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As an avid outdoors and mountain biking enthusiast, I wanted a small van in which I could sleep in to facilitate and enhance my weekend adventures. I stumble upon a brand new 2019 TC that was already a bit converted (minimalist set up, but still), so I jumped right in and I haven't regret it! The initial set up allowed me to start using the TC as a little campervan right off the start which was awesome, but the optimization-design-comfort-lover in me wouldn't settle forever with that set up... So I made a mid-term iteration plan to get the van to my perfect set up, slowly but surely. Here's how it goes: PHASE 0 (aka what was already included in the initial conversion) Duration: 0 weekend, 100% completed Interior paneling finition Sofa-bred module (including 2" mattress) Amovible table Side and back windows Curtains tailored to each windows PHASE 1 (easy, quick and mostly necessary add-ons for the van's purpose) Duration: 1 weekend, 100% completed 2" Hitch at the back Bike Rack (Sportsrack 2 bikes, but upgraded to Panache T6 in 2022) Roof bars (Thule) Solar/roof shower (Yakima RoadShower, 10 gallons) Awning (GoXplore) Roof cargo box (Thule Pulse Alpine) Interior roof light switch (so that it doesn't turn on in the middle of the night whenever I open the door) That Thule roof cargo box also didn't make the cut in the next phase, although I loved the extra storage, I loved even more the solar pannel. PHASE 2 (body work and not-so-fun stuff so that my dog can stay cool in the van during summer) Duration: 2 weekends, 100% completed Sound deadening (Kilmat) Insulation (Thinsulate) Ventilation (2 Maxx Air Dome fans) Lighting (4 DEL 12 volts lights) Plumbing (23L water container, small electric pump and faucet) Solar panel (1 Renogy 100w) All-in-one battery (Goal Zero Power Station, 1000w) Secret flooring storage (backseat feet area of the Passenger version is unused/covered in the Cargo version) Even if I love the dark look, the interior space being so tiny, It just made the interior feels even more cramped. So since I already have to remove all the panels for this phase, I figured, eh, why not just pull out the black carpet finition and paint everything white. Looked less "finished" than before, but I knew this was only temporary. PHASE 3 (Interior finition and added storage) Duration: 2 weekends, 75% completed Roof & wall panelling (5/16" x 3" x 8' lambris) Overhead storage in the cabine (not shown in the pictures) Added Reflectix to the curtains (not shown in the pictures) 1.5" suspension lift kit New all-terrain summer/four-season tires is we can find something that fits! (got advice? comment away please haha) *Wow! Now it's starting to look like a tiny home ? PHASE 4 (New slide out sofa-bed & kitchen counter construction) Duration: 2-3 weekends, 0% completed Slide out sofa-bed construction Kitchen counter construction with a sink (finally) Refrigerator (probably an Iceco 12volts model) *Sorry for the few french notes, but I figured you would get the idea anyway! * ADVICE REQUEST ABOUT TIRES/SUSPENSION LIFT * I'm looking to buy new all-terrain tires for this little baby and I'm not exactly sure up to which tire profile I can go. The original tire size is 215-55R-16, but I would like more sturdy, heavy load capable and good looking tires. Last time I got towed, the guy told me the original Continental tires were not rated for such heavy load (considering the bike rack, bikes, fully loaded roadshower, etc.). I was thinking of these Falken Wildpeak or these BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain, but they got high aspect ratio which worries me a bit event if I'm thinking of adding a 1 to 1.5" suspension lift kit. Got tips? Please help this is waaaaay out of my comfort zone! Got questions? Don't hesitate, I might add product links and more specifications if there's an interest. That's it, I hoped this can be of use to you somehow ? For more photos and future updates on the van conversion you can go checkout my Instagram account @sarahthibo !

