Custom Van Build - FORD TRANSIT - Air Conditioner? Xtra support rails are a MUST-HAVE in these vans! 

I have zero technical knowledge and just have to say how much I appreciate your thorough and easy to understand explanations. Your humor (bayhole is ok to say!) is the icing on the cake. Thank you!

Such thoughtful engineering! Invaluable info to DIY folks. So many people are building their own conversions with little or no knowledge of what they’re doing. Videos like this will help them from making huge mistakes. From what I’m observing by watching RU-vid videos is that many, many, DIY builders are relying heavily on lessons learned from RU-vid. You are a master instructor sir👍🏼🙌🏼👏🏼🚐♥️

Love all the free technical knowledge you provide George 😍 Hoping the YT algo rewards you with plenty of traffic to pay you back for everything you give my friend!

Very nice, George! You’re always one step ahead of any possible problem! 👍 ~Jim~

George , very nice as always! You can also use the tape transfer method to locate the holes. Simply run a piece of heavy duty masking tape punch out the centers, and transfer the tape to the angle stock.

It is early, I have not made coffee. I was not ready for "Bayhole". 😹😹

The factory roof brings a song to mind 🎼the bare necessities

Excellent video and solution for the sagging skin of the 2nd bay. Thanks!

I like the new outro

It will be interesting to see how you adapt your ceiling construction to fit around these roof supports.

WOW ! Your computer set-up is amazing. Having 1 Apple is great, but 4 is stupendous.

Nice pull up George!

Awesome. A few screws through the aluminum angle into the wood spaced evenly will further resist deflection. Maybe just for the Air Conditioner "Bay-hole"

Love your thorough explanation, George!! Thank you!!

What an education. Thank you!

Thank You For Making Greatest Videos Just Got A Ford Transit 2021 PS you must not sleep at night

I always learn so much from you! Great information, thanks!

Nice engineering

I woke up early and have been patiently waiting for my “Humble Road Fix” … all is good now 😂 Thank you, may I have another❓👀

Another great video George.

Hey George, Great video!! I have a Transit 148 MR AWD and I basically did the same thing but I ran 4 pieces of poplar the length of the van and I installed my Dometic Brisk 2 in the back bay and my fan a few bays forward. I also cut a 2x4 to fit the gap and it worked great, very solid!! The only issue I have with the A/C unit is it gets too cold!! LOL

Awesome work.

I've been a subscriber for a while, now, and I have a Transit on order. Thank you for your knowledge and expertise.

Kudos!! Nicely done.

Love your work!

Great tips, thank you!

As usual, George, you have the low down on logical, sound and time saving methods for van building tasks. These ideas will stop the hair pulling, bongo madness, brain drain and save newbies valuable time and effort. Thanks for sharing.

Just to add to your info. The Ford Transit Body and Equipment and Mounting Manual says that if the air conditioner is more than 55 pounds, it must be supported between the roof bows. I have a 2021 Transit Long Wheelbase, not extended so my roof real estate is more limited than yours on the extended van. I had to prioritize between MaxxAir fan, air conditioner, and solar panels. I decided not to have a MaxxAir fan. I will put my A/C unit in what you would call Bay 2. The roof bows are closer together there than in Bay 3 so there won't be as much tendency for the roof to deflect with the weight of the air conditioner. I am planning on putting some Unistrut between the bows to support the roof and A/C unit. I will tie into the same holes with PlusNuts that you are using. I will put some foam between the Unistrut and the roof steel to cushion the roof/Unistrut joint. I am putting in the Dometic RTX2000 which weighs 72 pounds. I'm 6' 4" so I'm trying to conserve head room as much as possible. That's why I decided on using the Unistrut which should fit between the roof bows and not decrease the ceiling height anywhere. I'm following your Transit builds closely because I know that you will recognize all the important details. By the way, I work as an Electrician at the Kansas City Assembly Plant where the Transits are built. I'll be glad when Winter is over so I can get more serious about building my van. The van won't fit in my garage.

Put one of those ‘bolts’ with a center pin (not sure what they call those) into each hole, hold up the angle iron, tap with a hammer, and you will have a little dimple where each hole is to be drilled. Ezzee Pezzee.

I use alum square tube mounted side to side ( bend in a power bender for round pipe) and glue to roof and mount to side rails

Great video! I have a ford transit we're converting and I we installed a Midi Heki skylight. Ours is where you show a red X on your transit. I had a "Heki" of a time getting installed as I had to move one of the roof struts (left of the red X) to get the skylight where we want it. Super glad we made the wteak, but it took some engineering and load path evaluation (as well as having to drill out a lot of spot welds--ugh... I cringe thinking about how many hours THAT took). I displaced the load to the adjacent three struts , but after seeing this I may add some additional angle iron to span further out. Always great content! Keep up the great work!

Hello George, I really appreciate your attention to detail and innovative ideas in your build’s. But watching this video and realizing these 3 brands of vans and possibly the Ford being the most popular, I was thinking of a different solution to reinforcing the roof. Briefly about me, I trained as a Coach builder back in my home country of New Zealand in the early 70’s, a 5 year apprenticeship, I lived in Canada since 79. The one thing I learned with the company I trained at, was building Mini Buses and modifying vans to comply with all the safety regulations. Looking at the Cambre of these roofs, it would seem to me you could reinforce the area’s you need by adding another lateral roof beam. Perhaps you can order from Ford new replacement roof beams and successfully add them to get the structural strength required, by doing so should eliminate the need for Fore and Aft angles. As an apprentice I spent many hrs hand rolling aluminum side wall frames and cambred roof beams, depending on what we were building. Anything from Custom 36-40 seat buses to passenger mini buses as mentioned. Anyway getting new replacement roof beam’s should be relatively easy, as Bodyshops probably do these sort of repairs regularly. Thank you for all your great videos. Cheers, Murray Ashworth

Good morning George. I really appreciate your ideas and common sense way of approaching things. So you haven’t found this to be necessary on the pro master?

