Here we go. I've been approached by friends and strangers alike to help them find, conceive, spec and oversee van projects in various shapes and forms over the years.
This has led to many discussions and research, both with various up-fitters and through referencing this forum, where some (most) of you have much greater knowledge and experience than myself, and along with it, the fine sense to share it with the rest of us here on the forum.
So, I decided several months ago, foolishly or not, that there may be a market for something like this, as there seems to be a growing number of people that are looking at getting into a SMB type vehicle for their adventures, and a seemingly short, and getting shorter, aging supply available on the market.
So I decided to concentrate this build, and any others, using the Ford E-350, specifically, ones with a gas V10 or diesel 7.3L, but the 7.3L seem to be getting harder to find without them being older, higher milage, and generally beat up or the good ones not being snatched up by Rallypanam or 1der!!
I'm going to be using local up-fitters, in my case, CCV and Boulder Offroad. So, for the first project I found a nice, super clean, city maintained 15 passenger with rear air (seats already removed) EB 350 with a V10 with 80K on the clock. I plan on adding 4X4 with a dana 60, "50" style interior and a CCV insulated mid height top, bumpers/wheels/tires/lights/stereo w/nav and other goodies.
I'm in the process of insulating the walls and installing new front carpet. As of now, I would like to avoid adding a propane system, I'm trying to find the gas version of the Espar heater and figured a portable stove will be the solution for cooking/hot water, being able to be used indoors or out. Well, that's all for now, feel free to comment, looking forward to posting updates as things progress, no going back now, I've gutted the interior, pics coming, much easier to post them from tapatalk......