2004 Sprinter 3500 Conversion

Hi all. I have gotten a lot of great use out of my Sprinter Conversion. I lived in it for 9 months while finishing up my work in Los Angeles. Since January 2018 my girlfriend and I have used it to travel all over the western states seeing many national parks, cities, etc.

We are moving out of state in a two months and will be in a colder climate than SoCal... we probably wouldn't be living in it full time at that point so it has come time to sell. I will likely build another soon, but design it for more of a weekend warrior setup.

Van Stuff:

-changed brakes with Brembo brake pads and new rotors purchased from Euro Parts SD

-16" wheels put on

-new shocks

-brake fluid flush

-new horn

-T21 service recall (for updated smog, passed smog at the end of May 2018. Dealership put a new instrument cluster and ambient air temp sensor in for this recall as well)

-new mercedes grill

-T-Rex Bed Liner sprayed on the outside, awesome stuff

-new front windshield beginning of June

-new thermostat 

-new radiator cap

-led headlights installed

-AC recharged

-cross country tires were purchased new, still have a lot of tread

-tinted windows in each of the back doors

-new fan clutch
-oil and oil filter always maintained ahead of schedule

-replaced ATF fluid within 15,000 miles


Conversion Stuff:

- Espar D2 heater installed under the passenger seat, pulls diesel from van tank, super efficient and great heat. Added a exhaust and intake muffler to quiet it down a lot. Awesome addition! 
- Spray foamed all walls

- 2 x 300 watt solar panels on the roof (600 watts total), these are supported by a customized Van Tech roof rack

- 4 almost new Trojan T-105 Deep Cycle golf cart batteries with a watering system in place. Easy maintenance and the batteries should last for another 8+ years

- custom battery cage fabricated for the batteries underneath the van where the spare tire used to go, gives you more space in the van. Battery cage will fit other battery types (lithium ion, AGM) if desired.

- Morningstar Suresine 300 Watt Pure Sine Wave inverter 

- Morningstar Tristar MPPT TS-60 (way oversized, but already had it. Super/expensive nice charge controller)
- Morningstar Charge Controller Monitor

- Bogart Engineering Battery Monitor 

- USB (DC) outlets, two GFCI (AC) outlets

- DC Circuit panel by BlueSea Systems, room for more 12 volt circuits 

- Has all breakers/large gauge wire (a lot of 2/0)/and a Battery Switch in the solar system

- 2 x fantastic vents in the ceiling

- seat swivels installed on the driver and passenger seat

- Main overhead led lights and led string lights provide ambient lighting behind the stained oak in the corners of the ceiling... nice feature at night

- 12 volt Indel B refrigerator, has a Danfoss compressor. Super reliable, long lasting, and efficient

- Stainless steel sink with flexible faucet head

- 20 gallon freshwater tank in the back, all PEX plumbing with crimp on connectors (like you find in a house)

- Shurflo 3 gpm pump at 55 psi

- hose at the backdoor under pressure for hosing off

- cedar lined walls and ceiling

- custom memory foam bed, it is two separate pieces that make a bed slightly larger than a queen. very comfortable

- solid oak countertops 

- 12 drawers with ball bearing, soft close slides and locks on the doors all keyed alike (so they don't open when moving)

- two cabinets, one very large under the bed and one under the sink

- two shelves under the refrigerator 

- two drawers under the underbid cabinet, felt on bottom to slide on floor. provide a lot of storage

-***The van no longer has the black ABS solar shower on the roof, didn't use it enough to keep it


The title is salvaged. I purchased this van from "The Sprinter Expert" in Sun Valley California with the salvaged title and he told me it was a minor fender bender and insurance salvaged it at that time; the company that owned it decided to take the money and get a newer sprinter.

It has 238300 miles on the odometer. I think it is closer to 241,000 miles because the larger wheels are on it and nothing was adjusted to compensate for this.

I would like to get $35,000. There are a lot of great features to the van that all add up pretty quick. Some small things can be improved upon here and there, but it is very comfortable.

With that said, I may be crazy for asking this much... reasonable offers are welcome and will be seriously considered. I am in no rush to sell and if I can't get a decent price for it I will just keep it for now.

I have pictures and videos of the whole conversion process which was not cheap! Please ask any questions you have. I will try to get pictures uploaded on the this thread.

Thank you, sorry for the long write up!

Pictures should be visible here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gzeMt8XI6Wdf2e4YkbgtARTQRFjpx9H8

My e-mail is bearsbuilds@gmail.com
That is the best way to send initial inquiries. Thank You!

Trying to gather if it is the salvaged title, the conversion itself, or the asking price that is putting people off... or all of the above : )

Here are some attached pictures if this helps. I don't know if the google folder link works well or not. Cheers.

Beautiful! Love the shot from cockpit looking back. Wood gleams!

Where in CA are is the van located?

Thank you much! I am in Thousand Oaks, CA. In the middle of moving to Salt Lake City so we are traveling all over still. But it will mostly be there for the next month!

The mileage, the price and the salvage title all make me nervous. there are a lot of things I like about your van but for about the same price I could buy a sprinter based RV with a lot less miles and a lot more convenience features built by a company that does it for a living. The whole van conversion thing was interesting to me when you could buy and build one on the cheap but now that people are asking as much or more for a home made conversion I don't see the appeal.

paraman1 said:

The mileage, the price and the salvage title all make me nervous. there are a lot of things I like about your van but for about the same price I could buy a sprinter based RV with a lot less miles and a lot more convenience features built by a company that does it for a living. The whole van conversion thing was interesting to me when you could buy and build one on the cheap but now that people are asking as much or more for a home made conversion I don't see the appeal.

Click to expand...

That is good insight! I have seen a couple Sprinter based RV conversions here and there for about my asking price but the only one I have seen lower was a scam. It would be a sweet deal to get one cheap... but it wouldn't be set up for boon docking.

I guess it all depends on what is "cheap". A sprinter van without any build out, in my eyes, is expensive! When I was shopping around for a foundation I would say a solid 98% of the vans I found were over $10k. Doesn't take long after that to start tacking on expenses

Once you start looking at buying an Espar D2, $3k in solar components, building custom cabinets/bed (with cabinet grade ply), spray foaming, painting the exterior, upgrading wheels/tires/shocks, plumbing, toilet, all the incidentals (adhesives, fasteners etc), fantastic fans, bed, refrigerator, flooring, seat swivels... next thing you know it is expensive. That is where I am not sure how you build one on the cheap and still make something of quality. That is why most "professionally" converted vans are extremely (prohibitively) expensive. Its crazy to think how quick it ads up even for someone like me that spends a ton of time searching for deals and doing the work myself.

My asking price for the van is virtually the break even point. I am not looking to make money on my time and effort. I got a lot of great use out of the van and am trying to get as close to break even as I can. I am also open to offers. it is good to get all the perspectives I can though! It is not easy to price a one off sort of thing. Thank you for the feedback!

Did you sell it?

Did your solar shower feed into the van so you could take inside showers?
Thanks