Elvis the Beluga whale under new ownership

[MTDewX8]

Figured most of you forum members know that the beast sold. even a guy from CO passing through Bozeman I talked at a gas station, knew about the van I brought home from Maine.

Trip was good Maine to Montana! (13.5-15.4 mpg) was great meeting Teeots and the drive back to his house was exciting

for those that don't know the rig here is the great build thread from the previous owner. I must say it sure gave me a good start.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8648

now that i am home I have to fix a few things like the brakes. we tried to fix them before I picked it up with a new brake booster and vacuum pump. dealer thinks its the booster now that they installed the vacuum pump per there recommendation cause the booster pump was provided. but we shall see.

I did find out that the axles do not have ball joints, but King pins cause of uneven wear on the tires. never heard of King pins, so I thought I could just get ford parts and slap them on. well I guess I have some learning to do on the new rig.
I did tear out some old wiring that was in from the original owner. added new light bulbs for the cluster and pulled the dog house to take a look. Down pipes some day. turbo has something fishy that I need to figure out. lost of oil in the valley, so I will be checking into HPOP O rings maybe. or turbo pedistal.

and in my search I did find out some things I will have questions on. (on going for sure)

anyway I figured I would start a thread of what i do and plan to do as time goes on.

it will be a slow and rolling build cause I have other things pending.

I have been posting on other sites to ease my bothering over the many questions I have. funny thing is I have noticed many of you lurk else where to. so I guess its a moot point. lol

about me, well I used to own a 00 F350 so i am a little familiar with the 7.3. ran VO for three years to save lots of money on fuel. but didnt' realize the vans dont have inter coolers. and the second battery is under on the rail. strange, but very happy with the rig so far. I live in Bozeman MT and plan to use the rig for many things. AK some day too.

will post some pics when I can

cheers to all
John

[MTDewX8]

ok, having trouble posting pics. will work on that later.

[carringb]

Glad to see Elvis ended up in good hands!!!

On the brakes.... vacuum system may have a bad or missing check valve. Adding a vacuum pump won't help things if there is a large vacuum leak somewhere in the system, and the check valve is valve. They do fail. I recently replaced one on an '07 F150 in the 4x4 system. Owner thought the transmission was toast, but the bad check valve meant the front hubs were trying to engage anytime the engine was low on vacuum.

If that is not the case, upgrading to hydroboost brakes would fix the problem, and be a braking power upgrade. NAPA now carries the entire hydroboost setup for the vans.

[macmcintire]

Have a great time in the belly of The Whale.

[Gnarvan]

Congrats on your new rig.

Keep the build thread alive so we know what kind of free advise to shoot your way.

[MTDewX8]

I had an idea to make it a multi purpose rig.

Montana has good fishing and with a tall rig its hard to strap a boat up there. so why not fab up a removable top that I can turn that lit upside down and get my fish on. then when your done fishing slap it back up there to keep the bugs out.

just a random thought that made me laugh with silly idea's.

its at the shop getting that brake thing worked out and they are checking out those king pin things so I know what to order from Quigley for parts.

[MTDewX8]

So can you re do the cyclinders for the door locks?
I am returningt the side door to the the previous owner cause of the donor van of the door.
but I would like one key for everything.
was at the junk yard and found a van, but they wouldn't part with all 5 cores with out spending $100 for the steering wheel and all. which I dont need. just need the core from all and a key.

anybody having to do this?
I will have two keys. one does start and the two side doors. then the back and driver door is something else.
just looking for ideas. not a big deal at the moment, but food for thought.

[Gnarvan]

Originally Posted by MTDewX8

Montana has good fishing and with a tall rig its hard to strap a boat up there.

I've often wondered how tall Elvis is. Does it out tall Gnarvan which stands at 9' 8"?

I do trailers for boats

[Ultrasport12]

If you take the lock cylinder out and go to a good lock smith or the dealer they can rekey it. Couldnt you just trade the one that works before you send the door back?

...Jamie

[MTDewX8]

Originally Posted by Ultrasport12

If you take the lock cylinder out and go to a good lock smith or the dealer they can rekey it. Couldnt you just trade the one that works before you send the door back?

...Jamie

the side door is the only cylinder I need to pass back to the previous owner for his work van. then I will have ingnition, passanger and side doors match. I am only sending the core back not the door.

i will try the re-key thing for the driver's and rear doors. didn't know much about them, didn't know that could be done. thanks


and as for the boat pics. I miss my CAT. lets just say my van was scary close to top of the garage door when I got the oil change in MI. they said it was a 10 food door. I have yet to do an actual measuremnt just yet. but its tall.