AK's Camper conversion - Ex Network rail

[AK]

Cheers for the comments, I do think a couple of small spots on the bar will finish it off for now.

[jonnyshag]

Excellent job , ive got one of theses van and im doing something simalar to this

[sansonspain]

ate top van you have done a lovely job! Did it take you long?

2 questions about your van please if I can.

What did you use to cover the panels? Felt strip? and did you glue it down?

Is the watertank underneath the clean or dirty water?
Thanks
Sanson

[AK]

Interior took about 160 hours in total, the panrels are covered with carpet from megavan mats proper camper carpet etc, and held up heavy duty spray glue

At the moment the under tank is clean water tank

[AK]

Only a small update as I've not done much since it was 99% finished, as i've just be enjoying it out on the roads.

Today I finally got round to removing the 60 minute timer from the eberspacher, should ne a nice simple job, however due to my loom being extended by myself with weird coloured wires, I had to result to removing a few things to trace the wires back so I knoew which wire was what. However apart from that nice and simple and shouldn't take more than 5minutes to do.

Secondly I bought a little TV for the van didn't want anything large so opted for one of Tescos finest crappy branded little ones with built in freeview, and DVD player HD etc, again would have been a lot easier f I had thought about it when building and laid some wires in place ready, but being me I didn't.

So once i'd removed some of the panelling and a bit of faffing around finally got the wires in place, aerial fed up through the roof via a rubber grommet at the top corner of the sliding door seal, bracket mounted and reinforsed behind for a bit of added security job done.



Next job is to check the intercooler and popes for leak, as something isn't quite right

[AndyA]

Good little tellys those. I have one in mine, and standby uses so little power that it's permanently powered

Hope you fitted a voltage stabiliser. Wouldn't wanna fry it with a spike!.
Got one for £40 on fleabay, and fitted the TV plug to it.

[transitandy]

only just seen this thread ak, love your camper conversion

[screechowl]

Hope you dont mind me asking but how much did you pay to buy your van & where did you manage to find it & how many miles had it done? Sorry, but I'm trying to gather much knowlege before I venture forth to buy mine

[AK]

I paid £5000 for the van from a dealer in Essex. It only had 138 000 miles on the clock

[Andy Muller]

I'm new to this site too, and Im looking for inspiration, ideas and tips..
And your 'Van conversion is a BIG inspiration. Youve done a fantastic job there!!! Looks really neat, and well done. Have you had much carpentry experience before you started??

If and when I get down to doing my own conversion, I just hope it turns out Half as good as yours, well done that man..

[AK]

Cheers for the comment, my carpentry skills hm well lets just say I didn't and still don't have any lol, but I'm willing to just give anything ago. You have to try these things. The cupboards are only ikea wall units though

[mtbmatt]

Great conversion, pretty much what I am planning as I need the space in the back for MTBs.
Do you find the sleeping area claustrophobic at all, could you have made it a little more spacious do you think?

[AK]

If I was to redo it I would definately have made the upper bed a full 6ft in length instead of it being 6ft diag. As long as I sleep with my head towards the front of the van its not a problem.

The lower bed i'd probably made slightly wider although for one person is more than enough.

The best way to make it more spacious would to have swiveing front seats, however I don't find it an issue. Having the space in the back for mountain bikes is fantastic, asI keep all the bikes tools camelbak and other rubbish in the rear out of the way.

[rorusmaximus]

Hi, i am just about to purchase a very similar van (ex network rail mk 7) for conversion, like yourself. It would be very beneficial to me if you could tell me the pros and cons...any difficulties you faced that it would be useful to know about. i was thinking that the eberspacher would be very useful in cold conditions...is it easy tomove the heater to a different location within the van without too much hassle?
How much did you pay for yours?
Thanks, Rory

[AK]

Well there are plenty of good parts already there, ready for you to use such as the electrics, which are all heavy duty unlike a lot of the electrics found in some campers.

The seats are a pain to remove and will require two of you one under the van and one inside the van, try not to do this on a Rainy afternoon on a slope with a small river running underneath the van as your get very wet, cold and fed up. Your find the floor a nightmare to remove, sticky sh*t everywhere then 1/4" plates on top and under floor which are bloody heavy.

They built these vans well, which means taking apart can take some time.

The eber, well yes it could be moved, but it will leave a 6" hole in the floor, so unless your good at welding, i'd leave it, hence why mine was left as I didn't want to weld up one 6" hole and then hae to cut another.

I paid £5000 + Vat for the van just over a year ago, and then probably another £4000 to convert and add the bling to it.

My advice is don't rush it, somethings just take time and when its not going well walk away from it, and come back when your in a better mood.