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Old 01-28-2018, 08:44 AM   #41
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2012 E-350 EB V10, 4x4, CCV Top

Cab Carpet and Swivel Seat Bases

The project today was to replace the vinyl flooring in the cab area and install the swivel bases that I got from fellow forum member 1DER.
We started with a cargo van that had a vinyl looking floor liner. We wanted to add carpet, to help with insulation and make it a little softer in the front. We bought the carpet kit from StockInteriors.com. It took about 8 days to arrive. The carpet was custom molded to fit a E350. It was not bad to install. I removed the original liner and placed it over the new carpet.



This gave me a pattern to trim the oversized carpet. The first pass at trimming I was too conservative and did not cut much. But then it was impossible to push the carpet up unto the areas under the dashboard. It was just too tight. So I pulled the carpet and this time trimmed it very close to the original. This worked much better. I just had to trim around the doghouse opening and around the door entry area.

I had removed the plastic stepwell liners from both doors and 4 of 6 of the retaining clips were broken. I don’t think I broke them, but I could have. They were probably broken before. So, I used 5-minute epoxy to glue them back. I glued the metal clip to the plastic to try and give better support. They seemed sturdy, so I hope they will hold.





After trimming the carpet and cutting holes for the seat holes I snapped in the plastic trim. It looked pretty good and seemed to make the cab area much nicer.

Next came the best upgrade. I installed two swivel seat bases that I bought from 1DER. They arrived when promised and looked very sturdy and well built. I had cut out the holes for the bolts, so it was easy to bolt them in place. There are several forum posts that give good instructions on the install.



After the bases were tightened down, I bolted on the seats. The passenger seat went in well, but when I first tried the driver seat the bolts did not line up. I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I had the base installed properly, but when I put the seat in the back holes, the front holes were an inch off. Finally I realized that the two sides of the slider moves independently and one side had moved a couple of inches. That was easy to fix, so the seat was quickly bolted down. Wiring up the electrics harness on the seats was not too hard. The passenger side wires were long enough, I just added some plastic wire loom and a few wire ties to hold the wires out of the way. The driver's side wires were not long enough. Others had said there was no need to splice the wires, but for my van, there was no way to make the wires fit. So I spliced in 8-10 inches of wire and with the wire loom install, I was done with the install.





The swivel seats are great. They really give a great place to sit and enjoy.
They are a little tight when rotating, but if you crack the door open, it was easy to finish the rotation. It’s possible without opening the door, but there is rubbing on the door arm rest.





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Old 02-04-2018, 01:41 PM   #42
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Bushwacker Fender Flares Install

This was a pretty easy project. First I had to remove the previous chrome running boards and mud flaps. This was not too difficult. I will now need to try and sell these.



I really like the look of the van without the chrome running boards.



I didn’t take pictures of the install, but it was pretty straight forward. I did have to use the Dremel to shape one end of each flare to get it to fit properly. But that was not too bad.





This not the final look. After the Agile 4X4 conversion we will have 285/70-17 BFG KO 2 tires on MT Classic Black wheels. These tires will fit to the flare a lot better.


We are off to Loveland, CO next weekend to drop off the van at CCV for a the high pop top. The week after the CCV top, we will take the van to Southern California to Agile for the 4X4 conversion. After these two expensive upgrades, then the work will begin on the interior.




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Old 02-05-2018, 04:34 AM   #43
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I love the look of both your Sienna seats and the Bushwacker flares---very cool!

After the lift and 4x4 lift will you install any other sort of side steps or bars?
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Old 02-05-2018, 10:25 AM   #44
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Not Sienna seats, but the stock seats will rotate and are not too uncomfortable.

I do need to add some type of side step. I have been following the current discussion on Amp PowerSteps and how to get customized mounting to use them with our E350s. I hope to find some type of solution as my wife really likes them. I may buy a set of PowerSteps and try to fab something on my own.

But for now the van will not be at my house for the next 8-9 weeks, so that project will have to wait.




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Old 02-05-2018, 12:51 PM   #45
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cthayn View Post
Not Sienna seats, but the stock seats will rotate and are not too uncomfortable.

