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Old 12-08-2012, 09:18 PM   #571
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Re: Hal The Van

This post will be a bit different because it's not about me working on the van but me working ON the van. You'll get what I mean in a jif.

Last weekend I knew it was time to clean the gutters. All the leaves were down and it hadn't a rained in days so what was in the gutter should be mostly dry. The backside of the house is no problem but the front side is. The roof is too steep to clean the gutters safely from above. Using a house ladder doesn't work well since I can't lean it directly against the gutter and the overhang is such that I can't reach into the gutter from underneath.


So thinking about the problem when I got one of my "ideas". After a quick trip to the hardware store I brought home the following. Two 2" 90 degree PVC street elbows and one 2" 45 degree street elbow. Around $5 total. Use duck tape to join them together as shown.


This picture was taken after I was done. They weren't his scratched up new.


Pull the van up close to the front of the house. Lean a step ladder against the side of the van. Used an old towel to protect the side of the van.


To the top of the van run an extension cord. Then put my shop-vac on top of the van. Tape the PVC elbows to the end of the extension tubes that came with the shop-vac.


Turn on the shop-vac and see if this idea works.




Not only did it work but it worked amazingly well! I wished all my ideas turned out like this. You can see from the inside of the elbow it even sucked out that grunge that collects on the bottom of the gutter.


I've angled the 45 degree elbow on the end to allow me to get in below the support pieces that go across the top of the gutter every so often. It's a full size shop-vac and here's the inside after doing just half of the gutter.


When I got to the lowest end of the gutter I had a couple times where a mess of wet leaves clogged the end of the elbow. I just swung the mass to the opposite side of the van and pulled the flexible hose from the bottom of the extension pieces. With the suction broken the mass would fall off to the ground.


Even though I was working from below the gutter and couldn't see what was going on the suction noises gave a kind of audio feedback along with what you can feel as the elbow moves in the gutter.


The job went really quick. Had to move the van once to get both ends of the gutter. One caution. Don't get too absorbed in what you're doing and walk off the end of the van. No I didn't do that. Also people driving by tend to slow down and stare. Don't know why.

I tried to get Tiger to take a picture of me working on the roof of the van.


Unfortunately he was in one of his moods.

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Old 12-08-2012, 09:44 PM   #572
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Hal The Van

Great idea. Thanks for the tip. If it ever drys out here in Oregon will have to give it a try.
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Old 12-16-2012, 01:33 PM   #573
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Re: Hal The Van

I've nowhere near finished with the RV electrical system but I have completed parts of it. This post covers getting power from the starting battery to the battery separator. The separator will be located next to the house batteries under the sofa-bed. I'll be routing a wire from the positive terminal of the starting battery across the top edge of the engine compartment, through the fire wall and then across the bottom of the drivers side step well.

Since the wire will be connected directly to the battery I'll add a fuse in case there should ever be a short.


I want to have the fuse located as close to the battery as possible. Problem is there isn't much free space to work with near the battery.


After taking measurements and giving it a some thought I decided to place the fuse near the top of the engine compartment. First step is to lower this wiring bundle.


There is a space I can use between the the wiring bundle and the firewall.


Here is the fuse holder I'll be using. I cut out a poster board template of a possible mounting shield to do test fittings.


Once I cut the template to the right size transfer it to a sheet of steel laying around.


Bend the sheet as needed.


Trim the shield, drill holes, weld on a nut and paint. Then mount the fuse holder.


This is the view looking down on the edge of the hood opening. The hole on the left is where the ribbed plastic connector on the top of the wiring bundle goes through. On the right you can see the top of the screw head that secures the wiring bundle holder to the underside of this edge. The third hole from the left has a square metal piece attached on the underside. The notch cut in the top edge of the shield is to clear this metal piece.


In this photo you can see on the right were I've removed the screw for the wire bundle holder and lowered it. Put a bolt through the hole, second from the left in the above picture, that threads into the nut welded to the shield.


