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Original Sussex Installations video

VLOG 2 - What tools are needed for professionally fitting van security, new van on fleet prep!

Apr 16, 2022 · 4,187 recorded views

Video ID: pb0xbVEbdJUBusiness, manufacturing and recognitionApr 16, 2022 · 4,187 recorded views

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Jeff Scott’s retrospective context — 2026

The tools shown in this video were the result of years of refining how a professional mobile deadlock installer should work. The compressor was not only there to power air tools. It was an essential part of cleaning metal swarf from the doors and bodywork so that a security installation did not create corrosion problems later.

My earlier setups had included a petrol compressor because mobile installers could not assume that mains electricity would be available. Over time, the vans, measuring equipment, cutting tools, templates, lighting, power supply and stock organisation became increasingly purpose designed around van-security installation.

The important point is that professional fitting is not defined by owning one drill or one lock jig. It is the complete process, including preparation, accurate measurement, protecting internal cables and mechanisms, removing debris and treating every cut edge. It's important that both the business and installers who fits your van deadlocks is a specialist that have petrol compressors in their mobile workshops, if you are having the work carried out mobile or a compressors at their premises if you are taking your van to their premises to have the work carried out. It's important that the installer carrying out the work is experienced with using saws and drills to fit deadlocks and is one with a good workmanship ethos who will carry out a thorough clean down and rust prevention process.

The important point is that professional fitting is not defined by owning one drill or one lock jig.

Original description

This is another of our behind the scenes VLOG type episodes; showing a bit of the preparation and equipment involved in mobile van security installation or deadlocks and door shielding as we take a 2016 Renault Trafic van off of our fleet and prepare a brand new Vauxhall Vivaro Elite to go onto our fleet. Find out more on our website at https://www.sussexinstallations.co.uk

Historical context: This video records the advice, products and attack methods relevant when it was published. Current recommendations may have changed as vehicles, products and criminal methods evolved.

Common questions

Why did you need a compressor for van security fitting, not just power tools?

The compressor wasn't just there to power air tools, it was an essential part of properly cleaning metal swarf out of doors and bodywork so a security installation didn't create corrosion problems later. My earlier setups even used a petrol compressor, because as a mobile installer I couldn't always assume mains electricity would be available on site.

Who are the best deadlock fitters to fit locks to my van?

The best business to fit deadlocks to your van is a van lock fitting specialist that have petrol compressors in their mobile workshops, mains voltage electric compressors at their premises, installers who are experienced with using saws and drills to fit deadlocks and those who carry out a thorough clean down and rust prevention process.

Is professional van security fitting really just about having the right drill or lock jig?

No, it's the complete process, not any single tool. That means proper preparation, accurate measurement, safe access to the door, protecting the internal cables and mechanisms, removing every bit of debris, and treating each cut edge, all built around a fleet, tools and stock organisation that's purpose designed for van security work.