Hi fellow Connect-ers! I'm Sarah, french-canadian from QC, Canada. Here's my little TC micro camper story for those it might interest (and some questions for the TC pros at the end) ? As an avid outdoors and mountain biking enthusiast, I wanted a small van in which I could sleep in to facilitate and enhance my weekend adventures. I stumble upon a brand new 2019 TC that was already a bit converted (minimalist set up, but still), so I jumped right in and I haven't regret it! The initial set up allowed me to start using the TC as a little campervan right off the start which was awesome, but the optimization-design-comfort-lover in me wouldn't settle forever with that set up... So I made a mid-term iteration plan to get the van to my perfect set up, slowly but surely. Here's how it goes: PHASE 0 (aka what was already included in the initial conversion) Duration: 0 weekend, 100% completed Interior paneling finition Sofa-bred module (including 2" mattress) Amovible table Side and back windows Curtains tailored to each windows PHASE 1 (easy, quick and mostly necessary add-ons for the van's purpose) Duration: 1 weekend, 100% completed 2" Hitch at the back Bike Rack (Sportsrack 2 bikes, but upgraded to Panache T6 in 2022) Roof bars (Thule) Solar/roof shower (Yakima RoadShower, 10 gallons) Awning (GoXplore) Roof cargo box (Thule Pulse Alpine) Interior roof light switch (so that it doesn't turn on in the middle of the night whenever I open the door) PHASE 2 (body work and not-so-fun stuff so that my dog can stay cool in the van during summer) Duration: 2 weekends, 100% completed Sound deadening (Kilmat) Insulation (Thinsulate) Ventilation (2 Maxx Air Dome fans) Lighting (4 DEL 12 volts lights) Plumbing (23L water container, small electric pump and faucet) Solar panel (1 Renogy 100w) All-in-one battery (Goal Zero Power Station, 1000w) Secret flooring storage (backseat feet area of the Passenger version is unused/covered in the Cargo version) PHASE 3 (Interior finition and added storage) Duration: 2 weekends, 75% completed Roof & wall panelling (5/16" x 3" x 8' lambris) Overhead storage in the cabine (not shown in the pictures) Added Reflectix to the curtains (not shown in the pictures) 1.5" suspension lift kit New all-terrain summer/four-season tires is we can find something that fits! (got advice? comment away please haha) *Wow! Now it's starting to look like a tiny home ? PHASE 4 (New slide out sofa-bed & kitchen counter construction) Duration: 2-3 weekends, 0% completed Slide out sofa-bed construction Kitchen counter construction with a sink (finally) Refrigerator (probably an Iceco 12volts model) *Sorry for the few french notes, but I figured you would get the idea anyway! * ADVICE REQUEST ABOUT TIRES/SUSPENSION LIFT * I'm looking to buy new all-terrain tires for this little baby and I'm not exactly sure up to which tire profile I can go. The original tire size is 215-55R-16, but I would like more sturdy, heavy load capable and good looking tires. Last time I got towed, the guy told me the original Continental tires were not rated for such heavy load (considering the bike rack, bikes, fully loaded roadshower, etc.). I was thinking of these Falken Wildpeak or these BF Goodrich Mud-Terrain, but they got high aspect ratio which worries me a bit event if I'm thinking of adding a 1.5" suspension lift kit. Got tips? Please help this is waaaaay out of my comfort zone! Got questions? Don't hesitate, I might add product links and more specifications if there's an interest. That's it, I hoped this can be of use to you somehow ? For more photos and future updates on the van conversion you can go checkout my Instagram account @sarahthibo !

We bought our 2016 LWB Transit Connect for the purpose of converting it into a road trip vehicle. We often drive long distances to ski (we live in Michigan and there aren't any mountains here) and ride mountain bikes. The van is intended to serve those use cases. It isn't intended to be lived out of for long periods of time, it just needs to be comfortable enough to pull off the road when we get tired and catch some good sleep. When we get to the destination, we will stay in more legitimate accommodations (VRBO, AirBnB, etc...). I'll start with the electrical system. Having slept in my various cars (Subaru WRX and Subaru Forester), I knew that we had to invest in keeping warm. If I had my say, I'd invest in better sleeping bags and be done with it. Mrs. Chong, on the other hand, was having none of that idea. It was heated blanket or bust. Luckily, I have some friends who are electrical engineers. They helped me design a power system that will power the heated blanket we bought for a full 1.5 days without recharging. The BOM for this system is as follows: 2 Optima YellowTop D31t 75Ah Deep Cycle Batteries Battery Boxes Blue Sea Systems 120A DC Add a Battery Kit Noco Genius 10AMP 1 Bank Battery Charger 3 Blue Sea Systems Fuse Block Terminals 3 125A Blue Sea Systems Terminal (slow blow) Fuses Blue Sea Systems 6 Circuit DC Fuse Block 1000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter Combination Cigarette Lighter and USB Outlets (DC) 2AWG Copper Wire And various other bits for wiring up the circuits. The first thing to do was to run the wiring from the engine compartment into the cabin. We ran this through the stock grommet in the firewall behind the glove box on the passenger side. We ran one 2AWG wire to the positive battery terminal and one 2AWG wire to the stock chassis ground next to the battery. We installed one of the Fuse Block Terminals and Slow blow fuses between the starter battery and the add a battery kit: We then got to work on wiring up the rest of the kit. Here's a shot of the panel I made for the Add a Battery Kit and the DC Fuse Panel: That panel lives in that little cubby beneath the passenger seat. Here's an in-progress shot of wiring up the batteries, charger, and inverter: You can see that every single battery has a fuse on the positive terminal. This should keep the system from drawing too much current. If something needs more than 125A, that likely wouldn't be good. It will be neat to see what that inverter does when I finally power it on with a load. Those fuses are rated to sustain 2x the current load they are rated for, for a duration of 1 second, I believe (I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I have friends that design the transformers that live on the global electrical grid, they signed off on the design). And the forum is now telling me I'm at the attachment limit for a single post. Really need BBCode so I can link these from flickr. To be continued...

