Hodakaguy's 4x4 Sprinter Build
- Thread starter Hodakaguy
- Start date
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Haven't been working on the van for a while but it's time to get going on this project again.
First up is to clean up a bit of wiring. There are two pig tails of wiring hanging down from the ceiling that used to go to the roof top AC, I'll remove them and tie the stubs out of the way to the main harness. Also note that I filled the ceiling cross members with low expansion foam since there is no way to pull in insulation through these beams.
Wires shortened and staggered, marine heat shrink applied to ends.
Bundled up to the harness and now out of the way.
Next up.....Insulation. We will be installing 3M Thinsulate SM600L, this is both a thermal and acoustic insulation that is hydrophobic and won't adsorb moisture. My friend ordered a large builders roll and we purchased ours from his roll.
Getting ready to start cutting...
My wife is doing an awesome job cutting and fitting the insulation!
I'll be building the interior out with all new panels (I'll be reusing the factory window trim for a finished look) and will be running L-track along the walls and ceiling similar to the Adventure Wagon interior kits. Part of running the L-track on the ceiling is building braces/supports that will go behind the L-track and greatly increase it's load capacity.
The Adventure Wagon interior kits come with really nice support brackets, but they start at $11K which is a little rich for my blood so I'll be fabricating my own brackets. I Picked up some C-channel and flat bar to fabricate the supports with, this will be rock solid when finished.
Cutting mounting tabs.
Tabs cut and mounting holes being marked and drilled.
First brace ready to test fit in place.
Looks like it's going to fit perfect. The L-track will be bolted into the roof supports via Plus Nuts then will be bolted into the braces as well for extra support.
More to come.....
Hodakaguy
First up is to clean up a bit of wiring. There are two pig tails of wiring hanging down from the ceiling that used to go to the roof top AC, I'll remove them and tie the stubs out of the way to the main harness. Also note that I filled the ceiling cross members with low expansion foam since there is no way to pull in insulation through these beams.
Wires shortened and staggered, marine heat shrink applied to ends.
Bundled up to the harness and now out of the way.
Next up.....Insulation. We will be installing 3M Thinsulate SM600L, this is both a thermal and acoustic insulation that is hydrophobic and won't adsorb moisture. My friend ordered a large builders roll and we purchased ours from his roll.
Getting ready to start cutting...
My wife is doing an awesome job cutting and fitting the insulation!
I'll be building the interior out with all new panels (I'll be reusing the factory window trim for a finished look) and will be running L-track along the walls and ceiling similar to the Adventure Wagon interior kits. Part of running the L-track on the ceiling is building braces/supports that will go behind the L-track and greatly increase it's load capacity.
The Adventure Wagon interior kits come with really nice support brackets, but they start at $11K which is a little rich for my blood so I'll be fabricating my own brackets. I Picked up some C-channel and flat bar to fabricate the supports with, this will be rock solid when finished.
Cutting mounting tabs.
Tabs cut and mounting holes being marked and drilled.
First brace ready to test fit in place.
Looks like it's going to fit perfect. The L-track will be bolted into the roof supports via Plus Nuts then will be bolted into the braces as well for extra support.
More to come.....
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
This piston is out of a 1955 Ingersol Rand KVS 6 cylinder engine. The engine is rated at 1000hp at 330rpm and runs two double acting integral compressors. The bare piston weighs 400lbs.
Here's a few shots of the engine itself.
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
The AC wiring is wrapped with the main harness and would be a major job to remove without any additional benefit, best just to abandon in place.
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
A bit more progress today.....
I switched gears and decided to get the L-track mounted in place so work on the wall and ceiling panels can start, once the panels are finished I'll continue on brace fabrication and installation.
Here's the L-track all ready to be installed.
I'll be mounting the L-track into the van using Plus Nuts, they are similar to Rivet Nuts but offer a better hold with more surface area. Here's a picture of the Plus Nut setting tool and a 1/4" Plus Nut.
Astro Plus Nut Install Tool - Available here on Amazon: CLICK HERE
Rivet Nut on the left and Plus Nut on the right.
Plus Nuts - Available On Amazon Here: CLICK HERE
Here's an example of a Plus Nut installed in a scrap piece of tubing so you can see how it grabs on the back side.
Drilling the holes in the L-Track. Once the track is all installed I'll pull it back off and taper the holes so the bolts are flush in the track.
Drilling the holes in the ceiling cross members and installing Plus Nuts.
Next up is prepping the sides for L-track. I'm going to re-use the stock grey plastic window trim for a nice finished look but a bit needs to be trimmed off the top edge to allow the L-track to be installed. Some quick work with a straight edge and some tin snips made quick work on this job.
And trimmed all the way to the front.
Plus nuts installed....
L-track installed.
Will try and get the rest of the track installed tomorrow....
Hodakaguy
I switched gears and decided to get the L-track mounted in place so work on the wall and ceiling panels can start, once the panels are finished I'll continue on brace fabrication and installation.
Here's the L-track all ready to be installed.
I'll be mounting the L-track into the van using Plus Nuts, they are similar to Rivet Nuts but offer a better hold with more surface area. Here's a picture of the Plus Nut setting tool and a 1/4" Plus Nut.
