1987 Ford E250 4X4 Camper Van Build - Page 2

Zaskoda · 10-20-2011, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overland87

Yesterday I climbed underneath and fixed the oil leaks, it's my guess the van sat for a long time so the transmission pan and the oil pan was leaking, I tightened them both up and then scrubbed everything down with degreaser and hosed it all off, after it dried I cleaned and painted the suspension while I was under there. The fuse clamps in the fuse box was sorta rusty looking and I found the brake lights didn't work so I used a wire wheel on a dremmel to clean them up and then sprayed them with contact cleaner and wiped them down with some diaelectric grease on a Q-Tip, I have a rack of fuses so I replaced all the fuses with new ones just because. Now the brake lights work... Imagine that : )

Umm... you wanna take Polar Bear for a few weeks?

Tell me about this painting the suspension stuff. I sprayed some black paint in a few places when I first got Polar Bear and it seemed to... disappear... in just a few months... I didn't try "cleaning" anything... so I figured the paint fell off with the rust and dirt.

Overland87 · 10-22-2011, 08:04 PM

Yesterday I pulled the grille and sanded it down then filled some holes with epoxy, filed it down and sanded it smooth, I then primered the grill and gave it 3 good coats of satin black paint, while it was drying I sanded the area behind the grille on the van, wiped it all down with laquer thinner, taped it off and painted it satin black as well. I used a small paint brush and some glass cleaner to clean the insides of the blinker housing, you would be amazed at how much brighter they are, I bought new bulbs and installed the blinkers back into the grille, while I was getting bulbs I bought some new push tabs for the top of the grille for mounting it back on the van, they had them at the Ace hardware by my house in the bolt section. Here it is all back together.

I was looking on craigslist for seats to no avail but I thought why not just put in the word CAPTAINS in the search box and a bunch of seats I hadn't seen popped up. A guy had a set of very nice REAL LEATHER captains seats for $75.00 when I called him he said he was leaving for the winter and wanted them gone, I drove 50 miles one way and offered him $50.00 and he took it. (SCORE) I then used the swivel seat bases from another set I had bought just for the bases, After tearing the bases apart, sanding and painting them then cleaning and regreasing the slides and the swivels I installed the new seats, it was an all day job but I am really happy with the outcome for $50.00 and some paint.

Overland87 · 10-22-2011, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaskoda

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overland87

Yesterday I climbed underneath and fixed the oil leaks, it's my guess the van sat for a long time so the transmission pan and the oil pan was leaking, I tightened them both up and then scrubbed everything down with degreaser and hosed it all off, after it dried I cleaned and painted the suspension while I was under there. The fuse clamps in the fuse box was sorta rusty looking and I found the brake lights didn't work so I used a wire wheel on a dremmel to clean them up and then sprayed them with contact cleaner and wiped them down with some diaelectric grease on a Q-Tip, I have a rack of fuses so I replaced all the fuses with new ones just because. Now the brake lights work... Imagine that : )

Umm... you wanna take Polar Bear for a few weeks?

Tell me about this painting the suspension stuff. I sprayed some black paint in a few places when I first got Polar Bear and it seemed to... disappear... in just a few months... I didn't try "cleaning" anything... so I figured the paint fell off with the rust and dirt.

I cleaned everything underneath with degreaser and a wire brush before I painted it all. it's a pain to do and messy but it helps it last longer.

Overland87 · 10-22-2011, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overland87

Yesterday I climbed underneath and fixed the oil leaks, it's my guess the van sat for a long time so the transmission pan and the oil pan was leaking, I tightened them both up and then scrubbed everything down with degreaser and hosed it all off, after it dried I cleaned and painted the suspension while I was under there. The fuse clamps in the fuse box was sorta rusty looking and I found the brake lights didn't work so I used a wire wheel on a dremmel to clean them up and then sprayed them with contact cleaner and wiped them down with some diaelectric grease on a Q-Tip, I have a rack of fuses so I replaced all the fuses with new ones just because. Now the brake lights work... Imagine that : )

HEY!!!!!!!!!!

the van was stalling and had a skip at idle and after I cleaned the fuse box it all went away "The van is running great!" I guess the rusty areas in the fuse box was messing with the computer or something but it all cleared up after I cleaned the fuse box and installed new fuses!

Zaskoda · 10-30-2011, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overland87

Nice seats. I had the same brown interior that you have and almost installed brown seats. In retrospect, I wish I had worked with the original brown instead of turning everything gray. If I had it all to do over again, I would have worked in some dark green to compliment the browns. I'm a brown/green fan: http://www.yousharez.com/wp-content/upl ... n-wall.jpg

Overland87 · 11-04-2011, 10:51 PM

Hey Zaskoda! At least you were able to clean behind the dash and you know everything thats in there which is a big plus if anything ever comes up with the electrical. I had to replace two of the dash panels myself and I blew out behind the dash with compressed air and a lot of dirt came out so it's all nice and clean now!

Overland87 · 11-05-2011, 11:30 AM

Finally got to stripping,sanding and painting the front bumper black. I also welded on some light brackets I made from super strut, I had some BIG 7 inch lights that were on a winch bumper I bought but decided not to use, However i did rob the lights from it and sandblasted and repainted the light housings, installed new wiring, grommets and cleaned the front rubber that holds the lights. I ordered new halogen sealed beams which should be here this week. Here's a picture.

Overland87 · 11-05-2011, 11:43 AM

While I was at it I sandblasted the used spare tire mount and painted it black as well, I bought new bolts and lugs to hold the tire on and made a inner door support out of some heavy angle iron that I knotched and bent to the curve of the door, I bolted it on snug to set the angles then removed and welded up the V notches. I heard the weak spot of this kind of tire mount is where it bolts thru the door, with heavy angle iron spreading the pressure out and stiffening the door metal I hope to fix the issue. It sure turned out solid!

Zaskoda · 11-06-2011, 09:56 PM

So I installed a very similar tire swing and reinforced the same area. I have since wondered if the on-door tire swing is a good idea. My rear doors seem to be taking some fatigue and I think it might be the additional weight of the tire. If I can, I may move the spare tire onto a bumper swing when I build the rear bumper. I'm also considering trying to find a way to reinforce the rear door a bit better with an additional latch.

Overland87 · 11-06-2011, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaskoda

So I installed a very similar tire swing and reinforced the same area. I have since wondered if the on-door tire swing is a good idea. My rear doors seem to be taking some fatigue and I think it might be the additional weight of the tire. If I can, I may move the spare tire onto a bumper swing when I build the rear bumper. I'm also considering trying to find a way to reinforce the rear door a bit better with an additional latch.

I had thoughts of moving the spare up on the roof rack instead of the back door, however I wanted to install either a pop top or raised roof and the rack would become obsolete.