Adding a high top to the Ford Transit Connect XL

[DanDweller]

After looking around a little, I see that out of the Transits, it is the smaller Connect that it is in my price range and gets great gas mileage.  So I'm wondering, why not just get one of those and add my own high top?  Everything I find online about high tops is for bigger vehicles like the Chevy Express.  Is there any reason it would be unwise to attempt such a thing on something like the Transit Connect?  I can imagine it would reduce fuel economy, but perhaps not to such a detrimental degree?

 

[Almost There]

My only warnings for before you buy would be to make sure that a) you can even buy a fiberglass top for them, they may not be available and b) do a layout in your home of the actual inside size of the Connect and make sure that you can live in that small amount of space.

There's a good reason that the full size cargo vans are so popular with us nomads!

 

[DanDweller]

Great advice. I was counting on the fact that said high tops do not exist and that I would have to make one.

(Also great advice about worry and the use of imagination!)

 

[Matildas mate]

[font=.SF UI Text][font=.SFUIText]Bob just did a video of a guy who built his own pop top for a GMC Safari...[/font][/font]

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[font=.SF UI Text][font=.SFUIText]Here’s a video by a guy who suggests an older Connect rather than the newer models to live in if that is your preference...[/font][/font]

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[aaronpope]

Fiberine makes and installs high tops for old school and newer models of Ford Transit Connects.

http://fiberine.com/GVMR/Mini_Van_Tops.html

 

[John61CT]

Way too tiny for me

 

[DanDweller]

Thanks for the links. I'll check them out. It looks like Fiberine would have what I need. I guess I need to get clear on length considerations, though.

 

[redrobi]

Thanks for the links.  I'll check them out.  It looks like Fiberine would have what I need.  I guess I need to get clear on length considerations, though.

Hi Dan
I just traded my PU for the transit connect especially for the gas mileage. I looked at Fiberine and it said tops for the "NEW 2014" I have not found anything yet for a newer one I would love to be able to stand but not a requirement and as I'm doing my buildout I'm finding I can get all I need in this van. What year are you thinking about getting? I think the older models were higher.
Robi

 

[highdesertranger]

be very careful with the weight and the center of gravity. I would be leery to add much height or weight up high to such small vehicles. highdesertranger

 

[Jedi Clampette]

If I were in  your position, I would make one out of fiberglass, which is pretty easy, most of the epoxy companies like system 3 have free materials on how to fiberglass, but basically, you make a plug or mock up out of plywood if you are going to leave the plywood in or in osb if you are going to dispose of the plug and fiberglass cloth and epxy over the plug then install. More muscle power than brain power to accomplish this and it is also ripe for modification, like building in shelving or a vent and the outside style.

 

[DanDweller]

Thanks for the replies. I'm leaning away from getting something as small as the Transit Connect. The Transit 250 Long Wheel Base seems more adequate to my needs, though I guess I'll have to wait until prices come down a bit before I can afford one. Either that or a Ram Promaster. I guess I need to get clear on where are the best places to shop around for these models and also on which one--Promaster vs. Transit--has more room inside, and is more reliable. From glancing around on the internet, I see a lot of mixed opinions.

 

[K9EZ]

What I hear in your words is that you have a preference for the smaller transit.  

Pay attention to what YOU prefer, is what I think... then work out the technical issues around YOUR plan.

For me the legnth of the thing is an important "FEEL", for all those hours of use.

It's hard to project into the future, how I'll feel,  but I think I can handle the 19'-21' length, and want the high roof to be welded at the factory out of the same steel.  

I don't know how yet, but I'm going to build rather than buy.

Looking forward to your progress; as we are on parallel paths of sorts.

Best,

K9EZ

 

[DanDweller]

I would like the smaller one for the better gas mileage. But after analyzing it more I realized it just won't work for me. Beyond "feel" I have specific length requirements. Out of all the musical instruments that I could have learned to play and make, I had to choose the didgeridoo, which is very inconvenient, given that my didges are 7 feet long. In the Transit Connect, the only way they would fit is to take out the front passenger seat. I've been brainstorming how it could work, but unfortunately for my gas mileage, the Connect is just to small.

