After reading plenty of reviews about specific fans I decided to go with the Maxxair Dexlue 5100K, from what I’ve been able to gather there only difference between it and the higher Maxxair modesl is that it is manual and comes in white instead of smoke.

After measuring the middle point, from where I would measure 7” to each side and cut the roof hole, I marked it and made a hole in the ceilng using a drill.

I then when on to the roof and measured 7” from each side of the middle point and drew a 14” x 14” square to cut out. I covered the square outline with some painters tape and drilled a hole in each corner of the square for the jigsaw.

I got the jigsaw and started cutting. Since this was the first time I’ve ever cut metal with a jigsaw there were a few casualties along the way (broken blades) until I got the hang of it.

But after a while the hole was cut. Looking back I probably should’ve used the plastic flange cover that came with than to mark the outline since I overshot the side of the square by a bit but nothing that some sealant couldn’t fix. I also could’ve laid down some cardboard around the outline to catch the metal shards the came flying out since some of them hit the roof and removed the paint, I had to apply some anti-rust paint to parts of the roof.

I touched up the edges of the hole with some anti-rust paint just to be on the safe side.

After that came time to attach the flange to the roof, I removed the painters tape, applied some (read plenty of) Dicor Butyl Tape to the bottom of the flange, placed it on the roof and applied to pressure. Since the flange was sitting between the roof ridges (I looked online for a roof adapater but couldn’t find one for the Nissan NV) after placing the flange on the roof I added more butyl tape in between the flange and the ridges to help with the sealing.

Then came time for the sealant, I read about other conversions using Dicor or Sikaflex sealant but I couldn’t find any locally so I used a different self-leveling sealant from my local Home Depot (it’s been through a few thunderstorms and the sealant is holding strong).

Finally came time to place the fan, I lifted the mounting clips a bit before placing it in and after mounting it put in the side screws and sealed up the space between the fan and the flange.

Until I’m finished with setting up the solar and batteries I’ve been running the fan with an external SLA battery that I’ve been charging outside of the van. So far so good.

I’ve been taking a little bit more time to research what I need to install the roof fan just to make sure I have everything ready before cutting a hole in the roof of the van so in the meantime I decided to replace the remaining 7 spark plugs in the van after replacing #3 which caused a cylinder misfire earlier.

I got 7 NGK DILFR5A11 Laser Iridium spark plugs from RockAuto.com for about $98. After replacing the old ones it seemed that #3 was certainly in the worst shape but the other ones had some discoloration and #1 had a bit of ash deposits.

I went up on the roof up and took some measurements in preparation for installing the roof van. I’m planning on ordering the Maxxair Deluxe 5100K, I’ve heard good things about it seems that the only difference between that and the higher end Maxxiar fans is manual controls vs remote which is not something I would spend extra money on having.

Regarding the mechanical issues I had before (cylinder misfire) I went ahead and ordered the remaining 7 spark plugs, they should be arriving shortly and I’ll change them as a preventative measure that will hopefully fix any pending misfires.

I took a break from the prep phase to take care of the cylinder misfire that popped up, previously when I connected my OBDII reader to check the codes it was showing code P0303 for a misfire on cylinder #3 but then code P0300 also popped up.

So after getting a new spark plug (NGK Laser Iridium DILFR5A11, the one recommended in the service manual) I disconnected the ignition coil connector, unbolted it and took out the ignition coil. I tested it with a multimeter to make sure there was proper resistance to try and rule out the coil as the culprit.

After that I used a ratchet with a wobble extension and 16mm socket and I tried to take out the spark plug but it wouldn’t budge so I sprayed some WD-40 in the cylinder head and let it soak for a little while before trying again but it still wouldn’t budge so I added some PB Blaster into the mix and let that soak a little while as well. After a short wait preiod I tried loosing the plug again and after a few tries (and a little force) it got unscrewed. I took it out and it certainly seemed a little worn out.

I popped in the new spark plug, tigthened it, returned the ignition coil, bolt and wire connecter and cleared the codes to see if they come back on again. So far it’s been running fine and no warning lights.

After removing the bulkhead (which cleared up a lot of space) the next step in the prep phase was to remove the floor to get the van ready for cleaning but I had to deal with a couple of mechanical issues first.

The rear right tire had a slow leak which caused the van to lean to the right and the TPMS light to come on, I read about Discount Tire offering a free patch service so I drove over and after an hour or so I got the van back with the tire patched and the TPMS light off.

The next issue I had to deal with was a cylinder #3 misfire (error code P0303 from a OBDII reader) and a warning light coming on, I spoke to someone who told me that there is most likely gunk in the fuel tank which is causing the misfire since the van was moslty likely sitting at the dealership for a while and he recommended I try some STP Fuel System Cleaner to fix it. After putting it in a reseting the codes (using the OBDII reader) the warning light stayed off. Update: after a few days the warning light came back on so I’m going to try something else.

I have another issue to take care of (right side mirror shaking) but I’ll leave that for later so I can continue with the prep work. Over the weekend I returned to my local Makerspace and worked on removing the cargo floor cover. For that I had to remove the front seats in order to be able to pull out the floor cover.

The floor cover was pretty dirty underneath and also a little wet, I’m assuming it holds moisture so it’s probably not something that I’ll use in the van build.

The entire process didn’t take that long and went over without any issues.

The next step in the prep work is to take off the cab floor which will require removing the seats and the center console but from what I’ve seen so far it shouldn’t be an issue.