Offroad MK3 Camper

[axxez]

Installed.

[axxez]

Some electrics in the back of the car. The switchbox is made from the old ashtray-housing. I am using this small gas bottle beacause it's cheap, you can find it anywhere in the world and I don't cook that much on trips. Usually I prefer to eat the good local food

[axxez]

Some more details.

[axxez]

Box over the radion to protect it from getting wet from the kitchen obove.



Modified box as armrests and bottle-holder.





Additional light.



Electrics.

[AlanN]

Have you stopped for the winter

[axxez]

Hey AlanN and everyone else!

Yes, but not only for winter also for MOT. I passed without bigger problems. But I have to sort out some electrical problems which I will post later.. I also started to think about some modifications to make the car work offroad. But this will take some time and is only theory right now

Things I want to improve:

- roof rack (with roof window protection grid, solar panel, lightbar)
- M/T or A/T tires --> 215R14 not easy to find!! Probably have to go for 195R14
- lift front and rear a little
- undercoat made of steel for the engine
- custom bumpers made of steel to allow spare tire and fuel canister in the rear and some better protection also in the front
- bench for the drivers cab
- bigger alternator (any suggestions?? I got the 70A with vacuum)
- maybe some insulation of the windows (plexiglass glued to the rubber seal)
- anti-theft protection
- fix the airleaks in the rear which suck in a lot of exhaust to the inside of the car

So any suggestions are welcome!!
Maybe I will post some links to what I've found later.

[axxez]

So.. A while ago I started with the roof. I bought myself a heavy-duty roof-rack of metal for a VW with low roof for cheap. After that I searched my ass of to get proper high-cube carriers and found out that they are damn expensive and most of them not made for this extremly high roof (60cm!!). So more and more I realized that there was no way except spending 1k in total to make it work. I found the Thule 420 with 427-extension (not 100% sure though) would be the solution, but no more in production. As I am a lucky person I found a guy nearby to sell 4 complete Thule 420 replica(?) with 423(?) extensions for a hight of around 30cm. As you can see in the pics I modified the carriers with an aluminium-rail to lift it to 60cm. And the cutting machine at the store was damaged, so I had to buy 6 meters in ONE PIECE!!! Lucky to have a window in my roof, so I had the rail from my right foot in the cabine to 2meters behind the car in around 4m high!! Same today as I bought another rail to stabilize the whole system (not mounted yet).

Check out the pics, more to come!!




















Having a roof-beer. Yeah!!!

[Kedishen]

Smashing roof rack mate. Fancy making me one as well?

[axxez]

Thanks I got noo idea if it works for the long wheel-base as well Hm... it all depends on what carriers you can get. A I said, the THule is no more in production and kinda rare. The guy from ebay couldn't tell me what company they are made of actually, looks like Thule but there is no brand anywhere.
Except for my accuracy it was a straight forward job: cutting them in the right length (--> cutting them in the wrong length, swearing, adjustment), making a hole to be able to reach the nuts, drilling holes. Only problem is that the metal is a bit round and the alu-rail is square, so it needs raw force to "fit" the pieces together. Another point is that I don't completely trust the carriers. They are very high, so the angle to move sideways (looking to the side of the car, moving the top of the carrier to the front / rear of the car) is quiet big. I will fit a horizontal rail from the front to the end between the roof-top and the beginning of the roof to fix this issue.
So although I got all the precision tools, machinery, money, engineers and any material I want for free the rack is still in beta state. That's why I suggest to build one by yourself - AND make some pics of it!!

[axxez]

Yesterday I finished the 220V electronics, except from the 220V / 12V computer power supply which will fire up the whole 12V electrics of the back of the car on 220V. I bought a FI / LS protection system and installed it in the 220V-box that was already in the car for previous ambulance use. Some wiring with pipes and a power socket. See the pics to get even more confused:


















I also mounted 15 massive lash rings which aren't on the pics and reinforced some parts around them, because I got really annoyed of permanently having my freight unsecured.. There was always something skidding around in the back of the car - not compatible with my driving-style

[axxez]

Things I just ordered that will be installed soon:

- MK5 mirrors

- zyklon air-filter to build some sort of snorkel

- battery power saver (cuts at 11,3V)

- some 12V disconnectors for different batteries and future solar-system on future roof-rack

- 2 additional steel rims

- 2 brandnew INSA Turbo Dakar MT for the back wheels



Am really looking forward to having these tires fitted!! Sadly I can't drive them a lot in here, cause my car has 215R14 in the papers. Those are 195/75/R14 and I will probably loose some hight.. But hey, they are mud terrain! Did I mention that I bought military aluminium sandboards for a good price? Will maybe buy a Hi-Lift soon and a winch is planned as well. But will first need to make heavy duty bumpers.. This will take quite a while, as I am not near to finished with the roof rack. Stay tuned anyway.

[axxez]

Installed the water-system today and some tweaks on the electricy: the battery power saver that cuts at 11.3V, a collector for the 12V input, to be able to install some wires for solar and 220/12V power supply.
About the water system: I bought a water tap that can handle cold and warm water, because it was the best one I found in that shop at the time. The problem is that it has 2 pipe connectors (cold & hot) and on the switch it is possible to accidentally switch to hot water. I just have cold water, so in this case it connects the cold and hot water pipe at some point. Usually this shouldn't happen but if it does, the whole kitchen would be under water soon as the pump has good power. That's why I connected another pipe to hot water and directed it to the grey-water canister.

[axxez]

Today I did the mirror conversion to mk4/5 mirrors. When I did the conversion on my last Transit I used sheet metal screws. I could fit the mirrors nearly perfectly with those, but they are not very secure. So this time I got some help from a local with the right tools.

This is how the mk3 door looks like underneath the mirror:



Those holes are necessary for the conversion, we used rivets for the screws. My first idea was to weld nuts to the metal, which should also work. The problem with the rivets is one hole that is used as guidance (the lower one, always on the "rear" side of the car). This hole needs to be redrilled and fitted with a rivet. As the mk5 mirrors have big holes and the screws need washers, there is in fact some space to adjust. But in the end the mirrors fit badly. Only solution for that is to weld it up or be ok with a more than 5mm gap with the plastic and at least have stable mirrors. That's what I decided. Form follows function

So that's the new door, for mk3 and mk4/5 mirrors:



mk3 mirror mount:



mk4/5 mirror mount:



The new mirrors on my van:








Ugly fitting:




In the end I have to admit that the mirrors where cheap. Around 25€ each, so maybe it doesn't look thaaat bad with Ford genuine parts.

[RustWidow]

You're doing really well with this project, well done!

[transitandy]

You're doing really well with this project, well done!

I could not have put it better myself well done m8y