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Old 11-05-2015, 12:40 PM   #1
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My 1999 Quigley Express

Hi! My name is Curt,i'm from Green Bay, WI I have been a constant reader of this fourm for a while now and decided I would share my "Winter project" with you. its far from done but I couldnt be happier with the outsome so far.


This is my 1999 Quigley Express 2500 the day I brought it home. It is an old Cellcom service van that was actually bought new from a local dealership from my home town in Green Bay, WI. The van had around 200k miles and was sitting outside for a good portion of its life.




I spent a good bit of time cutting, grinding and replacing rusty metal. I used P.O.R 15 on most of the underbody and gave everything a fresh coat of undercoating after that.


With the rusty side doors it was cheaper to buy non-rusty doors than welding new metal. It was also a good opportunity to change out the old door pins and bushings



Getting the van dependable and driving like new was the next task, I contacted quigley and got the original build sheet and began ordering new parts. I replaced all the seals, bearings, races, u-joints, brakes and anything else that was left in the front axle, and then gave it a coat of P.O.R.

When it came to the tie rods,drag links and other steering parts, i was caught off guard with some of the parts being quigley specific. The longest tie rod is a quigley specific part and came with a pretty hefty price (around $500 plus shipping). Being that it the van has a Dana 44 axle, i found that it was very popular with other off road enthusiast, there is a bunch of options of some build your own tie rod kit. I got my setup off of ebay, and it was cheaper than sourcing all the pieces my self and having them shipped. The kit uses K5 blazer tie rod ends, which are easy to get replacements from the local auto parts store. The only additional to doing it this way was having to purchase the proper reamer($90) to change the taper of the knuckles.
It was pretty simple to put together, I laid the old one next to the new setup made some marks and started cutting and welding.




When the alignment was done, it went with out any issues.

I am going to stop here for now and will add more later.
The next step was the interior, but i will leave this teaser shot for now..


Thanks for reading!!

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Old 11-05-2015, 01:12 PM   #2
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express

Sweet!
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Old 11-05-2015, 04:25 PM   #3
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express

Skills!
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Old 11-05-2015, 05:16 PM   #4
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express



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Old 11-05-2015, 05:26 PM   #5
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express

Looking really good Curt. What did you do for soundproofing/insulation? Those white wall panels look very professional. Were they a kit?
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Old 11-05-2015, 07:01 PM   #6
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express

Was that spray foam insulation on the walls? Looking good !
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Old 11-05-2015, 07:23 PM   #7
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express

Thank you for the Kind words! All of the interior stuff was pretty much built from scratch

The interior was the next step. The way I sold this whole idea to my fiance was that we are going to make an easily setup base camp, drive anywhere and spend the night, like backpacking but comfortable, with a van and no tent. I wanted to get a bed big enough for 2 and a dog. I found some seats cheap enough that will work for now on craigslist. one of the seats folds flat and bumps into the 3rd row seat making a pretty big platform, with the idea of putting an air mattress on top. I have yet to try it out.
The van was spray foamed when i got it and that was really nice. I placed the seats in the van for window placement.


I used some 1/4'' hardboard for the backing of the wall panels, i think it was 3/8 thick foam from a fabric store that was glued to the hardboard. We used a marine grade vinyl type material that was stretched over the top of the foam and then stapled to the hardboard. The vertical strips are made from 1/8'' x 1 3/4 flat steel that was just cleared over, the idea for this was to make a larger surface area when attaching the board to the walls of the van. I didn't want to worry about any of the screws pulling threw the backing board. I used some 10/32 machine screws and rivet-nuts to secure the panels to the sides of the van, along with some black snap covers to hide the heads.



As the walls were being put together i also started on the floor. I covered it with 1/2 plywood and some lasminate flooring that was on sale from the local home improvement center. I went with the laminate because I really wanted something that was kind of warm feeling, also durable and easily cleaned.



I also cut a access hole into the floor to be able to reach the fuel pump/sender incase of a road side emergency


The walls have lights from a junkyard conversion van as well as a few power ports/usb chargers




We made the headliner with the same hardboard with lights sourced from a trailblazer, covered with headliner material from a fabric store.
Some extra support for the headliner, it was over 10 feet long



All of the lights were changed out with LED bulbs
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Old 11-05-2015, 09:14 PM   #8
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express

That's a full on restoration! Nice work!
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Old 11-06-2015, 04:45 AM   #9
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Re: My 1999 Quigley Express

Your choices for metal body repair is top notch----as a former body shop owner I'd have recommended nothing less, including using POR-15.

Also appreciate replacing the doors----they're just not worth much time, energy and material trying to save them.

Love the finished interior too---very minimal which is easy maintenance over the longer haul.
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Old 11-06-2015, 09:34 AM   #10
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My 1999 Quigley Express

Quote:
Originally Posted by JWA
Your choices for metal body repair is top notch----as a former body shop owner I'd have recommended nothing less, including using POR-15.

Also appreciate replacing the doors----they're just not worth much time, energy and material trying to save them.

Love the finished interior too---very minimal which is easy maintenance over the longer haul.
Thanks! I plan on keeping this van for a while, and really do not want to have to come back and do things again later on. I was lucky enough for get the van for only $1000, i had plenty of room on my "budget" to do things right.
I still have some things I want to add to the inside overtime, more storage compartments, cup holders and things like that.
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