Polar Bear 1

[Zaskoda]

Originally Posted by macmcintire

You need to post more pictures of the Burning Man Festival. Being in Las Vegas I'm so close, yet probably planets away.

Warning, man butt shot somewhere in there:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zaskoda/se ... 8114/show/

[Ford_6L_E350]

Your photos make Burning Man seem a lot more tame than I was led to believe it is.

Looks like you had a good time.

Mike

[Zaskoda]

I don't take as many photos there as I used to. It's as tame or wild as you want to take it. You can get massages and take yoga classes all week if you really want.

[Overland87]

HeyZaskoda.... I found your build post tonight and have the same van as polar Bear1 except without the windows, can you tell me where you got the front end parts as I am having some wandering issues, your build has given me a lot of insite for whats ahead of me. In the beginning I found a 99 extended 4x4 van with the 7.3 diesel for $6500.00, it took the guy three days to get back to me with his number and when I called I told him I would just take it, he said he had a guy on the way to look at it but if he didn't buy it he would hold it for me and of course the guy bought it. in the mean time I found the 87 with the 300 six so I bought it instead, in the three days I have had it I replaced the windshield, cut the rust out of the front floor and welded in new pieces then truck bedded the front floor, I have already found a donor van and bought lots of parts and tomorrow I going to look at a winch bumper and some seats I found on craigslist, I also bought the same wheels you have, new goodyear wranglers will be installed tomorrow as well, luckily it already came with a roof rack. Guess I am on my way!

[Zaskoda]

Originally Posted by Overland87

HeyZaskoda.... I found your build post tonight and have the same van as polar Bear1 except without the windows...

I found your thread before I came back and checked mine. I can't wait to see how your build turns out. =D

edit: Regarding that front end.. who did your conversion? If it's not the same company, it's probably not the same parts.. even if it is the same company, it may not be.. but I can share my parts list if it is. Mine was done here in Colorado, but I gotta look it up in the paperwork, will update when I do.

edit 2: Trans Axle of Colorado

[Zaskoda]

I've been making time here and there to work on the van. I'm finally getting some interior work done. I managed to get vinyl on the headliner and then get the headliner re-installed. The wood around the led dome light turned out pretty snazzy:



My girlfriend helped me on the doors a bit and we managed to cover 3 of the 5 doors with vinyl. We're building a storage box in one of the rear doors that will slow us down a bit. Anyway, I like how the doors turned out:





It will be nice to get the walls finished up so I can build some furniture...

[Zaskoda]

So about that radiator that blew up the day before I had to leave for Burning Man. Finally, here's a pic of the radiator itself:



A few mechanics told me, "I've never seen one blow out like that before."

[Overland87]

WOW I have NEVER seen a radiator blow out like that either. there must have been some BIG pressure issue's, I would change out the thermostat and the radiator cap, the cap is supposed to release pressure when it builds up and it looks like it didn't do its job so it's very possible that you have a faulty radiator cap. How is your heat working? if not a lot of heat I would check the heater hoses and connections for blockage. I would hate to see you blow a brand new radiator out if all you needed was to replace the cap!

[Overland87]

Originally Posted by Zaskoda

I've been making time here and there to work on the van. I'm finally getting some interior work done. I managed to get vinyl on the headliner and then get the headliner re-installed. The wood around the led dome light turned out pretty snazzy:



My girlfriend helped me on the doors a bit and we managed to cover 3 of the 5 doors with vinyl. We're building a storage box in one of the rear doors that will slow us down a bit. Anyway, I like how the doors turned out:





It will be nice to get the walls finished up so I can build some furniture...

The door panels look great, I can't wait to get started on my interior, your giving me a lot of great ideas, I might have to name my van Polar Bear two! (Not really)

[Zaskoda]

Originally Posted by Overland87

The door panels look great, I can't wait to get started on my interior, your giving me a lot of great ideas, I might have to name my van Polar Bear two! (Not really)

Thanks! I added a little cargo net to each front door the other night, but my camera died (at Moab) and I haven't taken a photo.

I like the sound of "Polar Bear 2". When I started this thread, I named this van PB "1" because I really thought I might want to redo the build again some day. I obviously had high hopes.

Before Moab, I did manage to get a few pictures of new trim work. Interestingly enough, while running around in Moab, I ran into Andrew with the swiss van build thread. Small world!

Here's my build update:

I recently removed my rear door speakers. I'm moving them up and inside. This left an opportunity with the rear door. My girlfriend decided to take the task on and built me a box!



While she was building, I checked out my rear doors. I have major issues. I can't unlock the door from the outside nor can I operate the door latch from the inside. I tried repairing the system and have decided I need to replace the whole assembly. Once defeated, I helped with the box by insulating the door and framing the hole.



One of the test fits surprised us when we discovered the door latch swings right into the box's space. We might frame that out. Meanwhile, the box is exactly deep enough to fit a quart of oil.



While we were at it, we finished up the vinyl on the slider panel. That door is going to need alot of work. I'm having trouble figuring out how to take it apart to work on it. Some of the screws are extremely difficult to reach. I'll have to give it another attempt soon. I'm also planning on adding another layer of paneling around the existing panel and possibly some kind of storage.



I also managed to get started on the walls. I have three 2x2 ribs in place.



Soon I'll get to build my first wall panel. Some of the walls are going to be tricky.