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Old 03-27-2013, 09:46 AM   #581
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Re: Hal The Van

WVvan, just looking over your thread as I am about to fit swivel bases. I am totally impressed by the talking cat. He's huge! Oh, and thanks for the posting with the swivel seat install.

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Old 04-02-2013, 10:30 PM   #582
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Re: Hal The Van

You're welcome Witoke and Tiger's not huge. He's just big boned.

I have a 4.2L engine and have no idea how any of the following relates to other sizes/types of engines.

Made the mistake of letting Hal sit over the winter without running the engine enough so on one of the first nice days I went to start it up and after a hard start there was this loud squeal from under the hood and the smell of hot rubber. Quickly stopped the engine and came to find the alternator had froze up.

Say hello to my new friend.


In replacing the alternator I've had my first experience with a serpentine belt. Last time I had to do something like this they were still called "fan belts". Found the belt tensioner to be a real bear to move enough to get the old belt off. Knew I'd need some help getting a new belt on. Right next door to the auto parts store is a hardware store. So when I went to get the new alternator also picked up a 3' long length of 3/8" threaded rod and a couple nuts. $3 and some change.

I've never done this before so don't know if there is a easier way but this worked for me. Back at home along with the threaded rod I got a short length of 2x4 , a scrap piece of angle iron and my breaker bar.


Drill a 3/8" hole in the angle iron such that the threaded rod is close enough to the breaker bar handle to prevent the handle from turning but allow it to slide back and forth.






Saw a notch across the 2x4 near the end.


Take the 2x4 out to the van and place it across the engine compartment so that the notch is resting in the metal lip on the back side of the compartment. The notch prevents the 2x4 from sliding forward as pressure is applied.
Use the threaded rod like a plumb bob and mark a vertical line on the side of the 2x4 so that the rod will hang between the fan blades and the engine block. Use the drawn line as a guide for the angle to drilling a hole through the 2x4. I used the next sized up drill bit from 3/8" so the rod won't bind in the 2x4. Install the 2x4 with the threaded rod so it's hanging to the right of the shaft on the fan blades. Use a washer between the 3/8" nut and the 2x4.


This is the view from underneath the van looking up. Fan blades are at the bottom of the picture and the engine block is at the top. I have the breaker bar socket on the tensioner pulley.


Also looking up. This is the the other end of the breaker bar. I've added the angle iron to the end of the threaded rod and by tightening the bolt have raised this end of the breaker bar .


This is the view from the top looking down. You can see the breaker bar on the tensioner pulley.


Again looking down. The other end of the breaker bar is held between the threaded rod and the angle iron. As the nut above the 2x4 is tightened it raises this end of the breaker bar. Notice the shaft for the fan blades. Had to be sure I didn't raise the bar so far that it came in contact with the shaft.


With the threaded rod in place lifting the tensioner I installed a new serpentine belt. Nothing here interferes with the placement of the belt. If the belt didn't slip right over all the pulleys I just cranked down on the bolt above the 2x4 until the tensioner was moved some more. Then with the belt correctly routed I cranked up on the rod a little at a time slowly increasing the belt tension while checking the fit on each pulley. Here's the view again from the bottom looking up with the belt partially routed.


That's it. So I put all the bits of the engine back together that I had to remove to do this work including the housing for the air filter and picked up all my tools. Weren't any nuts or bolts/screws left over so must have done it right. There's that certain feeling of self-satisfaction with a job well done. So I happily hop into the drivers seat to take my take my victory lap and ... the van won't start.

Mother pus bucket!