I do need to add some type of side step. I may buy a set of PowerSteps and try to fab something on my own.
Yes naturally you're correct about the seats---those look so nice a quick look would suggest they're not OEM. Actually the earlier years (1997>2002) were quite a bit better ergonomically then the years after. Even though they're of the same design I think the build quality was better. Foam a bit more dense and long lasting, upholstery fabric quite rugged, I know for a fact the metal framework of the seat sans the base were much better.

Amp PowerSteps look very cool---I fabbed my own design open-holed running boards going to some length to NOT drill into any part of the body. As it turns out that's a lot easier than one might imagine and infinitely better for the body too.
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Old 02-05-2018, 04:32 PM   #46
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Well, I wish we could get the Sienna seats with swivel mounts on both sides. That would make my wife happy.


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Old 02-25-2018, 04:33 PM   #47
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Our CCV Experience

Over the past few years there has been several discussions about bad experiences with the CCV top, both the customer service and quality. Most of the threads, talk about bad experiences, and there are several upset people out there. I understand that if you received poor service or a bad quality product, it is upsetting as these tops are a lot of money. There are also a few threads that document a good experience. I decided I would comment on our experience, for good or bad.

We put down the down payment for our top back in December with a February completion date. The early communication with CCV was mixed. I sent a few emails that were never answered, and a few calls that were never returned. But when Eva called she got right through or the call was soon returned. So I left the communication up to her. After our order was placed, we did get good response by either phone or email.

We dropped off the van two weeks ago. No issues or problems. Amber at CCV was very accommodating as she showed us around the shop and we discussed the pop top build. We were only there for about an hour. We left the keys and got an Uber ride to the airport.

I had asked Amber to email a few pictures of the construction so I could understand how the top was attached to the top. She was pretty good at sending a few updates.

This last weekend, two weeks after dropping the van off we flew back to Denver and arrived at CCV around 11:00 am as planned. The van was not fully finished. This was a little disappointing as we wanted to get an early start back to home. They said the fiberglass top was delayed by the vendor, but they should be done in a few hours. I work in manufacturing so I understand that things don’t always go as planned. We walked down the street and ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant.

When we got back to the CCV shop, Derek was doing a last vacuum and clean-up of the van. They took us through a quick orientation of the pop top and we were on our way.



With regards to service, I would give them 7 out of 10. Since they were a little late, they could have sent a text or email letting us know. But 7 is not too bad since I only give a 9 or 10 for exceptional service.

I have only spent a little time with the pop top, but the quality looks pretty good. I can't find anything specific that is worth complaining about. The canvas top is not wrinkle-free as it goes around the top, but I think that is the nature of a pop top, and this is better than others I have seen. So far, I have not seen anything else that I would be worried about.

The design also looks good. There are a lot of things to like about the CCV over the Sportsmobile that are documented in other discussions in this forum. This is what lead us to the CCV top. We really like the high top with the big windows and the wide bed. We also like the storage above the cab. We got the high-top so Eva can stand with the top down. At 5'-10" I can almost stand up. The electric top and LCD lights on a dimmer are also nice. Nothing real negative.

I noticed that the actuators have some side-to-side movement as they lift the top. Given that they will only see 1-200 cycles per year, I don't see that will be a big issue. I would also expect the sliding mechanism to have some type of lubricant. It looks like they just float in the unistrut. I may look to see how I can put a UHMW sliding block in to reduce the friction. I will need to look at it closer. I think the pivot bolts in the lifting arms may now be shoulder bolts, rather than a threaded bolt. Another thread had shown the problem with plain threaded bolts. I need to take a closer look and change them out if they are the threaded bolts.

I have only cycled the top 8-10 times, so I don’t know if there will be future problems. I will give an update in the future after more experience. Overall, everything has met our expectations. We knew they did not have the best customer service, but we liked the form and function of the pop top. After some long term use I hope we will still feel the same.





We still have not spent the night in the top. We had planned to sleep in the van on the way home, but I could not convince Eva to sleep in an un-insulated van with no heat in the middle of Wyoming. With wind chill, the temperature was forecasted to be -20. We decided to stay in a hotel in Laramie.

