Introducing myself and a camper

[Tully Kieys]

A Ford Transit Connect Titainium LWB 2015 we are converting to a Minimalist camper to travel the states for 2019—> ?

The platform for bed with a safe and extra storage.  Under the front passenger seat is a Blaupunkt subwoofer. Stock speakers replaced with high end Alpines.  The inverter is 3000watts , two deep cell batteries and a High quality refrigerator that has a drawer instead of a hinged door. We added storage compartments in the rear overhead , attached sun visors to the bottom of the storage compartment. They have 1/2 dozen uses. Limousine tint in the back , strip lights around the moon rooftop.

They work by switch or for multi colors by remote. 

The van had all the options plus , it was first used by Ford Transit Connect Titainium LWB 2015 to show it off at events. Then it sat at a Ford Transit Connect Titainium LWB 2015 dealership in Colorado until last fall it was damaged by hail . When we found it was a deal on car gurus . The damage is ? what can hail really do to a van ? The roof is glass and was replaced along with the windshield

after the hail storm. A salvage hood , white

what else ? Painted to match and two toned with “ Ginger Ale Metallic “ a Ford color used on Escape , Edge etc. Also added a set of 3.5 inch PIAA Yellow Fog LED and a matched set of 3.5 PIAA White Blue Driving lights. Up graded all the stock lights to LED.  

[windguy]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new van. Looks very nice.

Your camper mods look very interesting. Please share more pics when available and details on what you're adding.

[Fifty150]

Looking good.  I really like the addition of the extra battery, the power inverter, and that refrigerator.  The overhead storage in the rear is an interesting touch.  Sun visors in the back are also unique.  

 

Popular in other parts of the world, but hardly seen in USA, are van curtains.  I'm seriously thinking about fabricating a set.

[Fifty150]

59 minutes ago, Tully Kieys said:

Also added a set of 3.5 inch PIAA Yellow Fog LED and a matched set of 3.5 PIAA White Blue Driving lights. Up graded all the stock lights to LED.  

 

 

  I would like to see how you set up the fog & driving lights.  How did you mount, wire, and switch them?

 

What did you use to for the front turn signal lamp?  That is the one lamp that I haven't been able to source an LED replacement for.  Which brand & part number?

[Eddy Kilowatt]

Tully Kieys -- Where'd you get the overhead storage bin for the rear? 

 

Is it the same one Ford supplies as a factory option for the 2nd row seats?   Someone here tried to source that one via the Ford parts system, but I don't believe was successful.

[Tully Kieys]

Hi - that’s from Tasca Ford https://www.tascaparts.com/?p=catalog&mode=search&search_in=all&search_str=Overhead

An 8 in LED light was hard wired inside . The sun visors we added to use as a shelf inside. They are very flexible and the set on the side double block the windows from being seen in . They came out of ‘16 & ‘17 TC $150 for all 4 of them. Also snagged a front consoles from a 

‘17 TC. Not sure how and where to mount it or maybe cut it up and use part of it . 

 

 

[jrm223]

On 11/12/2018 at 10:48 PM, Fifty150 said:

  I would like to see how you set up the fog & driving lights.  How did you mount, wire, and switch them?

 

What did you use to for the front turn signal lamp?  That is the one lamp that I haven't been able to source an LED replacement for.  Which brand & part number?

 

Fifty, I have these LED bulbs (PWY24W for front) from Amazon on their way in a slow boat from China, haha. Whenever they eventually get here, I'll let you know how well they work out. I originally bought these other LED bulbs, but they didn't fit all the way into the lamp housing, so don't bother with them. Amazon will say that PWY24W doesn't fit the TC2, but when you look at the bulbs they list as fitting, they're all for the rear turn signals (7440/7443) instead of the front - so you'll basically just have to figure out on your own what truly fits the front. 

 

Tully, that's a pretty sweet setup y'all have in that van! 

[Fifty150]

6 hours ago, jrm223 said:

 

 I have these LED bulbs (PWY24W for front) from Amazon on their way in a slow boat from China, haha.

 

 

 

 

Let me know if those work out.  If the base fits, and the lamps flash without hyper flash.

 

In case anyone is interested, here are photos of the OEM lamp.

 

 

[Tully Kieys]

Hi - re: the set up of the PIAA , yellow are on their own switch and we added the driving PIAA set are combined with the switch from the stock driving/fog lamps.

