This is just a quick update to show some of the progress I've made on my Renault Trafic campervan project since the last post. First of all, I have fitted the Parrot MKi9200, which should of been a simple plug and play, but obviously it was a bit more of a nuisance than that! As you can see there is an insane amount of wires, and they only just fit behind the stereo inside the dash. My van stereo had a permanent live wire to the battery, but I also needed an ignition live (to prevent it constantly using the batteries power and killing it over time) but my van didn't have one. So the only solution was to connect the wire to an ignition live source. So my work mate who is pretty clued up on electrics came over with a few tools and we soldered the ignition wire to fag lighter socket. It was a bit of a pain though, as the dash was a nightmare to move things through it. Typical! Back onto the insulation, I haven't done as much as I'd of liked, but its coming along quite nicely! The weather has been terrible and it's horrible having the doors or windows open in it, but I cant keep them closed because the glue has quite an unpleasant smell! I'm using Wickes Thermal Insulation Foil, which is usually £11.99 for an 8000x600mm roll, but I got it for £9.99. It doesn't look pretty but you aren't going to able to see it once the ply is back on and its all covered up. I'm using carpet adhesive to glue the foil insulation on, and it works a treat! Also using foil tape (80p a roll from Mega Value, so I have tons of it!) to seal the foil overlays and also covered all the holes the carpet will go over. The reason I did this was because I've been told that if you carpet straight over the holes, stains seep through from the other side and dirty the carpet. It got dark before I managed to take more photos so I'll get some more tomorrow, but I have also started stuffing the big gaps between the body and the interior skin. Just going nuts with it, making sure every possible part is reached.
I'm using Diall Loft Insulation from B&Q. It's made from recycled plastic, and it's quite nice to handle, no itching or discomfort and easy to tear apart. I read that this stuff is better than other types of insulation such as sheep's wool because it doesn't hold moisture as much so it doesn't rot the metal or smell when wet. I've done a bit of the roof with the loft insulation, just to see how easy it is to use, but the walls and floor are my priority at the moment because...
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I know I haven't posted for a while, progress has been slow but I've finally got around to working on the van properly but it's full steam ahead from here! So now the Civic has been sold and I have the van at home, it's time to clean it up and get the base down ready for the campervan conversion! But first a little bit about the snow we got a little while back now... In the early hours of the morning (21/11/15) I got to test the van in the snow, nothing I ever got the chance to do in the civic. It coped really well to my surprise and was quite easy to handle. I took a few random photos for the blog. It wasn't much snow but was enough to make conditions difficult. Now on to the original blog topic, preparing the van! I started off by stripping out the ply and removing the bulk head. The bulk head was fairly easy to remove, until I got to 2 strange screws. I'm not sure what they are exactly, but they were just plain black screws with a little dimple in the middle. I couldn't press it in to remove it, so I did the next best thing and smash it off with a flat head screwdriver and hammer! Always does the trick...
The screwdriver and hammer trick also came in handy when removing the ply. The walls and wheel arch boards were very easy as the screws were pretty much fully intact, but the floor was a different matter. Some of them were pretty impossible to see, never mind remove! But with a bit of patients, and mainly brute force, they were all off. |
AuthorHey guys I'm Billy, a lorry driver from the UK. Join me throughout my various travels and projects. Archives
August 2017
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