adding this to my to-do list! I've been binge watching your videos. Informative, funny and highly technical! If you were closer, I would just come to you for uplifts instead of doing it myself. Higher quality installs than many well-known upliftters!
Wow, thank you! I really appreciate the kind words and I wish I had more time to help other people with their vans too. The fact the my day job is so demanding working on my own van is already so slow! I can’t imagine if I started taking other work too… who knows maybe one day I’ll be able to have my own shop. Where you writing in from? What kind of plans do you have for your van and any other type of work you’d like to see? Thank again and happy building.
@@moonrakerdesign writing from New York. Just bought a '24 144 AWD and same day ordered all of my exterior components (too many to name. haha), battery system and water heater/tanks/pumps. Currently looking for detailed videos on firring/framing so I can get idea to start planning those things out or decide if I'll just hire someone else to do it. I've added many of your tutorials to a playlist because they're pretty much exactly how I would like to do them. When will the Max air fan mounting system be back in stock?
@@Getlosttt Nice! Congratulations and welcome to a long line of decisions headed your way! Sounds like you already have a good start! Excited to hear about what you put together? Are you considering documenting via a Thread on Sprinter-source.com? It's a great place to get advice and direction from the community as well. Thanks for the support and glad you are enjoying and finding some value from the content. I make the MaxxFan Interior mounting kits to order. I usually put 3-5 in stock per month as to not get buried, but will make then anytime if people reach out direct to me via e-mail. Lead time is about 1 week for me to get the material and get them turned around.
Thank you so much for your detailed video's, they are fantastic. And thank you for linking all of the parts and pieces you use as well. That is extremely helpful.
Thanks for the feedback. Honestly this is the original reason why we started making videos is because the lack of completeness! Glad it’s helpful to others!
I guess it’s easy enough to build some sort of spacer or hide them in the cabinets, but that’s not my style… Glad I have a friend in the same tribe and thanks for the kind words!
Awesome, great video. Super sanitary work that would make any aircraft mechanic smile. The future second owner of your rig is in for a treat. Excellent work.
Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to write this! Sometimes we spend so much time drilling down into every little detail so it’s nice to hear when it’s noticed 🙂!
You are the only people who can make this seem fun. Im off to see what gets squirted all over your machine thing now. Oh also I took all of your advice on the window install except I didn’t get an impact wrench but it all went pretty well and that air saw is pretty darn fun I’m glad I got it. And maybe my screws aren’t tight enough but we’ll get there And so, Im about to take all your advice on the maxx air fan soon, thanks for everything. I like cool things yes I do
@shannonhegan hahah thank you!! It is fun most of the time! There are those days and moments when stuff goes sideways and it can get a bit frustrating but overall it's enjoyable and good to step back and see the progress! The milky stuff is machining coolant. Heat is the enemy when cutting metal so by keeping the area flooded everything stays nice and cool. There's also a bunch of additives in it to prevent anything from rusting inside the machine. The kind we use is here -> backend.qualichem.com/product_docs/a1ac5_XtremeCut%20251C%20(6.24.13).pds.pdf Oh yeah the airsaw is such a great tool! Happy you are making progress on your van are you sharing it anywhere?! Can't wait to hear more about your journey! Thanks for the continued support we really appreciate it!
Super clean! After seeing how tedious this reroute is I think I’m going to leave it in place but replace the bulk protector with the slim 1/2 inch split and Tessa you used. My panel and ceiling design will have the cables not visible. Keep the vids coming.
Hey @omjaye yeah it's a bit of an undertaking for sure!! Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to comment regardless! I think it would be easy enough to hide it without going in the wall if you are creative! It's just one more thing we didn't want to have to plan around, you know? Plus there wasn't much info anywhere online for doing this, so we wanted to see what it would take! Thanks again!!
Looks good! Very clean. I've done this on 2 vans, but didn't think of removing the clips from the ends of the harnesses. The first time, I cut the harness at the rear pillar and reconnected everything in a junction box. The second time, I cut it at the b pillar and connected everything in a junction box. If I do it a 3rd time, I think I will reroute the whole harness to the passenger side of the van instead of burying in the wall.
Hey, thank you and for stopping by! Moving it to the passengers side is an interesting idea! Probably a bit more time spent lengthening the wires but it seems you have to have a cavity over there anyways to handle the paneling around the body features for the sliding door tracks anyways! It’s fun going through this build and thinking about how I’d do things the same and different the next time!
Found a link to this video on the forum. Awesome and thorough video - well done! Fortunately I don't need to do the D-pillar or relocate the ground - just C- and B-pillars. Someone posted that if the holes (slots) are 1.5", you can fit all the connectors through without removing them. Hmmm... What's the $#$% with the B-pillar? I can feel an existing pass-through there with my fingers, but clearly it is not that simple?
Thank you! Be a little careful with the bigger hole, you start getting pretty close to the outer van skin with those sizes. The b-pillar has a pretty crazy jog. It's doable, but kind of a pain and depending on how well the sheetmetal was cut things can get pretty sharp in there. What I did was pass the wires first then put the split loom jacket on because the jacket kept getting caught on everything. It still got caught on everything this way but it was easier to slide it along the wires then try to yank everything through at once.
