So after getting my van back from Ujoint getting the right equipment that we consider more important that interior we went about starting our build.
Stage one. Strip Down.
Panels out, flooring out pretty much everything including the front headliner and most of the dash. I will also say that the rubber floor I bought for the van was critical in the process of cutting foam, plywood and flooring. Made it a snap.
Stage two. Electronics.
I wanted to get the wiring out of the way for most of my goodies while all the interior was out. So I wired up the Light Bar, The rack lights, New Android based Double Din Deck (which is awesome), Radio, Amps, Interior 17" LCD Flip Down DVD Playey and new speakers. Then I re-routed my House Battery Cables using 2ga to the drivers side, routed into floor with super heavy duty grommets and extra insulation. Installed new LED lights inside and added a Blue Sea 7622 with Remote connecting 2 Optima D31m batteries into my house bank. Added a fuse panel and Blue Sea 150amp circuit breaker and then ran all my electronics into the fuse terminals. Still waiting for my Xantrex Prosine 2.0 to tie in.
After buying a large number or new Carling switches I ran out of space down below (didn't like them down there anyways) so I made a little bracket and moved them all into the shelf above the driver.
Stage three. Install Seat Mounts
First there was a bit of a boo boo when my van was at Ujoint and we forgot to add the Main Tank while it was down there, not really anyone's fault just oversight since we talked about so much and had so much done it got missed. No worries, Chris had one built and shipped out to me which was fine because I had to pull the tank to weld in the 1/4" steel re-inforcement on the mounts anyways. Basically I drilled through the vans cross member for the first set of mounts, then into the next cross member for the second set of mounts. Then ran a 4" x 36" sheet of 1/4 steel between the two mounts, welded that to the cross members and then bolted the quick release mounts onto that of course triple measuring everything and then testing bed/seat spacing at each step.
So then I went down and ordered the Congolium Flooring. Of course that took two weeks so in the meantime I got everything prepped. Sorry plenty of photos missing in the process. First I dynamatted the whole van. Ceiling, Walls and Floor. Next I cut carpet foam to fill the ridges.
Then Rtech over the carpet foam and finally 1/2" plywood. Fastened the plywood with 4 countersunk bolts in each corner and then wood to metal self tapping screws in the rest. PS those things don't like going through Dynamat so just get a junky bit and pre drill your holes.
Happy that the quick release mounts were flush with the plywood I did a bit of leveling on them and then waited for the Flooring.
Meanwhile I swapped the Fuel Tanks out. Was a bit of a process (more learning a unknown area of the van) ... I was happy and sad to see my old tank out. Sad because this is a testament to poor quality from Ford. Happy that I can waive good bye. My wife thought it was like gold flakes and we could make some design out of it so I offered her the old tank but she declined.
Can you see a quality and size difference between the two tanks?
What do people do with old gas tanks?