Our van build

[loper]

And now with added side steps!

I modified a Brophy scissor step and welded some tabs to one of the side bars. Now we can just pin the steps on when we're camping, and fold them up and strap them on the cook box for travel/storage.View attachment 277991View attachment 277992View attachment 277993

 

[loper]

Been busy. Cleaned up the side bars and welded expanded metal in the step areas, painted them with POR 15 and Herculiner (really rough texture, like 36 grit!).

Installed front and rear sway bars from an F350. The back was easy, bolted right to the axle (I used F350 axles), just need to cut and flip the end links. The front was trickier, had to build a stand off mount.

Since I had the bumper off to get inside the front frame rails (to insert the tabbed bolts for the sway bar mount), HH6 "suggested" I clean up the bumper and paint it. So that happened.

And since I had the bumper off, and the horns are right there, and since the horn don't work, might as well fix that. Two new horns and I'm in business.

Put some pins on the roof rack to mount traction boards.

I'll put the bumper back on tomorrow, that will give the paint two days of drying time, setting in the sun out in front of the house.

June 13th I'll be at Alcan getting the new rear springs, and in July she's getting a workout in eastern Idaho!

 

[MSD]

Been busy. Cleaned up the side bars and welded expanded metal in the step areas, painted them with POR 15 and Herculiner (really rough texture, like 36 grit!).

Installed front and rear sway bars from an F350. The back was easy, bolted right to the axle (I used F350 axles), just need to cut and flip the end links. The front was trickier, had to build a stand off mount.

Since I had the bumper off to get inside the front frame rails (to insert the tabbed bolts for the sway bar mount), HH6 "suggested" I clean up the bumper and paint it. So that happened.

And since I had the bumper off, and the horns are right there, and since the horn don't work, might as well fix that. Two new horns and I'm in business.

Put some pins on the roof rack to mount traction boards.

I'll put the bumper back on tomorrow, that will give the paint two days of drying time, setting in the sun out in front of the house.

June 13th I'll be at Alcan getting the new rear springs, and in July she's getting a workout in eastern Idaho!View attachment 279736View attachment 279737

Nice work looks great! What coil spring air bags are those? I could use a little help on the front of my van already did the drop bracket similar to yours for the front sway bar.

 

[loper]

Nice work looks great! What coil spring air bags are those? I could use a little help on the front of my van already did the drop bracket similar to yours for the front sway bar.

Airlift, I forget the number but they're the universal kit, by spring size.

Seriously woke up the front suspension for me.

 

[loper]

Heading for AlCan Springs in Grand Junction tomorrow. I finally have the build close enough to complete that I think the weight is established. Trip ready I'm at 4860 on the back axle, so they built me a set of 5000 pound springs, with 5" of lift (to eliminate the blocks that are in there now). Going to look everything over one last time today before I head out.

I could just blast down there and back, but you know, why? I'm retired. I'm going to make a trip out of this. Taking the camera and a fishing rod. Hopefully I end up using both of them quite a bit!

 

[loper]

Got'em! Alcan springs are the way to go. Rides so much better, feels more solid, and it seems like I have better bite on washboard gravel roads.

The folks at Alcan are great to deal with. They kept me informed about everything involved in this deal and answered any questions I had. If you want good springs that fit your purposes, call Lew. The more information you give him (weight, lift, use, etc.), the better results you get.

I went from stock springs with lift blocks to 5" lift springs built to the weight of the van

.

 

[loper]

And now I have a hole in my hood. Rodlouvers Jeep kit, fits pretty well in the spot over the air filter.

 

[wahoowad]

Love to see any updates on the interior, particularly how you handled attaching to walls/supports, etc.

 

[loper]

Love to see any updates on the interior, particularly how you handled attaching to walls/supports, etc.

Back on the first page of this thread there are some pictures of how I dis the walls, etc. Pretty much just 1x 2s screwed to the metal, wood screwed to that, or 2 x 2 frames with wood screwed to that. The top is 1 x 2s screwed and glued into plywood reinforcement in the top, sheeted with 1/4 plywood, then tongue and groove screwed to that. All the insulation I could get in, everywhere I could.

 

[wahoowad]

Regarding tongue and groove flooring vs. paneling - Did you have to screw down each piece of tongue and groove? Did you go with tongue and groove flooring out of aesthetics or was there some other benefit I should consider for figuring out how to handle my walls/ceiling?

 

[loper]

Regarding tongue and groove flooring vs. paneling - Did you have to screw down each piece of tongue and groove? Did you go with tongue and groove flooring out of aesthetics or was there some other benefit I should consider for figuring out how to handle my walls/ceiling?

Didn't use flooring, it's too thick and heavy. I used some molding we got at Lowe's. It's in some metric dimension, roughly 1/4" thick. Maybe I didn't need to screw each board down, but I did to make sure everything stayed tight.

There's no structural reason we used tongue and groove, I just like the way it looks.

The shape of the van was my biggest struggle. There are no straight lines or square corners except the floor, and it's corrugated.

 

[loper]

Did some more work. Swapped out the two 100ah AGMs for two 230ah lithium batteries, plus a 20 amp plug in charger. Now we have a lot bigger "tank", and three ways to charge Plug in, solar, or alternator/BCDC charger).

I've had some play in the steering since I bought the van. Yesterday I found (and fixed!) it. The u-joint coupler into the steering box just needed a little torque. Much better!

Built some shelves in the rear overhead cabinet. Makes organizing storage back there a lot easier.

And...replaced the plugs, boots, and six coil packs, MAF and throttle position sensors, and one fuel injector connector. Runs great now.

Got a trip planned for the end of the month, and working on a plan for next month.