to James we were happy to buy from him.

A few weeks later we took delivery and our journey began.

 

[Chris Joyce]

So as mentioned above Stan (as he's affectionately known by my better half) had been converted to a Kombi with the cushioned floor and triple bench seat, he'd also been carpet lined, in hindsight this wasn't the best way to go, we were thinking with the carpet lining and windows already in place it would save us a job, but as will be posted later it wasn't the best idea.

My advice to anyone converting would be to start from scratch!

For the next month or so we used the t6 daily and visited shows and picked up more ideas.

First few mods were the "golf" door seals and some side window deflectors, both purchased from travelinlite, door seals made a notable difference to both the closing sound and the road noise, I know some have mentioned they can't tell but I've definitely noticed so a thumbs up from me.

Next was a trip down to exmouth for a weekend, one thing I did learn was ill need a remap when it's converted, it's a 102 5 speed and once fully converted I don't think I'll cope with the hills down Dorset and Devon, places I plan on spending a lot more time.

 

[Chris Joyce]

So fast forward a few months and after many trips to shows and visiting converters we decided on our pop top, I think like many we loved the Hilo, but after visiting camper mart and sitting in a van we realised the headroom just wasn't cutting it for us, my thoughts all along have been to have a comfy seat/bed and I just didn't like the smart bed or other rock and rolls that would have given a bit more headroom with the Hilo, we checked out the rib on sliding rails and were really happy with that so we moved on to the skyline roof.

The spec we went for was :-

Standard gel White
Burgundy canvas
Scenic option
Bi fold bed

As can be seen below I chose not to have it carpeted as we hadn't fully decided on lights etc, and I needed to remove the current carpet to sound deaden and insulate so it made sense to start from scratch.

So all booked in with skyline in Western Super Mare I booked a couple of nights in a hotel as they wanted the van for a few days, dropped off on the Wednesday at around 4pm, they gave us a lift into the town and said it would be ready for 4:00pm Friday, to my surprise at 1:00 pm Thursday I had a call to say it was ready! As I had another night booked we were collected by skyline again on Friday morning.

To say we were over the moon with the result was an understatement, skyline were fantastic from start to finish and the workmanship is second to non, highly recommended.

 

[Chris Joyce]

That brings us pretty much up to date.

I'm currently working on removing the old carpet, which is a real pain, the carpet comes away ok but the glue is a sod to get off, I've managed to get hold of some spray from a friend which has acetone in and it's helped a lot.

I've already purchased the new carpet, sound deadening and insulation from Harrison's trim supplies so once I've finished cleaning I'll be sorting that out this week.

Just going back to my point about not purchasing a Kombi to convert, removing the old carpet has been a real pain, also I need to remove the cushion floor and seat mount brackets which is a fuel tank off job as well as the exhaust and heat shield etc, I'll probably fit an eberspacher whilst doing that job