@@moonrakerdesign Thank you! I'm in total agreement! After my comment I went out and attempted to fish empty 1/2" split loom through the B-pillar "jog". No way! But I succeeded in tearing up my fingers and the split loom so I guess that's a win for masochism! I think what I'll try instead is to separate out all the individual wires and route them through the B-pillar via two separate, short 1/4" or 3/8" split loom packages, then once on the aft side of the B-pillar, repackage them all in 1/2" split loom. I also decided to stick with the 1" hole in the C-pillar and just pull all the pins out of the connectors like you did. Yikes! I hope I don't lose the photos of the connectors! On another note... I'm debating hard what to do with the wiring for the factory lights (all the lights have been, and will stay, removed): Leave the wiring in position along the roof or pull them and relocate them in easier-to-access coils on the driver side. Why bother, you ask? Well, I've been reading some threads on the forum that describe the possibility of tying in my lighting to operate off the factory circuit so the dome light buttons work, the open-the-door-lights-go-on works, and the fancy turn-the-lights-off-and-they-dim slowly works... BUT with some know-how the lights are powered off a house battery and not the starter battery. I would love to do this but am not an electrician. I don't have to worry about it much right now but want to make sure the existing wires are in the places I want them if I want to tie in lights to those circuits later...
Great video - one question I have is if I was to do this how would I manage any future repairs/trouble shooting of lighting/camera issues? I love the idea of them being in the wall but wondering about the long term impact. Makes me think about keeping them running high in the upper cabinets - your thoughts?
Thank you, I actually plan to have faux backs that are easily removed in my upper cabinets along this wall since all my house electrical follows these wires in the walls too and I want to be able to get at that in the future. I will say it would be extremely unlikely for there to be issues on the the main wire run, most likely at connection points or where it goes through the pillars. So planning for access to those areas I would say would be a bare minimum if you are looking to do this, are worried about it and not planning on having wall panels that come off somewhat easily.
OMG ridiculously meticulous. So well done. So much better to have machinist skills over electrician (not to mention the access to that machine shop). If only Mercedes took grounding so seriously.
Hey Rich, thanks a bunch for the comment and the compliment. Yeah, I feel really fortunate to have been able to build up this shop in pursuit of my hobby businesses it's really allowed me to get creative with certain aspects of the build and explore new ideas very quickly. I think in general Mercedes does a pretty poor job with creating a platform for converting. I would have liked to see a lot of built in wire ducting inside and under the van to make stuff like this easier. The amount of holes I've had to drill in the van to run the wires cleanly is pretty inexcusable IMO. I'm also a little bummed they don't have CAD of the rear interior surfaces to help people plan. I know you can get it if you are a Mercedes approved converter, but not really seeing the issue making this publicly available for DIY van conversion or trades people looking to outfit their own work rig. Anyways, sorry for the tangent and thanks again for stopping by!
Thanks for the video! After I watched your project I went out and relocated my wire bundle on my 2022 Sprinter 170, piece of cake! I did not relocate the ground point though which is something I would like to do before I close it up. You wouldn't happen to sell a "relocation kit" ;)
Hey of course thanks for the comment! Yeah this one is not bad at all, glad you were able to tackle it! I don't right now, but what specific bits are you looking for?
@@70mmdp I think I have an extra washer and rinvut stud if you want it. I'm going to see if there's a cheaper solution for setting it back in that cavity then having to make my own wrench 🤣
Paint can tip that I use with a similar product. Clean the lid and rim well before closing. Then Put a layer of kitchen plastic wrap between the can and the lid and carefully close the lid with even pressure without denting it.
I love this idea and will definitely be using this method or similar on my next can of the stuff! It’s by far my favorite rust preventative paint I’ve used so far, except for this little detail. Thanks for sharing, much appreciated!
Hey Glenn, thanks for the kind words. The worst part is drilling through the c-pillar but it’s really not that bad at all. Unfortunately I’ve not seen a 2012 before. But I do know automotive companies even when they roll up models try to change as few things as possible. I did buy the biggest most extensive pin removal tool just to cover all bases 😅
@@moonrakerdesign I did my hole drilling today and used a 1.5" Milwaukee metal hole saw and my corded Makita right angle drill. So in theory I won't have to remove any wire connectors. On the C-Pillar where you bent it away a bit for the aft hole, I used some tin snips and cut out there a bit so the right-angle drill would fit better. And the aft hole, I might have drilled a bit too high and that hole had only about 1/8" lip coming off the outside skin joint. I would drill that hole about 1" lower if I were doing it again. Also, that hole was three layers thick. But really appreciate this video you did here. It gave me the motivation to do it. Thanks again!
Hey @h00d000 I have some extras from the video. You can send me an email and if you cover cost of the material and shipping you can have them! I was looking for something similar before I made my own, but didn’t quite find anything yet. The other route I was looking to go was a grounding stud for car audio systems but that required tool access from the back of the panel which I didn’t have in this location.
Are you concerned about weakening the C pillar with that hole? The Body and Equipment guide doesn't specifically warn against it, but since the manufacturing process left no passage through it at all, I'm not so sure.
@guitardoc99 no concern from my end here for the 1" hole which is only about 1/3rd the width of that support at that area. Similar to the holes you see in the webbing of the roof support structures just above in the van there's not a significant impact in structural integrity. Now, I wouldn't put square holes or sharp edged notches that create stress risers, but a few holes I'm not worried about that. If you are curious you can look up the history of lightening holes or there are some good papers on the effects of holes in structural webbing.
@@flip0345 Understandable... I think the next best option is to get these braces from TimberVans - www.timbervankits.com/products/structural-assembly-for-sprinter-van-panels
