- 2 days ago
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00:00In this video, we're turning this creepy old van into a beautiful two-story tiny home.
00:07This is literally the most insane, ambitious van transformation on YouTube.
00:11So hold on to that food, sit down if you're showering, and let's get started.
00:16Like usual, this video started when I was scrolling on Facebook Marketplace and I came
00:20across this old van.
00:21We got a van.
00:22We got a van.
00:22We got a van.
00:23We got a van.
00:24And while yes, it looks very creepy, it was a heavy-duty E350 with 130,000 miles and only
00:31cost us $5,000.
00:33Why are you going 80, dude?
00:35We just bought this van.
00:37And once we finally got home, we could start gutting it.
00:40First thing we got to do, get these seats out of here.
00:47Under the carpet, it also had this mysterious wood floor.
00:52Once we got that up, we figured out why we got the van for so cheap.
00:56The floor is falling out and I can see the tire.
00:59Rust.
01:00Rust.
01:01More rust.
01:03Rust.
01:04This van had a bit of a rust problem.
01:06There were holes everywhere.
01:08For a while, we thought this project was over before it even started, but luckily, underneath
01:13the van was still okay.
01:15So we patched the holes with aluminum.
01:17This problem definitely won't reemerge later in the video.
01:21Obviously, it's a pretty big space in here, but there's one problem.
01:24We can't stand up.
01:28Cutting the roof off is the logical solution, right?
01:31Our idea for this van was to raise the roof where the floor plan works.
01:35You see this picture of Koi standing by the van?
01:38We're raising the roof to the top of that measuring tape.
01:41This will give us just enough room to stand up on the bottom floor and sleep on the top
01:46floor.
01:54You might think at this point we knew what to do and this is going to be easy, but we
01:58were completely winging it.
01:59In fact, we were all a little freaked out because there's obviously no going back from this.
02:03So we made this wooden piece that kind of looked like a roof.
02:06Wow, that actually looks really cool.
02:09That way we had a shape that we could copy with metal.
02:14Once this thing was all welded together, this is what it looked like.
02:19I made three of them.
02:22These are kind of like the trusses that are going to hold up the entire roof and help make
02:25the shape right.
02:30Then because we wanted it to be aerodynamic and not look too ridiculous, we put a small
02:34one at the very front.
02:35Then I started welding bars to everything, which leads me into my next segment, Cool Welding
02:41Shots.
03:08As you can see after all that welding, it's pretty solid.
03:12The next step was the really hard part though.
03:14We had to figure out how to cover this in metal.
03:17This is really hard for us because we wanted it to look like this roof was part of the van
03:21and not just something we added on.
03:23So to make sure it's as smooth as possible in the end, we used steel sheets where I could
03:28weld them on from the back.
03:34Then we carefully bent the edges where we could get nice round corners.
03:38And as I welded it on from the inside, we just cut the excess off.
03:42The side sheets were super fun because they were easy to put up.
03:45And here's a better look as to how I welded all these sheets together.
03:48Just like that.
03:53I did hundreds of these little dots and definitely burnt myself a couple times.
04:01Other than that though, the metal went pretty smooth.
04:04Even the front, which was especially difficult.
04:07But what's crazy is once we got this thing all covered up, it actually looked decent.
04:12Solid six out of ten.
04:16Really?
04:16All that work?
04:17Mistakes?
04:18But we weren't done yet.
04:20See all the cracks and holes and corners that need covered up?
04:23Well, my dad went through and covered the welds with Bondo.
04:26And the corners and cracks with fiberglass.
04:31We're also keeping track of how much this van weighs.
04:34At the beginning, we took it to the CAT scale and it weighed 6,280 pounds.
04:39We're going to try and keep it as light as possible, so we'll be weighing it again at the end.
04:44I'm really glad this front ends strong.
04:48What's crazy is after this, the outside of the van looked pretty good, but the inside was even crazier.
04:55Dude, it's huge in here.
04:57Massive.
04:57Wow.
04:59Nine feet.
04:59Nine foot ceilings in a van.
05:03That's pretty crazy.
05:04That's so cool.
05:05With the inside of the van huge now, it was time to actually start turning it into an RV.
05:10It is time.
05:15It's time.
05:16Say it.
05:16It's time.
05:18No.
05:18Say it's time for the floor.
05:20It's time for the floor.
05:21No, no, no, no.
05:22I'm going to say it's time.
05:23It's...