Transcript

Show transcript
0:01 -hi i'm jeff from sussex installations
0:02 -just showing you a little bit of what
0:04 -we're doing we've got a new van going on
0:06 -fleet at the moment we've got a new
0:07 -Vauxhall vivaro which we're swapping out
0:09 -one of our renault Trafic vans for the
0:11 -Vauxhall vivaro so we're busy kitting that
0:13 -out
0:16 -is charlotte busy at work what's going
0:18 -on charlotte i'm busy sorting out the
0:20 -orders
0:22 -hi
0:23 -and you're missing you're missing drew
0:25 -he's not gonna be here is he just
0:26 -dropped into the station yeah that means
0:28 -i've got to do all the orders now yeah
0:30 -we've on top of all the rest of your
0:32 -work it's danny look you just brought me
0:34 -a cup of tea thank you danny enjoy
0:36 -don't forget to smile your mum might be
0:38 -watching your mum might be watching this
0:40 -video and she's going to want to see you
0:42 -happy at work so here we are right in
0:45 -the in the thick of it at the moment
0:47 -we've got them we've got matt on the job
0:49 -how's it going matt i'm living the dream
0:54 -you're a bright spark you are about
1:00 -come along you've been doing a fine job
1:01 -in here danny haven't you
1:03 -a fine job all this hard work
1:06 -show us show us what you've been doing
1:09 -everything these sides here
1:17 -look at it nice light nice shelf
1:20 -oh
1:23 -hey
1:25 -you're a real handyman danny aren't you
1:26 -all the jobs that we've done together eh
1:29 -so many
1:31 -where does god hate me
1:36 -torment
1:38 -me so we stripped out the other van
1:42 -they say we stripped out the other van
1:44 -danny stripped out the other van last
1:46 -week our Trafic which has just come off
1:48 -a fleet it's the euro five the um
1:51 -the the tonys Trafic van was so um
1:54 -going into central london's bit of a
1:56 -pain with the emissions and having to
1:58 -pay an emission charge so i guess um it
2:00 -was time for that van to go um and also
2:03 -that we got three renault Trafic
2:05 -they're all the same same sort of shape
2:06 -this shape that was running from like
2:08 -2014 and it's still current on the
2:10 -renault although vox will change their
2:12 -their shape now and it's a bit of a bit
2:14 -of a like i like a matching fleet of
2:16 -vans it looks nice having the vans all
2:18 -the same color all the same van all the
2:21 -same sign writing on the vans but then
2:23 -when you come to like development
2:25 -purposes you know once we're we're
2:26 -testing new products that we're
2:28 -designing and making for to fit in this
2:30 -van it's a bit limited having the same
2:32 -model van of our own and not having
2:34 -different vans going around on the fleet
2:36 -like i'd have spared doors for different
2:38 -vans but yeah we should mix the fleet up
2:40 -a bit as much as i like um things to be
2:42 -consistent and everything to be nice and
2:44 -the same and matching um yeah we should
2:47 -have a full custom on the fleet we
2:48 -should ever like Vauxhall vivaro like the
2:50 -new shape like the um citroen dispatch
2:54 -um peugeot expert toyota pro ace type of
2:57 -one and we should mix it up a bit with
2:59 -the with the van so here we go
3:02 -here's matt's van looking a bit dirty in
3:04 -need of a wash by the looks of things
3:09 -my van i got a veto
3:12 -i could do with a new van mine's the
3:13 -oldest one but then i didn't really
3:15 -leave the workshop so might as well
3:17 -money being better spent on the guys
3:19 -having nice new vans going out and doing
3:21 -the jobs
3:26 -so here's
3:28 -tony's van
3:29 -stripped out just needs all the
3:31 -signwriting taken off of it
3:33 -and it's all gutted but it's been a
3:34 -great van it's been on the fleet this
3:36 -done a good turn this did um
3:38 -this was matt's van when
3:40 -when we first bought it in 2016
3:42 -and then
3:44 -danny did you ever have this van no no
3:46 -danny never had this van tony's had this
3:48 -van since matt had the
3:51 -68 plate one
3:52 -and then danny got himself a real nice
3:55 -run of Trafic 2017 won
4:01 -i got it on a pre-reg i think well no
4:03 -actually that was registered new to us
4:05 -that one it wasn't a pre-reg show us
4:07 -your van danny let's have a look inside
4:10 -is it messy like if there's anyone got a