Anyway that's were I am at the moment. Have got it narrowed down to the fuel pump. Don't know yet if it's electrical or mechanical. On the bright side, if it's mechanical I know just where I can get some help.
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Old 04-03-2013, 07:36 AM   #583
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Re: Hal The Van

"Mother Pus Bucket", I'll be tacking that on somewhere, sometime... prolly by accident
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Old 04-03-2013, 08:25 AM   #584
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Re: Hal The Van

Not one of my own:

[youtube:3cn1geay]
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Old 04-03-2013, 11:33 AM   #585
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Re: Hal The Van

Regarding the serpentine belt replacement, I just did mine a few weeks ago too. I found that my 1/2" Craftsman ratchet wrench coupled with a long pipe for extra leverage worked just fine. I had bought a belt tool set from Harbor Freight that had a long cheater-type bar just for tensioners, but it really didn't work very well due to the limited space in the van engine compartment. Using the ratchet allowed me to position the wrench exactly where I wanted it in order to get maximum leverage.
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Old 04-07-2013, 08:18 PM   #586
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Re: Hal The Van

Didn't try a cheater on the breaker bar. Remember that for next time.

I'm happy to say that Hal is back on the road. Along with the new alternator it needed a new fuel pump.

To be absolutely sure my starting problem was the pump I jumpered the fuel pump relay. This provides power to the pump without running the engine.


This is the connector for the fuel pump that's located under the van in the area of the fill hose.


With the jumper in place I would plug this in and out and listen. Could hear the pump "thump" but not run. After doing this a few times the pump would start to run. Time for a new pump.

I bought this Delphi fuel pump at NAPA. They didn't have it in stock so had to order it a day ahead of time. The pump was around $150. Need a new strainer along with the pump. With taxes it all came to $191.


The pump included a new fuel pump assembly gasket, pump sleeve, short length of hose with clamps and adapter plug.

I'd removed the fuel pump assembly once before which was the good news. The bad news was I'd laid flooring in the van since then over the access hatchway. So had to choose the lesser of two evils. Either remove everything and or do some digging. Decided to dig.

This is the after picture. Used a angle grinder with a cutting wheel to do the deed. Could have been a bit more careful but nothing I can't fix.


Now check this out. I'm taking this as a sign I'm living right. Notice the edge of the hatch. It is just shy of being under the house battery rack. If that had been a couple of inches in the other direction this job would have gotten a lot harder. I'd love to say I did that on purpose but it's pure happenstance.


Here's the view after I removed the floor hatch. The conduit for the kitchen power is running across the top of the fuel pump assembly. I was able to just move that out of the way.


Removed the fuel pump assembly and brought it to the work bench. Here's the original fuel pump. First thing remove the bracket the holds the pump.


Cut the rubber hose that connects the top of the pump to the assembly and slide out the pump. It fits into that "U" shape at the bottom of the assembly.


Unplug the old pump and plug in the new adapter. Make sure the plug locks in place.


Remove the old hose from the metal outlet line. Slide the new pump into it's included sleeve. Mount the pump into the assembly and use that to measure the new hose. It will need to be trimmed before installation. Here I've already cut the hose and installed one of the screw hose clamps.


Install the new strainer on the bottom of the pump. I almost messed up this step by not pushing the strainer on far enough. There is a small plastic post on the bottom of the pump that goes into a locking ring on the strainer. The locking ring should be pushed down on the post till it bottoms out. I needed a small screwdriver but be careful where you push. Plug the pump into the adapter.


All tightened down and ready to go.


Installed the new pump back in the van and it started right up. Finally could take my victory lap. Much happiness ensued.

Back to repairing the floor. First the foam layer.


Then the wood layer.


Hole? What hole?


Gotta love the adhesive backed tile squares. That's it.
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Old 04-21-2013, 10:34 PM   #587
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Re: Hal The Van

I had always intended to have a central electrical system but couldn't come up with a satisfactory plan. The van has house power but it was always wired up in a temporary fashion.

You can see from this photo taken while repairing the fuel pump that I had a nice rats nest of wires going to the temporary fuse panel.


It was while doing that repair I had one of my flashes of inspiration and suddenly knew how everything would fit together.

Here are some of the main elements of the electrical system. On the left is the inverter. The yellow box is the battery charger and the white one is the solar controller.


Along with these I'll need a main breaker and fuse panel. So where to mount everything? I decide to make an acrylic breaker panel.


It's constructed it to be mounted on the front of the battery rack. It will be bolted to the frame and screwed to the floor.


