All things Sprinter (Mercedes, Dodge, Freightliner)

That's a big concern- especially for camper vans. Ventilation is key, and several people sleeping inside, or cooking, esp. with LPG gives off lots of water vapor. I did use the reflective bubble foil directly against the wall, hoping for a type of vapor barrier, but I could the benefit of a home-style vapor barrier on the interior wall. I did read somewhere that sportsmobile uses denim insulation.

So are you saying the interior of a Sprinter is rust prone as well?

The inside paint is the same as the outside. If you have condensation that gets trapped against the wall keeping it permanently wet then yes, you will get rust. Possibly even worse than the outside if it is always wet.

Sorry. Forgot to add the /sarcasm <sarcasm> tag.

Tru dat.

I figure its as lousy of a primer on the inside, as it is on the outside.</sarcasm>

I know nothing about insulation, and I don't have a Sprinter. But I do have a professionally insulated Mark III van- at least I hope it is professionally insulated. I'm curious to get a DB read in this one and in my cargo van. Anyway, until I tear the van apart to change carpeting and check for rust, I've noticed that there is a bit of an air gap between the metal floor and the walking surface- don't know if it's for breathability or just so happened.

torque converter bolts loosened up....converters have been re designed a few times so far. we build them and update them as well. (clutch dragging when coming to a stop...) to try and help you ff"s out...when changing tail/brake lights in the rear....buy only mercedes brand bulbs. we had one with a tranny "nuetraling out". tore it down and found no real cause. rebuilt &worked fine. a few days later it came back, same problem. light bulbs had a different rating than the factory and the computer was attempting to failsafe the van. so how many people have paid for a tranny when they only needed a five dollar bulb? and for noisey injectors and pumps. put a half ounce of two stroke oil in for every gallon of fuel pumped. less is more on this. and olny do it every three or four tanks. oil first, then diesel. they sound like a sewing machine. less is more! dont overdo it and plug your injectors.

You could coat the inside of the van with a two part epoxy marine paint...It will keep the van from rusting if properly applied...

Mmm. With all due respect, those bolts were tight. They were also real #$@$es to get at. Of course, with 272k miles, its entirely possible they might have loosened up a bit too. The only thing worse than getting them out was putting them back in!

I do believe you on the lightbulbs- there's been all manner of reports of them causing all sorts of computer craziness.

Yes, the interior is very susceptible. I'd say it's got thinner layer of protection than the outside does.

In the process of doing mine, I had multiple holes drilled in places. I actually used a lot of existing holes, sometimes only needing to widen them a hair in order to use the rivnuts. I wanted to be able to unbolt ceiling and wall panels for access. Some, but not all of the holes showed rust around them.

In addition, when you do any drilling, it's very, very important to get any of the shavings. This is often hard when drilling in the raised areas, as they can fall down behind things. Anyway, those will get rust started on whatever they are on.

That's actually what I did for mine. Wasn't easy to find, but I thought it was the best option. It's natural, as I didn't want to be in the cabin for long periods with insulation that outgasses, or was toxic to breath, like fiberglass. It had great sound deadening properties, moisture wasn't an issue, and was removable when I needed access. Easy to run wires where needed.

This is true. I know when out west when the van was still bare, the AC was pretty much always on during the day. The cargo van only has the one AC unit up front, and the back would still be quite warm. Enough so that you wouldn't want to spend time back there. The insulation at least made it bearable, and I didn't have to have it cranked to max all the time.

I think the AC on the Sprinter might have cost 1mpg vs not having it on though.

(quote above was refering to denim insulation)

I found denim insulation on the Home Depot web site, but appears they only carry it online:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...053&MERCH=REC-_-search-2-_-NA-_-202709974-_-N

$6.00 for a 16" x 48" roll. My (very) rough calculations say I could do the van for around $100 which isn't too bad but does anybody have other sources for this? This is what I plan on insulating my sprinter with as well.

Call around lumberyards and insulation contractors. It's a somewhat common house insulation these days- I just used a couple hundred square feet of it in my current project for sound insulation.

Menards (at least mine) now carries it in 3.5"x15x8?" batt packs, about $50. Not cheap.
However, 3" is too thick for the ceiling. Perfect for the walls.
You do NOT want to try to slit a batt in half (1.75") the stuff is VERY tough to cut. With patience, I did get one bat slit. But that was the only one.