4:12 -chance of having a tidy van it's
4:14 -probably danny but i guess we're working
4:16 -here guys had been in the unit here for
4:18 -the last week helping me out so
4:20 -yeah we've got we've got
4:22 -it's organized we know it knows where
4:24 -everything is all the different bits for
4:26 -doing the job let's have a look in the
4:28 -side
4:29 -check out you
4:32 -check out your tools in here
4:37 -so yeah all the stuff for doing van
4:39 -security deadlock shielding and things
4:42 -nice petrol compressor
4:53 -there she
4:54 -goes into life
4:59 -all the
5:00 -airline and air tools to get
5:02 -get the job done
5:09 -that's that's the same in all the vans
5:10 -because
5:11 -i mean i see um i see people going out
5:13 -fitting deadlocks and
5:15 -although i guess they've been
5:17 -filling vehicle tracking or
5:19 -um
5:20 -parking sensors or whatever that's dried
5:22 -up and they're sort of jumping on like
5:23 -the van security bandwagon um but they
5:26 -might not be like really fully invested
5:29 -in it they just got like little bag of
5:30 -tools in the boot of the car kind of
5:32 -thing you know angle battery angle
5:34 -grinder battery drill and um i wouldn't
5:37 -be doing it i wouldn't be fit in
5:38 -deadlocks if i didn't have uh like a
5:41 -compressor to blow down the
5:43 -the filings and the swarf and the debris
5:45 -after i'd done the job give like van a
5:46 -proper clean down and i wouldn't be
5:48 -having any of my guys going out on the
5:51 -road representing my business if they
5:53 -didn't have the proper tools to do the
5:54 -job so
5:55 -each one of our service vans we have
5:57 -three of them
5:58 -they've got a nice
6:00 -size petrol compressor 150 liter tank
6:03 -nice powerful engine on them
6:05 -they're equipped with all the
6:07 -air tools air source although they've
6:09 -got some battery battery stuff now
6:11 -as well but you just
6:13 -it's all well and good like you could
6:15 -have a battery rivet gun which is quite
6:16 -useful and danny's very proud and both
6:19 -very proud of their their battery rivet
6:21 -guns which are quite good you don't have
6:22 -the
6:23 -the lead going around for them
6:26 -but um
6:28 -yeah you can't you can't sort of
6:30 -substitute having like the blow down you
6:32 -know having the air compressed there for
6:34 -blowing down the all the body work once
6:36 -you've finished doing the job
6:37 -and
6:38 -the reciprocating saws are good as well
6:40 -so i think like angle grinders it's a
6:43 -it's generating a lot of heat when
6:45 -you're using them and there's a lot of
6:46 -hot sparks flying and they tend to like
6:48 -fly you know they can fly meters away
6:50 -from where you're doing the job and that
6:52 -could be spraying debris like you know
6:54 -all over the place really so i think
6:57 -definitely needing the air tools
7:00 -when doing that when doing the deadlock
7:01 -fitting in the vans
7:04 -so this is coming along
7:06 -different model van new shape like Vauxhall
7:09 -vivaro citroen dispatch peugeot expert
7:12 -style van and that's that's euro six so
7:16 -if we're going into london it's gonna be
7:17 -a lot better we're not gonna have to pay
7:19 -that um that emissions charge like we
7:21 -are on the oldest one of the vans and
7:23 -now all our vans are euro euro six
7:26 -and they say also it will be useful for
7:28 -us as we move forward with product
7:30 -development that we do have um some
7:33 -different vans on the fleet so
7:35 -that's part of it we're pretty much
7:37 -there we're wiring up the
7:39 -leisure battery so
7:41 -you need to have like power inverter so
7:43 -we've got 240 volt for charging like the
7:46 -the batteries of the drills um we need
7:49 -to have power for the leisure battery so
7:51 -we can run the so we can run the
7:53 -inverter from the leisure battery
7:56 -and the inverter will sit up
7:58 -probably on the top of the tool box
7:59 -there once we've once we finish
8:02 -oh there already is it got the air line
8:04 -there retractable hose like a 15 meter
8:07 -retractable hose so we do need to park
8:09 -the van kind of close to the vans that
8:11 -we're working on but there is a you know
8:13 -a reasonable range i think i'm going to
8:15 -make sure all the guys have all got an
