Marcus' 2009 E350 Build - A Long and Winding Road

[mbcaudill]

OK, I have been out here on the forum for quite a while and working on my van since late 2010, so it is probably time to document my build. Let me first say that if you are considering building your own conversion van, think really hard about why you are doing it, what equipment you need, and your skill level before jumping off the deep end. I love my van, but have many times since my project started found completed vans that would met my needs for a travel van. As far as cost, if you are starting from scratch and you don't already own the van and don't already have the tools, you may (or probably will) be better off financially buying something already built. With all of that said, I want to say I have learned a lot in the process, have made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of successes. And the process continues, because I am not finished yet.

A little about me. I have been camping in some form or fashion all of my life. Tents, backpacking, car camping, pickup campers, back of the pickup, vans, motorhomes. I still do a lot of these. After traveling 120k miles in a 2002 E350 EB window van, we decided we wanted something a little more custom for van camping / traveling. And we wanted to start with something newer with lower mileage, so we started shopping for a blank canvas. (Our daughter now owns the 2002, 5.4 with 260k+ on it).

We ended up with a 2009 E350 XLT RB set up for 12 passengers. 20k miles, white (yuck!) with tan interior. Perfect condition. 5.4L 4 speed Auto, 3.73. Nothing special, pretty standard van. Immediately took it on a 5k mile trip averaged 16 MPG based on my calculations.

OK, so my first mistake. We really should have shopped longer and found a cargo van that fit our needs. As far as I can tell, there are no direct replacement, fit in the hole camping type windows for the side windows. We had a bunch of seats to get rid of (craigslist), we had to pull out a lot of interior trim, and then we ended up blacking out and insulating over most of the windows.

Next, I wanted a fixed hard top. There has been a lot of discussion on the forum over the past few years about sources for these, but at the time the only source that I could find was Discount Truck Van in California. I ordered a 24 inch top with slider window and a reinforced roof for deliver to my brother in laws shop in Idaho. He has a large shop with a tall door, and since the top was due to be delivered in December, it seemed a good place to install the top. I was less than pleased with the customer service from DTV folks. They were very responsive until they had my money. Once they missed the delivery schedule, the ignored my emails and phone calls. I finally told them to cancel my order and refund my money, then had a delivery schedule the next day. They were a month late, which I could have lived with if they had simply communicated with me.

Enough with the intro. I will put up a post with photos next, showing the installation of the hard top.

[Sheriffdoug]

Very interesting read. Good Luck.

[odinson]

More please.

Agree 100% about building your own.

• Only feasible if you have skills, time and money. The rarest combo IMO.
• You will pay retail, and you will buy parts you test and reject.
• You shouldn't do it unless you have some unusual needs. In my case clearance, insurance costs, and parking space. I really needed an all in one SUV.
• For heavy camping may just make more sense to buy a cutaway class B and get a 4x4 conversion done.
• It may make more sense to buy a used sportsmobile.

But...

• You will have a list of all of the exact parts in case something breaks, and know how everything went together.
• If you are super picky it may actually be easier to build it yourself than explain it.
• If you persist, you can break new ground and end up with something that is unique and perfect for you.

[JWA]

Superb points presented by Mr/Ms Odinson---kudos!

Perhaps on a superfluous note whenever I've delved into a new endeavor (and being a confirmed "shoot from the hip" kinda guy) there's a learning curve as to what does and does not work for me. The down side is I'll purchase something I know will be a starter item, the knowledge it will simply be a test of sort to more further define my real needs and absolute must haves.

I have the tools, most of the skills and enough disposable income to make plenty of mistakes but quite lacking is the ability to visualize something especially that which I'm not already familiar. A van/camper layout would be a prime example of that deficiency.

All that's not something I necessary enjoy however once I've dealt with a few prototypes the end result is pretty much exactly what's needed. I sincerely wish this wasn't the case but it is what it is.

All that being said we can see most of us here are frequently tweaking this, replacing that etc etc so perhaps I'm not alone when it comes to refining or fine tuning something after its supposedly completed? Then again it could be I'm happy beginning anew several times on any one project?

[Sierrasclimber]

It sounds like there is so much more story and pictures would be great! I truly envy those with the dedication and skills to create something like a custom DIY build. Also admire those with the bold courage to admit that somethings may have not gone as planned.