I just picked up this 2005 350 Hi-top MWB for a reasonable price from a rental/leasing company in Glasgow who regularly flog off their stock on a 'sold as seen' basis. Exactly 4 years old with 69000 miles, the cost was roughly 20% of Ford's list price for the equivalent new model today. I decided to go for as new as possible for my budget, because the priority for me is NO RUST! My Transit has a few scrapes and dents as it was used in the building trade, but seems pretty sound.
The cab is absolutely filthy with dirt and cement dust which had hardened with moisture exposure. I don't fancy breathing in any of this stuff so I decided to hose out as much as possible. In the next foto I've pulled back the floor mat to clean out underneath. I can't remove the seats because I don't have the correct tool yet (anyone know what to use?).
The ply in the rear is pretty grotty so I've started to rip it out
revealing more dirt
now cleaned out behind the upper ply lining
getting in to clean behind the inner supporting structure involved a few scraped knuckles!
Before:
After:
Next, the steps into the cab needed clearing out. The plastic inserts were difficult to remove - I thought they were pressed in with studs, but in fact are bolted in from under the body. Strange. Anyway, these areas gather a lot of dirt and moisture. The following 2 pix show the step area cleaned out and a bit of Kurust applied.
Now, the driver side with a few coats of Hammerite white.
passenger side
The steps to the rear and side doors were also badly scraped and horrible. They needed a little rub down and a coat of Hammerite too. I'll cover these areas to protect the paintwork before I use the van.
The wheel arches were also in a bit of a bad state, having been bashed and scraped to hell in a way that only builders in hired transits know how! The next fotos show them freshened up with a lick of paint, as well as the areas of the floor around the edge of the original plywood floor sheet. This original floor ply was kaputt and I will replace at a later stage, but at least it had preserved the main floor area in mint condition.
Above the cab, there is a bare metal shelf with a removable front 'door' made of the stuff that car parcel shelves are made of. Needless to say this was filthy having apparently been used as a tool cupboard. I've already removed and washed the front door-panel in the fotos.
A note here - any ideas on insulating this sloping area of the roof? The roof and walls have the frame structures, but above the cab is just a big flat area and I can imagine condensation gathering and running down and rusting the windscreen surround.
Here, I've cleaned up and painted the shelf.
This van has a fitted metal fence separating the cab from the load area which you can maybe see in the second foto from the start. I quite like this idea as it affords protection from shifting loads. In the following foto It has been removed and is lying on the floor, before I removed the plywood panelling.
Started to remove the rear door plywood to clean out the insides.
Well, that's the first two afternoons work done! It doesn't look much like a camper van yet, but I want to basically have a 'new' van first. After I bring the base interior up to scratch, I plan to fix the paintwork damage and rustproof the underbody.
stage 2 with bigger fotos
Seats out. Time to get the mats up and clean out the floor of the cab:
Cab floor full of water, mud, sand...:
Cab floor cleaned out:
Cab floor painted with liquid rubber paint to waterproof the floor:
Passenger door step painted with liquid rubber:
And with the plastic step insert, floor mats and seats replaced:
Load bay floor painted in Hammerite. Had originally painted just the edges and wheelarches, but decided to freshen up the whole floor:
Rubbish old radio cassette - incredibly still standard equipment in 2005!
...and nearly new CD radio - £30 on gumtree.com :
Van now taxed and roadworthy. End of stage 2.
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Stage 3 - On the road.
I haven't done any 'motorhome' building yet, but we couldn't resist giving the van a run with only an air-mattress and a duvet!
A room with a view:
and of course, a flask of coffee!
great van there !
