Cambinos - a DIY RV

[BillWV]

Introducing: Cambinos!

It’s pronounced cam-bee-nose – long story for another thread…

I can’t thank folks enough for the time and effort to create, maintain and populate this site. I’ve learned many wonderful things here and sincerely thank all those who take the time to selflessly share our love for this unique set of wheels.

I wanted a full sized van to use as a truck/van/camper crossover, but found the big automakers halted production on vans like the Econoline. I honestly can’t remember where the idea for a Sprinter originated, but we did start looking at Sprinters.

In May of 2010, we visited Germaine Mercedes Benz in Columbus, Ohio; we met with a salesman and test drove a 2500 tall 170 length model. I drove around, testing the cornering, braking and power of the vehicle and was dutifully impressed. I whipped into a vacant parking lot and pulled into a space to test my ability to stop, align, and center the vehicle; I’m glad to report my vision is still sharp and my sense of direction is fine – the Sprinter fit snugly into the space. However, the parking lot was empty (it was Saturday). So, the idea of how well it fit between other cars was something we could not appreciate. Also, it is important to note, the Sprinters on the Germaine lot were parked in a separate area. As a result, you don’t get the feel for just how big the vehicle is, compared to the other traffic with whom you compete for parking spaces.

So the debate continued: 144 versus 170. We finally got a bucket of sidewalk chalk (my idea!) and drew Cambinos to actual size on our driveway.



We put a couple of plastic chairs for the driver and passenger drew the outline for the beds and strategically placed the shipping box from the refrigerator to get a feel for actual dimensions. The exercise was an eye opener. I can see folks getting an RV inside of a 144, but it will be very compact; every spare inch becomes critical. I’ll choose the occasional struggle to find a parking spot over ease of parking and cramped living space any day. My wife and I decided on the 170” wheel base.

After a visit with Sun Motor Cars, on 24 July 2010, as the Sprinter-less couple in the first ever, Sprinter-Fest-East, we were hooked. Special thanks to Fred and his wonderful wife Michelle for showing us their cherry wood Sprinter conversion.

We ordered our Sprinter in August 2010 and it finally arrived in late February with one major snafu: the paintable molding was, in fact, paintable – and not “painted” to match the rest of the vehicle. I hope this important distinction does not escape anyone else – it trumped our salesman and us both.



We think it looks like a sneaker:



See the similarity?

Ok, so we get the “paintable molding” painted, and voila’! Now we have a much neater appearance.



More to follow…

[BillWV]

And so, with the Adidas® effect gone, we are much happier.

So, here are the packages we ordered:



The dual sliding doors are really nice and our camper design will encroach both doorways – and cover some windows, sadly; the extra door adds to an already heavy vehicle, but we feel the additional access is worth it.

Cambinos is quite nice, indeed. I especially love her heated windshield; one morning with a layer of heavy frost, Cambinos was completely clear in a couple of minutes – sweet! Enough of the introduction; in future posts we’ll describe the conversion plan and photo document the progress – I know how this group loves pictures!

[wildimaginations]

That is a beautiful van. You will truly enjoy it. I still enjoy mine.

After a weekend of driving my wife's little Acura TSX, I'm glad to get back into my van and go to work in it.

[BillWV]

Thank you, Wildimaginations! You are one of the folks here from whom we’ve drawn much inspiration; I really love the LED on the hood ornament and fancy a similar project in the future…

To continue:
Here is how it looks, factory fresh.

Factory backup camera.


Inside the driver’s door.





More to follow…

[BillWV]

And so concludes the factory appearance. Now, on to destruction, I mean, construction!

[sikwan]

Is there a reason why you ordered the CM9 (paintable molding) before you figured out it came unpainted?

[BillWV]

Yes. We dealt with 3 salesmen in 2 dealerships; they all thought it came "painted", as in, to match the vehicle, as opposed to painted a primer color. It is odd the factory would paint the moulding (and optionally, bumpers) a (special for plastic) primer, and then NOT paint the mouldings the vehicle color.

So, to answer your question directly: ignorance of the consumer and sales force. Maybe MB should heed this?

[BillWV]

Just for fun and performance monitoring, I added a Bully Dog monitor.



I had to either cut the plastic frame around the ODBC connector to push the connector through (up inside the dash), or cut a 2” x ½” hole in the access door to the fuse block. I chose the former as the thought of cutting a large rectangular hole in the fuse door didn’t appeal to me. I ran the data cable from the ODBC connector through the dashboard, secured it with zip ties, and threaded the cable through a hole I drilled in the back of tray beneath the radio. To mount the Bully Dog, I used a couple spots of hot glue; the plan is to remove the Bully Dog after the vacation and reinstall it elsewhere.

I used double sided carpet tape to hold the plastic gadget in place after the hot glue gun (glue) failed. I connected the power cable so it starts and stops with the engine. I read elsewhere in this forum (and the Bully Dog instructions) that the device will pull power from the ODBC connector if you let it, but it will always pull power, even when the engine is off. So, use the supplied extra power cable. I ran mine under the trim strip to the electronics hub under the driver’s seat and made the connection there.

I am pleased with the device; however, I expected it to be much larger. The device is quite small, but very adequate; easy to navigate, easy to use and it constantly reminds you to ease on the pedal if you accelerate too aggressively, or brake too hard (should have let off the gas and coasted…).

[BillWV]

So, we took a mini-vacation and gave the vehicle a 2000 mile road test. Along the way, my dashboard announced:



I do love my Sprinter; it probably should have told me to slow down, huh?

[BillWV]

Ok, on to more conversion stuff. A solid foundation is essential to any project, and so I researched the flooring solutions in this forum, read literally thousands of posts, and came up with this solution for myself.

We removed the factory floor and over the course of a couple weeks, we managed to scuff the metal enough that it needed a coat of paint. My wife found a good quality paint, close enough in color (not really important), so we gave the floor a good spattering of paint after roughing up the scratches.







Then I took ¾” plywood and several saw horses and created a platform that would become the new floor. I put the original MB floor on the plywood, clamped it in place and used the original floor as a template.



In the vehicle, we put a layer of

From Home Depot as sound proofing. I did the research and this stuff is adequate for my needs; it is an effective sound proofing because it uses the dead mass idea of making the metal heavier. We tested the stuff in a couple of places, because we were concerned about the asphalt odor; the smell went away minutes after installing and even though the temperatures have been in the 90’s here, the van still does not have any residual smell. This stuff goes on the floor, walls, and ceiling (although there is very little road noise in the ceiling). Overall, it made the vehicle very quiet. One trip into town with everything barren, it was painfully noisy – so by comparison, this stuff made a tremendous difference. It costs a little over a $1 per square foot, which is comparable with dynamat, but we went this route after a little experimenting.

So, here it is on the floor. We’ve since covered the wheel wells, and inside the walls and doors.