The Beast (Spaze's E250)

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spazegun2213

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Well I've been lurking here for a while and I guess its time to post the "build" or our E250.

Background:

I'm a car/moto nut. I've owned a little bit of everything from big diesel trucks to corvettes. I also love camping, as I discovered years ago, as its the only way for an IT guy to really unplug was to go to a place where there are no plugs, no cell reception, and no people. I've hiked and backpacked various places and always enjoyed (at least something out of) the trip.

Mrs Spaze and I are a one car house and have been for a few years. So when we camp or head into the great unknown its usually in an SUV rental. They were all fine until our last trip to Death Valley in October. Wild Rose was cold and windy and when we got into the heart of the park we ended up having to make camp in the parking lot as all the tent spots were taken. That night a couple showed up to the communal fire pit with a converted pickup. Drawers, kitchen, bed, heater... they had it all and Mrs Spaze was a little envious. So on the way home when she asked "Why don't we buy a van? We can camp AND take the pups." I told her until now, we never needed/wanted one. Meanwhile my inner car nut was like "SWEET! ANOTHER PROJECT!" That was about the time Mrs Spaze said "we are buying a converted van that is done, you have to many projects." Sadly, she is right, but the search began.

A month later, and many conversations with people, we brought this home.





A 1999 E250 with 153k on her. The PO's did the build out 4 years ago and had a CRAZY amount of receipts for maintenance done. But it was clear she needed some serious love, but she was campable day 1 which means its "not a project."

First on the to do list were a few things:
New headlights, painted bumpers, seat covers, drawer for the center "slot," some rust maintenance, new drivers side ball joints and new wheels/tires (3 different tires came on the thing and the spare was so dry rotted I'd never trust it).

Then come new years we took out first camping trip in it to Mojave National Preserve. We spent a few nights out there and really enjoyed it, and learned more about it. First we learned that the Yeti would only stay charged for the first 5-10min of use... then the battery would die. No problem, we had headlamps and a few lanterns. We also learned that the "insulation" in the doors was laughable, meaning either your head (or feet depending on how you sleep) were going to be MUCH colder. But we really enjoyed ourselves.




Round 2 of maintenance was a set of new Bilstein shocks, a new battery in the Yeti, adjusting the steering box and installing a steering stabilizer.... she was a different animal all together after that. So last weekend we took her to Sedona and loved it! I bought a Mr Buddy heater as well that worked nicely in the van.

So whats next? Everything! Here is the short list
  • Replace Passengers side radius arm
  • install new radius arm bushings
  • install new I-beam bushings
  • install new rear springs and blocks (or add-a leaf and blocks?)
  • install new front lift springs
  • install more weather stripping (was a cargo van with none on it)
  • figure out where to put propane tank
  • source "tow mirrors" and install them
  • build roof rack with small deck
  • fix some wiring
  • install more LED interior lights
This is pretty much as she sits today.....
 

Seabee126

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Im going to love watching all that you do to this van! These van are prolly one of my favorite types of overlanding rigs. I hope that one day after my kids are moved out, my wife and I can do this and travel the country.
 

spazegun2213

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Im going to love watching all that you do to this van! These van are prolly one of my favorite types of overlanding rigs. I hope that one day after my kids are moved out, my wife and I can do this and travel the country.
We settled on a van because of the puppers. He sleeps on his bed right next to the Goal Zero Yeti and as soon as the sun comes up (or before) he pops his head up.

I've seen a few vans with seats for kids, and whole families go out on trips!
 
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spazegun2213

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When we bought the van the PO's showed us they had bolted a truck box near the wheel wells and built a trap door (that is part of the bed) to access it. We thought it was a great idea till we used it. It took crazy amounts of effort to lift the trap door, and then try to open the heavy truck box lid. Only then could you try and use a finicky prop rod and hope nothing came crashing down while getting stuff into/out off the box. So, it was redesign time. It was a ton of space and we wanted to use it. The plan was to install drawers that we could pull out into the "walking" area. The sides of the bed would be trap doors that housed a new/smaller secure box, and the other side would I'd fit a 5lb propane bottle, and a few other things.


