Skots 7.3L E350 home built camper van

[skot433]

I introduce you to....
Vanna White...

Here is the van as i got it on May 11th 2012


The van started its life as a medical transport vehicle, complete with raised top and wheel chair lift at the side doors


From the back you can see the van is equipped with 5 seats, 2 sets of which fold up.
(having issues with the pic)

Also the floor has a track anchor system for securing the disabled clients who used this vehicle, the track is bolted down to the body every four inches, should provide limitless anchor points for my interior build....


Day One....

I plan on building a completely custom interior so all the seats had to go.
View attachment 101203


Next to go is the lift... Ten anchor bolts and few wires.. should be pretty simple...
View attachment 101202


30 minutes later...
View attachment 101204


Now that the interior is empty, time for a stiff bristle brush and bleach cleaning...
View attachment 101238

After taking the last seat out and exposing the rear A/C unit and discovering it needed a good cleaning too, out came the wire brush and the shop vac!!



The shop vac and the wire brush are my friends...
MUCH BETTER!!


Now that the interior is nice and clean I need to layout where i want the bed to be.



Day two...
When i was removing the wheel chair lift i noticed the the floor is recessed 6" right behind the front seats...
The space measures 48"x60"x6"

I first had the idea to keep the floor open and locate the kitchen area here, giving me a little more head room, but i decided against it cause I would have had to remove two factory installed supports that bridge the opening....
however I couldnt in good conscience not utilize this space for something... but what...?
In order to have a solid floor and still be able to use the space under it I need to remove the vertical supports that where supporting the weight of the lift and no longer needed, so out comes the grinder and cut off wheels...


There were two supports on the front anchor point and three on the back one....
As you can kinda see here...


After two long hours, lots of frustration and about 10 cut off wheels... I have a nice under floor storage compartment, all it needs is a hinged door on the front and some kind of vibration reducing material on the bottom of it...
I figured out what ill store in there, a nice folding picnic table and my removeable solar panel that I plan to have...



Im a union ironworker by trade so i plan to do most of the build out of light tube steel, so after designing the bed, I make a run to the local metal supply and grab my materials...



Tomorrow I start the bed build....

 

[86scotty]

Lookin' good. Nice idea on the underfloor storage, too.

 

[BajaBus]

Looking forward to seeing your progress! It's sure fun to have a blank canvas to work with.

 

[EricM]

I am looking forward to the build.

 

[skot433]

Day Three....

On with the bed build....


First I had to pull the car and the cycles outta the garage to give me some room to work...

Here is the 'welding shop'

You may notice that I'm not using a wire feed welder...
I like to weld most things with stick, 7018 3/32" rod.
I love the look of stick fillet welds, and i plan to just paint the bed with clear coat so the welds can show through...


The chop saw and material stack.



After some measuring and cutting I've got all the pieces cut..


A little layout and some welding and its all fit up


A few vertical legs....



The short leg sits directly on top of the wheel well, there was already a hole from a seat belt anchor so I welded a nut inside the bottom of the short leg, a button head hex bolt will secure the bed on this corner...


After a little measuring I was able to locate base plates for which to bolt the bed down to the existing track system in the van.



A few close ups showing weld detail...







The aftermath... Time to clean up....


Today Im going to paint the bed, bolt it down and get some masonite and a tempur pedic mattress pad to finish off the bed....
My momma is sewing me some custom fit sheets and bedding, should be roomy and plenty comfortable...


Also on the agenda today is removing an old motorized step that currently resides below the side doors under my floor storage compartment, right now it looks something like this...
(having some issues with the pic....)

Gonna take others as I remove the step... Was thinking I would use the available space for my Edeck, but its too small to fit the batteries... So, I'll think of something else to store in there, every inch of space should be utilized.. Right..?




Oh ya, anyone have any experience with clean water tanks..? I'm thinking about mounting mine under the van between the rear bumper and the fuel tank...

 

[bknudtsen]

Just a fuel tank question...

Ok, so you had to shorten the tank to make clearance for the t-case...
your fuel tank is long and oval, my van doesnt have a tank like that, my tank is behind the rear axle and there is nothing along side the drive shaft and tranny...

My van also has a second fuel filler door, one in front of the rear wheel and one behind, the diesel goes in the rear fuel door, the front one opens but has a piece of plastic blocking it off

im guessing that my van was equipped with a after market fuel tank that is located where i would assume the spare tire goes....

anyone have any info on this...?

View attachment 101537

I believe that many of the wheelchair vans were retrofitted with the behind the axle tank due to the lowered floor in the front passenger area. Many of the Chassis Cab vans also have the fuel tank in this location. Also, looks like your exhaust was extended to run all the way to the other side of the van. I assume that this was so clients wouldn't have to wheel up through a diesel exhaust plum. I would cut it off right after the rear passenger wheel and turn it out to the passenger side. All those pinched bends just create restrictions.

Congrats on the new van! Keep up the good work. Do you have plans for a 4x4 conversion?

Brad

 

[cem17]

I have a ford aft axle tank in a 97 cutaway chassis and it does not look like that. Also, it looks like the crossmember behind the tank is removable, while mine is riveted in. I know transfer flow makes an aft axle tank, maybe that is what you have.