05:24floor time.
05:25We obviously wanted as much ceiling height as possible, so we cut 2x4s in half and attached them with metal
05:31self-tapping screws.
05:32Then we had the super satisfying job of sealing the floor slash insulating with spray foam.
05:40So mesmerizing.
05:41Spray foam was great because it will keep out the water from all these holes we had, and it will
05:46make the floor a lot stronger.
05:50After that, we put down some 3 quarter inch plywood.
05:53You never would have gotten that in there.
05:55Nope.
05:56It took the floor from looking like this, to this.
06:01Which leads to our next step, the walls.
06:04Unfortunately, we had to leave this rim of metal because it was pretty much the structure to the van.
06:10But luckily, the van was so big that losing this extra space didn't really affect us too bad.
06:17Can I also point out how cool it is that we have to use a ladder in this van now?
06:27Alright, now for the really fun part, we're gonna put in the second story.
06:31Look at that!
06:32That's gonna be the bedroom!
06:42Okay.
06:44Oh, no way!
06:46Yes, yes!
06:46Whoa!
06:47How is it?
06:49I'm like two feet above the original van, dude.
06:51Wow, that's crazy.
06:52The last thing we had to frame was in the back.
06:54We started by building a wall in front of the two back doors.
06:57This will kind of be our garage.
06:59And then we put another wall up to frame in the bathroom.
07:02Yes, this van is going to have a full bathroom.
07:05And with all the framing done, some of you might know what we're going to do next.
07:09Okay, it's time to get serious.
07:11It's electric time.
07:30Remember how I said the back of the van is going to be kind of like our garage?
07:33Well, that's where we're putting the breaker box.
07:35Elective time.
07:40That box is where all of these wires are going to run back to.
07:47All right, all of this has got to plug into something.
07:50That's what this is for.
08:04Back at the breaker box, it was finally time for my dad to connect everything.
08:07Just because I look cool in these glasses doesn't mean I know what I'm doing.
08:11He's good at this. He knows what he's doing.
08:22After we installed all the wires, it was finally time to cool this van off a little bit by installing
08:27our mini split.
08:28That's so small.
08:30For those of you who might not know, this is just an AC that cools and heats.
08:33And what's crazy is we got this unit for $380 off Teemu, who sponsored this video and sent us all
08:39kinds of cool stuff for this van.
08:41We got a bunch of camping stuff too, like this fold-out chair, super bright flashlight, and this nice big
08:47water bottle.
08:48Back in the van, what you're looking at now is the front, hence the seats.
08:52And we installed the mini split right above them where it blew towards the back of the van, cooling the
08:56whole thing off.
08:57And you see those white pipes?
08:59Well, those are the copper tubes that connect the inside of the mini split to the outside portion.
09:04Once I connected those and we vacuumed them out, I turned it on to test it.
09:09It's working!
09:10It's on!
09:11It's working!
09:12We got AC!
09:13Alright, now we're going to install these solar panels that we got from Teemu.
09:18Teemu is also doing an insane promotion right now where you can get 3 to 10 items for $0.
09:23All you have to do is go on Teemu and type Che026 in the search bar, and you have a
09:28huge selection of items you can get for free.
09:30After ordering the solar panels, which we're now attaching to the van.
09:33It's perfect!
09:34What?
09:34I mean, we deserve some kind of award for that.
09:37That's crazy.
09:37I actually tested my own code out to see if I could get the free items, and I got this
09:41inflatable bean bag, this cool table, this fan pedal cleaner, and at the end I bought this ice maker for
09:4625% off.
09:48So go use my code CHE026 in the search bar, or click the link in my description, get those $0
09:53gifts, and thank you to Teemu for sponsoring this video.
10:00While my dad was putting in all the plugs, switches, and even the bathroom vent, I had one last thing
10:04to do on the outside.
10:06Running lights.
10:11This made the outside look so official.
10:14Look at the top of the van!
10:16That is sick!
10:17It looks like an RV!
10:18And we added this brake light.
10:22Oh!
10:23It's perfect!
10:25And now the inside was completely done, which means we were ready for spray foam.
10:31Me and my dad were really not wanting to do this, and I was prepared to argue, I really was.
10:36But somehow, Colby just wants to do it.
10:39He volunteered.
10:39Hey look, he's all excited!
10:41He volunteered.
10:42Yeah, Colby volunteered.
10:43So we're off the hook.
10:44You ready man?
10:45Oh yeah!