Trap door removed:


Box removed:


And we have drawers!



and the box where they go



I made the box in order to actually have a somewhat square place to put the drawers. After more measuring than I've ever done it all came out great! About the only thing I messed up on is one of the bottom drawer slides is about 1/4" higher than the other (in the box) and this happened because it was the end of the day and I just wanted to get it done.

a few more things are needed to wrap this up, and mount the propane... but this is coming together nicely!
 

spazegun2213

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Nice little mod. Lots of room in that beast!
yea, should be a good use of space. Its a little aggravating working around someone elses build. They did say "nothing was level or square" and I'm understanding some of that... but I also look at what they did and SMH. That said, being able to carry propane, have more space AND still have secure storage.... its perfect.

I bought some barrel locks yesterday so this week I need to mount up the drawer faces (which I saved from what was there originally so it should match) mount the latches and work on finishing the propane mount.
 
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spazegun2213

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Took the Beast out this weekend for some "camping" and hiking in the Mecca and Orocopia Wilderness areas. The drawers I built and installed were amazing. We gained back SO MUCH room! I also had a neighbor sew a "sleeve" for our plates so they stopped banging against one another. With those, and everything stuffed in the drawers, the van is MUCH quieter. We also didn't need to stuff all the cubbies full of stuff, and ended up having a ton of spare room.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of the drawer setup yet. I'm still working on the propane mount, and that will allow me to stop carrying my 20lb bottle to refill the little 1lb jobbies. Past that the new LED lights worked well, but I do need to fix a loose connection.

I ended up beaching the van twice in deep sand and needing to use the recovery tracks... which worked extremely well. I was shocked how well they worked given how big the Beast is. That said, after running over them I did have to dig them out of the sand each time, lol. I didn't air down the tires because I didn't want to hassle with airing them back up at a gas station. So I'm looking at an onboard/mobile pump and past that I think the van maybe fully outfitted for our needs.

ok, enough text... to pictures!

 

DharmaBum

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@spazegun2213 awesome build! I’m sure you’ve watched the YouTube channel, but Primal Outdoors lives the vanlife in Ford 350. His method for insulting was interesting. I think he used moving blankets and pine boards?
 

spazegun2213

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@spazegun2213 awesome build! I’m sure you’ve watched the YouTube channel, but Primal Outdoors lives the vanlife in Ford 350. His method for insulting was interesting. I think he used moving blankets and pine boards?
Maybe on his trailer, but he went full #vanlife and got Havlock wool for his van (or at least the initial build).

I'd love to rip out the melamine and put in shiplap boards but... if I get that far into the van, I should sell this one and start from scratch on another. I'd also love to make this a 4x4, but again, I'd start with another van if I went that far. This van was really a test for Mrs Spaze to see if she liked this sort of stuff. I think she is hooked in just packing up and getting out of town.

That said, I'll continue to do small projects and having fun in this van.
 

Built By Fluffy

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....I'd also love to make this a 4x4, but again, I'd start with another van if I went that far....
Do the 4wd conversion, join the dark side!
Seriously though, didn't take us long to start taking our formerly 2wd van into places it had no business being, been stuck more often than not. And a 4x4 van is just fun
 

GLOCKer

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If you're not keen on spending the money on an on-board air system, take a look at the Smittybilt tire inflator.

I use the Honey extension on the Google Chrome browser and kept an eye on the prices and got it for $154 (before taxes). It handles airing up tires pretty quickly!
 

spazegun2213

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Do the 4wd conversion, join the dark side!
Seriously though, didn't take us long to start taking our formerly 2wd van into places it had no business being, been stuck more often than not. And a 4x4 van is just fun
HA! trust me, I *WANT* a 4x4 van.... and this weekend it would have been nice. Even the Mrs mentioned about it....

If you're not keen on spending the money on an on-board air system, take a look at the Smittybilt tire inflator.

