Popping my top

[boywonder]

One more pic of the plywood fabrication and a couple of the outside of the van with the top popped since I don't think I've posted any yet.

Got the bushwackers installed awhile ago, looking for either ATX Mojave or KMC enduro wheels........

[86Scotty]

Looks great!

[Waterski02]

I love what you did with the entry step.

I'm assuming you cut the top off the lower piece, and the bottom of the upper and slightly overlapped them.

May be headed to the Junkyard to find another piece.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Waterski02

I'm assuming you cut the top off the lower piece, and the bottom of the upper and slightly overlapped them.

exactly. Well, actually I bought a shiny new one at the dealer and 10 minutes after purchasing it I stuck it in the table saw and promptly blew it to smithereens. I called the local dealer and ordered a second one, and when my GF picked it up for me she mentioned the table saw mishap and the parts guy give her the second one gratis! The band saw is the weapon of choice for this job.

[86Scotty]

Wow, so I'm not the only one to do that? very nice of the dealer though.

[boywonder]

Got both side boxes installed, only took about 23 tries to get the fit just right.

They will be coming out again to get electronics, trim, etc. installed.

The boxes got fuzzy trunk liner treatment courtesy of my GF

We also made some test seat/bed panels to determine strength/stiffness and how comfortably they fit in the PH bed rails. The 3 seat panels will also work as the PH bed. One panel is 3/4" Baltic birch (which would be covered with 1/8" BB both sides), the other panel is solid cherry (old project leftovers). We'll probably end up going with the cherry panels.

The storage compartments are trimmed with aluminum to cover the seam where the vinyl meets the fuzzy trunk liner.

we are now determining what we will use on the tops of the boxes, cork flooring perhaps.......

[boywonder]

A few more pics......

Side bolster for the seat (made from 1/2" BB ply then covered with 1/8" foam and pleather. This ends up flush with the 3/4" deep aluminum channels for the seat.

Removable 16W LED flood porch lighting installed on Yakima rack crossbars.......now we have to figure out where to plug them in. The idea here is that we will stow these when not in use.

[SCBrian]

How are you planning to handle the rear air duct? Saw one pic but it wasn't close enough to tell.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by SCBrian

How are you planning to handle the rear air duct? Saw one pic but it wasn't close enough to tell.

You'll see in the next few weeks.....I'm building low profile upper tray/boxes that will hang from the PH rails and the one on the driver's rear side will also include vents left over from the headliner for the rear AC. I have this one mostly mocked-up out of BB ply. I think I'm going to re-make it a little longer for more storage. I was originally going to have a full length upper box on the driver's side from the very back all the way to just behind the driver's seat but I'm going to split it in two to allow headroom over the rear bench seat.

Specifically, my plan is to build a small box directly in front of the chopped off headliner/AC outlet which will be part of the upper storage unit, and use aluminum duct tape to seal it to the small box. Either the front face or the bottom of the unit will incorporate the old headliner vents. It should be clear with a few pics.

[SCBrian]

Everything looks well put together. Keep up the good work!