10:46In case you haven't figured it out by now, spray foaming is a really messy job.
10:50But it's great for RVs like this because it locks all the wires in place, it's waterproof, and it's really
10:56good at insulating.
10:59I didn't realize this until watching this video, but Colby went back like two or three times on the roof.
11:04And it ended up looking pretty crazy.
11:12Alright dad, well, we didn't spray so now we gotta pay the price.
11:17Yeah.
11:41I think we're done!
11:43With the extra foam out of the way, we could finally start putting sheets in this van.
11:47Yank it like a tanker!
11:48And I'm sure you can tell by the look of my face, it wasn't very easy.
11:52Ah, it's cold!
11:54And as I was putting this up, I may have broke it.
11:59Ahhhh, just cracked.
12:01Yeah, we need to soak it.
12:03Yeah.
12:03The curve on the ceiling was pretty small, so the only way to make these sheets bend right was to
12:08soak them in the pool for about an hour.
12:13Oh yeah, look how flexible that is.
12:16Dude looks like a piece of paper.
12:18I know!
12:19With the sheets bendy, we could get them up in the ceiling without breaking them, but it was still a
12:23struggle.
12:28Here, let me speed it up for you.
12:34Okay, alright.
12:36It looks sick, dude.
12:38It does look cool.
12:39Yeah.
12:40Then we just did that a couple more times.
12:43I should probably play some music now.
12:46Nah.
12:47Just watch in silence.
12:50Okay, then we put on the main living room kitchen ceiling, which was great because I really wanted to get
12:55some can lights in here, where it wasn't so dark.
12:59Alright!
13:00Finally!
13:08It's funny, that time I was going to be putting the lights in took 53 minutes, but let's see if
13:13they work.
13:15Oh!
13:16Multiple layers.
13:18Bathroom ceiling time.
13:24The bathroom was the last room to get can lights, and you could tell I was pretty excited they work.
13:30After that though, I finally started cheating off the bathroom.
13:33And for the first time, you can't see those doors anymore.
13:36Back in the living room kitchen area, we started cheating that too.
13:40And look how big this room is.
13:42Isn't it crazy that this is a van?
13:44Oh, and behind the camera, Kobe did a great job covering this super hard section.
13:50What's crazy is this time lapse is three hours long.
13:55But look how good this space looks now.
13:58It just needed one thing.
14:03I'm going to build some cabinets today.
14:05On this channel, Kobe's become a little bit of a celebrity because of all the cabinets he builds.
14:09And this video is going to be no different.
14:11My measurements have changed because I changed the face frame from two inch to one and three quarters.
14:16So now everything is different.
14:17Anyway, while Kobe was working on cabinets, it was time for me to get under the van where I could
14:22start installing the tanks.
14:24I just had to remove the old spare tire first.
14:31Almost lost my arm.
14:33Welcome to under the van.
14:38Right now I'm scraping off most of that rust where I can get to the bare metal.
14:43That way I can weld on mounts for this tank.
14:45In case you don't know, every RV needs three tanks.
14:48Black tank, gray tank, and fresh water tank.
14:52Black tank is where the toilet water goes.
14:54Gray tank is where the sink and shower water go.
14:57And fresh tank is obviously where the fresh water goes.
14:59And under this van I had so little room that our toilet actually wouldn't fit here.
15:05So we had to reframe the entire wall to scoot it back a couple inches all the way where I
15:10could put this pipe in.
15:15It fits!
15:17Oh, we did it!
15:18Now that that drain pipe fits in the right spot, I can actually go ahead and make my mounts for
15:22the tank.
15:22I just kind of welded these ribs to the frame where the tank could fit in between them.
15:26Then I went and made the hole for the toilet.
15:30And now you can see why we had to move it back because that frame was in the way.
15:34And while I was decking out the black tank with all kinds of vents, inlets,
15:38and even a gauge where I could know how full it gets.
15:41This is a decked out tank.
15:44Colby had gotten all of his wood cut and was now assembling the cabinets,
15:47which really didn't take him that long.
15:50All done.
15:52How did you finish him that fast, dude?
16:04But then all this progress stopped when I accidentally touched a brake line.
16:07You see that, Dad?
16:09Oh, oh no!
16:11That's brake fluid.
16:12No!
16:13Yeah, remember how rusty this van was?
16:15Well, the brake lines were completely rusted through.
16:19I don't know anything about brake lines.
