What did you do to your SMB today?

[Kibo]

I'm actually curious whether the TP construction worked?

[eddyturn]

Hahaha. I got that paper towel shot off the Internet and put it in here as a joke to see how many people got it. Strange times call for strange measures. I guess we could resort to that out on the road and using our wag-bags for pooping. No flush needed.

[Glen]

I was hoping to get a few things finished up on the van during this last couple of weeks of "down time". Then, this happened:

A friend's wife who works at a small local hospital was tasked with finding outside sources of PPE for the hospital personnel. They were particularly short on face shields. What she found was that everything was either sold out, on back order for several months, or extremely expensive (in one case, 7 times the normal cost!!!). She began talking to family, friends and neighbors about her dilemma. What happened next was pretty amazing....

Within a little over a week, she had gathered a group of current and retired first responders (myself included), nurses, doctors and local business owners, along with their family members to hand-make protective face shields. Using donated time, money, supplies, and an empty office space, the group began producing medical grade protective face shields that can be cleaned, disinfected and re-used. As word got out the local media did a story on what the group was doing. This caused a flood of requests from other local hospitals, nursing homes and home health care workers, many of whom had very little, if any, in the way of PPE.

Unfortunately, it's very slow going as everything is being done by hand. Additionally, huge precautions are being taken to screen volunteers, disinfect surfaces, separate workers and work stations, Etc. We are currently producing around 2,500 shields a day with a goal of being able to double production as we find ways to streamline the process.

Today, I put "The Beast" to work... We picked up 15,000 pieces of foam strips that will be used in the production of the shields.

This week we will be sending a shipment to a hospital in Alaska that had only a handful. We are also doing our best to get some out to the hospital cleaning crews who have basically been left to fend for themselves.

[Steve C]

That’s a fantastic way to give back to both your local community and others further away! Thanks so much for your contribution.

[Twoxentrix]

Yep - Thats the kind of stuff that should be dominating the News, reporting heroic efforts/contributions the general public can learn from (and be inspired by)... its infectious in-itself !!! BIG THUMBS UP Glen, to you and your Group!

[eddyturn]

See... your interior design is good as it is now.

[Glen]

Thanks.... It's certainly been a group effort, and it feels good to be able to do something positive.

[Twoxentrix]

What initially started out as a simple oil change turned into soooo muuuuch moooore:

Have had my eye on a Fass Titanium signature series double filter Fuel system – figured while the Van was there, WHY NOT – Right???

Replaced the Oil cooler just to see if it would change my delta’s. Initially had averaged around 10-11, and now after a couple 1 hr trips it looks like its down to 8-9 – Not a marketable improvement, just eased my mind.

Even though it was only 5 years old, replaced the BPD EGR Cooler at the same time

The Brake system on the Van always had me somewhat concerned: When built by Sportsmobile, the Van had the Big Man Brake upgrade installed, and as recommended I had the Calipers removed and sent back to CA to be rebuilt. Shop doing the work discovered the Rotors are actually too small for the set-up, so also replaced the Rotors with larger Wilwood Rotors (unfortunately still as expensive as the Brake Man rotors)…Hell, since they were deep into this I decided not to stop there, had them change the vacuum brake system to Hydro Boost (Every hose, tube, and pipe assembly & bracket replaced, along with a larger cooler installed); collectively these upgrades made a HUGE improvement on braking! (Worth every $$$ invested)
***Picture of parts list they provided me is in my album if anyone is interested:
https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...ture42630.html

Took the liberty to replace the EPB sensor and both ABS speed sensors (very happy the Sportsmobile build books came with the Van when I bought it - At first the "new" ABS sensors triggered the ABS dash light...until I glanced at the spec's of the build and realized those are also a "custom" change - Put the recommended ones on & no more issue)

Sway bar bushings and end links replaced – Was ready to upgrade to the ARB Ball joints, but everything else was still nice & tight, so decided to leave that for another year.

Installed the rear LED Tail Lights from Scott at Vantage Optics – Look very nice and distinctively brighter than the OEM’s.

***Now just need some time off work so we can get out and enjoy ourselves.

[BroncoHauler]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

What initially started out as a simple oil change turned into soooo muuuuch moooore:

Well you went to town, didn't you?





Herb

[sbgrimm]

Installed new foam in the drivers seat. After 200,000 miles the original foam was more than a little tired. Now I won't be leaning to the left physically, only politically. Thanks to the forum for recommending the Seat Shop, it was a pretty easy project and now I have hope that the sciatica pain I get when driving the van for long hours will be eased.