First mods

The smallest mods first: vent visors.

Ford calls them “side window deflectors.” Everyone else calls them vent visors or rain guards. They’re plastic channels that stick above the front windows so you can crack them open in the rain without getting soaked.

Mine are AVS brand, ordered from Amazon, installed in the driveway with a tape measure and 20 minutes. No drilling. Adhesive tape rated for automotive use, which means it’ll stay on until I decide otherwise.

Why start here

Because these were easy, reversible, and solved a real problem. I camp in the van before it’s finished. Colorado weather changes fast. Cracking a window without rain gear makes sense.

Also because starting small builds momentum. Vent visors → stubby antenna to clear the garage → measuring wheel arches for future mods I haven’t planned yet. One step, then the next.

The measuring phase

Every build video shows the finished product. Not enough show the part where you spend two hours measuring the same distance three different ways because the van isn’t square and the floor isn’t level and your tape measure keeps slipping.

I measured the cargo area five times. Wheel well to wheel well. Floor to ceiling. Door opening width. All of it, written in a notebook I’ll lose and have to measure again.

Next: what’s under the van matters for what goes in it.