Meet Ron: Another Van Conversion Story

[SteelheadJones]

Wow, so many pearls in this one Cyrull. Thanks for posting. I'm on the lookout for an RB hightop in Northern CA right now. Hopefully I'll get a chance to use your advice soon.


Where did you find the folding bench seat?

[Cyrull]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

Wow, so many pearls in this one Cyrull. Thanks for posting. I'm on the lookout for an RB hightop in Northern CA right now. Hopefully I'll get a chance to use your advice soon.


Where did you find the folding bench seat?

Contact Vanimal, pretty sure he has RB for sale. I msged him a while ago but when he got back to me I already salvaged this one. Good price on it to.

Also, re-installing the headliner is a pain (I did it solo, easier with two people. If you can, just keep it on and cut a hole when you install the top.

I actually got it from Rob, it was too short for him. I believe he’s over 6”. Fine for my 5’10 though!

I thought I saw someone having one for sale in CA in the SMB classifieds. Not sure if it’s something we will stick with long term but it’s good enough for now. It’s not the most comfortable seat (needs more butt support) for passengers but I don’t think we will have a lot of those.

[SteelheadJones]

Originally Posted by Cyrull

Contact Vanimal, pretty sure he has RB for sale. I msged him a while ago but but he got back to me I already salvaged this one. Good price on it to.

Sweet, I'll PM him, thanks!

Originally Posted by Cyrull

Also, re-installing the headliner is a pain, if you can just keep it on and cut a hole when you install the top.

I don't follow what you mean here. Keep it attached to the roof that you're cutting out? You wouldn't be able to use a jigsaw to cut the hole then right? I'm thinking the blade would penetrate too deeply and hit the headliner, no? So you'd have to use air shears or a nibbler instead. Or is there an airspace between the roof and the headliner?

Originally Posted by Cyrull

I thought I saw someone having one for sale in CA in the SMB classifieds. Not sure if it’s something we will stick with long term but it’s good enough for now. It’s not the most comfortable seat for passengers but I don’t think we will have a lot of those.

I'll check the classifieds. Thanks again for all the pro tips!

[Cyrull]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

Sweet, I'll PM him, thanks!



I don't follow what you mean here. Keep it attached to the roof that you're cutting out? You wouldn't be able to use a jigsaw to cut the hole then right? I'm thinking the blade would penetrate too deeply and hit the headliner, no? So you'd have to use air shears or a nibbler instead. Or is there an airspace between the roof and the headliner?



I'll check the classifieds. Thanks again for all the pro tips!

Sorry I will re-phrase. Before I installed the top, I completely removed the headliner and stored it in my guest bedroom (thing is freaking huge, there is a full size double bed underneath and then some). Once the top was installed, I reinstalled the headliner.

This actually took a bit of work as I had to take off all the plastic trim fasteners, the rubber trim pieces on the doors, seat belt pensioners, A/C Vents, Dome Lights, etc. I attached a photo of my head liner removal.

If I had to do it again, I would just do what Tim did here:

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...tml#post242865

Leave it in place and use a box cutter to cut the trim piece out, be mindful of the wires (there is one that runs from the driver side to the center light and then all the way down the middle to the rear dome light. Hope that helps.

[shadetreevanman]

Nice job Cyrull. That's a good looking top and looks great on the van. Keep up the pictures as you progress.

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

I don't follow what you mean here. Keep it attached to the roof that you're cutting out? You wouldn't be able to use a jigsaw to cut the hole then right? I'm thinking the blade would penetrate too deeply and hit the headliner, no? So you'd have to use air shears or a nibbler instead. Or is there an airspace between the roof and the headliner?

I did not want to pull out my headliner, so I cut it with a multi tool before cutting the roof. That allowed me to see how much room I had above the headliner. The multi tool cut without much mess and was easy to control.


Originally I had thought I would use a jig saw, but a buddy had a nibbler and it worked very well. Advantage, the nibbler does not leave ground metal residue everywhere like the jig saw would. I didn't have to plastic the interior to keep it clean. The nibbler slid above the crossmembers. The crossmembers I cut out with a jig saw after cutting the sheetmetal.

[shadetreevanman]

Originally Posted by Cyrull

Contact Vanimal, pretty sure he has RB for sale. I msged him a while ago but when he got back to me I already salvaged this one. Good price on it to.

Vanimal lives here in Riverside. My buddy bought one of his tops for his EB. Here it is installed. The RB tops he has are the same profile as this one.

[Phish]

Looks awesome. Great job on the install.

[Cyrull]

Originally Posted by Phish

Looks awesome. Great job on the install.

Thanks for the kind words and for letting me know about the top at the pick and pull!

[SteelheadJones]

Originally Posted by shadetreevanman

Vanimal lives here in Riverside. My buddy bought one of his tops for his EB. Here it is installed. The RB tops he has are the same profile as this one.
Attachment 27506

Is that a 20"?

Edit: I browsed your thread and see they're 18". I wish I could get by with one but I'm 6'1" so I need a 24".

[mothgils]

Looks great Cyrull!

Any pics of the install process showing how you mounted the top down? I have been keeping my eyes peeled locally for a top from a junkyard but no luck yet. Seeing threads like yours and shadetreevanman's give me hopes I could tackle the project myself.