Start to populate the panel. This is the main breaker/on-off switch. Next to it is a shunt resister that's used to measure current flow to and from the battery bank.


Next add the first of two fuse holders on the front of the panel and on the back side a terminal strip for grounds.


That's a good start to the panel but I had to order more parts. Now what about the other components. Why not stack them?


Get some 1/8" thick flat steel and take measurements.


Then start cutting and bending.


Looks about right.


Repeat.


Create mounting holes for each box.




Clean them up then paint.


Check how they will fit together.




See how it works in the van.


Screw them into place.


continued.
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Old 04-25-2013, 10:18 PM   #588
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Re: Hal The Van

Electrical System continued

The parts I ordered came in. Here is the second fuse holder installed on the breaker panel.


This is a 50 amp circuit breaker for the output of the solar controller. Since the automotive style fuses I'm using have an upper limit of 30 amps this separate breaker was needed.


The breaker panel installed. Ignore the rats nest of wires on the right.Haven't attached them yet.


Close up of the panel. At the top a 1/0 gauge wire runs from the positive battery terminal to the shunt resistor. On the load side of the 150 amp circuit breaker is another 1/0 gauge wire that runs to the positive terminal on the inverter. This heavy duty wire gauge is what was recommended in the inverter manual. It will be by far the biggest electrical draw on the house batteries.


Also attached to the load side of the main breaker are wires to the two fuse holders and the output from the solar controller. The battery separator isn't yet wired up.

This is the view looking down on the back of the battery charger (top) and the inverter under it. You can see the other end of the 1/0 gauge wire (red) that runs to the main breaker. Next to it is a black 1/0 gauge wire that runs to the negative terminal on the house batteries. I've wired the battery charger output to the inverter terminals with a inline 20 amp fuse. Since the inverter and battery charger shouldn't be in service at the same time I thought it was OK for them to share terminals.


I don't much like how close the opposing terminals are on the back of the inverter so after taking the picture I completely covered the positive terminal with electrical tape.

Inverter powered up.


This is the main grounding bolt. It's a copper bolt with a copper washer and you can see I removed the paint below the washer so to get a good contact with the van body. The black wire is a 4 gauge that runs to a negative terminal on the house battery.


Underneath the van this bolt is attached to a copper grounding strap that runs to the van frame.




The red wire on the grounding bolt runs to this terminal strip on the back of the breaker panel. I trimmed a copper sheet to make common connections across one side of this terminal strip. This is my grounding terminal block.


The 1/0 gauge wires are very stiff. I've set up the breaker panel so that after unbolting the two 1/0 gauge wires it can be freed up.


So it's easier to work on.




Here I've started sorting and hooking up the rats nest.


Lesson learned the hard way. Label each wire. Now just have to remember to not lose the notebook I've written them in.


On to the shore power. I'd previously installed an outside plug that ran to a temporary inside socket. Now for something a little more permanent.


GFI output.


Next up the van's main 110 AC distribution panel. You can see it at the bottom of this picture.


Yeah, It's a power strip. I did spend extra to get a name brand. It's a Tripp Lite with a 15 amp breaker and it comes with a $1000 equipment replacement guarantee. Still made in China though.

Here's how my AC power is set up. The AC outlets in the van are wired to plugs. They will all be plugged into this power strip. When I'm camping and away from shore power, which is most of the time, the power strip is plugged into the inverter which provides my 110 AC.


If I'm using shore power then I just unplug the power strip from the inverter and plug it into the GFI output that's wired to the outside. Very simple.


Notice that the second GFI outlet is taken up by the plug for the battery charger. This way the battery charger is only energized when the van is hooked to shore power.

As usual I had to have the supervisor sign off on my work before I could quit for the day.


Next up. Solar Panels.
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Old 05-04-2013, 11:43 PM   #589
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Re: Hal The Van

Solar Panels

I purchased two Kyocera KD185GX solar panels a while ago not thinking it would have taken me as long as it did to get to this stage in the build. In the interim they have just been sitting around getting dusty while the prices for solar panels have been dropping. D'Oh.