The rest of the way home was 300 miles of stronger than normal Wyoming wind. Fortunately the road was mostly clear of snow, but there were areas of white-out conditions and winds with gusts up to 60 mph. We did not have any problems and only say one truck off the road.



Next weekend we are off to warmer California to Agile Off-road for our 4x4 conversion and Aluminess front and rear bumpers. We will also have the new wheels and KO2 tires on. I can’t wait to see the finished van. It will also be warm enough to spend a couple of nights in the van.


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Old 03-11-2018, 10:10 AM   #48
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Agile Off-road
This weekend we took the van to California to have it converted to 4x4. I was able to get home from work about 2:30. Eva had most things ready so we finished packing up the van and left just after 3 pm. We drove straight through to St George, Utah.

It was a very windy drive all the way down, but it was dry. We stopped in St George for gas at Costco and also ate dinner there. By that time it was getting dark so we drove south of St George into Arizona and exited the freeway on Black Rock Road. About 1/2 mile up the road we found a turn off that took us behind a small hill. This was a great private spot to camp.

We raised the top and slept pretty good under the full moon. The CCV top was nice as there was a lot of width to sleep and enough height to sit up. This was our first night in the van. In their morning we ran the Little Buddy Heater and that warmed the top area quickly.



We ate yogurt for breakfast and were on the road by 9 am. When we hit Vegas we turned south and drove through Boulder City to Boulder Dam. We first walked across the bridge and then drove across the dam to park. It cost $10 to park close to the dam, but the free parking lots were not too far. After parking we walked back across the dam to take the tour of the dam and power plant.

The tour took about 45 minutes and after that we made sandwiches and ate lunch overlooking the dam.




From the dam we took the back highways through Searchlight NV and into the desert of California. We drove to 29 Palms California and pick up some gas and ate dinner at Pizza Hut. 29 Palms is on the north end of Joshua Tree National Park. By the time we finished dinner it was dark.

We had heard of a spot just outside the park to camp about 1/4 mile off the road. It was a pretty good spot with a view of the valley. It was about 8:00 pm and real dark when we got to the camp spot. It was windy when we got there, but after we raised the top and the wind really started to blow. It was rocking the van and we were worried it would cause problems so we lowered the top and put the mattress on the floor of the van and slept there. It was still pretty good and we did not have to worry about the wind.








We slept good again, but it was even colder that morning so we ran the heater again. We had the same yogurt and fruit breakfast and left camp around 8:30. We drove into Joshua Tree and made one stop at Split Rock but it was too cold and windy to do much. We drove around a bit more then went to the south end of the park. This end of the park was lower so it got a bit warmer. We stopped at the visitor center and then continued south to the Salton Sea. It was a nice drive through Box Canyon and into the Imperial Valley.



At the Salton Sea we went to the Visitor Center and ate lunch after we walked to the beach. From the Salton Sea we drove west to Poway to visit our niece. We stayed Sunday night at their house.

On Monday morning we drove to Santee to drop off the van at Agile Off-road. They are doing the 4x4 conversion on the van. They are also adding bumpers and the rear box on the bumper. Jesus was very helpful as we went through the plan for the van. Everything was as planned. They have great customer service. For the gas tank they are going with a custom Aerotank that should be ~35 gallons. We would have liked a bigger tank, but this seems like the best option for now.

The van will be at Agile until April 13th. This will give me time to get other things done around the house, before starting the interior of the van.

From Agile we took an Uber to the airport. Eva flew home and I was off to McAllen Texas (and Mexico) for work.




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Old 03-11-2018, 08:52 PM   #49
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Very fun and exciting stuff! Great to see folks out there seeing and doing in their vans. The folks at Agile “get it” in every sense from my experience. I’m sure you’ll be thrilled but make sure and keep the posts coming.
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Old 03-13-2018, 09:35 AM   #50
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This is such a great build thread. Talk about starting and finishing cleanly. The before and after will truly amazing. Great choices.
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