I am asking $9500 OBO.
OK. Bought the van in 2010 with 90K miles on it. Was a Minnesota van but was stored in a heated garage during the winters. Must have cost a fortune when new: fancy interior, hand-painted bird hunting graphics and stripes, Quigley conversion, full leather, 8 levels of ‘mood’ lighting, dark maroon velour interior, TV’s on the back of every seat (in 1995!), VCR, individual controls for each seat, video game console and so on. Not my tastes but hey, it had low miles, was in great shape coming from an obsessive owner and was 4WD. Drove it back from MN to NM. Van now has a different paint, different interior, an SMB penthouse and 136K miles. Dana 44 front, Ford 8.8 rear. No issues with either.
I am not particularly obsessive about record keeping but am concerned about keeping a vehicle in good mechanical condition. So going through the file I can tell you that I have receipts for the following:
1. Steering box replaced 2013
2. New transmission cooler lines 2013
3. Engine coolant hose 2012
4. Front rotors, wheel bearings, trans service 2011
5. ABS controller replaced (part alone $900.) Oh yeah, van is unusual in that it has 4 wheel ABS
6. $250 muffler/exhaust work 2011
7. Replaced electric rear bed with manual (to make storage space under seat) 2011
8. 4 wheel alignment 2011
9. New Front leaf spring bushings and bolts with re-arch & extra leaf added. 2011
10. AC refilled and tested, new serpentine belt 2011
11. New sway bar bushings & new front steering stabilizer 2010
12. HD radio installed, has USB & aux plugs 2010
13. SMB texas installed Penthouse 2010
14. New Alternator 2011
15. Brake calipers replaced, new brake hoses, tune-up (plugs etc) turn signal switch, idler pulley 2014
16. Rear axle seals, brake drums, bearings and shoes 2014
17. HD front springs sometime in the last couple of years. Gives another 2 inches front travel but are stiff.
18. Tires replaced regularly. Falken Rocky Mountain ATS x 2 in 2012 @115K. New rear tires about 6 months ago. Rotate regularly. Fronts are almost new, rears at least 50%, they have a 50K warranty, matching spare is new & unused. Have a second spare in useable shape with rim. Wheels are 15 inch, replaced rims with correct offset rims a couple of years ago as the fronts would rub slightly at full lock. Tires are 31 inch, moderate off-road tread.
19. New shocks all the way around in 2013
20. Added Aluminess rear tire carrier
21. All interior lights are now LED
22. Installed opening rear windows on the back doors
23. Installed swivel seat bases on both front seats. Given the size of the seats this requires a bit of manouvering but works fine and adds a huge amount of practical space in the van.
24. New plugs, wires and distributor cap about a year ago
26. Routine 300 mile oil and filter changes, regular air filter changes.
27. Rear ladder fitted. It's stainless steel, painted black
28. Yakima 'raingutters' mounted to the top of the PH for a luggage rack.
29. Replaced the rear bumper with a step bumper. The van is high & trying to use the sloping stock rear bumper to get onto the ladder or into the van was difficult. The bumper has a 5000 lb rating. i will throw in the class 4/5 hitch I have too if the buyer wants it.
The after market wiring for the stereo, VCR etc was problematic and after I had a cooler full of fresh antelope leak onto the carpet on the way back from a hunting trip, it gave me the final reason to gut the van. Removed all the wiring I could for the aftermarket stuff, tore out all the carpet from behind the front seats back. There was some rust in the floor (not frame, just the sheet metal floor) on both sides of the van near the wheel wells. That was cut back to clean metal and replaced with fresh steel. Painted the interior floor with rubberized paint to help dampen noise, filled the corrugations with strips of ply glued down, overlaid with 9mm ply and a new one piece plastic floor mat. Installed sound damping mat on all open metal panels in the rear. Insulated the space in the van skin with fiberglass, made new wall panels from 3mm marine ply, fiberglassed on both sides. (Ok, maybe I am obsessive about some things….), carpeted the panels and installed them all.
There are a few issues as you would expect from any vehicle this age:
Drivers seat torn from use, see foto, could easily be swapped with one of the captains chairs that have barely been used. Interior Ford factory lights do not work ever since I had SMB Texas install the PH top. Could I have driven 14 hours back to Austin to have them do the job again, properly this time? Yes, I could have done but I didn’t feel like doing that drive again. The SMB installed PH light does work with the doors. The Ford interior lights do work but do not turn on/off with the doors. I leave them off and just turn them on when needed. Cruise control does not work. The paint job? Ah yes, the paint job… Done by an employee of a good friend. Young man talked up a storm about all his experience and so on but his mouth was much better than his painting skills. At least it was done with good paint, a 2 part epoxy etch primer and a 2 part polyurethane top coat. Wasn’t the quality finish or the desert tan I thought I was getting. But it’s an interesting color and really does seem to change as much as the fotos make it seem to. Depending on the light it really can be quite different. It’s grown on me. The worst of his lack of talent can be seen in the fotos. I had explained that the stripes were painted on, not stickers so of course he took a heat gun to them to remove the stripes and left a mess above the door handle on the side doors. My first trip after the painting was on a ‘county road’ according to the maps. Turned out to be one of those roads that once committed to was better not to try to reverse. I ended up with a number of desert pinstripes and a couple of scratches on the passenger side drip rail. Most could easily be polished out and the paint would respond pretty well to that too, I suspect.
Probably forgetting a bunch of stuff I’ve done over the years I’ve owned it but maybe some of the memory will come back. It’s been an amazing vehicle and I can honestly say that some of the best trips of my life have been in this van. The Mohave trail, Death Valley, multiple areas in Southern Utah, all over NM and AZ…. It’s a used van but really solid and it will take you anywhere it will fit and you want to go. It is far more capable off-road the I would have believed. It still surprises me. I carry a compressor and do not be afraid to drop tire pressure to 20psi for rough roads. You will be much better off. It’s stable and comfortable on the highway at 75, should you wish to drive that fast, which I very rarely do. It has no death wobble or any other odd behavior. Someone had asked about rain gutter rust. There was some at the joint above the rear doors. It was treated with phosphoric acid and painted when I had the van painted.
PH is fine, works perfectly and has nothing at all wrong with it, trans is fine, 4wd high and low works, seats are really comfortable and have multiple power adjustments, heated seats do not work but can be re-connected.
Just remember, If this van were a VW syncro it would be cost $50,000! I get a reliable 12 mpg both in town and the highway, best I’ve seen is 13, worst 8 when towing a friend's pop top camper on the highway. I am selling it because after a divorce and my kids growing up I don’t need the space anymore. (My kids would sleep on the rear bed while my wife and I slept in the PH.) I also need now a heavy duty tow vehicle and have just bought a 1993 F250 with the same 5.8 motor and 200K miles on it. Ugly but functional, although driving the truck is like trying to steer an oil tanker after the van. I don’t want both. Van will also come with a class 4/5 rear hitch if wanted.
Fotos of the 'old' and 'new' van can be seen at:
Ford E150 Quigley Camper Van by Alexander Sfakianos | Photobucket
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