Good stuff, thanks.

Genius!

We also use the term bay between our frames in aircraft. I've labeled my bays for reference to my electrical run schematics for future maintenance. Would utilizing marine ply with water proof glue be a better fill material for any possible water intrusion? A 4x8 sheet would make a lot of fill pieces when laminated in strips.

Not over kill. Impeccable thoroughness.

Great job with the sound deadener. I see so many people add way too much and all that gets you is more weight without any better performance.

"Bay hole is okay to say." 🤣😂

I’m catching up

That is really some serious thinking done, what a beautiful job! ❤️

Great video as always! And great insight as we do have a transit on order to convert! One suggestion I would have, is you may want to seal/paint your 2x2 support wood. Overtime, if for some odd reason the A/C comes slightly loose and leaks water in, it will rot the wood a lot quicker… Just a friendly suggestion, as I know you do great work!

Good morning George! Another excellent video with lot of details for DIY builders out there. At the end of your video, I notice a very nice audio switch board sitting on the desk in your studio. From the look of it, I thinks it is just what I been looking for, would you mind to share its model and make. Thank you sir.

Best of the best van builder, I am looking for one and could I know price range of Sam van you made?

George, what size is the aluminum angle you used for this van? Also, how will this aluminum angle affect what you're doing for a ceiling? Thank you

Hi George,.... I've been a fan of your ingenuity for quite a while now. Thank you for all you do. Question: why use roof mounted A/C's rather than over-the-road-tractor chassis mounted A/C's? Pro-Air?

Freaking L O V E it....Always the Goldilocks Syndrome.... You Are The Man...Thanks for All the time and energy.

Ford transit has a history of leaking, does this method prevent it because of lack of support?

Technically that jig is NOT a parallel plane. Unless you think the roof is flat.

That is a lot of headroom to give up. Important to a tall guy.

Hi George, two roof beams are enough to surport a/c unit. If you use the beams that are 16” apart all the a/c load are directly transferred with no need for additional surports. I would not want to give up any head room. The plus side in your design is that you can add extra insulation in the most important area

How high is that transit?? You short or? My transit, I thought I had the biggest one and I have about 2m inside from floor to roof

George, you could probably standardize those alumunium rails and create a template for making more of them. Either making them manually, or plopping them on the CNC and making a bunch. It also might be time to upgrade your drill press to a mill/drill so that you could create oval slots instead of just holes which would allow for adjustability. Options are good, especially when you need to support appliances in your bayholes! Thank you for your Sunday morning cartoons. 📺 BTW, Aluminum Angle Iron? 🤔

Hi :-) You are a very thoughtful builder. I enjoy the way you explain things and your humor. Would you be able to replicate the aluminum ceiling of the Airstream Atlas? Wood is pretty, but I like the shine mirror factor. Pros? Cons? just curious and you WOOD know ;-/ Mr. Modular G haha

As always George smart thinking 🧐👍

A+ for you in Structures 101 class today

How's the teeth in a jar shelf coming along?

So is tat piece of timber held in place by the bold tightening or are you also glowing it or screwing it in place? And I didn't fully understand how you used that vertical timber inserts in combination to your metal corner to find the precise location of the hole. I did get the first step with the bolds & the corner but the 2nd step less clear.

All good except winter time aluminium angles will by pass insulation...

Are you now thinking the Transit is the best chassis for van builds? That height is great.

Would a Maxxair dome fan fit along the side of a transit roof?

Hello how are you going to do the ceiling in ford transit with the air- cond rails thanks again

What brand or kind of air conditioner do you presently prefer? I noticed that Coachmen now has a close arrangement with TRUMA and are installing the new TRUMA air conditioner.

Nice details but why not glue your 2 pieces of wood together before installing?

Does the roof have a slight crown to it? Your jig is more than 90 degrees?

Hey George do you use rib nuts to screw the bolts into?

Are there any fans that can install on the sides? I've been reading about leakage coming from the holes cut out at the top, and I wonder if that potential problem can be avoided altogether. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Can you please tell me where I can purchase the “screen doors” you use! Thank you

Will that rear max air fan cover be hanging off the end of the van?

I've just stripped out a UK ambulance. It's a Boxer which is the same as a Promaster in the USA. You would be amazed at the full aluminium frame they bolted to the ceiling. Even with the flat ceiling lowered 5 inches I can still stand upright in the back of the van and I'm 6ft5 and I still have 2 inches above my head. That's because this ambulance is the H3 version. Now iv removed the false ceiling in the van I will still have about 4-5 inches above my head once I've insulated and installed ceiling panels and an inch of Kingspan under the floor. I can't understand why they don't make the Promaster in H3L4 in the USA?

Lead dissimilar to aluminum

FYI: What you keep calling a "strut" is actually called a crossmember. Strut: [noun] a structural piece designed to resist pressure in the direction of its length. Crossmember: A crossmember is a structural section, usually of steel, that is secured across the underside of whatever, to support the weight of whatever you're mounting on top. As in a floor joist vs a column.

I'm surprised you didn't do a sponsorship deal to get free tools like chrome did on his vancity vanlife channel's ... he haz a new 'lil workshop. .

Nope. I’m cutting a hole in my floor for a split level AC condenser. Gonna keep that baby coooool in the blazing Sun.

I'm confused

If you are going to insist on working in the shop alone and dancing around up on scaffolds and ladders, you should probably have a Medical Alert Alarm of some kind.