 

[skot433]

Brad,
I had the same thought about the exhaust... And I had the same thought regarding cutting the exhaust... I'll add that to the project list for tomorrow.
As far as a 4x4 conversion goes, Ive considered it but as of now I dont think I need a 4x4 van, as things stand now I dont need a 4x4 to get to any of the spots i go rock climbing, maybe if i had a 4x4 I could go to some more remote less crowded crags.... hmmmmmm....


Cem17,
you are right about the crossmember.. it is removable, good eye...



Yesterday was a fun one... One the agenda was removing the internal parts of the motorized step on the side...

Here goes..

Heres the front of the step...





There appears to be four carriage bolts securing each side.. Only problem is the nuts are on the inside... No way to get to them so... You guessed it,
grinder and cut off wheels....




After cutting as much of the head off as i could I used a regular grinding wheel to remove even more material.
with a little help from a punch and a 16oz ballpeen hammer the bolts punched right out. Two down, 6 more to go...




Got the front cover off and exposed all the mechanical components.



Wow, is this box filthy... My friends wire brush and shop vac are gonna have some fun...


This box is much larger than I first thought, maybe my 6v batteries will fit after all....
Its 10.5"t x27"w x14"d



After some research, the lowest profile batteries i could find measure 10 7/8" booooooo.....
Not sure what I'm going to do... I'll figure something out later...



Today I decided to clean some more, I planned to have the bed done and installed today so I decided to remove all the driver side interior panels, was them and clean as much as possible behind them...




As I took the panels off i noticed there is lots of room behind these panels, the factory installed insulation is inadequate in my opinion, it seemed to me that I could easily double the thickness of insulation...
Off to the hardware store or some thin ply wood for the bed and some insulation for the walls....

After some debating at the hardware store between 6" and 9" thick insulation, I figured if 6" will fit, so will 9"... So 9" it is....
You can see some of the factory insulation (yellow with white backing) Paper thin compared to what I'm putting in.



Heres the side cargo door.




After stuffing all 9" of insulation in it was time to finish the bed.

heres the base plates that will be bolted down to the track system






The old lady just bought me dinner........ Be back....

 

[skot433]

Man I'm stuffed....


After a few quick cuts with the circular saw (yes, I can work with wood too)


Before bolting the bed down i attached some felt strips to the bed everywhere that i touches the interior panels, I dont want any squeaks while driving down the road...


Im really liking the track system, great for anchoring the bed to...


A few pics of the bed installed...





Going to cut the exhaust shorter tomorrow, not sure what else is on the agenda... Gonna put some thought into that now...

 

[bknudtsen]

That bed looks pretty sweet! Since you are handy with the metal fab, may I suggest some drawers below the bed platform? Maybe 8 inches deep so they don't block the heater vents. Would be a nice place for bedding and other sundries. A table that attaches to the floor tracks would be a nice place to eat while sitting on your new bed as well.

As far as 4x4 goes, just spend some time around here, it's not always a matter of what you need... you'll see. :coffeedrink:

p.s. What made you change your mind about the location of the bed? Just noticed the taped outline in an earlier photo, and the final location.

 

[skot433]

That bed looks pretty sweet! Since you are handy with the metal fab, may I suggest some drawers below the bed platform? Maybe 8 inches deep so they don't block the heater vents.


p.s. What made you change your mind about the location of the bed? Just noticed the taped outline in an earlier photo, and the final location.

I was thinking about adding drawers, Blocking the heater vents isnt an issue, they are just for looks, I noticed when taking the panels off that the vents arent used any more due to the rear climate control unit, which has its own air ducts the two vents just above the bed rail and also several vents located in the raised top.

I decided to mount the bed in its current location for a few reasons:

~I plan to have a small bar sink, (and later on a stove) to simplifly the plumbing for the sink i decided to locate the sink in the back of the van due to there already being a nice hole in the floor that the ac and heating lines run through for the rear ac unit
~I'm also designing a removeable top bunk, for my son or brother to sleep on when I happen to have one of them along for the trip. moving the bed forward located the top bunk forward of the driver side rear pillar which houses the ac and heating vents and inconvinently sticks out about 3" at the top window line.


as far as the 4x4 goes... the more I see the builds done on here........ The more I want one.... They are awesome. Truly amazing machines.

 

[scoutkid]

Way smart using the existing tracking!

 

[skot433]

Way smart using the existing tracking!

Thanks man, I try and do things intelegently. Or as we say in my trade 'do it work ways'

I gotta tell ya, I knew I wanted a van before I came across your thread, after seeing your build I knew I couldn't live with out one...!

I've been spending my days working on my rig and spending nights figuring out what I'll be working on tomorrow.
I spent several hours today on wiring and electrical. I got a few pics to post in little while, maybe you can help me identify a few relays and wiring...

 

[skot433]

Anyone know what this relay is for..?




or this one...?
(pics are rotated 90 left for some reason)

 

[bknudtsen]

IF they are aftermarket, then it's anyone's guess. I would start with the obvious. The top one looks to have power from the battery? My guess would be the lift or the aftermarket A/C. I would play around with the different accessories with the ignition over on run and listen for the relays to switch when a button is pushed or switch thrown.