When I'm done both the screw for the bundle holder and the ribbed connector for the wire bundle will go through the shield to help hold it in place.


I added the yellow electrical tape to the ribbed connector since the original tape was looking weak.

With the fuse holder in place next decide where to run the wire. Being unsure sure how this would work I first used a red 6 gauge wire since it was easier to work with. After I finished I went back and redid the installation using a black 4 gauge wire. This worked out for this posting since the red wire shows up better in the photos.

First thing unscrew the fluid recovery tank from its mountings and move it forward.


Run the wire through the bundle holder along the top edge of the engine compartment.






I'm going to run the wire through the firewall in the area below the recovery tank. In the photo I already have a trouble light wedged in there.


As you can see the space is crowded.


Take your time and maneuver a drill into place. I'm drilling through the firewall. Notice the cable that passes through the firewall a couple inches below the drill.


This is the view from the other side of the firewall. I'm looking up from the area under the drivers side of the dash. You can't see it in this photo but the fuse panel is to the right. I used the cable that passes through the firewall as my guide. I triple checked that this was a good spot to go through the firewall for the power wire before drilling.


First drill a pilot hole then drill the final hole size.


Here's what I'm using as my hole size guide. I picked up this grommet assortment at Harbor Freight for a few bucks.


Find the grommet that best fits the wire I'm using. The chart under the lid shows what size hole to drill for each grommet. Just drill that sized hole.


Install the grommet.


Push through the wire.


The view inside the engine compartment before re-installing the recovery tank.


Run the power wire along side the bundle of wires that runs from under the dash along the left side of the drivers foot well and into the drivers step well.


Along the bottom of the step well and out the other side.


The wire runs from the step well to the underside of the sofa-bed and to my battery separator. Since I'll be changing my battery separator later I won't bother to describe what I currently have in place.

After running the 6 gauge wire I was sure 4 gauge wouldn't be a problem so I redid it with the larger size. Everything was the same but I did need to re-do the firewall for a larger grommet.


For the wire ends I used soldier on lugs.


Added shrink tubing to the ends.


This is a close-up of the fuse holder without the fuse.




The battery terminal allows an easy connection.


I think I'm currently using a 150 amp fuse in the holder. OK, that's it.
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Open the pod bay doors Hal.

Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
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Old 12-16-2012, 02:52 PM   #574
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Re: Hal The Van

isn't there a all-in-one fuse/terminal? it seems I remember them from my sailing days
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Old 12-16-2012, 03:23 PM   #575
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Re: Hal The Van

I'd not heard of them so I just did a search and found Blue Sea Systems Terminal Fuse Block. Not sure these would work with a car battery but it's another idea.
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Open the pod bay doors Hal.

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Old 12-22-2012, 11:19 PM   #576
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Re: Hal The Van

This will be a posting about replacing the front passenger seat and adding a swivel base. I've finished this a while ago but never got around to writing about it.

Took this picture on the first day I brought the van home. Passenger seat has seen better days.


First checked out the price of new seats online then decided to head out and see what the local salvage yard had in stock. This looks like a possibility.


Nice looking seat but it only has the armrest on one side.


Here's another one.




This is more like what I had in mind.


You can tell from the pictures that the van had been in the yard some time but even without the side or back doors I couldn't find anything wrong with the seat in the way of moldy or bad smells.

Not like this seat.


The salvage yard charged me $25 for the seat. I wanted the seat to swivel but none of the seats at the yard had that option so instead bought a seat base from www.discountvantruck.com. The current price is $209 which is cheaper than what I paid for mine. The bolt hole pattern on the bottom of the base matched the pattern on the van floor but didn't match the seat I'd bought.


The width was OK but the front two bolts on the seat were off by around 1".


Nothing that a couple of holes couldn't fix.




Here is the seat now mounted on the swivel base.


