What may be a never ending conversion story…

[boywonder]

I'd vote for B...heater over lumbar and entire seat back...as far as switch/control mounting..I made a small bracket for the seat heater control and some USB charging ports that mounts under the passenger side dash....I can post a pic when I'm back home next Wed.....I'm 3000 miles away at the moment...


I mounted the drivers side switches and controls in the plastic panel below the steering wheel ....I can post pics of that too...

[shadetreevanman]

Originally Posted by JWA

BTW ShadeTreeVanMan---wasn't it you a few days complaining how we make YOU want to spend more money? Is this your revenge?

My work here is done.

A while back I made another purchase I don't think I've posted about, an Aukey Dash Cam, and I added the GPS antenna to it. I like the idea of documenting any accident we may get in, and as we travel into new areas on trips, it will be nice to have video of it. I also bought a 128GB memory card for it. With GPS it stamps the video with location and speed.

Here's a clip from our tour of Lake Hemet a few weeks ago;
https://youtu.be/0_eoQDsGGQ4

What I liked about the Aukey is it reportedly has good nighttime recording, and it mounts very cleanly to the windshield.


Today we got a few little things done. Changed the oil. Finished up the upper cabinet wiring covers. And painted the diesel heater fuel tank with UV Paint and then bed liner paint, leaving a strip to tell how much fuel is in the tank.


When the swing arm is closed the tank is barely visible anyway, but I wanted to protect it from degrading as much as I could. Its a really cheap Chinese tank so anything I do may lengthen its life.

Originally Posted by boywonder

I'd vote for B...heater over lumbar and entire seat back...as far as switch/control mounting..

Thanks boywonder, I'll take that under advisement. I would like to see those pics when you get back. Any ideas are appreciated.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by shadetreevanman

My work here is done.

A while back I made another purchase I don't think I've posted about, an Aukey Dash Cam, and I added the GPS antenna to it. I like the idea of documenting any accident we may get in, and as we travel into new areas on trips, it will be nice to have video of it. I also bought a 128GB memory card for it. With GPS it stamps the video with location and speed.

Yeah I see you gloating now!

The dash cam addition is a wise move IMHO---the features you have if not a normal or standard thing seem to be good moves as well. In these days and times having a video of any incident can prove invaluable.

Looking at your video and a few YouTube reviews that's an interesting brand---very affordable and quality quite acceptable. The GPS add-on would definitely be something well worth considering.

Thanks for sharing that add on!

[shadetreevanman]

Time is running out before we leave on our summer road trip through the Southwest, Cali to San Antonio to Oklahoma. I've been trying to whittle away at a bunch of small little fixes or tweaks. Not going to get the heaters/lumbar support installed as I wished. Not going to help much sitting in a box in the garage, but we leave this Friday afternoon.

As we're traveling into areas that are still receiving rain, or logging 100 degree days, or both at the same time, a camp AC unit seems prudent. In the past I have placed a 5K window unit in the drivers window. At Lake Havasu in the summer it does a good job keeping the van cool. But when we're there it's usually 3-4 days, and the van doesn't move. On this road trip I didn't relish the thought of lugging the window AC unit out of the back and up onto the window sill every night, I would bet sometimes at midnight.

My buddy Casey has a freestanding portable 8K AC unit he uses in his van and was gracious enough to let me borrow it for the trip. I ran it Saturday for a few hours and it did a good job cooling the van off. It fits between the front seats when set up, and rolls back in front of the couch to get strapped in while traveling.

Casey had made a nice window filler to run the exhaust out the drivers window, but, because we always camp in the desert, he didn't make it waterproof. Imagining a night or two in Texas or Oklahoma where its 80-100 degrees and raining, I decided to rebuild the filler with a hood.

First step was to modify the filler to sandwich the top of the glass, and then add a hood. It fits tightly up into the doors window channel, then the window rolls up into a new channel in the bottom edge of the filler.


Once I was happy with the fit I caulked all the corners and shot it in several layers of bed liner outside, and covered it with trunk liner on the inside.


With the vent running through the window, our window reflectix wouldn't fit anymore, so I cut a piece of melamine to size and covered it with trunk liner. A few chunks of plastic were cut to make some quick tabs to hold everything together.


