2008 Honda Stepwagon Spada sourced from Japan and brought to the UK. Converted to a camper with a fridge, cooker, sink, bed, diesel heater and shower! K20A Engine and 4-speed auto.
I'm in Canada; I saw a Step Wagon at a local Walmart, and I knew it was from Japan, but otherwise no idea what it was. I consider myself a Honda Man, so I had to look this up. Pretty cool in this camper form. The one I saw wasn't a camper but it still got a wtf from me. I think it's endlessly practical, and I like that.
what a nice project, i am getting a 2008 Stepwgn this week, indeed it is very old car and it clocked 190k kmph so far. but I fall in love on the first sight and i got an expert to view that car and he said this car and K20A engine wont bring any major problem as long as you take a good care of them. So, paid for it and think later. 1 thing to suggest to your campervan, why not do a pull out long drawer at the back and put those double burner in it, so that you can stand straight and cook outside of the car? safer and the heat wont get in the car, just my POV
Hi did you have to heavily mod the seat rails to fit the FN2 seats? I’ve tried looking for a swivel seat plate for my OEM seats but can’t seem to even separate mounting feet away from the rails? Any help/advice appreciated
The rails and feet were left 'as is' and I welded together a structure which attached to the upper part of the stock frame and I then connected the FN2 seats with bolts and more custom fabrication to the underside of the FN2 seats. It was WAY to much effort to be honest and the seats still sit too high in the van for me (at 6ft 2"). I've just bought a set of RG StepWGN specific Recaro seat bases from Japan (Yahoo Auctions) which are -40mm and fit most aftermarket seats (and you could use a universal swivel base then). I'd def. go that route. Check out Jennings for the swivel bases if you're in the UK. Hope this helps? Phil.
Thanks for the info mate. Had a feeling there would have been some serious fabrication work; I couldn’t even work out if those steel rivet pins between frame and rails were removable so just left as is. Whenever I want to face my passenger seat backwards I simply unbolt all 4 14mms from the floor - it’s a faff but it’s the only mod free way of going about it! I would have asked how you managed to get past the Yahoo auctions barrier but it’s most likely VPN right? I’m from North East UK, very rare are our kind of cars round here = very little owners to share info with! You’ve made yourself a class little camper mate, keep up the good work 👍
@@jameseh I use a service called Buyee for the Japanese Auctions such as Yahoo - you bid on the auctions and Buyee do the rest (they receive the item in Japan and then (repackage if needed) and ship it to you). Tiny fees and you do get stung for import duty but an utterly brilliant service!
It's soft and 'wallowy' as you'd expect but it drives much more like a car than a van and quite good fun so long as you don't overcook it by going into bends too quickly. Seats were a BIG job and I had to build/weld custom brackets and frames to work with the original seat bases. Not for the faint hearted but I'm glad I took the time and effort as they're WAY comfier for me be over 6ft and needing good back support on long journeys.
Great job, what engine is in it and what is the mpg like Do you find it ok without a poptop, would love to do something like this but would need to replace my car and my daily commute is 60 miles. Where did you get the rock n roll bed from and what size is it. Will you be doing any follow up videos on it. Japan seems to make all the great vehicles wish they would sell them over here too so parts are not a problem to source. Many thanks
Thanks Peter! MPG is 25 around town but 35+ on a good motorway run (at around 60mph) from the 2.0i k-series engine. RnR bed is 90cm wide and plently long enough for me at 6ft 2". and made by Jac Conversions in Glasgow. I will be doing a follow up video at some point as I've since added solar, side awning and replaced the passenger seat with a large storage box amongst other things.
Used the existing seatbases - cut them up and welded up brackets and supports for the Type R seats. A lot of work and would have been WAY easier to get a set of used seat frame from Yahoo Auctions in Japan and then buy a pair or generic Recaro/Sparco seats which I've since done. The Type R seats are SUPER heavy and still too high for anyone over 5ft 9"
There's no 'kit' sadly - the items such as the fridge (Just Kampers 50L Compressor), sink, hob (Dometic), RnR bed (JAC conversions), heater etc. were researched and purchased individually as needed. The cabinets/woodwork were built by me from scratch. The frame is 30mm batons covered with 6mm plywood. Costs so far are around 5-6k GBP on top of the purchase of the van but this includes insulation, flooring and the electric systems with leisure battery and external hook-up.
