DIY 4x4 Conversion & Introduction

[Pntyrmvr]

Hey Pucry great job.

Where in the great north are you located? Looks like you know some great suppliers.

Onward!

[Pucry]

Originally Posted by Pntyrmvr

Hey Pucry great job.

Where in the great north are you located? Looks like you know some great suppliers.

Onward!

I'm in Red Deer Alberta. My suppliers were the local NAPA Autoparts, RockAuto, Local 4Wheel Parts store, and the welding shop that keeps me busy during the day. We have a good selection of metal fabrication toys to handle things that I couldn't do in the garage.

For any interested my van search continues. Everything I've looked at or set out to look at is either sold before I get there or absolute garbage. Like we all know typically these are work vans and definitely used and abused.

I'm also trying to find another van without the RSC system to have one less thing to try and work around. I have very limited time right now for personal reasons so I haven't dug into the issue too deeply but the solution to making the RSC still work doesn't seem to be that cut and dried or public knowledge anyway.

I'm calling this particular build a success even though it only drove about 10 minutes across town to a storage facility and is now parked. I was at least hoping to get a wheel alignment to see how everything dialed in but this did not happen. That being said the owner said it drove great and felt stock

Here are the last pictures I took and I guess what we can call the end of chapter one.







I had such a blast doing this that I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully for myself or if anyone in central Alberta wants a van build and is willing to leave it at my house for a month or two.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by Pucry

... or if anyone in central Alberta wants a van build and is willing to leave it at my house for a month or two.

That's a tempting offer...I certainly wouldn't hesitate hiring you!

[cvman33]

I may have missed it, but what was your fix for fitting the 37's?

[Abitibi]

Great job Pucry!

I'm also in the middle of a self 4x4 conversion and know the pain and satisfaction involved.

As for vehicle choice, I've had a 01 E350 7.3. Very reliable but very loud compared to the 6.0 that I currently have. The 6.0 also have more power!

The 7.3 had a larger exhaust (and a bunch more mods before I sold it) so that may be part of the loudness but I recall it being loud in stock form.

The 6.0 on the vans, especially post 2006 (where they addressed some issues) seem very reliable. I bought mine at 445,000km, it runs awesome, tons of power and did I mentioned soooo quiet!

Regardless, go for it!

Cheers,
David from BC

[JWA]

Originally Posted by Abitibi

Regardless, go for it!

Cheers,
David from BC

Attachment 35323

Still ^^ one of my all time favorite DIY conversions here---impressive in scope, design and execution IMHO!

[b. rock]

Nice work with the aftermarket arms. I was also looking into those for a radius arm conversion for the extra adjustability and clearance. However after dabbling with the van off road I'm not sure that'll really be necessary as the size and weight of the van will likely be the limiting factors first (at least for a big diesel EB. A gas RB can get away with a bit more). Nice packaging and especially nice work on the fuel tank.

[Pucry]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

That's a tempting offer...I certainly wouldn't hesitate hiring you!

Thanks for saying that. It means a lot.

Fix was just to go higher and slide the axle slightly farther ahead. We ended up using 6" lift coil springs designed for a 2wd truck to net the desired height. As I've said in previous posts the steering geometry is pretty step, however the downward travel is limited by the springs/shocks and stops before any of the ball joints are completely out of travel. We've discussed adding a high steer kit to improve the geometry but we are waiting to see if the owner actually uses and keeps this van (has a history of building vehicles and never actually using them).

Originally Posted by Abitibi

Great job Pucry!

I'm also in the middle of a self 4x4 conversion and know the pain and satisfaction involved.

As for vehicle choice, I've had a 01 E350 7.3. Very reliable but very loud compared to the 6.0 that I currently have. The 6.0 also have more power!

The 7.3 had a larger exhaust (and a bunch more mods before I sold it) so that may be part of the loudness but I recall it being loud in stock form.

The 6.0 on the vans, especially post 2006 (where they addressed some issues) seem very reliable. I bought mine at 445,000km, it runs awesome, tons of power and did I mentioned soooo quiet!

Regardless, go for it!

Cheers,
David from BC

Attachment 35323

Thanks David. I have 94 F250 diesel with the pre-powerstroke 7.3 turbo IDI engine. I love the truck and body style but whenever I ride in a newer diesel I can't believe how quite they are. In a van body where the engine is so close to the occupants I can imagine this would be even more pronounced. Definitely a reason to go with a 6.0l van over the 7.3. I've been digging into some of the issues of the 6.0l everything seems doable with some effort. Head studs are obviously the most involved but since the van is detuned and I have no plans to increase the hosepower I don't see them being necessary. It's nice to hear someone is getting good mileage out of a 6.0l and not hating every minute of it.

Originally Posted by JWA

Still ^^ one of my all time favorite DIY conversions here---impressive in scope, design and execution IMHO!

Thanks for the kind words. Really had a blast with this build and can't wait to do it again. I learned so much and would like to make a few slight tweaks to version 2.0.

Version 2.0 might happen soon too!!! I looked at a van on Monday that was good, low km, 6.0 L, mint interior with 4 captain chairs and 1 bench. The only thing I'm hung up on is it was very rusty for only have 90,000kms. The van in this build thread had 160kms on it and was way cleaner in that respect. I took for granted that it was normal and so when I knew I was looking at a van with significantly less kms on it I was expecting it to be even cleaner. That being said if I'm too picky I'll never get one so I might just have to move ahead and plan to replace the rockers and part of the rear quarter panels.

Originally Posted by b. rock

Nice work with the aftermarket arms. I was also looking into those for a radius arm conversion for the extra adjustability and clearance. However after dabbling with the van off road I'm not sure that'll really be necessary as the size and weight of the van will likely be the limiting factors first (at least for a big diesel EB. A gas RB can get away with a bit more). Nice packaging and especially nice work on the fuel tank.

Thanks b. rock. Honestly we only went with the aftermarket arms for looks. I just really hate visually seeing the factory radius arms hanging way down below the frame on lifted trucks and vans. These arms have a fair a mount of taper built into them and I really don't know if they could be used on a van with lower ride height. I tried to tuck the mounting holes close to the frame even with that and our tall ride height we are only in the middle of the adjustment range. I'd worry if we were any lower or had frame mounts designed for factory arms that we'd run out of travel to have the caster dialed in correctly.

The fuel tank was one of the most challenging parts and one that I'd like to try version 2.0 of. Functionally it's great, install is tight but good but from a fabrication stand point I'd like to try again.

[Pucry]

Happily this project didn't stay dead for long.

The van had a wheel alignment done by local shop and everything was almost perfect as is. I didn't get to talk to the mechanic myself as the owner took the van in but I would have liked to see the specs. Oh well.

The van's road manners are okay. It's definitely not like driving a stock truck but it is a giant empty box on 37's so I don't know what to expect. Doesn't seem to have any bump steer or signs of death wobble so that's a win.

Here are a few pictures of the progress. The bumper is now welded out and it, the grill and fender flares were sprayed with Line-x. The texture is a little aggressive for my liking, I would have preferred a textured powder coat type finish but it's not my van. Started building some side steps, don't have any finished pictures yet as they are currently at Line-x as well.





Now that we have the van at this stage I find myself stepping back and gonig "man this thing makes 37's look small "

[freeagent]

Fantastic work. Really really great job.