The whole thing sets up quickly, and stores easily. As I'm typing this though I'm thinking I might want to add some screen material over that vent hood opening. Can't be letting the mosquito's in and messing with my sleep.

If needed I have a fan to set on the cabinets blowing directly on us. It's a long ways from the AC unit to the bed area with the cabinets blocking some of that air. Helping to move all that cool air around should keep the bed area nice and cool.

[shadetreevanman]

Well our trip started well a week ago last Friday, but the joy did not last long. As we passed Quartzsite Arizona on I-10, the engine started revving for a couple seconds and then fell back to normal. I was running 85 MPH when it happened passing a semi. I quickly got over and as I did it started free revving again, like I took it out of gear. As I coasted to a stop on the side of the road, it died. When I tried to restart it, it wouldn't turn over. The battery tested fine. Time for a tow truck. I had them tow me to a campground in Quartzsite across from the Auto Parts Store as it was 8:00 PM by now.


The campsite was picturesque to say the least, but at least they had 110 hookups and I had AC. It was warm out that evening.


After sitting overnight the van started just fine but had a loud knocking noise. Crawling under it while it was running, the knocking is coming from the torque converter. I don't think the parts store is going to be able to help me with this one. We started looking into our options to get the van home. As it got up to 104 in Quartzsite the AC unit we borrowed couldn't keep up. We walked down to a restaurant to cool off and finalize our plans. We eventually got towed home Saturday afternoon. After it was safely back in my driveway I started it again. It knocks, but would pull itself forwards and backwards.


After getting home we sat around Saturday and most of Sunday to lick our wounds. We considered cancelling our trip through Texas and Oklahoma, but didn't want to miss out on all the family we would see there. As we had been discussing selling our newer Jeep and getting an older one, and replacing Lady Shadetree's VW Tiguan with a truck, we went out Sunday and bought the truck for the trip. Cancelled our camp sites and booked some motel rooms. The truck rides nice and performs well with 308 HP and an 8 speed, but we both missed the convenience of the van while on the road.


We got back in town Monday but I haven't had time to look at the van yet. I'm assuming something broke in the torque converter. Wondering if it destroyed the trans too? I'm going to drain the fluid and inspect it for metal first. If the fluid is clean I may replace the torque converter, fluid and filter, and see if that's enough.

And I think I'll put a Trans Temp Gauge in while I'm working on it. Fun stuff.

[Otter]

Aw, gee, that really sucks! But it sure sounds like you made the very best of it. And you got a new vehicle out of the deal. Not too bad, overall. Best of luck to you in finding the culprit of this mystery. I always say, I can't seem to have too much good luck in a row. Somethin's gonna happen. Hope it's minor. BTW, I'm impressed with how you folks rolled with it. OM.......

[Kibo]

Wow, talk about taking things in stride! What's that saying, "When life gives you lemons..."?

Hope the problem ends up being relatively simple to solve, best of luck!

[shadetreevanman]

Thanks guys, I keep wondering if I should just get a remanufactured trans and call it done. Looking at the pan on the trans, it looks like my van has a 4R75E 4 speed unit in it.

Hopefully I can pull the trans this weekend and get more info to make my decision. Buying just a torque converter would save me about $1200.

[IanF]

Damn, that sucks. I have such a distrust of automatic transmissions that if my van-build fails for whatever reason, my next dream is something based on a fairly new Dodge Cummins with a 6 spd manual.

Fortunately, I have generally read the E4OD in my '92 is reasonably reliable.

[shadetreevanman]

After further reflection I am just going to bite the bullet and order a remanufactured 4R75E transmission. I would hate to go through the effort of replacing the torque converter just to find out the knocking sound is the pump, or something else internal to the trans.

Searching online, so far I'm leaning towards Street Smart Transmissions, they get great reviews and their core charge / shipping are just the price I like, free, as long as I return the core in time. Their quote is $1780.00 for their updated remanfactured trans and torque Converter, and ships with 12 quarts of Pennzoil Platinum Synthetic Fluid. Haven't pulled the trigger yet, but will likely order it this week.

I already purchased a Temp Gauge, plan to order a trans cooler and remote filter as well.