Behind The Times

I haven't been keeping this up at all, but this will change soon.  Took the great white to the Red River Gorge this past weekend.  It was our longest trip to date.  It's coming along nicely, and I plan on posting more pictures soon!

Part 2

Back in it, did some work tonight but I haven't caught this up to where I am yet, so continuing... I talked about a siren. I don't know where it came from other than my Grandma's basement. It's old and loud, so naturally I had to have it. I don't have an A/C compressor, and the siren fit perfectly in it's place (Aerostar's have very little extra room under the hood). Here is a picture-

 

I have it wired through the aux. fuse box then to a button intended for a starter.  I used it because it doesn't  lock down, so the siren wails until I let off.  

Moving on to the meat of the project.  My van came with a bulk head installed to keep mail safe while the mail man was out delivering.  There is a sliding door between the front and back, and  it also has cages on all the windows.  Although it looks a little creepy I decided to leave it all in place.  Down in the Red River Gorge, and even on side streets in small towns it isn't uncommon to have a window smashed and things stolen from a vehicle.  My cages pretty much turn the whole back end into a lock box, and between snowboarding, climbing, biking, and everything else I do I like the idea of my gear being able to be locked up in the back.  (also it will be perfect when the zombies come)

The walls were covered with particle board, and had light insulation behind it.  I tore all that out because I wanted a sturdier foundation for the camper interior.  I replaced the particle board with 7/16ths OSB, and used R30 attic insulation behind it.  The insulation was pricey, and this winter we'll see if it was worth it.  To secure the OSB I bolted angle iron to the floor in a few places, then ran self tapping screws with a washer through them.  At the top, I used the same method but screwed to the frame of the steel cage on the windows as seen here-

The plan is to black out the inside to the point that I can sleep in there without anyone seeing light from outside.  Right now I have particle board zip tied to the cages, but I think I'm going to just paint the windows black because I haven't found a good solution for the edges.  The rear window, and the one on the sliding door, and across from the sliding door are all getting curtains, I'll get more in depth with them once I finish them.

Back to the interior.  I'm building everything from steel because It takes up so much less space, and to be honest I enjoy welding more than sawing wood.  I will say it has had it's pros and cons though.  It is sturdy, and I like the way it's going but it is also more work to cut and fit pieces than if I would have used wood.

Next time I'll put up some pictures of the interior in progress, and show how I'm building it.

The beggining

A way for me to chronicle the building of the great white whale, and then record the trips I will hopefully take in it.

Part 1) This van is currently my 9th car, I bought it for vanning (it's like taking a long drive in a car, except you do it in a van)

It was originally a mail van. Although it was pretty stripped down when I bought it, it gave me the opportunity to build it the way I wanted. It has no A/C, came with no radio or speakers, no cruise, and no rear seats. Perfect. What it does have is a more than capable 4.0 V6, a great maintenance record, and 4 wheel drive.

We'll start in the front and work back. I installed the head unit that's been in the last 3 cars I've had. I also put in 4 Sony explodes... nothing too fancy but they still sound decent.


The van didn't come with a center console, so I took an idea from a friend and used an ammo box. It's a 50 cal. ammo box that cost me around fifteen dollars at an army surplus store. bolted two legs built from angle iron to level it on the transmission hump. Under the ammo box there are three 12V outlets that have been hard wired into the original 12V outlet with an in line fuse to keep everything safe.
To the side of the Ammo box there is another piece of angle iron that will serve as a switch bored (right now only the siren switch is mounted). And next to the switch bored I have my CB mounted. I decided to hard wire it in too seeing as it stays in the vehicle permanently. To accommodate all these hard wires I put in a 6 space auto fuse box. I used a 10 gauge wire straight from the battery, then grounded it to the fire wall.

This is the Ammo box, with all the accessories mounted.


This is a bad picture of my extra fuse box, its mounted on the driver side under the dash just below the regular fuse box