Blueford T Justice- 2006 E250 4x4

Bikersmurf

Expedition Leader
View attachment 370196View attachment 370194
There was a dent on the back door that was bothering me, so I tried knocking it out, not great, but a little better.
View attachment 370200
The 4.6 V8 in the van is pretty good on gas, and OK on power, but could use a little help with both. I know there is no replacement for displacement, but I figured I'd throw a K & N air filter in. Who knows if it actually does anything for m.p.g. or horsepower, but I figure anything might help.

There's a shop in town here that can make that dent disappear... Likely one in your area also.
 

Jb1rd

Explorer
One of the cool things about living in a small valley, especially one that only has one open car parts store on Sundays, is that you run into random strangers, not strangers, probably even more so when you have a nugget of a cool van like Lucinda. It was great meeting you, now we need to come up with a Western Slope/Colorado meet up and get all these beachin vans together!!
 

chiliVANilli

Adventurer
One of the cool things about living in a small valley, especially one that only has one open car parts store on Sundays, is that you run into random strangers, not strangers, probably even more so when you have a nugget of a cool van like Lucinda. It was great meeting you, now we need to come up with a Western Slope/Colorado meet up and get all these beachin vans together!!

Definitely good to finally meet you and your wife. Sorry to make her sit around while we geeked out over vans. It's kinda funny how you get used to walking out to your van and either see someone fully checking it out or waiting to talk to you about it. Glad someone on here got to see Lucinda up close.
 

Bikersmurf

Expedition Leader
You do get used to the stares....

We've had the odd person almost drive off the road because they're staring at a "Pain Free..." Ambulance rather than watching the road.
 

chiliVANilli

Adventurer
20161008_105138_resized.jpg20161008_110229_resized.jpg
It's been getting cold up here at night and the vinyl seats suck in the morning, and just suck, so some seat covers were necessary. Nothing fancy, but they are Dickies. It's like they were made for these seats and have a provision for the armrests even. They will be way better until I can find something better.
 

Jb1rd

Explorer
It's all good, she is pretty used to me talking with seeming random strangers, or at least she acts like it :) I was just talking with Eric (drives the grey Sprinter) about your rig and how impressive the fab work is, truly awesome to see!! We are also both in agreement that a Western Slope "Meet Up" is in order, even if its just an overnight, which is probably the most practical with all of the whacky resort town schedules anyway.

Definitely good to finally meet you and your wife. Sorry to make her sit around while we geeked out over vans. It's kinda funny how you get used to walking out to your van and either see someone fully checking it out or waiting to talk to you about it. Glad someone on here got to see Lucinda up close.
 

chiliVANilli

Adventurer
Funny stuff, my wife seems "OK" with it, too. Very cool, Eric is a really good friend of mine, I meant to ask if you guys are neighbors when I saw you. It would be fun to get everybody together. Have to be soon, before it gets too cold.
 

chiliVANilli

Adventurer
20161008_161758_resized (1).jpg
All shiny.
20161002_150758_resized.jpg20161017_174735_resized.jpg
I am thankful they installed a seat for me in the van as part of my purchase deal. However, the seat was too close to the front seats and when removed the brackets from the seats are sticking up about 2 1/2" and very in the way. So, away the seat and brackets go.
20161018_183855_resized.jpg20161010_134724_resized.jpg20161010_153906_resized.jpg
The Sprinter van seats' brackets must have been recessed in the floor, and would be way too much work to cut the floor and weld them in. So I made a "spacer" out of MDF and covered it with some carpet I bought from Home Depot. I liked this carpet because it has a rubber backer and bought more to finish the rest of the floor in the van. Anyway, I needed the brackets or whatever they're called to be about 1" above the floor to make them work.
20161018_181842_resized.jpg20161018_181907_resized.jpg
To attach the brackets to floor of the van I used rivnuts or nutzerts, so if I wanted to remove everything, it would only take removing 6 bolts. The "spacer" is going to sit on top of the carpet I will install soon. But for now it's going to go on the rubber mat. I also Gorilla taped the crap ton of holes that were drilled in the floor of the van where the racks were. Gorilla tape is awesome, and maybe not the best sealant, but definitely will not peel. It will not provide much in the way of insulation, but keeps out wind and noise, and the carpet will cover the holes in the rubber mat. Anyway, the seats are way better and way more comfortable. And 3 seat belts! My only complaint is they sit a little high, but it gives you a good view, and I probably won't ever sit back there, and if I do I might be in a state of mind where I won't care.
20161018_184530_resized.jpg20161018_184923_resized.jpg
 

chiliVANilli

Adventurer
20161016_181817_resized.jpg20161016_181803_resized.jpg
I started the insulation process of the van using reflectix. I bought a 2' x 100' for insulating Lucinda and still have enough left over to get a bunch done on "Blueford T Justice".
 

chiliVANilli

Adventurer
20161023_130745_resized.jpg
I got the carpet I decided to use for the floor of the van at good ole Home Depot. Mainly because we live in a small town and there really isn't any other choice. But It really seems like good stuff, and was $4.46 per linear foot, so $70.00 to do the floor of the van. It is coated with rubber on the back, but still pretty pliable. It comes 6' wide and I got 15' so I could cover the floor in one piece. They only had this style in black, so I'm not sure if it comes in other colors. It's pretty soft, too.
20161023_143957_resized.jpg20161023_151616_resized.jpg
Besides having to pull the seats out to put it in, it was fairly easy and came out pretty good, I think. I still need to figure out what to do for the wheel wells. I left the factory rubber mat under it for maximum insulation and padding. Do you think there might be any issues with that or Ok, because I have 2 rubber barriers between the carpet and floor. I'm going to need all the protection I can get get with 2 kids and a dog back there.
20161023_195437_resized.jpg20161023_171042_resized.jpg20161023_195338_resized.jpg20161023_195722_resized.jpg
It molded itself pretty well to fender wells in the front of the front seats, and was pretty easy to cut and fit behind the trim pieces.
20161023_195415_resized.jpg20161023_195806_resized.jpg20161023_171304_resized.jpg
And the"spacer" for the seat brackets blends in pretty in nicely, and since I used the rivnuts in the floor, I can remove it if necessary. I can also just take out the seat and the "spacer" doesn't really get in the way. The carpet definitely helped knock out a bunch of road noise, but I am not sure of it's insulative quality. I'm pretty sure I am going to use it to finish out the rest of the interior walls, and for my other van "Lucinda".
 

chiliVANilli

Adventurer
Really diggin the carpeted floor. I'm pretty impressed with the looks and quietness it provides. I didn't think it would make such a big difference. Now I can hear all of the rattles.
 

philos

Explorer
I'd be wary of trusting rivet nuts in the factory sheet metal to hold the weight of a seat with my child in it if I had a crash.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

luthj

Engineer In Residence
Seats and belts need bolts with backing plates. Rivnuts do not have sufficient pull out strength in most cases unless you use a large number of them. Seat belts need to have 3,000 lbs or more pull out strength to pass the motor vehicle safety standard.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,798
Messages
2,878,294
Members
225,352
Latest member
ritabooke
Top