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Old 03-19-2018, 08:12 AM   #1
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My Get Out Explore Mobile

I have been building up my 1994 Ford E350 Clubwagon into Family and Dog hauler for the backroads. I have been building this beast up for about 2 years now and just getting around to post up some details and pictures. Here is how she currently stands.



Here is a few more detailed specs.

1994 Ford E350 Clubwaggon

Motor: 5.8 Liter 351w V8
Transmission: A40D Transmission
Lift: Ujoint Offroad 6"
Tires: 315/70/17 GoodYear Duratracs
Front Axle: 2000 F350 Dana 60 with 4:10 gearing
Rear Axle: 2005 F350 Sterling 10.5 with 4:10 gearing
Transfer case: NV271
Purchased in July of 2016


This is what she looked like the day I drove her home. This is the ad I responded to in the classifieds in Utah.



.

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Old 03-19-2018, 08:29 AM   #2
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First things first.

I purchased the van 550 miles from home so I topped off the fuel, checked the other fluids, and began the ride home. It was summer and the AC didn't work in the van so down went the windows and I took off over several steep high mountain passes in a vehicle very unfamiliar to me. She cruised along at 75 mph with no problems and I kept a close eye on the gauges as I sailed down the road. At least it had a somewhat acceptable stereo even though I couldn't hook up my phone to it. The drive home goes over several high passes with lots of up and down, the highest pass being over I-70 in Colorado where I would hit over 11k feet in the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnel. Going up big hills in a vehicle that you don't really know the condition of will quickly give you an idea of the condition of the vehicle. So far so good. I rolled into home right about midnight.
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Old 03-19-2018, 09:00 AM   #3
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Morning broke and I was off to start checking the vehicle out thoroughly. I ran to the local quicklube (which I never do) and got a cheap oil change just to get me by. I drove some errands around town to get some supplies I needed to get started and the following day I took it in to have the emissions tested (I passed), and get the vehicle licensed so I could legally drive it around.

I had previously had a 1983 Toyota FJ60 Landcruiser that I had built up over a couple of years. Bought it cheap and did lots of work like replacing the trunnion seals, rebuilding the entire braking system, interior work, body work, tune-up, and fresh suspension. I bought the landcruiser for cheap and with the labor I put in had built up enough equity in it to pay for the van and the 4x4 conversion. Problem I had was that I didn't have a car when I sold the FJ60 so I needed to build the van and drive it as I could.



This particular van had been a boy scout leaders adventure van and not a daily driver so it didn't get driven in the snow much. He said it had sat for a couple years prior to me purchasing it. This made for a nice body with almost no rust. There was one tiny spot of rust on the rain gutter above the drivers door. Ford never put enough paint on those rain gutters. Otherwise rust free. Perfect for my needs as I was about to replace or rebuild almost every major component.

The first thing to go was the running boards. Just not a fan and something I could do that didn't cost money and didn't require any parts. I was more than anxious to get started working on my new project. Having a 4x4 van had been a dream of mine since I was a little kid.

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Old 03-19-2018, 10:00 AM   #4
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Congrats on fulfilling your dream.... Looks like you're off to a great start on the build.

I'm curious about the hard top. Did you do it yourself or have it done? And if you don't mind, roughly what did it cost?
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Old 03-19-2018, 10:13 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by DaYeti View Post
I have been building up my 1994 Ford E350 Clubwagon into Family and Dog hauler for the backroads. I have been building this beast up for about 2 years now and just getting around to post up some details and pictures. Here is how she currently stands.


That's a good looking dog hauler
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Old 03-19-2018, 11:06 AM   #6
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Hurry up and wait.

First up, ordering parts for the 4x4 conversion. This was to be a budget build for me. I spent the money where needed but did everything I could to save my pennies.

I ordered my kit from Ujointoffroad.com. Sadly, ujoint doesn't just have a ton of kit laying around. Chris is excellent to work with and packaged up the pieces he had and got the ball rolling to get the custom springs built from Atlas Spring. It was the first week or so in August when I ordered and I got most of my kit in early September but the springs didn't come till mid October.

My biggest issue is that I live at 8500 feet in CO and winter comes a bit earlier than most places. I also couldn't really begin the work till I had most of the parts as I still needed a daily driver for as long as I could keep it.



I went about finding a set of junkyard axles that I could use for the build up and started building them in my yard while I waited for the rest of the parts to show up.



Ordered parts to refresh all the seals, new brakes, new Warn hubs, fresh coat of paint, and fresh fluids. I did check the gears and they looked ok so we will kick that can down the road.
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Old 03-19-2018, 11:11 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by Glen View Post
Congrats on fulfilling your dream.... Looks like you're off to a great start on the build.

I'm curious about the hard top. Did you do it yourself or have it done? And if you don't mind, roughly what did it cost?
I will eventually get to the post on the hardtop. For now I will tell you I did do the top myself. I got lucky and found a local shop that had purchased it for their project and decided to move shops necessitating them liquidating as much as they could before the move. I picked it up for a song locally as a brand new top that had been sitting in their shop for a year or so. Fibrene is the company that made my top. Shipping is the worst part generally from Fibrene. They charge around a grand to install if you are local to their CA plant. Shipping can add 2k to the price easily.

There is a guy on the forums here that does 24" tops out of CO for a decent price. I was going to order one of his before I got this deal. If you have more questions, PM me and I will give you more info. Hopefully in the next few days I will add the post about the top to the build thread as well. Lots of info to put up and I am trying to do the posts chronologically.
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Old 03-19-2018, 11:18 AM   #8
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That's a good looking dog hauler
Thank you. I got a two year old, 100 lb. Great Dane mix. He knows a ride in the van is always an adventure. A ride in our other car is usually a trip to the vet.
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Old 03-19-2018, 11:31 AM   #9
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Welcome. I'm digging the story so far.

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Old 03-19-2018, 11:34 AM   #10
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Welcome. I'm digging the story so far.

Thanks. I am going to try to keep up on the posting. I suck at taking video and pictures while I am building. This far after the fact, they won't be super detailed but hopefully fun to follow and I will work towards better documentation of future modifications I make.
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