Turns out LED bulbs were not installed in the hi n’ lows . Advice welcome on that .

would love a set of the curtains if you find

them.

We absolutely could not tap through the cross brace to mount the whites ( they were not installed at the same time) Ended up using adhesive to mount them . The yellows were attached to plastic grill. The whites will be recessed flush to the grill . Just quit for the night and will send pics of it done.

We picked up the van the Monday after Thanksgiving last year and this is the ending place .... for now. 

Kieys works at a custom shop , and comes back with “ideas” . Then I tell him what’s up ! Lol

Installed a front and rear camera today as well.  Finally it’s been de-badged,  If anybody would like the Titainium letters Let me know.

Thanks for the replies y’all, I’ve been wanting to show it off all year. 

Best and thanks 

Tully

[windguy]

@tully kieys - thanks for sharing more pics.

Two thumbs up for making some very cool mods. You're doing some innovative things to your van.

Two thumbs down for drinking Gatorade and smoking Marlboros, but I'm sure you've already heard that a few million times before.  Sorry to jump on the dog pile.

 

[Tully Kieys]

Heck no say it ! Thank you . 

[Fifty150]

1 hour ago, Tully Kieys said:

 

 

Turns out LED bulbs were not installed in the hi n’ lows . Advice welcome on that .

 

 

 

 Ended up using adhesive to mount them . The yellows were attached to plastic grill.

 

 

 

Installed a front and rear camera today as well.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

LED drop in lamp technology has changed by leaps & bounds.  Even within the last few years.  When I bought the Transit Connect in 2016, the latest technology was to use LED on 4 sides to mimic the 360 degree lighting of the OEM halogen.  In theory, you will have an equal amount of useable lighting, bouncing off every part of the reflector.  As we speak 2 years down the road, that seller is no longer in the business of selling LED lamps.  

 

Look for some kind of warranty.  Just be aware that the warranty is useless when the company is out of business.

 

In today's market, what you want to look for is an adjustable beam.  See the fastener near the red gasket?  You can loosen it, and turn the chips to aim them, then tighten the screw once the are in the correct position.  Ideally, the LED chips are facing sideways, in the 3 o'clock & 9 o'clock positions.  Notice that the photo also shows a cooling fan at the base, and an inline LED driver.  You want both of those features.  Some do not have a cooling fan.  The driver, like a ballast, is essential to regulate the amount of electricity so that you do not have a fire!  Some models have no such safety device.  I do not have this brand, do not know if it is good, and am not endorsing the product.  This was just the first image that I found with all of the desired features.  

 

There are only a handful of factories in Shenzhen, China which produce LED lighting.  From those factories, come hundreds of brands sold in stores, and online.  Some claim to be US companies, and they probably are.  But look carefully.  It will be a US based company, with manufacturing overseas.  I know of a local company which claims Made In U.S.A.  They get all components manufactured in China, shipped to U.S.A.  for final assembly.  Some "companies" are just a handful of people in an office in U.S.A., with drop shipping from the factory in China.  It could even be 1 person, living the U.S.A. and working out of their home, with fulfillment by Amazon......which I have seen locally.  

 

 

 

What kind of adhesive did you use for mounting off road lights?  I am curious as to how well the adhesive holds up to dissimilar substrate,  heat, road conditions, et cetera.

 

Start a new post to show off your camera installation.

 

 

[jrm223]

14 hours ago, Fifty150 said:

 

 

Let me know if those work out.  If the base fits, and the lamps flash without hyper flash.

 

I already have hyper-flash from the rear turn signals, haven't got around to buying resistors for them. Since it's impossible to use in-line resistors on the front, I'm thinking I should eventually order a pair for the back that is enough to fix front & rear together. I can't imagine that the front bulbs use all that much amperage, so it shouldn't take a whole lot of resistance on the back to 'balance' the load to above hyper-flash levels.

 

For the low beams, I'm running these white & yellow switchback bulbs and love them. When I first turn on the lights, they're white - I can shut them off for a second and turn back on, they switch to yellow. Then repeat to switchback to white, again. Most people would just run yellow in the fog lights, but I have an XL without fogs and I prefer running yellow headlights when needed. So when I found these bulbs, I was like "hell yeah, best of both worlds!!" haha. Here's a video of them operating from another purchaser on Amazon

 

I still need to switch the high beam bulbs to LED, but I'll probably just go with straight white bulbs for that. 