16:21This is going to be a whole new thing for me.
16:23Just in case you don't understand how sketchy this is, that brake fluid leaking out literally means the brakes don't
16:29work.
16:29My first thought was the van was completely totaled and we wasted all of our money.
16:33And I was pretty upset.
16:34But then I realized how we got done with this and I took it on a trip, the brakes probably
16:39would have failed.
16:40Well, I got the old brake line out.
16:42So I watched like a bunch of YouTube videos and got some stuff on Amazon that will hopefully fix it
16:47when it comes in.
16:47For now, I just pretended to ignore it where I could focus on my tanks.
16:52On the exact opposite side, I put in the gray tank.
16:56This was directly underneath the shower.
16:58Alright, so the shower drain can only go in one spot.
17:02Right there.
17:03Because of all the big metal framing in the way underneath the van, I had to make this crazy looking
17:08pipe that routed all the water to the tank.
17:10Down this pipe and it goes up and over through the frame into this.
17:17It goes directly into the top of the tank.
17:20And I have to admit,
17:24I'm pretty proud of that.
17:25Then there was the fresh tank.
17:27This is going to give the van access to water anywhere.
17:30And I put it right where the old spare tire went.
17:34Alright, I know this looks horrible, but nobody's going to see it.
17:37I don't care.
17:38So I'm done.
17:39Back on the inside, Colby and my dad were working on trim to cover up all the ugly gaps.
17:44And man, it was looking good.
17:50Remember, just a couple of days ago it looked like this.
17:55Anyway, while I was still trapped under the van doing plumbing.
17:58What?
17:59Are you done with the trick? Are you trying to go?
18:01Colby was working on his cabinet doors.
18:03This is a lot less than I usually have, so I'm pretty happy with this.
18:07And while he was putting all those doors together,
18:11my dad gave the van a nice paint job.
18:19This made it look pretty insane.
18:21But one room that hadn't gotten any attention, the bathroom.
18:25You probably know this by now, but we're going to put a toilet and a shower in here.
18:28And this might be a little crazy, but it's all going to be tile.
18:32First though, my dad had to put down the shower pan and make sure everything was waterproof.
18:36And if you're wondering where I've been for the last couple of minutes.
18:40Still plumbing.
18:41While my dad was waiting for me to finish under the van though,
18:44he put a layer of primer on the cabinet doors and the cabinets themselves.
18:48You never know what you're going to get when you spray.
18:50Could be good.
18:51Could be bad.
18:52Easy, hard, whatever.
18:53Never know.
18:54Hopefully this goes well.
18:57Jake can delete all this crap.
18:59Oh my gosh.
19:01Alright, so we're going to fry on the cabinets now.
19:05By this time I've finally wrapped up the plumbing underneath the van.
19:08And let me just say, it looked good.
19:13Alright dad, you ready to tile the bathroom?
19:15Yes.
19:16Me and my dad then joined forces to tile the bathroom.
19:19He may have done most of the tiling, but I was outside cutting things for him.
19:45Meanwhile, Colby was turning scrap wood into crown molding.
19:50This piece costs like six bucks at Lowe's and Colby just made it for free with a router.
19:55After he put it up on the cabinets.
20:00We were finally able to paint them.
20:12Then we could get to something really exciting.
20:14This countertop.
20:16That weighed like 200 pounds.
20:18Whoa.
20:19Oh boy look at that.
20:21Wow guys.
20:22That is sick.
20:23Me and Colby picked this countertop up from a local home goods store for like 300 bucks.
20:28It was a lot, but man it was worth it.
20:32Alright dude.
20:34Also, huge shout out to my dad for getting under there and cutting it.
20:38He looks like Mike from Dirty Jobs.
20:41Anyway, while my dad was doing the backsplash.
20:48I was finally cutting the carpet.
20:51Alright.
20:52That went upstairs.
20:56And in the cab.
21:04Some people hate on me for loving carpet so much, but look how cozy the upstairs looks now.
21:09And the cab used to look like this.
21:12Now it looks like an RV cab.
21:16The cab used to look like this.
21:16With all this stuff we've added to the van, some of you are probably wondering about weight.
21:20And we are going to weigh this when we're done and show you.
21:22But we definitely didn't want it looking like this going down the road because it's so heavy in the back.
21:29To make it not do that, we're putting in airbags.
21:32I bought this 5,000 pound airbag kit specifically made for this van.
21:36And as you can see in this time lapse, they went in super easy.