For the past 6 years I've lived in a 21' long Roadtrek, which is cumbersome and a little too long. Around 18-19 feet would be adequate. I did manage to drive my Roadtrek all the way to Brasil and back, giving didgeridoo concerts and playing on the street along the way. Trip of a lifetime. Probably do it again. If interested, I'll post a link, or just youtube search "Dan Flynn didgeridoo Bogota ". All the instruments and gear in that video have to go in my van. So yeah, it was wishful thinking that I might be able to fit all that in a Connect.

 

[John61CT]

Good think you didn't take up the tuba

 

[redrobi]

I would like the smaller one for the better gas mileage.  But after analyzing it more I realized it just won't work for me.  Beyond "feel" I have specific length requirements.  Out of all the musical instruments that I could have learned to play and make, I had to choose the didgeridoo, which is very inconvenient, given that my didges are 7 feet long.  In the Transit Connect, the only way they would fit is to take out the front passenger seat.  I've been brainstorming how it could work, but unfortunately for my gas mileage, the Connect is just to small.

For the past 6 years I've lived in a 21' long Roadtrek, which is cumbersome and a little too long.  Around 18-19 feet would be adequate.  I did manage to drive my Roadtrek all the way to Brasil and back, giving didgeridoo concerts and playing on the street along the way.  Trip of a lifetime.  Probably do it again.  If interested, I'll post a link, or just youtube search "Dan Flynn didgeridoo Bogota ".  All the instruments and gear in that video have to go in my van.  So yeah, it was wishful thinking that I might be able to fit all that in a Connect.

You could always pull a small trailer. I think the connect can pull 2000 lbs

 

[Pomegranate]

I did manage to drive my Roadtrek all the way to Brasil and back, giving didgeridoo concerts and playing on the street along the way. Trip of a lifetime. Probably do it again. If interested, I'll post a link, or just youtube search "Dan Flynn didgeridoo Bogota ". All the instruments and gear in that video have to go in my van. So yeah, it was wishful thinking that I might be able to fit all that in a Connect.

Great video - loved your playing! Just wondering what sound you were getting with the mic on your throat - breath or . . . ? Also, just curious how you got around the Darien Gap - cost? Thanks.

 

[DanDweller]

Thanks, I sometimes use the piezo mic while vocalizing. Vocals are a traditional part of didge playing, and can be heard and miced at the bell end, but I really like the added effect of contact micing right on the vocal chords.

As for the Darien Gap, it was just my luck that on the way down (beginning of 2015) a new ferry service ran from Colon, Panama to Cartagena, Colombia, only 18 hours, me, my van, and my cat all on the same cruiseliner for $650. On my second day in Cartagena, I had the thrill of being able to play my show in the Plaza de Artes right in the old walled city.

After a year and half in South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brasil), I was ready to go back but the ferry was no longer running. So I had to ship my van in a container (from Cartagena to Colon) the standard way, to the tune of $2,000. I shared a container with a Mexican family of 8 which had driven their small Toyota van to Brasil for 3 years. Plus there were all the added expenses of a separate flight for my cat and me (Panama bureaucracy is the absolute worst--a total of $500 just to get the cat into Panama. After that, I started sneaking him across borders as contraband. Even when the officials on the Mexican border found out about the hidden cat, they helped me, along with the Guatemalan officials on the side I had just crossed from, to basically forge a certificate of export. I was so tired of the "bureaucat"certificates routine by that point!)

I would do it again except for the Darien Gap problem. Shame the ferry company didn't last more than a season. An online scam quickly followed in their wake, trying to convince people they were real, that they were the same company and to buy tickets online. Watch out! (The original company was Ferry Express.)

 

[DanDweller]

I'm supposed to be writing a book about the adventure, but I guess I'm too lazy. It was truly epic--trip of a lifetime. By the way, for about the same cost, or not much more, as Cartagena-Colon, vehicles can be shipped to ports as far south as Argentina from Mexico or Florida.

 

[DanDweller]

Redrobi, I was thinking about the trailer idea. Also, I wonder about the feasability of simply modifying a rear door to have an extended compartment behind the vehicle for the didges to be able to extend a littlw past the main body. I've also been considering cutting my instruments in half, but that's a big can of worms..

 

[Pomegranate]

Thanks for sharing your story, trip of a lifetime indeed. A book sounds like it would be fascinating - keep it in mind! Thanks for the info on the ferry and the didgeridoo. I've seen people play them a few times, and they are a very strange, interesting instrument. And I thought hauling a cello around was hard!