[jrm223]

Well, I just got the front LED turn bulbs like 10 minutes ago, ordered on Nov 2nd. I ended up putting the driver side in first and it was no problem, then the passenger side was being a PITA just like when I originally tried to put in the barrel LED bulbs that I commented about yesterday. Turns out that I had the holder clocked about 90* out-of-phase and just had to turn it to the right position, lol. That said, maybe the amber barrel LED's actually would fit just fine, but they're at home now & I kinda destroyed the one I tried to put in last time, anyway... When I had tried to put it in, the holder is what was getting hung-up, not the bulb itself - because I was trying to put it in the same position as today, oops.

 

Here's the pics, since they're worth 1000 words, etc etc. Oh yea, the base of the LED bulb has a small notch that lines up with a tab inside the holder, so you can't really put these ones in backwards. They also have a set-screw so that you can turn the LED half if it's not aiming at 3/9-o'clock positions when you install in the housing, but mine were already perfect when I just put them in. 

 

[Fifty150]

9 hours ago, jrm223 said:

 

I already have hyper-flash from the rear turn signals, haven't got around to buying resistors for them.

 

I still need to switch the high beam bulbs to LED, but I'll probably just go with straight white bulbs for that. 

 

 

My rear turn lamps were "engineered with enough LED chips to draw enough electricity, so that they do not hyper flash.  Now that I look on amazon, the ones I purchased are no longer available.  But similar styles exist.  The math behind it is if each little LED is only drawing 1/2 watt, then 40 of those little LED will draw 20 watt.  In theory, there is enough amp draw so that your BCM does not think that the halogen lamp has burned out.  

 

 

 

For your high beams, you can use the same lamps that you have in your low beam......Since they are both H11.  The high beam reflectors will project light in a wider, flood pattern.

[jrm223]

I was just looking around at what's currently available on Amazon and ordered this pair - it's amber with an inline resistor & includes white LED chips with the white being on a separate power wire, so I'm fixin' to hook those up to the reverse lights. So with these new ones, putting the van in reverse will turn on the regular reverse lights AND also activate the rear turn signal housings with white light for extra brightness.

 

I also spent time looking to see if there were any dual-filament 921/W16W-compatible bulbs & sockets, but could not find any - if there was, that would allow me to make the entire clear part of the tail lights light up amber for turns and white for reverse. When these new bulbs come, the whole clear section will light up white for reverse and just the normal turn signal will light up amber.

 

I came across this bulb reference guide awhile back (I think from a digital copy of the owners manual, maybe?) and figured I ought to put it in here for anybody wanting quick info on the various bulbs our Gen-2 vans use and, more importantly in this discussion, it shows the wattage used by each bulb. It's crazy that the little front bulb is 24W and the larger rear bulb is 21W - but, the new amber/white rear ones I ordered have 50W resistors plus the resistance of the bulbs themselves, so it ought to cure my hyper-flash finally. WY21W is aka 7440, W16W is aka 921, W21/5W is aka 7443, W5W is aka T10/194, etc.

 

 

[Fifty150]

Good luck with installing those. Every time I tried to use a lamp with a base like that, it never worked out. 

 

That rubber base is not specific to your lamp.  It's a generic rubber plug which you are suppose to squeeze and push into place.  You can try using a very liberal amount of grease, which will then get into the lamp housing, heat up and become more viscous, then it contaminates the inside of the lamp housing and you can't clean it out.  And if you ever need to remove them, in case it burned out or you just don't like it and want to replace it, you won't be able to simply twist & pull it out.  

 

The head of the lamp is attached to the rubber base with glue.  I had one of those come apart as I was attempting to install it.  Had to remove the entire lamp housing, and shake it around until the head was in perfect position to fish out with surgeon's forceps.  

 

There are dual color lamps like that in different color combinations, and you can easily wire them to strobes for makeshift emergency flashers.    On a few older cars, which we were only using as unmarked surveillance vehicles, my partner drilled out a large enough hole to insert them, then affixed a larger backing to hold it in place with epoxy.  I would go into more detail, but you will not want to do that with your car.  But for a junker destined to be scrapped, we didn't much care about drilling out holes in lamp housings and using chunks of epoxy.  

