Badjamins van conversion

Do you want to borrow the window sucker handles to offer the glass

I will humbly and gratefully accept your offer of window suckers please if you wanna DM me your address. I'm gonna use the jigsaw for cutting as I am very used to it - will definitely mask up more and put more protection in place for the bodywork this time though.

I was gonna go complete maverick and manhandle them on but when I did the back windows there was a level of anxiety present I thought I could handle but when I realized the chip in one of the windows AFTER I'd set it in, I lost my cool and may have sworn and self deprecated for not being thorough enough to check the glass before I 'cut in' as it were.

I contacted Kiravans to complain and to be fair they immediately offered to send a replacement window - I went stubborn on them and demanded a refund though... kinda wished I'd accepted the replacement now but yeah... I should really have bought all the bits for this separately and locally maybe. I feel they were a bit tight with the sound deadening as I had hoped there'd be enough left to do some of the cab floor, behind the skuttle and the wheel arches. meh
 
Okay so update and ideas below

tonight and over the next two days and also on friday and maybe even sat morning I am going to finish sound deadening, clean front cab and paint bare metal from the bulkhead removal job, clean everywhere in the rear, sound proof vapour barrier in, insulation in, cut old wall panels down to create two rear side panels and two barn door panels and possibly even sliding door panel, set up awning as shelter for cutting out window on O/S and cut it out, carpet line O/S interior steel, install window trim to cover carpet, install window, then do same with N/S on sliding door, install hidden trim clips and carpet line panels all round and install, buy two sheets of 2440 x 1220 ply (width tbc) and cut out for floor, buy some cheap lino for intial flooring.

Also need to make a decision on whether to buy an ecflow D2 and sloar charger...

Photos will be flowing for a few days - thanks for reading
 
Good to meet you yesterday mate.
This is where I got my Altro floor roll end piece from.

No point wasting cash on lino, do the job once.
Also, mine is the express lay and is held down with double sided tape by design, but for such a small area I don't see why you can't use tape on the other Altro variants. Saves a ton of messing with contact adhesive.

Tbh their normal price Altro contraX is only £11.39 psm so £56 to do the full van.
 
Last edited:
This is absolutely excellent progress, how hard was the awning rail to install? i used split conduit in mine, i have a load left over if you would like it. Good luck with the windows.

Awning rail was very easy. Unscrewed roof bolts, squeezed a but of sealant in each hole, laid awning rail over and screwed bolts back in, wiped down. The awning rail was straight so I put a slight vertical bend near the back of the rail so that it followed the shape of the van (downwards) - i sealed the bolts in on the offside too for good measure.
 
You're fooling no-one - you're just emulating VW's leaky windows, aren't you!
I shoulda bought a kombi! Woulda save thousands!

Well £900 odd

Kiravans sent me 25 metres of window edging. I've used 10... is it worth selling or am i gonna struggle to give it away?
 
Just went out as it's torrential to stick some plastic with magnets over edge of roof... it's not leaking... so confusing. I dragged an edge tool along the seam when i saw the drip. Maybe the adhesive was still soft enough and it sealed...

IS IT LEAKING OR ISN'T IT!

in other news i drove the van into the Mrs car... have some light rashing... fml
 
15mm is pretty thick for the floor. Most people use 12mm, I’ve gone for 9mm. That thickness may cause issues when it comes to fitting new side step and rear threshold cover. Plus there’s a considerable weight increase.

@Bigsidavies Yeah I have been pondering that - 15mm maybe the way to go.

Am gonna make the bed with @roooms design for now and secure it straight on the floor and just put some old flooring I have in the garage between the front of that and the front seats (no budget now at all) and do the final fix flooring at a later date - the bed should come out easily enough for doing that also. Busy day friday!
 
Sure you can absolutely use it as a starting point. As I mentioned, I have a few refinement ideas in mind and you may not need the same level of access from the top so don’t need so many individual pieces for the bed platform if you’re happy making some bigger hinged sections or just always access through the rear door(s).

Mine currently has four extendable legs fitted to the extension piece and it’s fixed in place with Velcro straps. I’d like to design floating supports or use more metal drawer runners but was undecided which direction to go and needed something ready for the Grand Prix.

A major constraint I had was wanting to sit comfortably on the platform and I don’t have a pop top. I’m 6’3” with short legs so you can imagine I needed a low platform so I didn’t have my neck bent the whole time. That’s why the upright sections are only 376 high. I can still fit multiple ikea Samla tubs under the bed platform, plus an Alpicool fridge and apparently a trelino toilet if I ever choose to pull the trigger on buying one.

@roooms - I'd likely need to pack the whole unit up as I'm initially installing onto bare floor. I'd imagine uprights in a PV would need to be higher to reach the top of the wheel arches as the kombi flooring is quite thick so gives more height to your 376mm uprights - lookin forward to getting into this all the same
 
Back
Top