MK7 SWB Mid Roof Campervan

[LlewejB]

So last year I bought my first Transit after having a few other vans that I'd converted: a 2001 Citroen Dispatch day van, a 2007 Relay to spend travelling and a 2000 Nissan Vanette while in NZ travelling (did somebody say gap yah?).

Anyway, I've owned it for over a year now and have thoroughly enjoyed ownership with thankfully only a split boost pipe and a bit of a power drain from the 3rd party alarm. It's just hit 90k miles, it was generally very clean and well serviced, but the rust on the driver wheel arch has been getting increasingly worse. I did mean to sand it back, fill and paint but it got worse to the point I was concerned it might spread so we replaced it. Thought I would open with that I've not got any welding experience so I was largely on grinding and panel removal duty while my dad did a lot of the welding.

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More photos to follow

[LlewejB]

Some more photos..

The panel was a galv one from central panels. We cut it down a but to avoid having to weld along the joins. Where we welded, we ground off the galv coating to avoid the nasty death fumes.

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Don't ask me why we left the wheel covered the entire time until it came to welding right next to it..

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Not perfect yet, will do a bit of filling and sanding before paint but I'm very happy with how it turned out. Hopefully should keep the van going a while longer. I intend on keeping it some time!

[Stumble]

Nice job
Surprising to see the inner sill looks virtually untouched

[LlewejB]

Nice job
Surprising to see the inner sill looks virtually untouched

Yeah that definitely made me think I should have gone with the classic sand and fill! Mind you, behind the rust spot there was a lot of black foam that was sopping wet so I have no doubt that would have carried on causing issues

[LlewejB]

So I started with the welding which is most recent but I thought I'd share some build photos of the conversion. They're a bit scattered unfortunately but they show some of the progression

Bought the van last year so it's been a slow-ish build

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[LlewejB]

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[LlewejB]

Another photo dump

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I seem to have skipped a bit here, the ceiling is already in, cheap tongue and groove wood which is stained something like "honey oak" to get rid of that whitish yellow you get. The bed is already mostly built here too, framed out using 2x2" and panelled in furniture panel pine from an old wardrobe.

The bed is an L-shape which slides out to become just under double size. That will stay a wood finish, the cabinets are all white with brass hardware.

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Another angle of the first ideas of how the kitchen would fit in. Countertop is a bamboo desk from ikea cut down in depth a bit. Fit perfectly for what I needed

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Bits of the construction were done in the kitchen due to bad weather, my partner was surprisingly understanding! Kitchen was built with 18mm ply, with some supporting 1x2 planed pine, with 1x2 for face framing too. The door here is a false door because access to the rightmost cupboard is from the other side so gas can be accessed from the sliding door more easily.

[LlewejB]

More build photos

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Test fitting sink and hob in the countertop

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Frame painted, tiles attached using sikaflex and grouted using flexible grout

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Beginning to build cabinet doors

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Mostly finished and painted. Back doors insulated and lined. Dometic Drawer fridge test fitted as well

[LlewejB]

Some more angles of the van at this stage. Bed was mostly upholstered, the storage above cab needed doing, curtains, lights overheads cabinets. Long way to go still basically.

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Making a template for above the cab, cutting strips of thin cheap ply from the old lining and scribing to shape of van. I learnt this from a boat builder

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More of the pine wardrobe used here: will be painted white

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Curtains going in, attached with pop rivets

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[LlewejB]

Next step was to get overhead cabinets in

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Basically just a 2x1 frame which is then strengthened with 5.5mm ply.

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Filled ready to sand and paint

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Probably the most up to date photo I have, lights are installed on one side, just got to get the other side done now

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[Jay2018]

This is an outstanding build! Love it. Great job!

Timber framed workshop looks fab too.

[LlewejB]

This is an outstanding build! Love it. Great job!

Timber framed workshop looks fab too.

Thanks Jay. It's been good trying a new layout and some new building techniques to before.

The timber framed workshop was great fun as well, my dad's nearly finished kitting out the inside now. We built the frame together but it required a lot of hands to assemble, it's like a giant medieval lego

[oneflewover]

Nice job
Surprising to see the inner sill looks virtually untouched

Yeah that definitely made me think I should have gone with the classic sand and fill! Mind you, behind the rust spot there was a lot of black foam that was sopping wet so I have no doubt that would have carried on causing issues

Just a few days away from looking at a 2009 van, taking your responses this does not seem to be a rare thing?

Have you a link to the side windows you have used and have you a plan for finishing the trim off, would be really interested to see the photos.

Thanks for the postings, it's coming on really well.

[LlewejB]

Nice job
Surprising to see the inner sill looks virtually untouched

Yeah that definitely made me think I should have gone with the classic sand and fill! Mind you, behind the rust spot there was a lot of black foam that was sopping wet so I have no doubt that would have carried on causing issues

Just a few days away from looking at a 2009 van, taking your responses this does not seem to be a rare thing?

Have you a link to the side windows you have used and have you a plan for finishing the trim off, would be really interested to see the photos.

Thanks for the postings, it's coming on really well.

Hi oneflewover, thanks for the kind words. Yeah I think there was definitely a bit of poor design or built-in obsolescence going on here, they are practically designed to rust in these places. But at the end of the day the panels are cheap and there's ways you can stop it spreading, overall they're great vans. Have a bit of a poke around in the usual areas when you're looking at the new van (rear wheel wells, front arches to name a few)

About the windows, I didn't fit them myself so I can't really advise you on that one I'm afraid, there's a place near me that does it for the cost of the window plus a bit of labour which for me is worth the extra costs to know 100% that I won't get any leaks etc. I think a lot of people source their windows from VanDemon or vanpimps.
I have trimmed off the driverside window which I'll post a photo of at some point, but the sliding door I've not bothered because it gets in the rain anyway so don't really want any fabric exposed to the elements. The weak points insulation wise are the drafts that come in the doors any way so I don't think trimming off would do much about that.

Cheers
Ben

[DG-Unit]

So last year I bought my first Transit after having a few other vans that I'd converted: a 2001 Citroen Dispatch day van, a 2007 Relay to spend travelling and a 2000 Nissan Vanette while in NZ travelling (did somebody say gap yah?).

Anyway, I've owned it for over a year now and have thoroughly enjoyed ownership with thankfully only a split boost pipe and a bit of a power drain from the 3rd party alarm. It's just hit 90k miles, it was generally very clean and well serviced, but the rust on the driver wheel arch has been getting increasingly worse. I did mean to sand it back, fill and paint but it got worse to the point I was concerned it might spread so we replaced it. Thought I would open with that I've not got any welding experience so I was largely on grinding and panel removal duty while my dad did a lot of the welding.

PXL_20201011_083200977.jpg

PXL_20201011_092415874.jpg

PXL_20201011_102046275.jpg

PXL_20201011_102103961.jpg

PXL_20201011_105257013.MP.jpg

More photos to follow

About to do this job myself so appreciate the pics! Also enjoying watching the build come along - pop rivet curtains! Great idea.