"Q" Flight's RB E250 Quigley Build

flightcancled

Explorer
I wasn't going to start a build thread yet, but Pat insisted.

Picked this up 2 days ago after stalking it on Craigslist for the last 3 months. Didn't really think I would ever buy it, but with my beloved 4cyl Tacoma creeping over 270,000 miles the time has come to find a new rig.

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This was originally ordered and set up as a work van for a communications company. It's a 2001 Quigley conversion of a plain jane regular base E250. Not sure how standard issue her conversion was, but I was surprised to find out she has 1 ton axels with manual locking hubs in the front. They outfitted her with a roof top spot light, block heater, shelves (removed), etc.

The previous owner bought Q to use as a work van for his contracting company. As a gearhead he couldn't help but immediately decide to make it a toy. He completely rebuilt the front end, added front and rear Iron Cross bumpers, LED fogs and the rims/tires. Eventually his wife noticed and shut it down.

My first look at her 2 weeks ago:
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You can see heavy sticker residue in the rear. The passenger side was a mess with the stuff. It took hours yesterday to get the sticker residue off, and clean out the years of grime from the rear door jams and locking mechanisms that hold the barn doors open.

Q's rockers are a little rough, and although the orange is starting to grow on me, I can't see picking up chicks with that bad boy. She will be heading out to a body shop to get some new metal, and then a color swap to either a sand or grey Raptor Liner, followed by an undercoating.

The inside is nothing but metal and seats, so I'll be posting up as I get her insulated and fitted.

(Oh, and as far as Black Friday Ambulance and my absence of late: Yes I have it, but no I don't really want to talk about it. I have been getting ripped off by a dirtbag of a mechanic and more or less try to forget about it on any given day. At this point I have had to start exploring legal options. Hopefully I will get her back soon. Painful to say the least for many reasons.)
 

4x4pair

Adventurer
I love the color! I might be biased though...

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flightcancled

Explorer
Road noise on the ride home was unreal so I added deadening. Insulation will go on top, but unlike my ambo build I am going to do only a moderate amount of insulation and simply plan on going with an espar. Ultimately it is probably cheaper and easier to go directly to overkill.
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Pulled out the vynel mat the previous owner installed. Not sure if it is OEM, but it has closed cell foam which perfectly fits the van floor and levels everything out. May as well power wash it and toss it back in. Worst case it will be a good base layer under carpet and save me a bunch of time leveling the floor.

Unfortunately I realized that when he added a rear seat for his kids he welded the sucker in. "Hello, and good afternoon reasons why I drink!"

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Pulled out the 12v halogen light that the communication company had installed and went back to the house power box to remove the wiring. What a beautifully empty box. Ambulance builders will understand how happy this made me. No back and forth nightmares of pulling things out just to put them back on this build. All work will be forward progress.
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Not sure why they even bothered to leave these in the van. To Craigslist with you!

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The rear of the van has been scrubbed and vacuumed out. I was hoping to be applying POR15 to the floor tomorrow, but the seat will have to meet the grinder first followed by some prep for surface rust.

Oddly in all my previous research and cruising on here I always skipped this stage of builds. It didn't apply to me before. I'm somewhat adrift when it comes to the best way to button up the walls. I'm thinking ferring strips and some stained 1/4 plywood maybe. Although it is very temping to simply hunt down some panels in a junk yard. I've been looking for hours but I can't find any discussion on the pros and cons of one over the other. One thing that comes to mind is that making my own panels would allow me to cut out some of the interior wall supports to gain a little more room in the back. Then again if I am cramming gear in there I may warp the panels from the inside.

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flightcancled

Explorer
I got it at 13 with some bonus goodies. He had just dropped ~7k into it so that seemed fair.

The seat came out, and the floor has been and prepped for POR15. I'd rather grind off more paint and rust now than have to come back later. Hopefully between this on top and future undercoating the body will be around and looking good for a long time.

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gtbensley

Explorer
Nice buy! Maybe I am missing it but whats it got for a motor and how many miles? Looks like a great platform to build from.
 

patoz

Expedition Leader
It looks like a good platform to start building from, Alex. It's like a blank canvas with lots of potential.

If he welded the rear seat directly to the sheet metal, I'll bet there is bare metal underneath and probably rust by now, from the heat.
 

flightcancled

Explorer
Off the top of my head I think 125k miles. You could eat off the engine though!

He burned through in a couple of the hard to reach places. I'll just seal it up after the POR15 dries. Soon enough I'll be underneath to determine if I want to pay for a professional undercoating or just POR15 or ....

I tore out all the plastic hole filler things and the rust had gone throuhh in the rear near the back left door so there will be a few spots to address.

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flightcancled

Explorer
Painted.
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Thought I had the T55+ kicking around still in my kit, but unfortunately the seats will have to wait until tonight to get pulled so I can do the front as well. No reason to let the leftover paint harden. I lost 1/3 of my gallon can of POR15 by letting it sit for just 3 weeks last time.

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tgreening

Expedition Leader
Painted.
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Thought I had the T55+ kicking around still in my kit, but unfortunately the seats will have to wait until tonight to get pulled so I can do the front as well. No reason to let the leftover paint harden. I lost 1/3 of my gallon can of POR15 by letting it sit for just 3 weeks last time.

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How do you store it? Air is the killer, even just the air left in the empty space of the can. What I usually do is take some plastic kitchen wrap, or even a bit of plastic grocery bag, and push it down into the can right to the top of the fluid and up against the sidewall of the can. I leave it overlap the top of the can and pound the lid right down over it. This has always worked for me.

I like the orange. If nothing else it's different from most everyone else. I think I've seen one other floating around here, a ujoint job I believe. If the color is ok for you but just too bright, you can buy some plasti-dip clear coat and spray it with that. I'm pretty sure their clear over regular paint ends up giving it a slight matt finish. Look at it as a cheap removable 100% wrap to protect your paint. :)

Looking forward to see what you do with the inside. Welcome back!
 

flightcancled

Explorer
I had it staged in my barn with plastic wrap in the lid and sealed with tape. Seems that the problem with buying a gallon container is you need to use it all quickly, especially in the summer or if it is only a third full. Thankfully this time around I only needed about a quart.
 
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flightcancled

Explorer
The front end came apart, got treated, sound deadened and went back together again in a marathon grinder last night.

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I've started doing my sound deadening this way. The small strips as a second layer make a big difference in the sound signature and cutting down vibrations.

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patoz

Expedition Leader
I've seen kitchen sinks with strips added like that to deaden the noise. I just wonder how they know where to place them!
 

flightcancled

Explorer
I just knock the metal with my knuckles and look for areas with major vibrations. Flat spots are the obvious place to start.

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