I use the Honey extension on the Google Chrome browser and kept an eye on the prices and got it for $154 (before taxes). It handles airing up tires pretty quickly!
Thanks for the recommendation... my big question is do I get one nicer one, or two cheaper ones? I think I could run one off the house battery and the other off the van battery. Going from ~30pis to ~80psi is going to take some serious time which is why I'm thinking about maybe doing the 2x route.
 
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GLOCKer

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HA! trust me, I *WANT* a 4x4 van.... and this weekend it would have been nice. Even the Mrs mentioned about it....



Thanks for the recommendation... my big question is do I get one nicer one, or two cheaper ones? I think I could run one off the house battery and the other off the van battery. Going from ~30pis to ~80psi is going to take some serious time which is why I'm thinking about maybe doing the 2x route.
That's some serious air to move!

I don't know how long it would take to go from 30 to 80 PSI, I've only done 25 to 30 PSI. It wasn't bad at all. I have seen people put together manifold rigs for these where it handles all four tires at the same time. But again, I have no clue how long it would take to fill up.
 

BensonSTW

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With all the room you have I’d look into a real on board air system. A couple of solar panels up top to keep the house battery up to snuff. That’s a sweet set up.
 

spazegun2213

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With all the room you have I’d look into a real on board air system. A couple of solar panels up top to keep the house battery up to snuff. That’s a sweet set up.

I'd love onboard air, a big fresh water tank, and a few other things... maybe on the next one, lol.
 

Caligirlnic

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Took the Beast out this weekend for some "camping" and hiking in the Mecca and Orocopia Wilderness areas. The drawers I built and installed were amazing. We gained back SO MUCH room! I also had a neighbor sew a "sleeve" for our plates so they stopped banging against one another. With those, and everything stuffed in the drawers, the van is MUCH quieter. We also didn't need to stuff all the cubbies full of stuff, and ended up having a ton of spare room.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of the drawer setup yet. I'm still working on the propane mount, and that will allow me to stop carrying my 20lb bottle to refill the little 1lb jobbies. Past that the new LED lights worked well, but I do need to fix a loose connection.

I ended up beaching the van twice in deep sand and needing to use the recovery tracks... which worked extremely well. I was shocked how well they worked given how big the Beast is. That said, after running over them I did have to dig them out of the sand each time, lol. I didn't air down the tires because I didn't want to hassle with airing them back up at a gas station. So I'm looking at an onboard/mobile pump and past that I think the van maybe fully outfitted for our needs.

ok, enough text... to pictures!

What size tires and rims were you able to add? DId you also add a lift?
 

spazegun2213

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What size tires and rims were you able to add? DId you also add a lift?
I'm still running the OE 16x7 wheels (painted black) with some 265/70R16's. They rub a little at 3/4 lock on the right fender well, but its not bad. Right now I'm running stock springs all the way around with a set of nice Bilstein shocks (5100's). The ride is SO much better than the worn out stuff that was on the van when we bought her. I am still waiting on a set of MOOG 880 Springs, which should net a 1.5-2" lift in the front and I'll couple that with either a set of blocks or a helper spring in the rear. From what I've been able to measure I should be able to fit 285's with that lift, but I'm not sure I'm going to even try. The 265's give a TON of ground clearance and I've been able to make it over and into places that were very questionable.
 
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spazegun2213

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Spent a few hours on the van this weekend wrapping stuff up for the next trip this weekend. I spent $20 on some roll bar mounts and went to town making a mount for the recovery boards and shovel. Idea is to get them out of the van, and clear out more space for fire wood, propane, and "stuff." So after 2 hours of cutting and grinding an old bed frame (steel is hard as nails!) and some hardware later... presto!



I'm not 100% happy with it, but it'll work for this trip. The fan can open, and its easy enough for me to get the boards on and off. Every time I do something like this I realize I should just take a few more hours and actually build a rack. Although I did discover the van roof/body tapers a lot in the rear, and that rear ladder rack is probably 4" more narrow than the one in front of it. So this will make the rack a little more interesting.

I also ordered a compressor and tested that out (no pictures of that) so that should help make this next weekend a more comfy being able to air up/down as I see fit.
 
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