2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

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fazerfreak
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by fazerfreak »

aah this forum needs a "like button" :P
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Tommy

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Emgee48
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

Yes, a 'like' button would be good. i have heard this suggestion on several forums i frequent that use the same platform :?
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Emgee48
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

Next on the agenda was to update the stock radio with a new head unit.

This was pretty much the cheapest Android unit i could find on evilbay and its brought he 2007 van into the modern world

Handsfree phone
Sat Nav
Music streaming from phone
Also loaded 2500 songs onto an SD card
Reverse Camera
Can also load other apps if needed.

Pretty much plug and play, all done in a few hours. The hardest part was running the cable for the reverse camera and adding some cabling for rear speakers into the loom connection plugs.

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Emgee48
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

And so the build continues.

I had a bit of a delay because i needed to re-register the van in my sisters name.
Because she lives in a different state i cant just transfer it into her name, i needed to physically drive 2 hrs to her state (county), have the roadworthy check done and then get the van registered in her name.
Unfortunately it failed the roadworthy check in her state, even though it passed in my state. Needed new shocks but i could only get the back ones that day, had to drive 2 hrs home, then back again 2 days later when the front shocks were in stock.
Also the condenser had let go so i had no air-conditioning for these long drives and the temperature was 38.5 degrees celcius (101 fahrenheit)

Once i got that all sorted it was time to lay a new floor and build the slide out bed frame.

The floor now consists of a layer of sound deadener, the old rubber mat, and now a layer of 9mm ply over that. I will finish it off with vinyl timber look planks once everything else is fitted.
to cut the ply to fit i simply laid the old rubber liner over the ply and traced the outline. I made it 2cm longer at the rear. I took off the rear trim, and trimmed it so that the ply would slip underneath it.

With a slide out frame every second slat is fastened against the wall and to the frame at the front, the slideout is a second frame that rests on the fixed frame.
So that the slideout frame would tuck easily under the front of the fixed slats i used some washers to raise the fixed slats a few mm. This gave me the necessary clearance so the two frames didnt get stuck on each other.
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i also made the slide out in two halves, so one or both could be extended.Thought it may make it easier to get to stuff stored under the bed if you only had to slide in one half and not the whole bed. It also will give different seating options during the day.
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reflectionghost
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by reflectionghost »

I'm really impressed with your approach. Very practical and uncomplicated. Can you tell me how the stereo is? Particularly audio quality & streaming quality, nav, and overall functionality and reliability.
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Emgee48
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

Thanks Reflectionghost, I’m pinching a few ideas from here and there on the forum and other places and also trying to do this on a budget for my sister. A lot of the time I am making things up as I go, especially how to actually build the bed frame and attach it.

The head unit was only $A300 on eBay unbranded Chinese unit, it’s old stock (explains the price) and had a quality control sticker from 2015 on it. It’s android op system, so far Bluetooth to my Samsung galaxy phone is faultless for calls, and music, radio is good but can’t use DAB as we are in a Rural area with no service. Maps and navigation good and work but could do with an update, the maps are on an sd card so it’s possible to find an update, I have done this before with these systems. Because it’s an older version the search by place name is not always accurate, twice it took me to a former shops address.
My only criticism is sometimes it takes a while to read/load the songs from the sd card but that is also because I loaded 2500 songs ( we leave long road trips here in oz). I haven’t tried loading other apps or google maps because that’s going to require an Internet dongle or hotspotting the phone and quite frankly that’s going to be beyond my sisters capability.
All up, it does what it needs to, ie maps, reverse camera, hands free phone connection, and music from phone/radio/sd card/CD. Plenty of volume and I ran wires to the rear of the van for speakers in the future while I was installing the head unit.

Now for today’s job, work out how to build a cabinet around the water container.......
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by reflectionghost »

Thanks for the detailed reply. I'm also poaching plenty of ideas here. Good ones and bad :lol:
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Yokrantz »

Nice project! Did The noise-deader mats a big difference?
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

Yes, the sound deadening was well worth the investment. We can now have a conversation when travelling at 100 kph whereas before we had to almost yell. Still not as quiet as a normal sedan but by the time we fit out and carpet the back it should be even quieter.
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Emgee48
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

I've been able to get some more time to work on the Caddy camper conversion.

Now the bed frame is in place its time to do the other half of the living area.

I have planned to build in a cupboard on the passengers side that will encompass water storage and tap, electrical switches and fuses, benchtop and hopefully some storage space for a cooker, plates etc.
Its very much a case of make it up as i go along, I've got an idea of what i want to achieve and just start building and adapting as i go.

I routed all the wiring i needed along the roof line then down the pillar behind the door. Power from the leisure/dual battery comes from behind the passengers seat, under the floor trim and up the same pillar. Just inside the door is the logical spot for att the switches and electrics.
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I fabricated a frame to hold a 20 litre water container, after allowing for the curve of the rear door of the caddy i decided to have a split shelf arrangement which gives me a small recess at the rear so i can fill water bottles etc without having to open the rear door to access the tap.
I also gain a small cupboard underneath at the back which will be useful.

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Next job was to rough in all the plumbing and setup the front for cupboard and storage access.
I've also run a clear pvc water pipe ouside so we can tell how much water is left by the level, and also to assist with refilling so we don't overfill and end up with water inside the van.
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Emgee48
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

Here is the opposite view showing the water pump mounted on top of the wheel arch and behind the water tank, an area thats not going to have anything else in it,
Tomorrows job is to put in the internal shelves, benchtop and hopefully carpet this cabinet. It should look a whole lot nicer then. :)


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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Dalero »

Some really interesting ideas, enjoying following this build. I will be stealing your idea of spitting the pull out section of bed, I'm now thinking about splitting into 3 as I'm doing a maxi and by leaving center one in, it would give seating either side of fold out table. keep up the good work.
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

Thanks Dalero, I also pinched the split pull out bed frame idea from someone else. Have got family over Xmas but should have the side cabinet finished around New Years. Then it’s time to wire it all up and do the finishing touches.
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Dalero »

Still at insulation stage at the moment, floor and sides completed, side and rear doors next but will definitely be looking closer into footwells than intended after reading your post.
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Emgee48
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Re: 2007 Work van Camper Conversion for my Sister

Post by Emgee48 »

I just tapped on all the metal surfaces. Where I got a hollow or tinny sound I used the deadener, where there was a solid sound or dull thud I didn’t use the deadened unless I had spare on the sheet. The foot wells in the rear under the false floor were really tinny so I think this is where a lot of road noise was coming through, the front foot wells had reasonable underfelt but I gave them a layer of sound deadener as well.
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