Ford Transit Cabin Air Filter Install

Surprisingly the Ford Transit doesn’t come with a cabin air filter even though there is a place for one. I’m guessing the filter was either left out due to cost or because of performance. Maybe with the filter in there the blower isn’t powerful enough ¯\(°_o)/¯ .

Not to worry, you can just buy a filter and install it yourself. The Baldwin PA30000 is the correct filter and can be bought from Amazon.

We’re On YouTube

Sometimes a video does a much better job telling a story or explaining something than pictures and words can. So we now have a YouTube Channel and our first video is about installing a fan on Gidget’s roof. Let us know in the comments what you think of the video.

Catalina Island For The Day

Last weekend we decided to head over to Catalina Island for the day. Neither Matt or myself have been to Catalina or any of the Channel Islands, and apparently it is one of those things that every Southern Californian needs to do. We left out of Newport Beach on the Catalina Flyer ferry in the morning.

Joshua Tree For National Park Week

We took Gidget to Joshua Tree this past weekend to test out her off road abilities and because it’s National Park Week.

She did great on the easy Geology Tour trail and made it through about 60% of the way through the Berdoo Canyon trail. We had to turn back due to lack of ground clearance.

How-To Insulate A Van With Thinsulate

You add insulation to a van for the same reasons you add it to a house, to reduce the transfer of thermal and sound energy. Many established methods for insulating traditional homes exist. Unfortunately most of these methods don’t apply to vans as they have metal walls, lots of single pane windows, and lack large HVAC systems.

For the #vanlife community insulation is the most debated topic. You have many options: fiberglass, rigid foam board, Reflectix, recycled denim, spray foam3M Thinsulate, vapor barriers, CLD sound deadening material, and many more. Each material has pros and cons and doing the necessary research can be overwhelming.

How-To Install A Roof Fan On Your Van

Tricia here, writing my first post! Over the weekend we tackled the daunting task of permanently modifying Gidget by installing a roof fan. Neither of us have had the pleasure of cutting a huge hole in a vehicle, so it was a little nerve-wracking.

When planning our van build we decided not to install a rooftop air conditioning unit. They tend to remove any notions of stealth, are loud, and need a lot of power to operate. But we also want some level of comfort so we settled on a roof fan. After significant research we discovered there is only 2 serious manufactures: Fan-Tastic and MaxxAir. We went with the MaxxAir MAXXFAN Deluxe 7000K fan because the lid can be open when its raining and when driving.

How-To Install A Swivel Seat Adapter

A swivel seat adapter allows your front factory seats to turn and face the back of the van. In such a small space being able to have one of us sit in the passenger seat and face the living area is crucial.

We bought the swivel adapter from SwivelsRus as that is the only provider in the US. These swivels are for the base level mechanical seats, not the 10-way power seats which we have. But this was the only option available so we bought it anyways with the hope we could make it work.

Introducing Gidget The Van

After 7 months of waiting we are now the proud owners of Gidget, a 2016 Ford Transit cargo van! We plan on converting Gidget to the perfect little adventure van.

We order her July 4th weekend in 2015 from a dealer up in the Portland area. Why Portland when we are based in San Diego? Because almost all the dealers we went to around here had close to zero knowledge of the Transit and didn’t know anything about QuadVan or Quigley. The dealer we went with has a close relationship with QuadVan and it made the most sense to go with someone who knew about the Transit and had an extensive history with QuadVan.