After being a long time lurker and absorbing everything I can from all the great folks here on the forum I figured it was time to start documenting our project a bit.
The quest for a camping vehicle first started after packing up dewy wet tents and gear from an evening on the Oregon coast and was solidified after borrowing a friend's travel trailer for a weekend late last summer. The once hardcore backpacking/mountaineering couple decided that perhaps it was time to succumb to the creature comforts of an RV that we used to mock others for having. Having an infant/toddler aged child and all the gear that goes along with them helped fire this desire as well.
We started evaluating options. Trailers are a pain because you have to have a place to park them. We had all the pro's and con's discussions that have been beat around here every few months. We were also fortunate enough to spend the weekend camping with family that has amongst them an A-liner poptop trailer, Eurovan Westy, and Vanagon Westy. While the VW's are fantastic rigs, we ultimately decided that there wasn't quite enough room for our liking and to be honest the Eurovan was going to be out of our price range.
Enter the Sportsmobile concept. We LOVED the idea of a supersized Westy. However, did I mention we were on a budget? We found a few 2wd rigs that would have fit the bill, but ultimately decided that having 4wd was important to us and would be a deal breaker otherwise. I started the spreadsheet on factory and DIY 4wd conversions and other costs to get what we were looking for, but it quickly added up to numbers way over what we wanted to spend... especially on vehicles that were already 15+ years old.
Hello Craigslist. I became obsessive combing through CL ads for SMB's and 4x4 vans. One day, I found an ad for a penthouse top that had been salvaged out of a wrecking yard. It is likely the same one that is the topic of previous threads here. It was off of a 1987 Ford RB, and after a bit of research I discovered that this top would fit any Ford RB from 1975 to 1991. Jackpot! I commit to the seller that I absolutely want the top, am willing to prepay or whatever... I just need to find a van to put under it and then make the 900 mile round trip to pick it up.
For some odd reason, there were quite a few Ford Pathfinder 4x4 vans for sale last fall. I kept on looking for the best 'bang for the buck' keeping my options open. I was hoping to not have a 460, but understood that I was going to have to deal with the 3 speed C6 tranny unless I found an '89 or newer with the E4OD (which unfortunately was a weak link in its early years). The 300-6 would have been great, but I didn't see but one of those come up. I could probably write another two pages on the trials and tribulations of finding the 'right' van and dealing with all the craigslist flakes out there, but will not bore you with that.
Enter Dookie: 'The One'. I told my wife that I found our van and I was going to buy a ticket to Colorado, have some beers with an old college roomate, then drive it home. She was mostly delighted that I wouldn't be spending so much time researching vans!
Dookie is an '84 with a 6.9L diesel, Banks Turbo, C6 tranny with a gear vendors OD. The odometer only goes 5 places but I'm fairly certain that actual mileage is about 180k based up on the records I've got.
After hours and hours of driving through snow between Salt Lake City and Reno, then from Reno back to Oregon, there is no doubt that having four wheel drive was the right choice!
A quick detour to pick up the penthouse top:
I drove 1600 miles over the course of two days and Dookie ran and drove great. Knock on wood, but we're hoping this sweet ol' girl can deliver some more reliable miles for us down the road. The plan right now is to build a 50-ish layout without too many bells and whistles. A good fridge and cabin heat are currently on our list of priorites, but first things first - the first order of business will be to repair the corner of the penthouse that was smashed up and acquire everything needed before chopping the top.
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