The base vehicle for the conversion is a 2003 diesel
Ford Transit T280 short wheel base vehicle, with a medium height roof.
The reason for the choosing of this vehicle was due to parking limitations.
Where the vehicle is normally parked at home there is only room for a short
wheel base vehicle. And also, according to my brother Phil, I have a
"Transit fetish", must be true as I have joined the
Ford Transit forum,
and very helpful it is too. Another very useful forum is the
S.B.M.C.C
( The Self Build Motor Caravan Club ).
I had asked my brother to keep his "eye open" for a good vehicle, as he
works for a vehicle hire company, that has many 100's of Transits, and he
chose this one, which had 98000 miles on the clock, and I was able to
purchase it for a very good price.
Paint work is in very good condition, apart from some scuff and paint
"chips" which I have had treated by the the "Chipaway" company.
As can be seen from the pictures, the van had side windows already fitted,
as it had the "crew cab" layout, with drivers seat, bench (for 2
passengers) seat, and a 3 seat bench opposite the near side opening door.
This seat was removed for me, along with the rear bulkhead, before I took
delivery of the vehicle.
When delivered, the van had full rear interior plywood
lining, which was removed shortly after delivery, to allow for insulation,
wiring and pipe work etc. to be added.
The very first job when I got the van, apart from filling
it up with diesel :) was to get rid of the bench passenger seat and install
a swiveling one. We obtained this from a very helpful chap at the
Van shop. The one we chose was the "Riviera" model in grey velour
material, this was ordered and delivered complete with swivel, pedestal &
sliders.
One problem we found though, unknown to anyone here or
at the Van shop, Ford had changed how the seats are mounted, so the swivel
plate needed different mounting holes, however this could not be done due to
the fuel tank is mounted under the floor below the passenger seat. My good
fortune though is to work with Brian Stevenson, an exceptional mechanical engineer
who, in a matter of minutes designed an "adaptor" plate. This was promptly
made at our "metal bashers" BMF Engineering, just around the corner from work. Once fitted
everything was fine. If you are interested, more
pictures here. If you require a copy of the plans, they are here:>
Plan 1. Base
Plate
Plan 2.
Mounting seat base on plate
Once the seat was fitted, I made an
extension platform for "Oscar the dog" for when there is only the two of
us traveling, and he is sat in front, on his custom made "duvet" . He always
wears a travel harness which
attaches to the seat belt.
The van is fully alarmed with a "
Wolf " Thatcham
category 1 alarm system, and is also fitted with satellite tracking, this
system being supplied by
Microlise Ltd.
In June 2007, the van is was treated with the anticorrosion system from
RustMasters,
where the underside and box sections are treated with anti rust coatings.
This was completed in a Sunday morning,
and RustMasters did an excellent and very professional job.
In September 2007 the van was
re-insured as a self build Motor Caravan though
Adrian Flux Brokers, and will be
shortly re-registered with the DVLA also.
For a copy of the article on the Van, in the SBMCC
magazine
click here (
in pdf format. If you do not have a copy of the pdf reader
click here)
