1999 E-350 EB Build

[86Scotty]

Nice, I love the interior, and you're a Tn guy! Me too, nice rig.

[3677chris]

Originally Posted by 86Scotty

Nice, I love the interior, and you're a Tn guy! Me too, nice rig.

Thanks! Maryville is a cool town; I try to get to the smokies as much as possible. Lots of good camping...

[3677chris]

The Van Seats came from Superior Seating...very happy with the quality and comfort. And they will work with you on pricing.

http://www.superior-seats.com/index.htm



I just finished testing the Espar Hydronic System in the Van today, man, this thing works better that expected. For anyone looking for a heating / hot water system it would be hard to beat.

The system is actually two closed coolant loops, one for the engine and one for the van. I did not like the thought of running engine coolant through the van.

I mounted an 12V Espar D-5 Hydronic Heater (17500 BTU..wow!) on the drivers side frame rail forward of the fuel filler tube outside the van...plenty of room for tubing, valves, etc. I ran 3/4" heater hose first through a heat exchanger with a low amp 12V fan under the rear seat , then on to a 20 plate heat exchanger mounted near the rear water tank inside the van for the shower and sink, and then back through a second 10 plate heat exchanger mounted near the Espar unit. The Second heat exchanger heats the engine for cold starting. I also installed a small expansion tank (1 quart) under the hood that is connected into the main loop; this serves as a filler point and a pressure relief when water heats and expands. I also installed a bleed valve to bleed air out of the system. I then bled everything and added 25% antifreeze.

It was a lot of work running and insulating pipe, and bleeding the system took a while to figure out but over all I am very happy with the set up...it produces continuous very hot water (scalding) for the shower and sink, the cabin heats very quickly when the fan is turned on (connected to a simple 12V thermostat), it will heat the engine coolant system quickly, and when I am driving the engine will produce heat and hot water in the cabin. The heater draws about 7-8 amps when first heating up (about 3-5 minutes), then only 1.75 - 2.25 amps to maintain temperature, and the fan draws .75 Amps.
I lucked up and got the new Espar d5 on Ebay for $600.00, and the whole system cost about $900.00.

Another note: I installed a separate 3 gallon fuel tank for the Espar because I burn Biodiesel in the van engine. I use kerosene in the Espar; It burns cleaner and will not soot the unit like diesel does and it costs about the same.

Hope to head out to Colorado to ski in January...that will be the real test!!

Chris

[dudewithvan]

Wow, looks great! Do I see a junction box in there with all the other cables? The reason I ask is because I'm not sure how I should properly set up my aux power in my van. I have a power distribution block for my van's audio, but that only supplies 4 things from the van's battery. What kind of product would you suggest to run many different smalls things from the van's battery?

[3677chris]

The DC panel is a West Marine panel available for about $40.00. It is a high quality panel designed for off shore use and has 4 circuit breakers. Very simple to wire.The 4 circuit panel is large enough to cover all the 12V circuits in the van although an 8 and 12 circuit are also available.
Are you installing a separate auxiliary "house" battery?

[3677chris]

Hey guys, wanted to share a transmission upgrade. With a 10,000 lb+ vehicle, my trans temps in the mountains were getting pretty high. I installed a 12 x 10 super-cool trans cooler with fan and a thermo switch activated at 180 degrees, but this did no good at all, surprising. I looked and looked for a new large cooler to install, but the large ones all had 3/4" fittings and large core tubes, and would create too much pressure drop. In a local junkyard i found a 6 liter diesel trans cooler from a late 2003 F-550...this thing is huge! 31 rows and measures 24" x 17"...it is nearly as large as the ac condenser on the van. That ought to do it.

Install in front of the ac condenser unit was fairly straight forward; the cooler has 4 brackets, two on each side and two on the bottom. I cut the two bottoms ones off, and welded some small tab brackets to the van front clip frame on each side of the cooler, drilled holes to match the ones on the cooler bracket and bolted it in. I had to trim the back side of the two vertical front support brackets to keep the front side of the cooler from rubbing, and i moved the condenser unit back about 2" to clear the rear of the cooler. It is a tight fit, but doable. The cooler has 1/2" line instead of the factory 3/8" on the van, so i used reducer barbs to splice the lines together as they come out of the factory metal lines. The large cooler used about a quart of additional trans fluid.

There are three trans coolers that were installed in the 6 liter ford diesels 2003 until end of production. They were in F-250 - 550 trucks. The 31 row unit that i used is part # 5C3Z-7A095-B and is the most common. There are plenty of these in junkyards, and are easy to find. Junkyard unit cost me $75.00, New they are about $400.00. Find one with low miles, have it pressure tested and cleaned thoroughly before installation.

Best,
C

I am headed to the mountains this weekend, and i am interested to see what temps the trans reaches.

[JWA]

While I have no need for such an upgrade its very good of you to provide this info here!

On FTE I've seen several threads about this same issue, taking your same approach does seem to be a very good upgrade.

Thanks again!

[Vanless]

So how did it work? I've got a 2008 6L getting hottt!

[3677chris]

Temps have not gotten over 160, even in the mountains fully loaded.....highway temps never get above 150. Working great.

[carringb]

Originally Posted by 3677chris

Temps have not gotten over 160, even in the mountains fully loaded.....highway temps never get above 150. Working great.

Just an FYI - you should be periodically getting the trans up over 180F to cook off the moisture that builds up inside. Condensation is also a transmission cooler.

Mine also runs too cool since I have the Tru-Cool max cooler. Except for June-Sept, I keep a grill insert in place to restrict airflow.