I've got some of the home depot stuff ordered to finish the back of my van. supposed to arrive Friday. We'll see how it goes.

I looked on the company website, and found a distributor that was within driving distance for me. I was buying quite a bit for my 3500, and it made sense to get the size I wanted. I did all the walls, and roof, and it was close to $150.

The stuff IS tough to cut. Best thing I found was to use a large kitchen knife that I didn't care much about, and saw it while compressed. You will have to sharpen the knife a lot.

I didn't find the 3" for the ceiling to be a problem. The depth of the structural stuff on the roof was the same as the walls in mine. I had large ceiling panels I had made that bolted to the supports, and the insulation on top of that. Worked perfect like it did on the van walls. Only tricky part for me, was doing the curves between the walls and the roof. I had to get creative there.

A handy sprinter tip.

Its time for spring cleaning. When's the last tip you saw the top of your sprinter? If you're 5'8" like me, you spend a lot more time cleaning the inside lip of your fender wells.

So, go out and beg, borrow, steal or purchase a 8' step ladder, and take a look at the Sprinter lid. Chances are, its as black and dirty as the bottom of the van.

This is also a great time to look for any growing rust spots. If your van was previously used as an awning height test vehicle, there may be some spots that need some rust touch up.

Also, the white 'paint' used by MB was flaking off around the drip rails on mine, so a bit of touch up was needed there. Rust can start there too.

If you've got vents or other holes up there, it may be time to check the caulk and sealing as well.

I did my sprinter headliner with the denim insulation. It's manufactured in the town I work in but they don't sell it directly. They told me to order it from Home Depot because they offered free shipping and it was drop shipped from the manufacturer. The only thing I didn't know is that the stuff you buy from Home Depot is single foil sided as opposed to the same product you buy from a hot rod shop that is double sided.

So what I did is spray adhesive two layers together - denim to denim - and then install in the ceiling with spray adhesive. It wasn't too hard to cut with shears. Then just to get everything level in the middle I did a sheet of foam insulation (not shown installed in this pic).

More progress soon to be posted here.

Rhett-

That's the same thing I did! But you used two layers? Mine was 2" thick and was perfect with one layer.

My insulation was shipped all the from Phoenix to Ohio. Lot a good all that eco greenie happy-feelgood labeling on the recycled denim did.

Less whining from my UPS guy tho. The box was big, but it wasn't a heavy one.

I'd post pics, but I don't have a model to throw in there. Nobody would want to see me.

His insulation is obviously a really thin denim. Mine was inches thick as well. It was almost perfectly flush with the support spars in the van, which worked will since I was attaching walls to them anyway. I'd prefer not to have the dead space when it could be use for insulation.

I ordered this roll. It's 75' of about 1/2" thick insulation bonded to a foil backing. The roll was the size of a small water heater and weighed a lot. My UPS guy drug it halfway around my house though the gravel to try and hide it next to my RV gate. It was a PITA to get back into the garage - had to bear hug the box.

Glued denim to denim I got about a 1" thick mat with foil on both sides then I foil taped the edges that set against the roof bows. I think I only used half the roll for the ceiling and will use the rest of it on the walls and maybe under the floor in front.

I used the double sided product in my FJ40 under the front floor mats, front seats and over the hump and it really decreased the heat as well as the noise in the cabin.

Oh, I bought their 'water heater insulation kit'

It worked out perfectly- 48" wide, so I had to cut down the middle to size, but the length was perfect - about 75" - for a SHC Sprinter. And 2" think. I used aluminum duct insulation tape to tape everything to the ribs- but I first used spray glue on the batt and the ceiling, to stick it up. Then, 1/4" Luan plywood as ceiling. The unfaced R13 3" thick batts were too thick for the ceiling, but perfect for the sidewalls.

The stuff does make a fair amount of dust, but no itchy-scratchy like fiberglass.

I recommend the denim.

Very quiet, much better than rigid pink squeaky foam

I saw that product when I ordered the roll but they didn't give a spec for thickness - yeah, 2" would have been perfect since I made up that other inch with the styrofoam. I'll find a picture of that when I get home.

I used what they call 5mm ply at Lowe's (bought it cause it's metric :) ) and covered it with carpet - the edges were a bit trickier. This is how it turned out. Still gotta do something about the holes next to the front headliner....