Converting my Granvia into a Camper

[northernlad]

Hi, does anyone have any info about converting a Granvia into a camper, seen many converted by Wellhouse and Hillside, both look very good, I am looking to do a DIY job myself as I can't really afford the ready converted models. There seems to be plenty of conversion bits about for the T4 /T5 Volkswagens but so little for the Granvia, I am looking for a high roof, a furniture set and rock & roll bed. Any ideas or anyone got any experience of carrying out a conversion?

[northernlad]

Wow, quite amazed at the silence on this subject? Anyway for anyone wanting to convert their camper here are all the contacts:

1. Elevating Roof - Elite Camper Conversions Worksop (about £2000 + vat) fitted.
2. Fridge - Waeco compressor fridge - Obriens camping £458.00 or if you can be bothered a quick tip to Belgium to a small shop in Commune de Ixelle in Brussels for only 342 Euros!!
3. Furniture kit - Cordoba Leisure in Bradford (£899 ) inc rock & roll bed
4. Floor coverings - any lino or safety floor shop
5. Trimming materials - a seller called salesfromsarah on Ebay - I think their proper name is Rainbow Conversions
6. Seat Trimming - NC interiors of Bolton ( he will charge you £800!!!!) Or some Indian chaps in Stockport called Sahi baba (I kid you not - but these dudes supply Argos with seat covers too), same day service and are only charging me £200 inc foam set.
7. New Alloy Wheels - v12online.com - yes we know they sell Bentley's and Rollers but they also have a wheel wholesale division - in fact they used to be called Auto Design Technics who supply most wheel shops in the UK. £249.00 for some shiny new wheels (no tyres - I used my old ones)
8. Hob and Sink - Autocraft in Staveley Cheshire - nice people.
9. Upholstery fabric, try the £1 a yard shop in Dewsbury or any market stall.
10. Sink & Hob - Try Ebay - Dometic items available for less than £200 for the pair
11. Cables/Wires etc.. Maccess if you have an account
12. Silver Screens for front windscreen - Ezy Trader Ltd, Bradford - £25 for very good quality ones - same ones at Brownhills are £75 - you decide!

Anyone can add to this?

[Duexbiers]

Wow, quite amazed at the silence on this subject? Anyway for anyone wanting to convert their camper here are all the contacts:

1. Elevating Roof - Elite Camper Conversions Worksop (about £2000 + vat) fitted.

Hi, Northernlad.
We're looking for someone to do our roof. Wellhouse and Elite both quote about the same, about £2750, but Wellhouse charge an extra 150 if the Granvia has a sunroof over drivers cab. What are your experience with Elite?

[northernlad]

Elite are very good at what they do - I presume you are after an elevating roof? A High roof will cost about £899 fitted and £1199 colour coded. The Elite roof is very good and the only main difference is it has one less window than that on a Wellhouse roof (which is supposed to be made by Reimo but is not as good as other Reimo roofs I have seen). I can't understand why Wellhouse want an extra £150 if you have the front sunroof. Elite have a dedicated roof fitting centre and their own steel shop, the hinges from Elite are made in house (heavier duty than Reimo ones) and the Gas Struts are imported from Germany. Adrian and Alan are nice lads to do business with and straight talking. If it was my van I would go for the Elite roof,also a bit of a tip is wave some cash under Adrians nose, freindly guy - might do you a bit of a discount.

[northernlad]

Oh just remembered, to colour code the roof Elite offer a "Gel Coat" matching service, it would be prudent to take advantage of this , the colour matches are very close, and if you are very fussy you could have it overpainted afterwards, the advantage is that if you get a stonechip it won't show white underneath, saw a Leisuredrive van their that had a painted roof, which was covered in stone chips, very visible and unsightly. Leisuredrive may also do a roof for the Granvia, and if you like being talked to like you are a naughty little kid phone that very rude lady at a company called Drivelodge in Keighley! All the best.

[northernlad]

Drivelodge 01535 637777 - No courtesy car - no smile - miserable
Leisurdrive - dinasours at what they do 01204 574478
Wellhouse Leisure - You have their number - avoid the self service Tea with UHT milk and Crawfords biscuits - YUK
Cordoba Leisure Bradford - 01274 370727 - watch for the big pot holes in the yard and non English speaking staff?

All the above should be able to quote for Granvia roofs

[Duexbiers]

Wow! loads of advice! Thanks Northernlad. I will take it all on board while deciding which way to go.

[astonchap]

Sorry late reply to an old post....

In answer to some of the questions below.....

Although we work with Drivelodge we have no connection to Leisure drive and both these companies have been trading years, 30+ in Leisure Drives case and know more about building camper vans than we or others ever will.

Re Drivelodge, they get lots of calls from people wanting to "change the world" doing conversions and have had there roof copied by others mentioned on here like we have and Devon have, so sometimes if they like us get a call from someone maybe quoting prices from another converter who has copied there roof then it will get there back up.

David and Joanne at Drivelodge are 2 of the most hard working and honest people you can meet and yes Joanne can be "firm" on the phone but if someones quoting prices of copies of there roof it will of course get there back up. Also Derek at Leisure Drive has had his conversions copied by one of the others mentioned on here.

We have had our Reimo roofs copied but the copy is of such poor quality Reimo just said let the quality do the talking which it does. We have had 2 people come to us and have there current roof (copy of Reimo roof) replaced with a Reimo roof and the famous last words was "we thought it was cheap" Drivelodge have had the same problems with there hi-tops and there is now a very similar roof to the Devon. Its easy for these new start ups to by a roof and take it to a fiberglass company and have it copied but they don't have the guts to spend the thousands it costs to develop a roof from scratch.

All I would say to anyone looking at vans is VISIT THE CONVERTER and decide which offers the best quality and the after sales, and when we say visit ask to see the vans in build, the spares they keep as back up, how they fit the roofs, the frames they fit and do the research on forums. You can build a van via E-bay but you get what you pay for. Anyone that knows what they are doing should have a decent lead time, were currently booked up till April 2011 and that's building 12 per month.

As for UHT milk, we have no excuse and sincerely apologize and we now have fresh milk in the fridge and McVities biscuits on request and can assure everyone our conversions are better than our tea facilities.

Many thanks,
David,
Wellhouse Leisure.