Crafter Nose Swap

[ctmcdaniel]

Starting the Dissection



Head light Detail, the bumper cover, head lights, Elec Fan assembly, Grille came off in less then 2 hours.



Sprinter Front Support


Crafter Front Support


More of the Crafter Front Support.

Today I will continue the dissection and start to transfer from the Sprinter: Radiator, Inter-cooler, Oil cooler (or is it the transmission cooler), AC condenser and two mystery (to me) tubes over to the supplied crafter front support.

The supplied crafter versions of all the are suspected to be lower capacity (at least I think they maybe) as (again I think but not sure) the crafter has a lower Hp motor.

 

[BBlessing]

sweet! can't wait to se it through.

bb

 

[georgetg]

Very Impressive,

I'm jealous, I really like the Crafter nose much better than the MB NCV3 Nose.

Cheers
George

 

[ctmcdaniel]

This an after picture .... I'm surprised that I got this far


The only problem so far is the Crafter front support attachment points are wider then the then the sprinter. This is the view looking down



This is the view of the attachment point that does not match from below.


The entire sprinter rad, inter-cooler, etc just snapped into the Crafter Support. If the coolant had not Picked up too much dirt and oil when I drained the rad then I could have started the truck up tonight.

So far this has gone much smoother then it could have gone.


Tom McD

 

[mean_in_green]

I'm sure there'll be more than a few people interested in seeing how your post develops Tom - myself included!

 

[ctmcdaniel]

Some more Pictures from Saturday Night
The Front support's Left is the Sprinter and Right is the Crafter



Front support out ... front view



Front support out Side view


Tom McD

 

[BBlessing]

Some more Pictures from Saturday Night
The Front support's Right is the Sprinter and Left is the Crafter
View attachment 8945

Tom McD

tom; which one is the crafter support?

bb

 

[ctmcdaniel]

The Front is on. Head Lights work, so do the turn signal. Draining the radiator may have been unnecessary and there may be a better drain point then the radiator. The coolant I drained picked up too much junk and I could not find MB approved coolant at pep boys. Tomorrow I take the Fake crafter to the body shop for some paint.



Partial assembly


This made me laugh



Frank-en Crafter, I'm going to let the body shop unbolting the front fenders and reattaching the new ones after they paint them.


This showed up last week, my coworkers call my truck the scooby van

 

[mobileoilchange]

if the body shop is painting the fenders, make sure they cut them in and also blend it into the hood and doors. it looks like your craft-rinter is silver. if the body shop isnt carefull they could get modeling in the paint, also the reason for the blending into the doors and hood is for a perfect match, if they panel paint it youll see the difference in color and metalic. their is no such thing as one color. even though the body shop has your color code, their are color variances. your color code could have 2 or more color variances. just like how some people think black is black and white is white. no such thing. for example, the color code YZ (ford white) their are 7 variances. you MUST mix and use a spray out card then compair it to the vehicle, once you find the right match you then cut in the interior door and fender jams. then blend it into the surronding panels. it can take hours and alot of paint to get the right match. alot of places dont spend the time to do it right.

my pops owns a body shop and ive been in it all my life. just my 2 cents.

 

[sikwan]

Geezus!

 

[ctmcdaniel]

Proof the lights work

 

[gezuvor]

Looking great! Please let me know how it all ends up so we can fine tune our conversion package!

- Rich | OEMpl.us

 

[ctmcdaniel]

Rich-

Some minor glichtes....

It looks like I am missing 1 or 2 plastic trim from the radiator support. Here are the Pics of what was on the sprinter radiator support.









Here is the location on the crafter Radiator support that has the same type molded clips to receive the trim. The missing pieces look like the prevent heat and air flow from the radiator bypassing the radiator and separate the cold air intake for the engine from the radiators.

 

[ctmcdaniel]

Rich-

Off the top of my head you can simplify the nose swap kit. I will have to go back over this when the swap is complete but this is what I have so far.

UN used parts:

Radiator
Turbo Inter cooler
oil cooler
Air filter box (this could be identical to the MB one.... in outside appearance it has the same dimensions)



Missing Parts:

6 to 8 bolts for bolting the head lights and trim to the Crafter Radiator support.

2 other bolts for the head light surrounds (painted) to the upper edge of the bumper cover.

Top two bolted connections of the Crafter support are about 1.25" wider then the crafter connections. So I need to have 2 holes drilled and and two nuts.


At this point there are only 3 pieces that have not been test fitted: Hood and 2 side fenders.


Your happy, willing and faithful Guinea pig....



Tom McD

These are the head light trims where I ran out of bolts




The lower attachment of the head light trim where It connects to the bumper cover: this is where I need too know what was the factory bolt. the bolts that worked on the radiator support do not feel correct. That is why it is not fully threaded in.

 

[gezuvor]

Looks good. If you need I can order the correct bolts, but I'll need specific information about where they are, etc.

 

[ctmcdaniel]

Rich and all-

The Hood came out of shrink wrap today... it has just a little shipping damage but nothing terrible. The body shop is busy so I will be driving around in a 2 tone truck for at least a week. I may pull the side fenders off next and make sure the crafter ones fit.











Tom McD
FrankenCrafter

 

[ctmcdaniel]

Rich-


Do you see the silver fastner stick out at the bottom of the photo? That is the lower attachment of the head light trim where It connects to the bumper cover: this is where I need too or get the factory bolt. the bolts that worked on the radiator support do not feel correct. That is why it is not fully threaded in.

Can you find what bolt VW used here?





Also I am going to need the Radiator trim parts mentioned in the previous post. I can not find a Crafter Parts PDF on line anywhere.

Thanks again

Tom

PS Did you ever find a badge for the steering wheel?

 

[SPRINTERUK]

hi
its great what you have done
maybe its because we have both here that i have not seen this done before
its maybe a different taste but i still like the mercdes front over the vw its what is was built for
will this be the first in the u.s


chris

 

[ctmcdaniel]

When you do your crafter nose swap you will need to buy these two labels that go on the Raditor support.





Tom McD

 

[maxextz]

heres my 2 cents worth on this conversion, cant believe the trouble gone to on this conversion its nuts, its gone from a ugly front to an even uglier version ,
max...