Hi Sprinter , all going well with the van, I’m very happy with how it has turned out. Needless to say, I have had to make a number of modifications/improvements, as one discovers flaws/inadequacies only as one begins making use of the van. Making mistakes can be annoying but I always pacify myself by saying “sure if I wasn’t making mistakes, I wouldn’t be learning anything!” – saying this eases the annoyance in one’s head! I’ll list a few of the flaws/mistakes I made, in the hope that they might alert somebody else going through the conversion process:
- At a very early stage, fit a bolt for a negative earth connection, in a pillar near where you hope to locate your leisure battery. I left it until I had a lot of the work done and found it a huge challenge(*!*
) to get a bolt (using a piece of thread!) into position inside the pillar.
- I fitted an overflow outlet to my freshwater tank(internal) but found I was losing 40% of my full tank by the time I reached our destination. So, I blanked that off and I’m waiting for a 10mm outlet to fit to the top of the tank to act as an air vent which I’ll connect by a flexible tube to the breathable filler inlet.
- My gas bottle press which is accessed at the back door will need a bit of remodelling – here is the problem: if we bring our bikes on a ball hitch mounted rack I can’t open the gas press without taking off the bikes, even though the rack is a hingeable type (Thule). After some head scratching the solution will come…..some day!
There were a number stages in the conversion where I nearly threw in the towel……..but Youtube came to the rescue – in particular Greg Virgoe, whose videos are superb. Some people say he ‘goes by the book’ too much; fair enough he is very technical but I think if you want good resale value for your van, sometime in the future, going by the book will reward you on the double. I have seen a lot of ‘not by the book’ work on Youtube that can only lead to problems in the future – one issue in particular is that one needs to do a complete internal sealing of the van (see Greg’s videos), otherwise you are heading for serious corrosion problems sooner than you might expect.
The best aspects of the conversion
- the Vitrfrigo compressor fridge – super little fridge
- the Victron solar panel – ensures peace of mind and very little worry of the leisure battery draining
Apologies, I have been long winded but what I have included might help others going through a conversion.
The Adblue issue was sorted by Peugeot Wexford – new tank and sensors fitted, €1300, thank you very much, ouch!
