LDV 400 Camper conversion

Lucy for sale!

2010-07-11T22:10:00.001-07:00

Well i decided i need to spend more time doing other things at the present time and did not want lucy sitting in a field going to waste so she is up for sale!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320560224492&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

A real bargain to be had if you have the time to fix the clutch and tidy her up a little.

Lucy is poorly!

2009-09-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well she is now off the road again with a busted clutch!! I reckon she can stay parked up for a while now and will get the clutch done after xmas, then its a little more work for next summer and (Touch wood) a great summer of exploring!!

Dave

Lucy has a MOT!

2009-08-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

Yep she is now legal, apart from the tax!

Will have to wait till next payday now and then hope for a spot of sunshine!

2009-08-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

http://selfbuildmotorhome.webs.com

Why not pop along and check out the new website!

2009-07-26T01:59:00.000-07:00

Lucy went for her MOT yesterday...

Failed on a few things,
Wheel bearing
Tyre
Exhaust
Wipers
Brake pipes
Seatbelts
Bit of welding under the front steps

I reckon about £300 to get right, just what we needed as plan to go away next week for a few days, but as she has cost us about £150 in total so far i reckon its not to bad....

2009-07-11T12:22:00.000-07:00

We have light!!

All the 12v lights are now wired into the control panel, just need to add the water pump now, i purchased one of ebay that has a microswitch built into it, will post some pics soon...

2009-07-11T12:20:00.000-07:00

At last the grouting is done! Was really not looking forward to this part, but it wasnt to bad really..

2009-07-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

We now have a cooker cover and table!!

Still loads to do though!

2009-07-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

2009-06-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

All dressed up!

2009-06-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

Lucy gets some carpet, went up easier than i thought!!

Tiles!

2009-06-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Bit of tiling done, just need to finish it off and the grout, then its tap and the cooker cover and the kitchen is all done!

Carpet the walls and flooring next!

Little bit more work!

2009-06-03T08:28:00.001-07:00

Did some more work on the kitchen area, lus hung some curtains Donna made!

2009-05-26T03:03:00.001-07:00

Why not pop along to a forum dedicated to all you self builders out there.

http://busbuilder.21.forumer.com

Its free to join and slowly building up to be a great little community of self builders to share problems, tips and any other useful info you need when taking on a new project!

2009-05-26T02:46:00.000-07:00

Not a great deal done this weekend as we spent a day at the beach!

Drilled my first hole though the side of Lucy, very nervous! This is for the outside light from the caravan.

Also fitted the gas pipe from the kitchen area and run it down under the seats, though the back wall and built a nice little shelf for the bottle to sit on, padded it with some rubber strips i found at work so the bottle sits nicely and doesnt move to much, just need to fit a ratchet strap now round the bottle fixing it to the wall to keep it nice and safe.

Also fitted the hookup, and all the 240v main sockets are in place.

The camera ran out of batteries so will take some pics of the finished light, gas pipework and the hookup with mains wiring and post soon....

Dave

2009-05-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

A few more pics of the weekends work!

3 days of graft!

2009-05-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

Water container will fir nicely in bottom cupboard next to frdige....

Starting the cupboards!

Kitchen is an adapted side unit from the Caravan. The cooker will sit in here behind a cupboard door.

Looking down towards the back we see the seating area which can sleep three with ease! And then the bunk above can sleep either one adult or two children.

The second seating area!

Taking 5...

Capped off after insulation fitted, no chance of heat loss through the windows.

Stuffed full of insulation.

Fixing the walls to cover the windows.

Here comes the Sun..

2009-03-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like spring is well on its way now. Need to get a move on with Lucy as soon as the caravan comes.

3 more sleeps till i get to do more.......

2009-03-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

The next step

2009-03-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

Ok so here is the next big step in the build. The caravan has been given to us by my Dad as it leaks, we shall get our grubby little hands on it in about 4 weeks as he lives in the midlands and we are in south wales, plus i dont have a towbar on my car. We shall clear our workshop to make space and then the stripping will begin.

we are hoping the seating area fits nicely and just needs the foams re-covering. The kitchen will go in as it is and gives us a full cooker with 3 way fridge.

I also plan to strip all the wiring and use as much as i can, i will check out the heating and see what we can do with that. The tall cupboard may fir along with the wall cupbaords but these will have to be adjusted i think!

Cant wait!

2009-03-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Total cost of project is,

£30

Yep £30, Lucy was given to us and we have only purchase some sheets of chipboard, adhesive and screws, the remainder of the wood came from the garage and work.

Lucy's Bed and seating area

2009-03-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

Here we now see the raised bunk and are for seating underneath, took a while to get this done and we did it all with no plans or real ideas, i think it has turned very well based on this.

