What did you do to your Sprinter today.

Bearpaw

Active member
Finally got our van on Wednesday! Started with a few small things: installed the weathertech front floor mat and visors and the Terra Wagen hood spoiler. Getting the front windows tinted on Tuesday and ordered up a few other storage and organizational goodies this weekend.

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I tried to order weather tech mats and there was no way they were going to fit. I wound up cutting commercial carpet squares for floor mats.
 

elemental

Wherever you go, there you are.
I installed a new water filter in my galley after installing a new Shurflo bypass water pump. The original Five Oceans pump stopped working because the $1 normally on/momentary off electrical switch in the pump's $13 pressure switch failed permanently off. I picked the Shurflo "Revolutions" bypass pump as a replacement with an eye towards reducing the probability of failure of the pressure switch due to cycling on/off at low flow rates. My galley is tiny, so it doesn't have an "accumulator" (pressure tank for those with household well systems) and low flow rates (that conserve on water) caused the pump to cycle on/off a lot. Because I'm cheap I bought the pump as an Amazon Warehouse deal (someone bought it from and returned it to Amazon), so I had to contend with a bit of uncertainty with the pump's operational status, but I seem to have gotten the pressure switch and the bypass switch adjusted approximately correctly. The last piece to my puzzle was replacing the water filter (CBC-5). The old filter hadn't seen a lot of use but had been in place too long and apparently it had some internal flow restrictions that were also causing problems.

I'm also running my D2 heater since it hasn't been run in a while (little need for heat when its 99°F in the shade). It ran a little smoky at first but has cleared up now. I think I'm supposed to run it for at least 10 minutes(?) every month(?) but haven't been because my van has mostly just been sitting idle until my wife and I took an extended trip this past June.

Once I'm done running the heater, I'll drain the fresh and gray water out so I can remove the galley. I'm reconfiguring so I can have a bench seat in place to transport the whole family for a family vacation (instead of just my wife and I). My two-up camping interior layout doesn't provide seating for four - that was a tradeoff when I built it. Everything is modular so I can swap things out when I need to.
 

vanski

If it’s winter, I’m probably skiing..
You should really make use of the rest of that roof space! :)

Any pics of the mini split interior wall unit? Pretty slick.
lol… there’s just enough room behind the panel to put one of those round mini maxxair fans.

here’s a small sneak peak on the evaporator install.. I’ve been running it for a couple weeks now to make sure it drains and there’s no condensation from the other lines whichcould drip on the headliner… btw, headliner will be oem.
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Stev_H

Member
Installed new bushes in rarb droplinks. While I was under there I fitted a new pair of rarb bushes also. 60 min job including packing away tools etc. Kit used was 15 & 18mm sockets and combination spanners, jack/axle stands. Special kit: 10mm nut & bolt with a couple of stout washers and a squirt of washing up liquid to ease the passage of the new bushes into the eyes.

The old & the new:

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doctorzaius

Active member
This was a fun project that turned out really nice.

When I bought the roof rack for my van, I was too dumb to ask them to weld in brackets for a canopy. Or maybe I just wasn’t thinking far enough ahead. Fast forward and I decided I want a canopy but I wanted to avoid pulling the rack for welding.

The first picture shows the rack with two parallel tubes all the way around the perimeter. The second are the clamps that I first printed in plastic (to get the size right) and then made the final clamps out of out of aluminum. Third picture is the clamps installed and the final shot is the canopy installed on the clamps and brackets.

I’m super happy with the result. Fits right, seems stable and the canopy is the prefect length for the rack. Took forever but it’s done. Now on to solar.

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Mrshakedown

Active member
This was a fun project that turned out really nice.

When I bought the roof rack for my van, I was too dumb to ask them to weld in brackets for a canopy. Or maybe I just wasn’t thinking far enough ahead. Fast forward and I decided I want a canopy but I wanted to avoid pulling the rack for welding.

The first picture shows the rack with two parallel tubes all the way around the perimeter. The second are the clamps that I first printed in plastic (to get the size right) and then made the final clamps out of out of aluminum. Third picture is the clamps installed and the final shot is the canopy installed on the clamps and brackets.

I’m super happy with the result. Fits right, seems stable and the canopy is the prefect length for the rack. Took forever but it’s done. Now on to solar.

View attachment 192596
Wish I had a mill, every time I need something like this I gotta ask for a favor or pay big bucks. A mill is cheap but man the space I just don’t have. Add a metal lathe to the mix and oh boy don’t need anyone anymore.
 

doctorzaius

Active member
Wish I had a mill, every time I need something like this I gotta ask for a favor or pay big bucks. A mill is cheap but man the space I just don’t have. Add a metal lathe to the mix and oh boy don’t need anyone anymore.
Space is a problem for me as well. The mill is super small (meaning super slow), but it is incredibly gratifying to be able to make useful things. This is a skill I am just learning and really enjoying.
 

Mrshakedown

Active member
Your doing good.

They really are not rocket science but like any machine understanding proper tooling and the basics is a great help.

I don’t know shit either other than I pay attention when my various friends make metal stuff for me and I probably know the right questions to ask at this point to get what I want done.

Hopefully a move is in my near future and a 2500 sq ft combo wood metal shop in their own respective rooms of course..

Ive got a huge old 10’ Oliver lathe capable of turning metal. I still lust for a small Monarch lathe and a Deckle mill.

T
Space is a problem for me as well. The mill is super small (meaning super slow), but it is incredibly gratifying to be able to make useful things. This is a skill I am just learning and really enjoying.
 

owenfi

2020 Sprinter 2500 170 4x4
After many things taking longer than expected we finally got our plumbing wall fitted in what we hope might be a “final” fashion. 3/4” plywood with 19 1/4-20 rivnuts (some through aluminum extrusion)

Mistakes were made, but also workarounds were found. 2x4 supports to lock in the water heater, pump/accumulator will be behind that. Connections between the two and branching to the front and back.

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Tubes are: a vent, gravity fill (one of the mistakes was the mounting height of the outside hookup…should’ve gone higher to accommodate our desire to raise the tank a bit), and city line in; leading to the wheel well clean water tank. 8020 extrusion supports the bed and a shelf (plumbing appliances/pipes will be under the shelf. Shower is at the rear and has consumed many thought cycles, but seems to be getting close to reality.
 

Bearpaw

Active member
H
After many things taking longer than expected we finally got our plumbing wall fitted in what we hope might be a “final” fashion. 3/4” plywood with 19 1/4-20 rivnuts (some through aluminum extrusion)

Mistakes were made, but also workarounds were found. 2x4 supports to lock in the water heater, pump/accumulator will be behind that. Connections between the two and branching to the front and back.

View attachment 192976
Tubes are: a vent, gravity fill (one of the mistakes was the mounting height of the outside hookup…should’ve gone higher to accommodate our desire to raise the tank a bit), and city line in; leading to the wheel well clean water tank. 8020 extrusion supports the bed and a shelf (plumbing appliances/pipes will be under the shelf. Shower is at the rear and has consumed many thought cycles, but seems to be getting close to reality.
How about an outdoor shower? A tarp enclosure if needed
 

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