Forrest - 2002 E350 7.3L Build

[BenJJ]

Looks like Jeremy posted a video of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjgg2uxGbzQ

[BenJJ]

Headlights, fender flares, and new black grill installed

[BroncoHauler]

Looking great!


Herb

[BrianW]

That’s really looking dialed-in. Love the green color, too! [emoji106]

[BenJJ]

Very productive couple of days for the van. My wife was awesome and took both of the kids up to her parents house for the entire day on Sunday to leave me alone to get to work.

Despite the rain on and off all day I was able to get both cabinets installed with the cold water system and electrical system all hooked up and functional.

I started out with the driver side cabinet which was going to store the 13gal water tank. I panel mounted a vented fill cap into the top of the cabinet which will be the only section of cabinet that is not accessible from the top. Due to the dimensions of the tank and the cabinet I actually had to get everything connected outside of the van and then install the cabinet with tank inside all at once... made things harder than they needed to be. I also used a ratchet strap to keep the tank secure once the cabinet was bolted to the floor.

I panel mounted a flush mount quick connect housing that came with a coiled hose to the rear facing cabinet. Should make for easy access to water.

[BenJJ]

Passenger side cabinet with all the electrical was next. Ideally I wanted to leave the factory interior panels uncut, but unfortunately I had to make some modifications on this side.

In order for the cabinet to seat properly I used a dremel tool to cut off the seat belt holder for the passenger side captain chair. I also realized that with the cabinet bolted to the floor, the terminal block and fuses would be inaccessible, so I cut a big window out of the panel that is removable to access the factory mounted jack.

I had CCV pre-wire the pop top for solar connections which made the electrical easy. I just mounted the charge controller in the same cabinet compartment on the rear passenger side and then hooked up all the cable appropriately.

Before I bolted the cabinet down I also wired up the fridge and water pump. I also panel mounted a switch/USB/12V 4 socket thing and display meter for the charge controller on the rear panel. Forgot to take a picture of that, and by the time I finished it was almost dark outside. The switch got wired up to the water pump.

At this point the cabinets were basically done except for the lids...

[BenJJ]

After getting home from work today I continued the grind! started working on the cabinet lids. use a jig saw to cut rectangular holes for the flush mount latches. Then used some scrap pieces of aluminum frame to mock up and secure the hinges to the 3D printed brackets and then the panel.

I had my brother in law 3D print the bracket mounts for me. I needed 10 of them and they are big parts so I didn't want to clog up the printer at work. They turned out a little rough, but they seemed to work just fine!

I got both of the larger lids installed successfully, and I think they turned out really nice! I have the passenger side front lid all prepped and ready for install. On the two rear, non-rectangular panels I still need to cut the panels and get the latches and hinges installed. Hopefully get those in in tomorrow.

[marret]

Nicely done, looks great.

[BenJJ]

Got the front passenger side lid installed. Also included a picture of the rear facing passenger panel with the electrical stuff I had forgotten to take a picture of. The water pump is wired to that switch on the panel at the bottom right.

[Twoxentrix]

Coming together as anticipated- gotta be happy with your accomplishment(s)! Am enjoying the progress reports.