8:16 -extra 10 meter hose in the van so they
8:19 -just got 25 meters from
8:21 -from where they're working to to where
8:23 -they're doing the doing the job
8:26 -advice but to put some effort we put
8:28 -some effort in here
8:29 -making this
8:31 -um
8:31 -this vice holder here yesterday
8:34 -this is actually one of my
8:36 -designs that i've done i cut this metal
8:38 -on the laser and i bent it in the press
8:42 -and riveted it all up there i drew it on
8:43 -the in the cad software
8:46 -and this base for the compressor because
8:49 -with the compressor the way it fits here
8:51 -like the the mounting points are quite
8:53 -close to the center and underneath the
8:55 -van we've got all the fuel tank and the
8:56 -exhaust pipe and all that system so
8:59 -we've
9:00 -fitted this mounting plate this is five
9:02 -mil mild steel and i did draw that in
9:05 -the cad software and i cut that on the
9:06 -laser
9:07 -and it's a big
9:09 -bit of plate but then i've chopped out
9:11 -some of the sections in the middle um
9:13 -during the drawing on the laser so it's
9:16 -as lightweight as what it can be but
9:18 -it's nice and nice and strong and that's
9:20 -allowing us to bolt the compressor to
9:21 -that plate
9:22 -and then it's allowing us to bolt the
9:25 -bolt holes here
9:28 -nearer the edge of the van where we've
9:29 -got like you can get the nuts and the
9:31 -bolts underneath drill the whole
9:32 -shredder through here because there's no
9:34 -point in drilling holes through the
9:35 -middle of the the floor
9:37 -if you can't put nuts on the other end
9:38 -of it without like removing the fuel
9:40 -tank and going to lots of effort to to
9:42 -do that so that's that's a nice uh
9:45 -yeah nice bit of kit really really
9:46 -pleased with that
9:49 -we've got a bit of extra lighting it's
9:51 -quite important extra lights interior
9:53 -lights
9:54 -see what you're doing more getting your
9:55 -tools out your toolbox and
9:56 -all that kind of stuff and obviously
9:58 -tracker and
9:59 -extra upgraded security
10:01 -security locks
10:03 -security
10:04 -shield in
10:06 -on the doors and all the extra bits that
10:08 -we would be doing with it
10:11 -yeah coming coming along it's going to
10:13 -get there soon next week it'll be
10:14 -finished and be able to go out on the
10:16 -road and get some jobs done and get out
10:18 -there and help you guys secure your vans
10:20 -up
10:36 -and there we go
10:37 -we're good to go go for it tony
10:40 -don't crash
11:06 -thanks for watching the video i hope you
11:07 -found that interesting if you're looking
11:09 -for security for your van go to the
11:10 -website it's www.sussexinstations
11:14 -don't forget to subscribe to this
11:16 -youtube channel like the video if you
11:18 -can appreciate all the likes and uh yeah
11:20 -get in touch if we can help you out then
11:21 -we will thanks for watching
11:34 -[Music]
11:40 -you

Transcript source: the YouTube transcript supplied for this project with minor corrections. Automated transcripts can contain recognition errors and should be checked against the original video.

Page details

Author
Jeff Scott
Publisher
Sussex Installation Team Ltd
Updated
2026-08-27
Primary focus
Business, manufacturing and recognition
Jeff Scott, founder of Sussex Installation Team Ltd
About the author

Jeff Scott — Van Security Specialist and Industry Educator

Jeff Scott is the founder of Sussex Installation Team Ltd (Sussex Installations). He has fitted vehicle-security systems since 1997, started Sussex Installations in 2003 and has specialised in van security since 2008. His work combines installation, vulnerability research, product design, UK manufacturing and long-term public education.

In 2009, Jeff published the first known YouTube video explaining mechanical key-operated van deadlocks. He has continued documenting van-security products, installation standards, vehicle vulnerabilities and changing attack methods ever since – earning his description as "The OG Van Security YouTuber."

Jeff has supported thousands of professional vehicle aftermarket technicians across the UK and beyond with access to technical information, while actively promoting higher quality installation standards through his trade community ifitstuff.com since 2006.