If you are wondering why the sides are so far out from the van then let me explain,

There is two windows behind these and as we did not want people looking in we decided to block off, this itself caused a problem, how do we block these off and insulate, so we purchased some of those sleeping mats with insulation on one side, the windows were then painted with black external gloss and then the mats we stuck to the windows, we then boarded as you can see but before blocking it off we stuffed a load of loft insulation down, nice and tight (Although Donna did not enjoy doing that part) This should now give us a nice solid soundproof, insulated area to build the seating/table/fold down bed.

The back of the area on top of the bunk was bulit with a 2 inch cavity and also insualted, the bottom was done in the same way but is 24 inch from the back door to give a nice little storage area which we shall access from the back doors.

The wooden battens you can see on the roof are next weekends project, we shall panel off the front of the bunk area and have a access hole, as this bunk will only be used by the boys we shall then put a curtain up to close it off in the day and when its just myself and Donna.

2009-03-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

The leaky non windproof door!!

2009-02-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

So here is the rear bunk fitted, its made from some old timber we had in the garage and two runners from the boys bunkbeds, they now sleep on the floor, just kidding we purchased them a new set as the wooden ones were getting on a bit!

The rear and side windows were painted with metal gloss paint, i just need to cut in the edges. This cost next to nothing and as the windows will be insulated and boarded over it matters not what they look like on the inside, from the outside it just looks like they have been tinted, easier and cheaper!!

Next job is to collect a load of ply i have purchased off Ebay and a few sheets from packing cases at work, we will then board out the sides under the bed, the back and the from of the upper bed, leaving a hole for the boys to climb though to access the bed, underneath with then be fitted with some caravan seats (if they fit) and the rear will be accessed from the back doors for storage of gas bottles and water......

No work this weekend as the kids are up and we dont want to tell them about it till its done, we will then suprise them by picking them up in it and going away for the weekend.

Dark evenings!

2009-02-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

Curse these dark winter evenings...

Lucy is parked in storage away from the home so we can only work on here in daylight, i sit and wait for the weekends or the evenings to get lighter!

2 More sleeps till we can get our hands on her again.......

2009-02-15T02:10:00.000-08:00

Here is Lucy's heart!

Although i am not sure what engine this is, Ford or Pug! Anyone??

2009-02-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

So here is Lucy now with everything removed, note the timber across the back, this is a mock up of how the bed will sit. This will be all boarded in at the back with the back half for storage that we will access via the back doors, this will mainly be used for water tank, gas bottle and tools.

The front half of the underbed area will be seating, this will only be any good for the kids or us to lay in due to head space but with another dining area further down the bus we will have plenty of seating area for rainy days and cold evenings.

On the left hand side of Lucy where the wood is leaning we shall fit the kitchen units, these may come from a caravan my dad has given us or we shall fit some standard kitchen units that will be lowered and some of the depth removed.

On the right you see the old minibus seating that fixes to the rails in the floor, there is currently 2 sets of w seats facing each other, this will stay where it is for this year, we plan to fit a table that drops down to turn the seating area into a bed with the use of some foam, this will be for the eldest to use.

Next year we shall remove these seats and replace them with the type you find in a caravan so it looks a little neater, we also have to have lapbelts fitted as these are the only passanger seats when travelling...

2009-02-14T01:56:00.000-08:00

Here is the view from the back doors looking up to the cab.

2009-02-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

Here is the view from the cab looking at he back doors, this is before we stripped her out.

Inside Lucy

2009-02-06T04:40:00.000-08:00

Lucy

2009-02-06T03:25:00.000-08:00

Where to start

2009-02-04T07:55:00.000-08:00

Well here is my first blog!

Myself (Dave) and lovely girlfriend (Donna) have just been given an LDV minibus for the sole purpose of conversion into our first motorhome. The van is actually an ex council minibus and was owned by a nice chap who had part converted it, it contained 5 of the original minibus seats, a small kitchen unit, a bench and a cupboard unit.

With regards to the running of the bus it requires a new starter motor, exhaust and a good clean. Hopefully in the next few weeks we shall be putting it through the MOT and giving her a good clean inside and out ready for fitting.

Donna has named her Lucy so thats what i shall use going forward!

As for the layout we have decided that we shall build a double bed in the back section which will be raised above a storage area which we shall access from the back doors, also part of a seating area will be positioned under this bed which will also drop down into another double bed, we will build a kitchen area midway with sink, cooker and units/storage space, we will then leave in 4 of the original seats facing each other with a drop down table that can also be used as a bed. plenty of storage space at head height down both sides of Lucy will help store away all the bits and bobs. The seating area made from the original seats will more than likely be changed at a later date dependent on how we find it after using Lucy a few times.

Well we are still working out how to achieve all this so cant really say much more at the minute apart from keep checking for updates and watch this space.

Any tips/ideas or things to avoid would be very nice..

Dave