 

[Fifty150]

I just took a chance on these for $8.  On eBay.  Whenever that slow boat from China arrives, I'll update with results.

 

[Dulce de Leche]

Looks great!! The overhead compartment you installed with the 2 doors, in the very back, looks like an airplane storage compartment over the seats - you ordered that from Tasca Ford? I just checked there and couldn't find it. I just bought a TC and would like to add this if possible. Thanks!

[jrm223]

On 11/16/2018 at 1:18 PM, Fifty150 said:

Good luck with installing those. Every time I tried to use a lamp with a base like that, it never worked out. 

 

That rubber base is not specific to your lamp.  It's a generic rubber plug which you are suppose to squeeze and push into place.  You can try using a very liberal amount of grease, which will then get into the lamp housing, heat up and become more viscous, then it contaminates the inside of the lamp housing and you can't clean it out.  And if you ever need to remove them, in case it burned out or you just don't like it and want to replace it, you won't be able to simply twist & pull it out.  

 

Dang, I was paying so much attention to the connector, that I didn't bother looking at the bulb. We'll see how it works out when they get here. I actually have thought of using Abrams dual-color bulbs since they have a steady-burn wire on them. But, I had tried them on one of my F350's (just taped into the stock bulb opening) and found that the steady-burn lights up both colors at once and my Abrams are amber/blue bulbs. Ended up putting "normal" white/amber  (W parking, A signal) switching bulbs and then drilled the F350 housings for the Abrams to run separately. Sounds like I may need to just use the resistors from them; the wiring harnesses on our TC2 taillights is only like $25/ea on Ebay, so they're not expensive to replace if needed. 

 

About the yellow bulbs that I put up front, they're working great so far. At night, they light up everything around them (ground, vehicles ahead of me) because they're pretty bright. 

[Fifty150]

Amazon.com has these LED remote control wiring harnesses which allow for solid light, and strobe flashing.

 

I have hooked them up to a lightbar, and various colored lights on the same circuit.  Really easy if you have a little knowledge of wiring 12V red & black wires.

 

[Tully Kieys]

On 11/14/2018 at 9:18 PM, windguy said:

@tully kieys - thanks for sharing more pics.

Two thumbs up for making some very cool mods. You're doing some innovative things to your van.

Two thumbs down for drinking Gatorade and smoking Marlboros, but I'm sure you've already heard that a few million times before.  Sorry to jump on the dog pile.

 

Hey- right on , not our smokes or drink . The guy who was working on it that day and lost all manner of clips and screws. Even  after Tully reminded him a half dozen times to save everything. Tully ,  well she doesn’t back down and gave him hell and then some.

The kid left his tools and never came back for his check.

lol she is a chef and gets wound up after she closes the restaurant.

She thinks American Spirts are fantastic. She needs to quit before we go to Florida this year . 

She had a ‘58 VW bus which the old owner named “tofu” and was seriously into it. She was in high school at the time . 

It was. Vermont .

best

Kieys

ps- does anyone have experience with Fiberine ? Thinking about a 22 inch high top .

[Fifty150]

4 minutes ago, Tully Kieys said:

Hey- right on , not our smokes or drink . The guy who was working on it that day and lost all manner of clips and screws. Even  after Tully reminded him a half dozen times to save everything. Tully ,  well she doesn’t back down and gave him hell and then some.

The kid left his tools and never came back for his check.

lol she is a chef and gets wound up after she closes the restaurant.

She thinks American Spirts are fantastic. She needs to quit before we go to Florida this year . 

She had a ‘58 VW bus which the old owner named “tofu” and was seriously into it. She was in high school at the time . 

It was. Vermont .

best

Kieys

ps- does anyone have experience with Fiberine ? Thinking about a 22 inch high top .

 

 

The high roof looks interesting.  Half the battle is the installation.  Depending on who does the work.....it could be great.  Just don't hire the kid with sport drink and cigarettes.

 

 

[jrm223]

There's somebody in the forum here that has the Fiberine top, I can't remember their name now. As I recall, it was around 12" or so, instead of the 22" model. Come to think of it, when I last looked at the Fiberine website, I think they only showed 22" available for the TC1, not the TC2 (2014+). 

[windguy]

jrm223 is spot on. Poster SKiZo added a Fiberine top and it's a very cool conversion. See thread link below