Tone's 17.56-2 mods

[Tone]

Been busy doing some mods on our van, just haven't had time to share them with everyone. First was make the bumper with a receiver for the bike, then after much thinking came up with the bike rack so would fold out of the way for the beds. It holds 2 adult bikes and is well balances to fold down and can be done with little effort. Do have to do something about the number plate.

 

[AzHaych]

Great job @Tone what is the brand of the bike rack that you've got there?

Az

 

[Tone]

It's basically one of these just mine only carries 2. It doesn't damage or scratch the bikes and held really solid, some racks allow the bikes to swing around and rub.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=151416144225

 

[AzHaych]

Thanks Tone, thats what my last rack did, nearly rubbed a hole in the frame on one bike. These look great and price looks good.

Cheers

Az

 

[Tone]

A mate had one and looked good so I got one and put a similar set up on my Hawk, and also got one for my dad for Christmas.

 

[Tone]

You just drop the wheels in the carrier and a ratchet clamp slides down onto the centre on the bike and holds it all firm. It also all folds up fairly small.

 

[gspy4u]

but is it legal ???

length of van has increased + number plate not as viewable ??

question whether my plod will pick you up for it, I know they have fined a few for putting a box on the rear bar before

 

[georgeT]

Been busy doing some mods on our van, just haven't had time to share them with everyone. First was make the bumper with a receiver for the bike, then after much thinking came up with the bike rack so would fold out of the way for the beds. It holds 2 adult bikes and is well balances to fold down and can be done with little effort. Do have to do something about the number plate.

Hi, the bike rack attachment looks good and is similar to what I would like to do. Question- is the hitch receiver tube just passed through a hole in the bumper bar and welded onto the bumper bar only? Does this seem strong enough or would it be improved by fixing the receiver into a van chassis member?

 

[Tone]

Hi, the bike rack attachment looks good and is similar to what I would like to do. Question- is the hitch receiver tube just passed through a hole in the bumper bar and welded onto the bumper bar only? Does this seem strong enough or would it be improved by fixing the receiver into a van chassis member?

It would be better fixing to the chassis so it would be supporting the weight and not the twist, was thinking of adding that.

 

[Tone]

Cheapest mod, I Was going to replace the inside speakers with some better ones because the fusion ones sounded terrible. All fixed just removed the covers off the back, they sound great now.

 

[Tone]

Got my BBQ stand made today, I got Sick of the flimsy Aldi table I was using.

Can rotate the bbq which ever way. it it just clips on so it's nice and stable.

To pack up pull the Bbq off and it tips 90deg and slides under the van. it takes about 30sec to set up or pack away. Just need to clean the bbq now.

 

[PeterV]

Cheapest mod, I Was going to replace the inside speakers with some better ones because the fusion ones sounded terrible. All fixed just removed the covers off the back, they sound great now.

Thanks @Tone, a very handy hint. I'll do this to mine when after its delivered.

 

[Tone]

Got another another job finished today, fitted the diesel heater, was pretty easy to do finding a spot to drill hole through the floor was limited with all the hoses and chassis, took about 3 hrs for the heater and 2 hr for the tank which I put in weeks ago. I gave it a few hrs run time and it worked beautifully until it stopped, tried restarting it a number of times and it would just blow smoke but wouldn't light. Fuel was 70% full in the tank, I thought might have been bad fuel or waxing so I decided to change it by sucking it out through the outlet pipe but would just suck air. I took out the pick up from the tank and it wasn't sucking from the bottom of the tank so I bent the pick up line to reach the bottom. If fitting one of the Planar heaters and tank if you mount the tank flat it has this problem They are ok if mounted vertical. Turned heater back on and fired up and works great.
I got some different air outlet vents because the supplied ones are pretty crap, these deflect and rotate and work really well.
View attachment 33307View attachment 33308

 

[michelle menzel]

Got another another job finished today, fitted the diesel heater, was pretty easy to do finding a spot to drill hole through the floor was limited with all the hoses and chassis, took about 3 hrs for the heater and 2 hr for the tank which I put in weeks ago. I gave it a few hrs run time and it worked beautifully until it stopped, tried restarting it a number of times and it would just blow smoke but wouldn't light. Fuel was 70% full in the tank, I thought might have been bad fuel or waxing so I decided to change it by sucking it out through the outlet pipe but would just suck air. I took out the pick up from the tank and it wasn't sucking from the bottom of the tank so I bent the pick up line to reach the bottom. If fitting one of the Planar heaters and tank if you mount the tank flat it has this problem They are ok if mounted vertical. Turned heater back on and fired up and works great.
I got some different air outlet vents because the supplied ones are pretty crap, these deflect and rotate and work really well.
View attachment 33307View attachment 33308

Hi Tone,
We've just installed a heater today but cant get it to ignite and so it is just blowing cold air, the instructions dont help much as they dont even show our controller... Any ideas?

Cheers, Michelle

 

[Tone]

Hi Tone,
We've just installed a heater today but cant get it to ignite and so it is just blowing cold air, the instructions dont help much as they dont even show our controller... Any ideas?

Cheers, Michelle

yes the instructions are pretty vague. make sure there is fuel getting to the heater, mine took about 4 attempts to get fuel up but I also did suck fuel through to the pump. The controller has a button, pushed in is on manual mode 2 green lights, further round the dial the more output. Button out is auto thermostat mode one green one red. hope this helps.

 

[Tone]

Received my bike rack number plate for the van today so shouldn't have to move the caravan plate every time we take the bikes.

 

[BigSkiddy]

Hi @Tone , some great mods so far. BBQ looks pretty serious.

Where'd you get the vents for the heater?

 

[Tone]

Hi @Tone , some great mods so far. BBQ looks pretty serious.

Where'd you get the vents for the heater?

Got them on eBay after a lot of searching, the came from the UK in a couple of weeks.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=181372717335&globalID=EBAY-AU

 

[Tone]

I have been slowly working on our tv/entertainment setup since we got the van. We ordered it with the tv bracket mounted but they mounted it too low and the tv might as we'll be sitting on the bench plus having all the leads around the bench was a pain so I decided to raise it. Problem was with all the screw holes left behind from the bracket. I got a piece of MDF and routed a groove in the back to put the wires up, wrapped the MDF in white contact instead of painting it and put aerial, 12v and audio to the fusion unit.

The next problem was what to do with the unused wall plat, so I decided to put a switch for the 12v to the tv and a couple of USB charge points and also a 3 way switch for the inside and outside audio inputs for the fusion stereo, switch up audio comes from the inside tv points, switch down audio comes from outside. I also wired in some wireless headphones so you can turn off the fusion and still use the headphones from which ever source. I use one base charging unit which charges from USB and run 2 headphones off it works great, won't disturbed the kids asleep or neighbours.

2 12v plugs for tv and fridge and RCA inputs added.

 

[Tone]

Did this small mod just after We bought the van and though it was a little insignificant but had a few people looking and taking pics of it while away. Thought better share. Just cam lock fittings.