E350 2wd Communication Van Thread

[rnm115]

This table for the back door looks cool too. Just thinking about ways to make the rear of the van more useful
https://www.americanvan.com/backsaver-workstation.html

seems like a reasonable price.

Have any of you ever seen an interior build done with Gladiator or similar garage wall? I was thinking that would be pretty handy and then I could also put 80/20 every so often with sliders for when heavier duty tie downs are needed...

https://www.gladiatorgarageworks.com...s-3/102270014/

[rnm115]

rear seat is officially installed.

The brackets are reinforced on the underside with 1/4"x2" steel that is undercoated for protection. I braced the steel over top the lip of the cross frame pieces where I could. This seat isn't going anywhere!

Transit seats are heavy by the way. I actually don't recommend going with a transit seat if you plan on removing it often. Also, my seat didn't come with a release handle. I need to fish para cord thru each release lever and pull up on all three at the same time to release.

Also, I bought one of those TPU floor mats from vantred. I really like it! I was going to do some cheap foam block puzzle piece type flooring on top of it yet, but the wife and I like this surface so much that we are reconsidering.

https://www.rvupgradestore.com/BedRu...-p/vtrf92x.htm

[rnm115]

Hi all,

I haven't been posting much because I've been too busy using the van!

I've used it for hauling the camper, moving family, hauling a new 4 wheeler home for the kiddos, etc.

Projects recently completed are
1. added the maxxair fan, but only have temporary wiring solution to secondary batteries
2. prepped and bed-lined the bottom quarter panels and bumpers all around
3. removed the front grill guard and added a front hitch, the front hitch unfortunately interferes with the grill guard installation method. I either need to give up on the grill guard and sell it, or modify it to work. The front hitch is for having a tow point, front bike rack, or hitch mounted winch. I just wanted to have all those options.
4. Added another jack option after having to deal with a flat in the future. Borrowed another jack from a neighbor camper to separately jack up the frame, then the axle to change the flat. I bought this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It is a bottle jack with safety locking mechanism
I also bought this adapter for the scissors jack that lets me use my 1/2" impact wrench to quickly jack things up: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
5. Bought this riv-nut tool for starting on the interior, looking for a good source of L-track that is heavy duty and not $20 a foot next... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I really need to start working on the interior finish and secondary power. Right now, I have two spare batteries in the back, which came in handy when I needed to use my compressor on a dry-rot flat when we were camping at the beach.

A couple of pics added just to show the "bus" getting some use.

[IanF]

Originally Posted by rnm115

A little head's up... a 1 ton van is $212/year for registration! I should have known that, but it completely slipped my mind. They wouldn't let me convince them to register it as a station wagon or anything silly.. ha.

Welcome to truck registration in PA. $212 is worse than my Cummins 2500 4x4 was - $153.

One of the best things about my E-350 is it started life as a conversion van and conversion vans get registered as station wagons - so I pay the same amount as a car 1/3 the weight. Yeah... makes no sense...

If you do a full RV conversion you may be able to get the title changed which should also reduce the registration fee.

[rnm115]

Wow, it's been a while.

I've done quite a few things to the van in that time...

First, the biggest things
1. Complete "bullet proofing" by Zimmey's diesel in Lebanon, PA, highly recommended
2. Found a new business locally that was willing to bedline the whole thing for a very reasonable price (PM me if local and want some info)
3. Full float rear end put in out of a truck, with new internals for a true 2wd with limited slip (Mt.Zion off-road)
4. 2" suspension lift to allow some room for slightly bigger tires in the future (Mt. Zion off-road)

I've had a few issues
1. coolant leak - replaced coolant tank
2. dreaded caliper sticking while hauling the camper to the beach... fixed by replacing both calipers
3. 2x I've had a phantom "will not start" issue. It will turn over, but will not fire. I believe it may have been related to my poor choice in batteries. I did not have enough cranking amps, and they did not appear to hold voltage over time. Both times, the van was towed, sat for a day, and started right up afterwards... If you have any other theories, please let me know!

Other smaller improvements
slowly working on the interior
1. molle everywhere i can put it
2. moooooar l-track!
3. foam padding on the walls and hopefully the ceiling
4. Mounted the roof supports out of the donor conversion van to utilize for more l-track and to hang a moving blanket between to the cargo area and people area to quiet things down and to let the van work at only cooling the people area when driving in hot weather

I still plan on working on the interior more, covering up sharp edges, making 3d printed cup holders for the l-track for the kiddos, speaker boxes, new head unit, etc.

For the exterior, new wheels and tires are in the future, which may require some slight trimming of the wheel well area due to the small lift.

And a new tune from 5-star tunes to get the speedometer fixed and keep things running cool.

I would eventually like to put a nice rack on the top that can support the weight of two people hanging out on there, but I can't bring myself to pull the trigger on an aluminess or similar. Voodoo racks get terrible reviews. I wish I could find a local roll cage guy to put something together for me.

oh, and one more thing, the van bug is a bit contagious. the camping pic is from a road trip to Kentucky to pick up a '95 7.3 for my cousin...