Caravelle to Camper self build.

[Titus A Duxass]

Nice job.
Where did you get the catches from?

[hicksy]

Thanks Titas,

I bought them from campervanmats through ebay. I think they ended up at about £3.50 each inc. postage. fairly expensive for what they are, but devil is in the detail

[mattrsa]

great thread mate

What type of hinges did you use for the rear cupboards?

I bought what I thought would be the right type for my build but they did not work how I wanted them, a mistake on my part really. Also made some other pretty stupids mistake which have really pissed me off but oh well.

once I finish the interior hopefully tomorrow night I will post up some pics

[miggs]

cracking thread m8 do you got skills

what timber have you used on this build is it lightweight etc

any info greatly appreciated

[hicksy]

great thread mate

What type of hinges did you use for the rear cupboards?

I bought what I thought would be the right type for my build but they did not work how I wanted them, a mistake on my part really. Also made some other pretty stupids mistake which have really pissed me off but oh well.

once I finish the interior hopefully tomorrow night I will post up some pics

Thank you. The hinges for the rear cupboards "flush" hinges and are the cheapest I could find. I think they were 98p for a pair at B&Q. Your best bet is to shop around locally for bits as well as ebay. I am very lucky in that I have a wickes and B&Q 5min walk from my place. In fact I walked and 8x2 melamine sheet from wickes once as it wouldnt fit in the mrs car!

Best of luck with your build and Im looking forward to seeing the pictures.

[hicksy]

cracking thread m8 do you got skills

what timber have you used on this build is it lightweight etc

any info greatly appreciated

Thanks man, The sheets of timber for the doors and cupboards are melamine faced chipboard from wickes. I talk about them in detail earlier in the thread.

[hicksy]

So, I had an epic weekends worth of work on the van. I got friday evening, saturday afternoon, and 8-6 on sunday too!

There wont be a lot of words, just pictures and comments. Enjoy!

First things first, I got rid of the beetle project. It went to a lovely lady in sunderland. She paid a third party to have it collected as she lives in sunderland. A good 6 hours drive away! See you Frank



I was away with work the other week and was able to pop by brickwerks to get my much needed front to rear coolant pipes and once I was there I couldnt help but get something extra, so I bought a lower-grill clip and screw set. I took the lower grill off, and saw some orange bits that need sorting and one thing led to another....





Whilst the weather was nice (and I was wating for Kurust to cure), I treated and painted the bumper bolts, and painted my second-hand interior lights white, they had gone orange over time!

[hicksy]

After doing so much on the cupboards, I had gotten to the stage where I need to start the electrics, so here goes! I really enjoyed this bit!

First things first, I wired in the split charge relay. You cannot really see it in the pics below as I have concealed the wiring, but the pic is to illustrate how I have freshened up my terminals and battery wiring. I thought Id do it whilst I had the oppurtunity.

The split charge relay is a unit meant for a caravan I think. It charges the battery as normal, but has a seperate live output to run the fridge whilst on the move, the fridge will therefore never be connected to a battery.



Next was to find a suitable grounding point. I used the now unused seatbelt mount. I found this natty earthing bar at work and claimed it. It was about twice the size to begin with with 8 smaller earth points but I cut it in half and smoothed all the edges, perfect.



Heres the mess about half way through the electrics. I re-fitted the stereo, cd changer, amp and 6x9s. This time however I and ran the stereo live feed from the leisure battery. I read about this on here I think and thought it was great Idea as the battery will be recharged when moving and will never discharge the vehicle battery when stationary.



So, onto the previously re-painted lights. I tested it first to see if it still worked, and then concealed the wiring in the headliner (difficult!) ready to wire it up and then fit.





And one on the cupboard too...



After getting the under seat area to a near complete stage I needed to vent the under seat compartment for the battery. This is in case any gasses are emmitted from the battery during a fault. I looked at ways of getting round this as I didnt want to cut any more holes in the van as neccesarry, but safety is paramount so...

[hicksy]

I hope you all dont mind the multiple posts. I like to document my progress and like it even more when people tell me that what I have written has helped them. So I continue...

My BFOB (or Big F Off Battery!) needed securing. I found these brackets and a spare ratchet strap kicking around the garage so utilised these. The strap was cut in half and layered underneath the bracket for a means of securing. I then used a gas soldering iron to melt three screw holes. Once in place I simply screwed them down.



Before placing the battery underneath the seat for good, I had a good tidy up of the wiring and secured the seat base down permanently. I layed some of that anti slip matting under the battery too to stop any slipping. In the picture below you can see the 240V distributer box on the far right, split charger to the right and to the left of that the fuse panel for the Amp. the circle on the floor is the vent.



And here is a picture with the battery in and all the wires terminated...



And how I left it for the day. A great weekends work I think you will agree

[Threescoops]

fab work so far must b nice to be the majority of the way through with maybe the end in sight...we just started a few bits on ours but had to part with it for the MOT so fingers crossed that it doesnt fail too badly lol nice to see it coming together tho ...like ur multiple posts makes it easy to read and keep up with.........keep up the good work!

[StuM]

Great work as always - thanks for sharing. Leisure battery is on my (long) to do list so it is always great to have such a well illustrated journal.

Sad to see Frank go. I'd have snapped him up if I'd been in a slightly different position!

Cheers,
Stu

[hicksy]

Show report..........

Took Bulli to BugJam this weekend for my Stag do and Im so glad I did as I gave him a good run which he has been needing for a while and also I can test out my new bits too, and the bed! As a side note the show was the best BugJam yet (my fifth), the stag weekend was amazing and now there are plenty of incriminating photos If your lucky I might expose one!

Firstly once I got on the motorway I noticed the whole van was soo much quieter, the insulation has worked so I reccomend you do it even if you half the chance. Quick action shot...



Hang loose!



Once on-site the music went on for three straight days, I used the lights at night, fully charged at least 6 phones with the cigar lighter on the panel and 240v inverter, used the inverter for a 240v lamp and my battery didnt even faulter once, I doubt I barely even lost many amps. That battery is a beast!

The bed worked well too, a bit clunky but fine, and the seat belts need a bit of tittivating to work with the bed. Oh and beacuase you have all behaved so well....

This is what I was made to wear on saturday night but all my guys had to wear bridesmaids dresses too!

[billybigspud]

looking really smart mate. keep the piccys coming. as for the last one, somethings should be kept to yourself

jamie

[Mickyfin]

Great inspirational thread, and I will be sure using it as a major reference point for my conversion. I'm currently waiting for the right T3 to turn up for sale as the ones I have seen so far need to much work, and on a budget, its a case of slowly slowly.

Glad your stage do went well mate, and hope you have a wonderful time touring parts of Europe for your Honeymoon in your T3, have fun, and get loads of photos for us all, and I mean inc photos of your T3 Camper mods being used in the real world!

[hicksy]

I have just ordered some lightweight plywood boards to make an effort to create an inside for my van. wish me luck, need to acquire the skates on as we are executing 5 weeks round europe on the accomplish of july.

Best of luck dude.

As for my van, I have done loads, and have loads of updates for you all very soon. Im away in acouple of weeks and nearly finished!