Now to the seat belt. When I bought my base from http://www.discountvantruck.com they charged extra for the pre-tensioner holder. I decided to make my own from the original. This is the pre-tensioner on the original passenger seat.




The pre-tensioner needs to be attached to the new seat base. Partially disassemble the old passenger seat.


Here is the unattached pre-tensioner.


This is the left seat rail. It has the holder for the pre-tesioner riveted on.




Use a angle grinder with a cutting wheel to remove the rivet heads.


Then punch out the rivets.


I don't know the real name of this seat part. I'm calling it the pre-tesioner holder but obviously it serves other purposes.


The trick is to now remove all the extraneous bits. Start cutting.




I'll be adding some square tubing as reinforcement where the holder attaches to the seat base.


Check that everything fits with the seat installed on the base. Also check seat clearances inside the van.


Start welding.






Install the base inside the van.


Mount the seat onto the base and check operation.




Need to do some work on the pre-tensioner. The plastic pieces that cover the buckle holder are gone.


Here's the pre-tensioner from the original drivers seat. I also replaced this seat with one from the salvage yard but the pre-tensioner can't be swapped between sides.


The pre-tensioner can't be exchanged between sides but the plastic cover pieces can. Pry apart the cover pieces from the drivers side. I'll use them on the passenger side.


Clean up the pieces then epoxy together.


Screw the pre-tensioner to the seat base.


Install the cover.


Bolt everything in place in the van then have the supervisor check that it's comfortable. That's it.
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Open the pod bay doors Hal.

Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
https://larry.wvnet.edu/~van/pics/lic...late-small.jpg
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Old 12-31-2012, 04:50 PM   #577
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Re: Hal The Van

So I was talking to someone the other day about Hal and how the van got it's name but was surprised that they had never seen or heard of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey".
Guess I'm showing my age since this movie was such a big deal when it first came out.

Thanks to youtube, here's the relevant portion of the movie. It helps to know that my name is "Dave".

[youtube:1fq63xjk]
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Open the pod bay doors Hal.

Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
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Old 01-03-2013, 04:09 PM   #578
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Re: Hal The Van

That fuse/terminal block you asked about above will work just fine on your van/electrical system.

I'm always surprised when guys use fuses when doing heavy wiring. I'm a breaker man. Easy to test, easy to reset, and for $7 shipped, definitely worth not trying to hunt fuses down.

I'm a sailboat guy and usually upgrade when I can find one that's solid but needs a lot of tlc. That usually means a full rewire, etc. I like to actually sail my boats and let the wife/admiral maintain the cabin, so the less extra little stuff I have to keep track of in the boat the better. To her the "spares" drawer is simply a place where more wine glasses and embroidered napkins ought to be.

http://www.amazon.com/Stereo-Amplifier- ... 2v+breaker

Awesome job on your van, I have reread your entire build thread three times and learn something new every time!
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Old 01-03-2013, 09:13 PM   #579
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Re: Hal The Van

Quote:
Awesome job on your van,
Thanks Smshield. I appreciate that.

Quote:
I have reread your entire build thread three times and learn something new every time!
I hope the new things you've picked up each time wasn't along the lines of:
1.) He's got no idea what he's doing.
2.) You call that welding?
3.) OMG! He really does think the cats are talking to him.

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Open the pod bay doors Hal.

Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
https://larry.wvnet.edu/~van/pics/lic...late-small.jpg
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Old 01-03-2013, 11:42 PM   #580
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Re: Hal The Van

Quote:
Originally Posted by WVvan
Quote:
Awesome job on your van,
Thanks Smshield. I appreciate that.

[quote:2etw4zl6] I have reread your entire build thread three times and learn something new every time!
I hope the new things you've picked up each time wasn't along the lines of:
1.) He's got no idea what he's doing.
2.) You call that welding?
3.) OMG! He really does think the cats are talking to him.

[/quote:2etw4zl6]

Now Dave, Hal said it:
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