21:40And when I let down the van.
21:42You can see how much it squats.
21:46But then when I pump up the airbags, watch this.
21:52With each pump you can see the van lifting up.
21:55It goes up a lot.
21:59And by the way, my parts for the brakes finally came in.
22:02Cause remember, they still don't work.
22:06So, in case this ever happens to you.
22:08First, locate the master cylinder.
22:10Remove rear brake line.
22:11Don't accidentally remove the front ones.
22:13Go into the van.
22:14In the back.
22:15Cut old brake lines with grinder.
22:16This is good.
22:17Get new brake line.
22:19Cut it.
22:20Good.
22:21Flare brake line.
22:22Not like that.
22:23Like this.
22:24$70 tool needed.
22:25Oh, don't forget nut.
22:26Don't forget nut.
22:27Good.
22:28Go back to master cylinder.
22:30Connect new brake line.
22:31Take brake line to the back.
22:32Connect brake line to brake line block.
22:34Connect other new brake line to brake line block.
22:36Bleed brakes.
22:37Both.
22:38Test brakes.
22:40Good.
22:41Now go open up a brake shop.
22:43Back inside the van, there were only a couple things left to do before we could take this camping.
22:47The main one being the floor.
22:49I wanted it to look fancy, so I chose this really shiny tile that kind of matched the countertop.
22:56I think it turned out really, really good.
23:02Meanwhile, Colby installed his custom glass cabinet doors.
23:06You guys want to see something cool?
23:09Isn't that just awesome?
23:19By the way, you guys remember that old spare tire that tried to kill me?
23:23Well, we cleaned it off and got a new tire for it and then made a bracket to go on
23:26the
23:26back of the van where it looks like this.
23:29Dude, look at that!
23:32I also transformed the rest of the wheels from this to this.
23:38Kind of crazy what tires and a little bit of spray paint will do.
23:43So far, we've turned this old creepy van into something really cool.
23:50But, although I don't think it looks creepy anymore, it doesn't look good either.
23:57So, uh, I'm going to cue my dramatic music that I usually do while we get this thing finished.
24:19We're done painting, this van looks awesome.
24:22I'm just kidding.
24:22We're not going to leave it this turd brown.
24:33And while my dad was painting, I was inside hooking up this new battery for the off-grid system.
24:40This is going to give the van power anywhere.
24:42I also made it to where this battery charges while the engine's running.
24:46And hooked up the solar panels so they're charging it too.
24:48Then I added a gauge for the black tank and one to tell me exactly what this electrical system's doing.
24:54Alright, I have the van on and nothing's blown up yet, so I think it's working.
24:59Back outside, the green paint was looking amazing.
25:05Then it was just some last minute, final touches that really sent this van over the edge.
25:19We'll be right back to this part, we'll be right back and we'll watch it.
25:22We'll be right back and we'll be right back.
25:34This is a big deal.
25:52All right, are we ready guys?
25:53Yep.
25:54Let's test this thing out.
25:56The campsite we were going to is about an hour away, so we're going to get a really
25:59good test for this van.
26:00But the first thing we're going to do is figure out how much does this van weigh now, because
26:05we don't want it to be too heavy.
26:06What do you guys think the weight is?
26:08I'm thinking about 9,000 pounds.
26:09I think if we were below 10, I'd be happy.
26:11Remember, the original weight of the van was 6,280 pounds.
26:15And now?
26:188580.
26:18What?
26:19Oh my gosh!
26:218,580 pounds means we only added 2,300 pounds to the van.
26:25We killed it!
26:25That was only 2,000 pounds.
26:28It was really cool to stand up and walk around too, because all of our stuff worked.
26:31We got power.
26:33Plenty of power.
26:34All the lights work.
26:35The water works.
26:37I even went back inside the bathroom to test the shower out.
26:40I got the shower on!
26:41What?
26:42Anyway, it wasn't long until we got to our campsite, and I just honestly can't believe
26:47how cool this van looks.
26:49What used to be an old creepy van, we are now making dinner inside of.
26:53This is about to be so good.
26:57Oh wow.
26:58And don't forget, there is a bathroom in the back.
27:01Great success!
27:03Alright, we got Chloe in the passenger seat.
27:06My dad's up here.
27:08And I am taking the floor.
27:10Thank you guys so much for watching.
27:12Today I'll see you in the next video.
27:15Bye bye, bye.
27:17Now that you gotta break this down.
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