AmboVan Restarted

[jjohnny350]

Ive been lurking on this one for a while Tony. Great build, I love your ambulance. I thought my 4x4 van was good, this has me lusting, very cool. What mtb is that you have that I saw the front fork of in an interior shot? Keep up the good work.

 

[hobietony]

Ive been lurking on this one for a while Tony. Great build, I love your ambulance. I thought my 4x4 van was good, this has me lusting, very cool. What mtb is that you have that I saw the front fork of in an interior shot? Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the kind words. Bummer is that I haven't had any time to devote to van building since mid-December - Good news is that in a week, I will be out of a job. Gave my notice a couple weeks ago, not nearly enough life in the work-life balance. So, a couple of months of solid van work should get me a lot closer to done, got a gainfully employed spouse, so no poorhouse right away (who is becoming more supportive of this decision - I better make sure the house is clean and dinner is ready!) Going to work small jobs for a year or so, plan out the next phase of life - which will include travelling in a finished AmboVan. So, stay tuned.

BTW, didn't see the shot you were talking about, but my main squishy bike is a Titus El Guapo, it has made me pretty happy. Not exactly a racer on the climbs, more of a sit and spin in the granny gear, but it is a chomping monster on the downhills. Looking to riding that a bit more after I unemploy myself, get my fitness back up to snuff. Wife wins on that one too! (as long a dinner is ready, of course)

 

[hobietony]

Working Again

On the van, that is...

Finishing that rack I last updated before Christmas -

Bracing at the upper AC holder

Ug. At least these will be high and hard to see

Planning for the light rack

Built

So, these flat and straight welds don't look bad, but I just cant put those curved tubes together yet without resorting to a bunch on overlapping tack welds

Tabs for the tire tie-downs

Aluminum for the AC to sit on - The router was a failed experiment in aluminum machining, save yourself the trouble, and the ruined router bit

Picking it up from the powdercoater

Sitting on sawhorses for now, up on the roof soon.

 

[hobietony]

I've got gas

Propane, that is. While the roof rack was off at the powdercoaters, started working on getting the propane tank I salvaged from the doner RV mounted in the ambo.

Got the old tank wire-wheeled, with a fresh coat of rattlecan rustoleum.

This is probably important to someone...

It makes sense to put the tank in one of the compartments, with door access, but that compartment needs to be open to the outside, so the propane wont build up in the event of a leak. So, I chopped the bottom out of the port-side bottom compartment. This exposed the supports for the rock sliders, and soon to be supports for the propane tank

This part caused me the greatest concern - the mounting fins on the tank were not going to work, so I needed to remove them - and the tank is still about 1/3 full of propane. Blowing up the garage and myself would have been a setback. This first cut was done with a porta-band, but the final cut used a sawsall blade with VERY frequent stops to cool the cut with a wet rag. Final smoothing was with a flap wheel, again taking great pains to keep the cut cool.

Cradle for the tank between the slider supports - Cutout is for the bottom drain (?) fitting on the tank

So far, so good

Need to hold it down...

Installed

Rock deflectors installed

Next step will be to install a shelf above the tank, this will seal to the door, and have the remaining compartment space above the tanks still be a useful sealed storage area. Caught up again...

 

[225]

That LPG tank is sick! Love the metal work.

 

[bknudtsen]

Solid work! Nice to see progress again.

 

[Kole]

I am strangely obsessed with this build. Keep it up!

 

[4lowdean]

I am strangely obsessed with this build. Keep it up!

You're not the only one. I am planning something similar once I am done with school... so hopefully it's not too strange.


+++

hobietony : Do you have a weight figure on the rack?

 

[hobietony]

hobietony : Do you have a weight figure on the rack?

I was curious also, checked it - Right around 120#

 

[Abitibi]

That's an awesome rack

Any issues with the propane tank being over 10 yrs old?


Sent from my iPorn using Tapatalk

 

[hobietony]

Any issues with the propane tank being over 10 yrs old?

I sure hope not! It passed my visual inspection at least, and the propane in it has not leaked out. I suppose I will find out if anyone will fill it...

 

[witt]

Nice work Tony! Sounds like this thing is really shaping up. Also good to hear you have travel plans in your future!

 

[rebar]

Great work and I enjoyed the pictures.. Almost done?

 

[hobietony]

Propane finish

Well, a hut trip to the San Juans and a week+ of working on my neighbors house set me back a touch, but back to the van this week.

When I set the location of the tank, I knew the valves and protective shield would be into the door a bit

So, needed to build a recess into the door interior panel. Salvaged some of the material from the roof removal, and built a recess box.

Replaced the key lock with another matching barrel lock (only a few more to go...), and lined the aluminum panel with butyl for soundproofing and de-clanginess

Built a new shelf above the tank, the rest of the compartment will be sealed from the open area below

Welds to the existing box, all these got covered with a bead of sikaflex (Thank goodness)

Got the regulator and the pigtail all plumbed up, put new trim seal around the compartment, and a 'D' bulb seal across the front of the shelf to complete the waterproofing of the upper shelf area. I was feeling pretty good at this point, went to close the door and move on, and found out that the regulator hit the door also. A little work this morning with a 4" hole saw and some aluminum tubing, and I had a recess for that as well.

Rack goes on the roof next.

 

[Abitibi]

Looking goooooood!
Sure comes handy to give it a try at aluminum welding...

Cheers
Mr. D