Layout plan.

irontent

Member
What did you use to cut the polycarbonate?

I will use the polycarbonate for the van ceiling and for the shower walls. (If I ever get that far on the conversion)

Also thought that the use of the clear plastic template for the floor was a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
I've used a table saw (as the plastics supplier uses) as well as a hand-held saber saw -- depending on the geometry of the cut. I use a red-devil blade on my table saw -- with teeth count appropriate for maple, and use a blade in the saber saw suitable for metal. Both seem to work ok. The only down-side is that the cutting process creates lots of static electricity which causes the waste particles to stick to the polycarbonate sheet. I then use a mild glass cleaner soaked rag to remove the clinging particles. A pain, but simple to do.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Hello Dave,

I had the Polygal Triple Wall 8mm precut at the Multicraft Plastics outlet, I assume they used a large table saw. For all small cutouts I used the jigsaw with medium pitch wood blade. To remove the debris I used our potent house vac. Keep up with your conversion.

Cheers,

George.
 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
As usual the workmanship is a level above what the rest of us are capable of doing. Impressive. Mine will be nice but not at the same level of capability.
 

hein

Van Guru
Very nice work, George. Looks fantastic!
What is the corrugated sheet under your Thermolite?
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Very nice work, George. Looks fantastic!
What is the corrugated sheet under your Thermolite?
Hi Hein,

My floor sandwich is:

- Factory passenger floor about 3/4" "corrugated" plastic with thin rubber surface
- 1/4 Thermolite
- Roberts 2001 1/16" spread adhesive
- 0.080" (0.055" vinyl) mineral felt vinyl floor.

Doing it over again I could select fiberglass linoleum backing which could be less fragile and messy.

George.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
The factory step threshold looks great. Can I ask how much?
It was about $50 and NO sale tax, did I mentioned NO sale tax, yes I did, I love our Oregon state. You need to add spring clips which need to be attached with 1/8" small rivets. The top of the spring clips needs to be align with the top of the floor, easy to align. I needed to raise them by about 3/8".

George.
 

zeidwh

Member
At the risk of adding to this post out of order, George previously discussed the rattle of his sliding cabinet doors. Like many of us, I have copied quite a few of the methods and solutions that George has so graciously shared. Here's a simple one to add that has worked well for me (so far).

I go out on some pretty rough roads where everything bumps around. To stop the doors from opening and even flying out of their tracks, I cut some HDPE to put in the 80/20 slots where the cabinet doors are so that they don't open. The fit is tight so they don't rattle either; just the pots, pans, and all of the other stuff inside. Pics attached.

When I need to open the cabinet, I just pop them out using the ⅞" finger hole that I drilled. There are two per cabinet - one on the inner sliding door and on on the outer sliding door. Now I don't need to figure out some other type of locking system either.

Hope this is useful to some others out there and thanks again George for helping out so many of us.
 

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GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
The conversion is not finished yet but almost. A few details, unfortunately still a half page long, are remaining, but I decided to stamp my results with an official sign. My daughter asked, well Dad, how is the progress on your van? – Voilà.

George.
 

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GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
I am getting ready to install the Espar D5 to heat my Isotemp. Unfortunately, the factory bracket only works with D5s without integrated diesel and fuel pumps which I have. I purchased the box which will be mounted with 3-4 5/16”-18 rivnuts/bolts to the “frame” channel. The box is 9” x 12” x 5” and it will allow me to orient the D5’s hoses towards the Isotemp located at the rear end of the van.

My rivnut tool is great but useless to mount rivnuts in narrow spaces so I need to get a hand tool. I found 2, any direct experience with these or other ones is very welcome.

Thank you,

George.
 

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Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
I use the McMaster-Carr one and it works in tight areas. Did have to buy a longer bolt because I use pre-bulbed inserts. Someone did say that the bolt has now been changed to a longer bolt.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
I use the McMaster-Carr one and it works in tight areas. Did have to buy a longer bolt because I use pre-bulbed inserts. Someone did say that the bolt has now been changed to a longer bolt.
Thank you Dave, my McMaster order is ready to go then.

George.
 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
There is an important difference between the two tools I should have mentioned. The difference is important depending on the type of insert that you are using. If using a nutsert and not a pre-bulbed insert then the MacMaster-Carr tool is difficult to use overhead (like in the roof ribs).

The McMaster-Carr tool uses two box end wrenches. The other tool uses one box end wrench and the supplied allen wrench. With regular nutserts you need three hands for overheads. One on each wrench and one to hold the tool up against the ceiling because it falls down through the wrenches. The other tool can be held up against the roof with the hand on the allen wrench. Trying to do overheads with regular nutserts was difficult for me. That forced me to look for a better method.

That resulted in finding the pre-bulbed inserts that can be pushed into the overhead hole and do not fall out before tool is inserted. Back to a two handed installation.

I think the pre-bulbed are a better insert because the hole diameter is not as critical. The four little feet provide gripping further out from the hole.

I have only used 1/4-20NC inserts although I bought a 5/16-18NC tool which I will need for larger existing holes in the Transit under van for the grey water tank mounting.

More info and pictures: https://sprinter-source.com/forums/showpost.php?p=215839&postcount=19
 

d_bertko

Active member
I used the first one, the Lem tools one, on my van back in 05 and put in more than two hundred rivnuts with it. About 30 at a time since it was a bit tiring on my arms. Good feel for the correct tightness, though.

Sorry to not remember the supplier from that long ago. Doubt if I paid more than half that Amazon price.

I had no problem doing overheads. I'd use a Unibit to get close to the final hole size and then a sharp Q size bit to finish. My rivnuts were pressfit with that technique and no rivnut has ever spun loose from the initial install.

Dan
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
I used the first one, the Lem tools one, on my van back in 05 and put in more than two hundred rivnuts with it. About 30 at a time since it was a bit tiring on my arms. Good feel for the correct tightness, though.

Sorry to not remember the supplier from that long ago. Doubt if I paid more than half that Amazon price.

I had no problem doing overheads. I'd use a Unibit to get close to the final hole size and then a sharp Q size bit to finish. My rivnuts were pressfit with that technique and no rivnut has ever spun loose from the initial install.

Dan
Yes, I think this Lem 722 tool is expensive for what it is and it is for a one size only, but as Dave pointed out, needs less hands. I often use 1/4"-20 and 5/16"-18 rivnuts so it would be nice to have both but for $140, ouch.

George.
 

GeorgeRa

2013 Sprinter DIY 144WB, Portland OR
Here is the method I used to attach the toilet module over the newly placed linoleum using the factory holes for seat mounts. The location of these holes was not good for the location of the toilet module so I made the adapter from the 2’ x ½” x 1 ¼” aluminum bar to relocate the mounting holes. Pictures should be self-explanatory.

To finish this module I still need to erect a privacy screen based on tent poles.

George.
 

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