Look what just drove up in my driveway, it's Rusty!

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by Belltownbikes

Hey Scott, those are nice wheels - are they 8 X 6.5" bolt pattern? If so, where did you find them?

Yes, they are 8x6.5 (aka 8x165). Pretty much any tire shop can get them for you, as well as several online places I found. Just Google Eagle 100 series. They are pretty cheap too (110-150). Mine are 16x8 but they make several sizes and offsets.

Thanks!

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by rionapo

Who cares about diesel vs. gasser when it all comes down to good looking wheels & tires with a lift?

Don

Thanks Don!

[REF]

Very nice! Love the transformation, wheels/tires!!
Reminds me, need to get the rest of my windows tinted, just did the front 2 years ago. Hope to see you out there again, join us for the Alaska trip? When's the suspension expected? How's Ramsey doing with all the demand for his kit, thinking about an upgrade for myself too....

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by REF

Very nice! Love the transformation, wheels/tires!!
Reminds me, need to get the rest of my windows tinted, just did the front 2 years ago. Hope to see you out there again, join us for the Alaska trip? When's the suspension expected? How's Ramsey doing with all the demand for his kit, thinking about an upgrade for myself too....

Thanks amigo. We are planning a PNW trip this summer, 3 weeks from TN out to Cali, up to Seattle and back across, probably through Glacier and Yellowstone/Tetons on the way back South East. When are y'all headed up? It seems like a lot of folks are going to be there this summer. Perhaps we could do a PNW meet up that would put some of us together?

I did my front suspension yesterday, but 2 parts got lost by UPS apparently. I've got to talk to Ramsey about that. I'll do the rear in the next couple of days so I'll update. I also got my roof rack done. It's a home build and I really like it so far.

[larrie]

PNW meet up sounds good to me.

[86Scotty]

Well I've been pretty busy with Rusty. I got all the parts assembled for my Agile Offroad Fox Ride Improvement Package, and boy is it! A couple of weekends ago started out like this:



Having only 20k, everything under it should've come right apart, but it didn't get named Rusty for nuthin'. Here are the front springs after obviously just being driven in snow and then parked for years



Here's during the cleanup. I couldn't do my final sandblasting and painting until I had the old suspension out of the way



Here's a teaser of the new goodies!



I won't miss you!



Here's the new goodies mounted on the front. By the time I got to the rear I was way too busy and tired to take any pics







The only Fox damper Ramsey could presently get me had a different mount on both ends so I had to fab one up. Not beautiful but with the material I had on hand it worked out fine



Here's the finished, errr almost finished product. I'm not totally happy with the slight sag in the rear. I'm thinking of adding taller blocks. I went with 3.5"s per Ramseys recommendation but 3.5"s are actually 3"s and with the factory leafs and the van loaded it's still squatting a little



This is the only full van pic that shows it, I need to take some better ones. Anyway, Ramsey's kit is great and I can't say enough good things about the kit or the customer service. Ramsey was great about explaining many things to me and giving me lots of shortcuts and help on the install.

More to come..............

[86Scotty]

Just before the suspension install I finally got my roof rack and box worked out. I found a big Thule box on CL and grabbed it, but it was silver. Hmmm, what to do. My wife's car is silver so I don't want to spray bomb it and permanently deface that smooth original paint.



Oh yeah, Plasti-Dip!!!! 3 cans to be exact, and 100% reversable.



Next, I got some 1.25" square tubing, about the same weight as Yakima bars, and took advantage of most of the holes left by the original rusty chrome roof rack I removed. I just fabbed up some L-brackets out of angle to give me a VERY low profile rack. I was shooting for as little height and wind noise as possible. Mission accomplished.





Don't mind the primer on the roof. My roof paint is toast and will be painted pretty soon. For now I wanted it useable, and you can't see it anyway. I added my butchered cheapo roof basket I had left over from Tryptovan to the front and I really like the look of the whole thing. My stove rides up there since it's pretty greasy and funky, and pretty soon I'll throw a solar panel on it.



For my next trick I called Derek to get a side ladder. Then his whole world flooded. Then I waited. Then he moved in to a new shop. Then I waited. Then about 5 more of you got your new CCV tops done. Then I..............got a box in the mail!
As always, Derek came through with a solid product.



Man, I can't say enough about the ease of accessing your stuff on the roof with a side ladder. Super sweet. I'll never have a van without one again.

more to come...............

[86Scotty]

I forgot to mention I got some smooth plugs for the roof bars from McMaster Carr. They came in handy for my spare rack I built too



Instead of a swingarm mount I'm planning to keep my step bumper and use this style that SMB originally put on the van, though I built a lot beefier one to replace the original. I would have holes in my back door if I didn't go with this type anyway. So far, it's pretty strong and even worked great with a Trasharoo stuffed full of wet beach gear. Woohoo Trasharoo! That thing is great.





Oh, yeah, got my windows tinted too. Limo (5%) all around except for legal on the driver's and passenger doors. Just like the wheels, it made a huge difference in the overall look of the van.



I've been pretty busy, so I took the clan and the van and went to the beach...............and sat in the rain............for two days. Then things improved.



Destin had lots of rain runoff coming from the dunes down to the Gulf, and the sand is really pretty there anyway. I got much better shots with the real camera. Hey, where is it?



Taking advantage of a much awaited sunny day to dry out all of our wet chairs, etc.



I would love to boondock on the beach but I don't know of anywhere in the Southeast where you can. This campground we go to is so nice anyway we can't help but live in luxury down there when we go. It's as meticulous as a golf course.

We did about 1000 miles on the maiden voyage of Rusty and it did great. First and foremost, my wife loves the layout and user friendly nature of a well thought out SMB floor plan. That is the biggest accomplishment. I'm about to rebuild the cabinetry but largely it will stay the same with improved materials. We had a nice week off and the van was super to travel in, averaging 10-11 mpg with the big 460. Yeah, I know but it's paid for at least so all I have to pay for is fuel!

More to come.................

[mikracer]

Wow, what a transformation! Your rig looks great with everything you've done. Can't wait to see how the interior turns out.

[86Scotty]

continued...........I really like the newer style SMB propane doors. Mine had the old square piece of sheet metal, but it fell off before I took possession of the van. I ordered the newer style assuming it would just mount over the hole for the old one. I was wrong. The old door and hole are taller, so I had to retrofit and lower the newer style door to make it work. The newer style has a plastic tray on the inside, which requires much more of the sheetmetal of the van to be cut out so that it just drops in. I removed the tray very carefully with a rotary tool, trying to not compromise the strength of the door, and had to mount it a little higher than was intended, but it turned out ok. If I had just cut the hole bigger to fit the newer door/tray, it would not have worked due to the smaller, old style hole being taller. Hope that makes sense. I still like it better than the old style, I will just have to fill in the gaps with sealant after I paint it, black of course. I am considering doing a black strip of Rhino lining around the bottom of the van anyway, where the factory textured paint is at the bottom (the bottom 6-8") so then the black door would blend in better. Why not just leave it the color it is, you ask? It was pure luck that SMB sent me a door almost the same color as my van. I didn't plan it. The problem is that when the sun hits it, it's actually quite a contrast.







More to come............