The panels are each 52-3/4" x 39". There are four mounting holes on each long side for 5/16" bolts. According to the installation instructions these are the only holes to be used for bolting down the panels. If I was to run bolts straight through those holes into the penthouse top they would penetrate into the living space. That raises the possibility of a leak inside the van. Have to think of something else.

I've read that Sportsmobile installs their solar panels by using 3M VHB tape to stick the panels to the roof. I gave that some thought but decided against it. One person has already posted about how their panels flew off the roof while traveling on the interstate when the VHB tape failed.

So I'll have to come up with some way to bolt them to the roof but outside of the canvas penthouse. This is the view with the penthouse raised. You're looking up underneath penthouse top with the canvas on the left.


Here's a closer view. Notice the ridge to the right of where the canvas meets the penthouse top. This marks the edge of the wood reinforcement that's embedded inside the fiberglass when the penthouse top was constructed.


If I'm going to run any bolts through the penthouse top they will have to be aligned so that they are outside the canvas but penetrate the wood reinforcement for strength. That gives me about 1-1/2" to work with on each side of the top.


I'll insert a warning disclaimer here. From what I've read the different Sportsmobile franchises use different types of penthouse tops. Also the tops have changed over the years. So everything I'm writing here only applies to my top. Yours might be totally different.

Measured the penthouse on top and it's about 56" across but it's edges are not straight so the width varies. With the panels mounted cross-wise that leaves about a 1-1/2" for a custom made bracket to extend beyond the edge of the solar panel. This way the panel is bolted to the bracket and the bracket is bolted through the penthouse top.

Make the brackets out of 1" square steel tube. Two of the brackets will be shared between two panels so I'll need six total. Made them 14" long which allows me to cover both mounting holes but still have extra room for moving them back and forth for the final fit.


The panels will be bolted through the square tube but I'll add a piece of 2" angle iron to the end for the bolt through the top. Here I'm eyeballing the angle iron along with a 5/16" bolt trying to guess what would be the best width. Settled on 1-1/2"


The six brackets with the angle iron welded to the ends. You can't see it in this picture but the angle iron is positioned so that the bottom edge of the square tube will be raised above the level of the roof. This is to provide clearance for the bolt heads that will extend through the tube.


With the brackets made I had a better idea of the dimensions involved. Double checked my figures then did the deed. Drilled through the roof from underneath.


Took my time. This drill bit has a sharp point. When the point started to protrude I stopped drilling from underneath.


Finished drilling the hole from above. Did this as a precaution to prevent splitting on the fiberglass top.


No backing out now.


Measured the thickness of the top at the hole. Thought the info might come in handy later. It did.


Using the distance from the front edge of the top as a guide I drilled a corresponding hole on the opposite side of the top. Now to get the distance between them. Put a bolt thought each hole and measured.


Transpose that measurement to the brackets on the solar panel. It should be 55-9/16" to the outside edge of the bolts.


Use clamps to hold the brackets tight to the solar panels. Reach in under the lip of the panel and use a sharp screw to etch the outline of the mounting holes onto the bracket.


Drill two holes in the bracket. Use them to bolt the bracket to the panel.


Check the measurements again. Etch the other bracket and drill it.


Bolt both brackets to the solar panel and hoist it to the top of the penthouse to check my measurements.


Well I'll be. The holes line up.


At this point it was getting late and it was supposed to rain the next day. So before quitting I got the remaining epoxy bought for waterproofing the greywater tank.


Mixed up a small batch and used that to coat the inside of the bolt holes. If water should get into the wooden core of the penthouse top it could cause problems. Hopefully this will prevent it. Did this three times for each hole I put through the top. Allowed the epoxy to fully set up between applications.


Covered the two holes with duck tape.

continued.
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Open the pod bay doors Hal.

Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
https://larry.wvnet.edu/~van/pics/lic...late-small.jpg
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Old 05-06-2013, 12:32 AM   #590
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Re: Hal The Van

Should you flip the mounting bolts in case the sharper edge of the bolt may rub on your canvas ? As always great stuff.
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