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Hi Omega99

Myself and bf have just taken delivery of a swb 2.0 fiat ducato highroof,about 3wks ago,to do a selfbuild into a camper. Its the best thing we ever done its a fantastic van.We have had no problems with 5th gear,infact the gear changing is so smooth,and diesel consumption is excellent at around 40miles to the gallon.So far we have installed the windows.skylight/insulation/elecs/wall/roof boards without any problems at all.Last weekend we went to morcambe for the day,we have just finished the above work after working on it 10days straight.We parked up just relaxing near the sea when a very large posh motorhome parked next to us.We had our sidedoor open,and the driver of the motorhome came over to us and asked if he could see what we had done,which he did and was so impressed he phoned his mate to tell him and he also arrived to take a good look.We were very flattered that our small van  got so noticed since we have never done a selfbuild before.

I say to you Omega99 go for it,cant rate fiat highly enough

Good Luck

Can't believe it, if I had posted it under caravans or general (similar item) then I would get loads of advice, does that mean camper van owners can't communicate come on help ...... 

Hi Omega,

I asked the same 5th gear question a while ago after purchasing Henry the Hymer (on a Fiat Ducato base vehicle).

The answer I got back was that the fifth gear cog can become starved of oil due to a design fault. Apparently it only happens to the newer ones (not what you really want to hear) but the solution was to add an extra 500ml of oil to the gearbox to ensure that 5th does get sufficient oil.

I would also recommend using an oil additive such as Extralube ZX1 or Slick 50 just to be on the safe side.

As for the actual conversion, there are books available which will help with the various technical aspects, or alternatively you could get someone else to carry out the conversion - I can recommend Ashley Calverley of Riverside Commercials - if you've not seen it already then take a look at my gallery, there's a picture of his own personal campervan, a self-build conversion of an Iveco Cargo 7.5 ton.

All the best

Phil