Howdy! Greetings from sunny Portland. I recently finished a significant renovation to my passenger wagon, and wanted to share photos and info here. This forum was a constant source of info for me, and I am very aware of the challenges of a passenger van conversion now. Posting here to show my solutions to some common challenges and share my build. Not the straightest cuts or fine detail, but I'm thrilled with out it turned out. Airbag navigation - Did not want to remove or fiddle with the sensor tricking. It was actually pretty easy to mount what I was using for studs, 1x2s, above the airbag and around the components down the whole side of the van. From there, I used metal braces to 'hang' a 1x3 below the airbags. It's super solid, and I wasn't expecting it to work this well. This creates a clean gap for the airbags while keeping them out of sight. Sunroof - Yep, got a van with a sunroof. Cedar tongue and groove was placed to fit on the inside of the original sunroof outline. For those that know, the glass actually goes from wall to wall inside the car, so adding studs around it was not an option. The side planks are actually supported on the front end by the cross beam where the curtain is. The motor for the sunroof slider is up front, so not involved at all. Functions perfectly. Cross beam, curtain, extra storage shelf - I knew I wanted to extend the overhead storage cubby, as I've seen in many conversions, but as with everything on this van it was a puzzle. The cross beam itself is held by the aforementioned studs above the airbags, very solid. I also didn't want to cover the sunroof entirely, so adding the shelf over just the passenger side was my solution. It also helped reduce the head bonking when climbing from the driver seat to the back. I'm not trying to be incognito with this van, but it can work with this curtain. Its main use is to keep the back of the van impossible to see when parked at trailheads, parking lots, etc. Rear windows are all 5% tint as well to aid in this. Bed side wall - Minimal effort went into this side, will be covered with bed/couch cushions and largely unseen. Slider bed - 1-off made by a conversion company that ended up unused on someone else's rig. Lucked out with some connections for this one. Much lighter and smoother than what I would have built. Things I'm using: Goal Zero Yeti 400 + Boulder 50 solar panel mounted up top Standard LED puck lights + sting lights as recommended by most all van folk Alpicool C20 fridge - best bang for your buck fridge on the internet. ~2-5 watt power draw once at temp Basic hand pump faucet + dog bowl converted sink LED dimmer switch - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FAAPHQW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details Fuse box - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092LSB9HF?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details Small dimmer switch for under sink lights - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Y2XC225?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details Reading lights (mounted lights next to curtains) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09BJ2GMVP?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details Fan - Ventline Vanair Happy to discuss further or offer insight where needed. I don't have many photos of the build process unfortunately. Happy travels. Cheers

Yikes, we're DIY-ing a transit connect mini camper van conversion and messed up on the fan install. The fan is in, but we focused so much on measuring the size of the hole we were cutting that we didn't realize the high mounted third brake fixture was going to prevent the fan from closing all the way :( amateur hour here. Does anyone know of any fixtures that lay flat on the roof? Or how hard it would be to have the third brake on the roof removed and have one instead put into the upper left door? It looks like our van has a spot for that already ...

Hi guys! I am new to the site and thought I would share our camping conversion with you. My wife and I have recently bought 2015 TC Passenger, LWB. We have also purchased a turn-key camping module from our friends in Czech Republic, which converts our TC into camping van within minutes. It has two two cookers, sink with running water, and minifridge. It also folds down into a full size bed. We are taking it on a 2-month tour around US. Below are few photos of the camping module, or you can find more info about it on the website https://nestbyegoe.cz/en You can find more photos as we travel on our instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nestour_north_america/ Feel free to send us any comments or questions about the camping module or our trip. The company that makes it is considering bringing it to US market, but they are not sure if it would be successful here, so any comments would be much appreciated. Thanks and keep enjoying your TCs! Peter and Barbora

