2006 E350 surf/moto/camper build

tookstar154

Observer
Have been pretty busy lately, but finally got the chance to do some things to the van the past few days. Finished up my flooring, and almost done with the plastic trim pieces, and finishing the edging of the wood floor. I also got some new seats from good old Craigslist. $50 a piece, 20 minutes from my house. From a 2010 E350, two captains seats. They will work better than what I had originally planned, so if anyone wants some "bench" style seats from a party bus/van I got some. Only have one photo of the floor. Lighting is terrible, but you can get the gist of what is going on. Large Amazon order coming end of this week/next week, so hopefully after I get back from riding over Thanksgiving I'll start building the bed out.

Also, I am looking for the plastic trim piece/step that fits where the entrance to the van would be, on either the passenger barn doors, or slider. If anyone has one, I'd be interested in getting it from you. Also looking for a rear black step bumper, and black front bumper, if anyone has them lying around. Bumpers will be built eventually, but it would be nice to have at least a step on the rear in the mean-time.

2015-11-04 17.38.51.jpg
 

tookstar154

Observer
Been pretty slow as of late. Had a rattle/wandering front end problem, so I jacked it up and found out I needed wheel bearings. Going to pick some up tomorrow. Besides that, sold my old moto (2006 YZ 450F) that had been through the ringer and bought a fancy new one. 2016 YZ 250X. So...been playing on that and van has been on the back-burner. However, I do have some trips coming up at the end of January/middle of February that I would like to have my seats in for so we will see how motivated I can get. I do have a pile of parts at home that have been bugging me, so that will help motivate. Along with the 5' roof-rack I picked up from the guys at PrinSu Designs. Found them on good ol' instagram, and they were having a sale on their racks. So I bit the bullet and bought one. Going to have to buy or fab some brackets to make them fit, but shouldn't be too big of an issue. I'll be sure to have some more photos up as soon as things start to happen.
 

mk216v

Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Been pretty slow as of late. Had a rattle/wandering front end problem, so I jacked it up and found out I needed wheel bearings. Going to pick some up tomorrow. Besides that, sold my old moto (2006 YZ 450F) that had been through the ringer and bought a fancy new one. 2016 YZ 250X. So...been playing on that and van has been on the back-burner. However, I do have some trips coming up at the end of January/middle of February that I would like to have my seats in for so we will see how motivated I can get. I do have a pile of parts at home that have been bugging me, so that will help motivate. Along with the 5' roof-rack I picked up from the guys at PrinSu Designs. Found them on good ol' instagram, and they were having a sale on their racks. So I bit the bullet and bought one. Going to have to buy or fab some brackets to make them fit, but shouldn't be too big of an issue. I'll be sure to have some more photos up as soon as things start to happen.

You're putting a Toyota rack on your Ford? ;)
 

tookstar154

Observer
I am, and I'm not proud of it...but I got a great deal on it, and it will work better than the Yakima bars I was going to get. Don't always like the look of racks on vans, they make them less conspicuous and more of a target, but this one should be easy enough to take on and off if needed. I'm sure Prinsu could make a rack specific to vans, they could probably modify the 80 series Cruiser rack to fit without changing much.
 

tookstar154

Observer
So after lots of screwing around, prepping for King of the Motos, helping my dad build a new gate, and doing a small project for my uncle, the time has finally come to install the seats and L-track in my van. L-track photos and seat pictures to follow, but first, some of the "proof" that I haven't been sitting on my couch eating ice-cream and watching Netflix...haha.

batterymount3.jpg
Small project I did for my uncle. He was mounting two new batteries behind the seats in his Sprinter, but couldn't mount the second one the way he did the first due to the pesky fuel tank in the way. So I took a random bracket that was already in the floor, and modified it to fit a battery. Finished, it has a hinged piece that folds over the battery with a bolt holding it down, but you get the picture.
batterymount1.jpg

caliper picture 1.jpg
After doing two prep rides out in Johnson Valley for King of the Motos, I realized that my rear master cylinder was in a very precarious spot. So I wanted to make a guard for it. Took a night or so, but pretty happy with how it came out. Going to make another one that has a different grommet, and a little nicer line to it. The grommet is only there to keep a buffer between the metal and the master cylinder. It would be extremely ironic if the thing that was supposed to be protecting the caliper actually was what broke it...
caliperbracket1.jpg
caliperbracket2.jpg

Quick photo of some case repair on the trail. JB Quik works wonders...
casetrailrepair.jpg
 

tookstar154

Observer
Aaaaand now onto the van. So awhile back I had the great idea to router out space so the L-track would sit flush with the floor. Note to self...plan out build next time so you build around the L-track, and not through it...:mad: Anyhoo, the routing was a PITA, but happy I did it.

vanrouter1.jpg
In case you didn't know, routing in an enclosed area isn't the best thing to do...
vanrouter2.jpg
vanrouter3.jpg
vanrouter4.jpg

Next up was the rough mock-up with a moto inside to figure out where the wheel-chock would go...
vaninside1.jpg
vaninsidemoto1.jpg

A gratuitous underneath shot to see all of the hardware. I'm OK with the bolts and washers I have right now, but may make up some other anchor plates in the future to help spread the load. Didn't realize the flooring was so thin on these. I do have some 2"x2" plate washers that I made up to sit directly under where the seats are going to be primarily mounted.
undervan1.jpg
undervan2.jpg

A shot of the pesky gate that kept me rushing to finish this all the way up until I had to leave for work today.

gate.jpg

And a picture of the final product. Happy with how it turned out, now I can focus on bike prep for King of the Motos next weekend, and the 24 Hours of Pueblo in a couple weeks...on a Klunker. Can't wait to get back to the van though, and finish out the interior.

vaninteriorfinal.jpg

Cheers,

Tucker
 

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