1992 Dodge W250 Cummins / VW Vanagon Abomination *MAY CAUSE BLINDNESS*

[Karmann Vandiego]

Greetings Adventurers!

Let me apologize for my absence. After a dispute with my landlord (unrelated to the abomination), I wrapped up the project for a bit and started focusing on something a little smaller. I recently began turning the back half of the white van into an off road adventure trailer. Though I have not made any progress on the abomination, it has been therapeutic to see progress on something.

I will soon be looking for a new space to live and tinker, which will give me the freedom to continue with the monster project.

Adventure Trailer From Vanagon Chop

While taking a break from a much larger project, I decided to fill some of my time and expel some of my creativity into an adventure trailer. The base to the trailer is this, the cast off back end from my monster build...

expeditionportal.com

 

[Karmann Vandiego]

Well, after spending the last couple of months wallowing in self pity, I pulled myself up out of a rut and finished the trailer I planned to build. It came out great and really gave my mind a boost.



That leads us to today. Why should things be so stagnant? Why should I shelf my craziest project yet? Why should I conform?!

******** the land lord. Let's get weird.

 

[ITTOG]

What a great spot for glamour shots for your trailer.

 

[Karmann Vandiego]

What a great spot for glamour shots for your trailer.

Thanks! Indeed, it is a very photogenic area. I have lost count of how many times I have stopped there even to just hang out. It always has the same magical feeling to me.

These were part of a recent photo shoot I did for a magazine feature.

 

[texasnielsen]

Echoing many others comments, one of the best threads of where strange leads to awesome. Very nicely executed trailer.

Looking forward to the Ramfalia being completed / documented for our selfish need for ‘portal porn!

Thanks for sharing all of this.

 

[warrpath4x4]

Trailer looks good, not what I expected but definitely looks good.

 

[Karmann Vandiego]

Today marks the day that the body will begin to be welded back together!

The first step will be to re-attach the halves at all of the braces and cross members. Bracing will be added to the underside, effectively creating a ladder frame out of the Vanagon unibody frame. Once that is completed, I will begin to skin it with sheet metal to fill in the massive 12" gap left behind by widening the body.

To refresh everyone's memories, this is where we left off a couple of months ago while the body was mocked up on the frame.



This (expert ? ) rendering is the basic vision for the end design of the platform. Look!! Something not scratched onto a napkin!!



I really appreciate the encouragement as I plunge further down the rabbit hole. The plan is to have the vehicle usable by spring.


Progress pics to follow. Let the sparks fly!

 

[ITTOG]

Is this a design change? I thought the back was still going to be a vanagon. It looks cool though.

You have a lot of work to do to be ready by the spring. Good luck!

 

[Buddha.]

This (expert ? ) rendering is the basic vision for the end design of the platform. Look!! Something not scratched onto a napkin!!

You forgot the flame paintjob and the dirt getting kicked up from the spinning tires.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

You forgot the flame paintjob and the dirt getting kicked up from the spinning tires.

I did my take on it. 4WD launch...

 

[Buddha.]

I did my take on it. 4WD launch...

View attachment 630491

Perfect.

 

[Karmann Vandiego]

Is this a design change? I thought the back was still going to be a vanagon. It looks cool though.

You have a lot of work to do to be ready by the spring. Good luck!

The original design called for a box on the back. I figured from the beginning that I didn't want to figure out how to widen the back half of the van as well! ?

I did my take on it. 4WD launch...

View attachment 630491

Fantastic edit! It really brings it to life!


Well, welding started a few days later than planned, but no bother. I spent some quality time with the beast this afternoon welding in new bracing to space the body by 12".



The front bumper support is braced with a 1.5" square tube because I think I will end up removing the bulk of that section of the body. A bumper will be built for the truck frame when the body is complete and attached.

Tomorrow I'm planning to move the brown van into my work space to cut out the filler metal for the abomination. I will link today's video when it is done being edited.

Stay funky, friends!

 

[Karmann Vandiego]

As promised, here is a link to yesterdays video.

 

[Mekcanix]

I freakin LOVE this thing

 

[Karmann Vandiego]

Today's work was not according to plan. As I walked outside this morning, I looked over the top of the body from my porch, not realizing until that moment, that I had never looked from this vantage point!



I had taken special care to align the body halves in every direction except front to back! What I discovered was that the right half was slid forward almost 1/2" in relation to the other side!

Today's job was to remove all of my bracing, reposition the body halves, and re weld the bracing in place! A little hard to take steps backwards, but lessons were learned.

Hopefully tomorrow I can start prepping donor #2 for its demise.

Keep it real!