Finally started to work on mods for my Titanium. I'm outfitting this to haul my SAR dog and my SAR gear. I had a few goals in mind when I started. 1- Be able to restore for resale someday... maybe.. 2- Maintain capability to have a least one rear seat so two passengers can be handled 3- Maximize hidden storage area to keep SAR gear out of sight. 4 - Be able to put out sleeping bag and sleep in van. I have other things as well but these drove this set of mods I'm posting. I first removed both rear seats and the passenger side middle seat. I wanted to build a raised floor with storage underneath. I saw in this thread http://fordtransitconnectforum.com/topic/5542-diy-roof-rack-for-under100/#comment-15382 the use of uni-struts for a roof rack and that gave me the idea of using them for the supports of the raised floor. I was able to bolt the unistruts to the floor using the same bolts from the seat holes. While the bolt heads are big enough, I recommend adding a washer to them because the heads are just barely larger than the hole cutouts in the uni-struts. After trying a few configurations i decided on the layout in the photo below.

Hey, guys! Glad that I found this site. There's all kinds of great info here. I have a 15 Titanium that I got an awesome deal on and have done some camping in with seats flat. But I knew that something was missing. It was a no-brainer that by removing the seats I could gain at least 6" of headspace. r1alvin and Don Shockley, among others, have provided some great info which motivated me to do a more thorough build out. At this point, I've got the rear area stripped and ready for the flooring. Thinking of going with a dense foam for sound/heat barrier, then install .05 sanded plywood topped with adhesive vinyl flooring. Anyway, that's where I'm at for now. Any input and suggestions would be awesome. And I think it's worth mentioning, I'm on a tight budget. Who knows... I might become a permanent van dweller.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/3866418/a-couple-who-converted-a-ford-transit-into-a-camper-van-for-under-2k-are-now-road-tripping-across-europe/

My company, Glampervan, is now converting Ford Transit Connects (2010-2013) to our proprietary design. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/glampervanus/photos/a.938060569614378.1073741828.936097313144037/1308611705892594/?type=3&theater - Rob Novotny Chief Excursion Officer Glampervan

I'm searching for a TC to drive / add a bed platform for frequent rock climbing trips in California. Parking here is a nightmare so I'm optimizing for the shortest length that I can reasonably sleep in (5'10"). I'd prefer a wagon so that I can remove the bed & put the seats back in for group trips. Options: A.) I absolutely love the 2014/15 SWB TC's with the 1.6L turbo. The SWBs look great and the 1.6 offers slightly more power/economy. This is my top pick but the specs show the distance from the front seat @ the belt to the rear doors is only 60.9 inches (5 feet). I assume this is with the 2nd row seats removed? Do the front seats lean forward? Does anyone know of any SWB conversion posts? I can't find them... especially if the owner is 5'10" or more. B.) 2012/13. Great overall length & extra height but slightly less peppy & less efficiency. Few wagons for sale. Less frills overall and they seem to cost about the same as low-mileage 14's. Bad safety ratings. C.) 14/15 LWB. Argh, I'm just less excited about these overall. They seem too long for my needs. http://www.ford.com/trucks/transitconnect/specifications/interior/

Ford Transit Connect CUSTOM Sink and Bed attachment conversion furnished by the one and only Kevin Hornby from Southern California. Both attachments are new and have never been installed into the Ford Transit Connect. Hand built and custom made to fit like a glove. First half images are of actual product and last half of images are stock photos to show what it looks like after being installed. HIGHLIGHTS: Kitchen Sink - Stainless steel construction, pressurized water system, 4 storage cubbies built inside, foldable design to save space, 110v electrical outlet, all hoses and tubes connect with no leaks. Bed - Marine-grade canvas foldable foam-core bed comfortably sleeps 1 person and can fit 2. Folds up and stows away saving even more space. Both attachments were $1,600 brand new. Kevin Hornby, the custom conversion designer, no longer produces these units so here's your chance to own a brand new set for a cheap price! Pick-up only in Grover Beach or San Luis Obispo County. Asking for $600 or Best Offer! Please email info@chrisburkard.com for more inquiries or call 805-270-3835. Thanks!

I've just picked up my new 2012 TC XLT. I was looking for a vehicle that would give me both economical city driving and some of the comforts of a camping car without going overboard about it. Any help/hints/suggestions will be appreciated. I've already faced my first problem... charging/using an accessory battery. Bought a battery isolator but now that it's installed and shows signs of use, it doesn't work and according to dealers, it never will due to the feedback needed by the alternator ! :-( 2 dealers have suggested I put the batteries in parallel with a cut off switch... that worries me a bit... Isn't there a risk of overdraining the alternator by connecting 2 batteries in parallel ? Anyway, I'll let you known my progress.