Astro Plus Nut Install Tool - Available here on Amazon: CLICK HERE
Rivet Nut on the left and Plus Nut on the right.
Plus Nuts - Available On Amazon Here: CLICK HERE
Here's an example of a Plus Nut installed in a scrap piece of tubing so you can see how it grabs on the back side.
Drilling the holes in the L-Track. Once the track is all installed I'll pull it back off and taper the holes so the bolts are flush in the track.
Drilling the holes in the ceiling cross members and installing Plus Nuts.
Next up is prepping the sides for L-track. I'm going to re-use the stock grey plastic window trim for a nice finished look but a bit needs to be trimmed off the top edge to allow the L-track to be installed. Some quick work with a straight edge and some tin snips made quick work on this job.
And trimmed all the way to the front.
Plus nuts installed....
L-track installed.
Will try and get the rest of the track installed tomorrow....
Hodakaguy
Last edited:
Arjan
Fossil Overlander
Thanks - makes a lot of sense to leave it in.
Interesting it though that it seems MB puts in those wires, regardless of A/C being fitted or not. Unlike many others that'll run an additional loom.
Those "Plus Nuts" are very, very interesting as indeed they seem to have a much better "hold" than the other type.
Very nice build !
Interesting it though that it seems MB puts in those wires, regardless of A/C being fitted or not. Unlike many others that'll run an additional loom.
Those "Plus Nuts" are very, very interesting as indeed they seem to have a much better "hold" than the other type.
Very nice build !
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
This morning we cut the final piece to finish out the horizontal run above the drivers side windows. An aluminum blade on a chop or miter saw works perfectly, makes a nice clean cut that's perfectly square.
I marked the hole locations and here we're installing the plus nuts.
And installed. I'll be counter sinking the holes and installing flush bolts later in the build.
Finishing the trimming of the passenger side rear window plastic.
Marking and drilling the holes in the passenger side window L-track.
Next I used the drilled L-track as a guide to transfer the hole locations to the van. Used the same 1/4" bit to just barely make a mark on the van wall then remove the L-track and use a punch and 3 drill bits to step the hole up to size for the plus nut. My dad is giving me a hand here, it's great to have an extra set of hands!
Using a shot vac when drilling the holes really saves a lot of mess and clean up work.
Plus nut's installed and L-track mounted.
Continued Below....
I marked the hole locations and here we're installing the plus nuts.
And installed. I'll be counter sinking the holes and installing flush bolts later in the build.
Finishing the trimming of the passenger side rear window plastic.
Marking and drilling the holes in the passenger side window L-track.
Next I used the drilled L-track as a guide to transfer the hole locations to the van. Used the same 1/4" bit to just barely make a mark on the van wall then remove the L-track and use a punch and 3 drill bits to step the hole up to size for the plus nut. My dad is giving me a hand here, it's great to have an extra set of hands!
Using a shot vac when drilling the holes really saves a lot of mess and clean up work.
Plus nut's installed and L-track mounted.
Continued Below....
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Continued from above....
To install the two forward pieces of L-track on the ceiling I'll need to fabricate the supports at this time since there is only 1 bolt that will go into the roof rib, the rest of the bolts will be in the support braces. Here I'm starting to fabricate the brace using the same C-channel.
Cutting a notch on the ends to allow the mounting tabs to angle back a bit to match the angle of the roof beams. Using my favorite shop tool....my Portaband.
Getting ready to weld on the mounting tabs, the tabs are welded out on both sides.
Installing the Plus Nuts and bolting up the support.
Once bolted into place I transferred the hole locations to the brace and pulled it off once more to drill the holes and install the Plus Nuts into the brace.
And All bolted into place in the van. This setup is going to be super strong once all the braces are installed! The two pieces of L-track came out nice and tight.
At this point I stopped taking a lot of pictures as we worked to get the drivers side finished before daylight faded. On the drivers side brace I decided to angle the ends of the mounting tabs upwards a bit to ensure they stay out of the way.
Drivers side mounted up.
And ceiling completed for now. The fish-eye lens on the phone makes the tracks look like they are bent a bit in the photo.
More to come....
Hodakaguy
To install the two forward pieces of L-track on the ceiling I'll need to fabricate the supports at this time since there is only 1 bolt that will go into the roof rib, the rest of the bolts will be in the support braces. Here I'm starting to fabricate the brace using the same C-channel.
Cutting a notch on the ends to allow the mounting tabs to angle back a bit to match the angle of the roof beams. Using my favorite shop tool....my Portaband.
Getting ready to weld on the mounting tabs, the tabs are welded out on both sides.
Installing the Plus Nuts and bolting up the support.
Once bolted into place I transferred the hole locations to the brace and pulled it off once more to drill the holes and install the Plus Nuts into the brace.
And All bolted into place in the van. This setup is going to be super strong once all the braces are installed! The two pieces of L-track came out nice and tight.
At this point I stopped taking a lot of pictures as we worked to get the drivers side finished before daylight faded. On the drivers side brace I decided to angle the ends of the mounting tabs upwards a bit to ensure they stay out of the way.
Drivers side mounted up.
And ceiling completed for now. The fish-eye lens on the phone makes the tracks look like they are bent a bit in the photo.
More to come....
Hodakaguy
