2014 Express AWD cargo van PNW 4 season camper

[rockbender]

Cool lights, great campsite!
I like what you've done with your rear rack - I'm considering something similar with the option to either have a box or small moto where you've got your rocket box. With your rack in place, have you pretty much terminated access to the rear doors?

The hightop turned out sweet!

 

[iridewheelies]

Hey Dave! We were planning to get another 10' Fiamna like we had on my Syncro but we actually haven't missed having the awning at all. The inside of this van is so much larger that we just go inside when it rains. I might pick up a kelty car tent for shade in the summer.

 

[iridewheelies]

The rear rack is working well for this trip but yes, it completely blocks the rear doors. In the future i'd like to get an aluminess rear bumper with swing outs and mount the bikes on the galley box and the skis on some kind of spare tire ski rack. Something like this -

 

[photogdave]

Hey Dave! We were planning to get another 10' Fiamna like we had on my Syncro but we actually haven't missed having the awning at all. The inside of this van is so much larger that we just go inside when it rains. I might pick up a kelty car tent for shade in the summer.

Nice! I'm thinking of ditching the Fiamma in favor of an ARB to save stressing the rain gutters. I'll miss the crank-out instant setup though.
Your van is looking awesome!

 

[EuroJoe]

Amazing build!! I'm pretty much sold on getting an express as an adventure van!

 

[Accrete]

...In the future i'd like to get an aluminess rear bumper with swing outs...

Your van is looking great with the fiberine top installed. Sometime we gotta meet up!!

We LOVE our Aluminess on our #AWD van. Having the galley box on camp side makes camp set up much easier for us.



: ) Thom

 

[iridewheelies]

Update on the Webasto furnace, last one I hope. Spoiler alert.... there's a happy ending to this story.

It's now working great and I'm confident that it's going to stay that way. I'll plan on a yearly service to clean out the soot but other than that it's very trouble free and easy to use.

My troubles started when I added a fuel damper after the pump and fuel filter before the pump after my first successful trip back in December. Both items were purchased from eBay and were not genuine Webasto parts. The damper and possibly the filter were messing with the air fuel ratio by altering the pressure of the fuel pump, and therefor the flow rate. The incorrect fuel flow coupled with running it constantly for multiple days at 4500' of elevation caused enormous soot build up. When I cleaned out the soot I missed a small opening behind the glow plug. Without clearing that small opening the flame would not start easily or at all.

After removing the damper and the filter and properly cleaning the heater it works like new.

I used it overnight during my spring break trip to Bend and Hood River with no faults. I just got back from a trip over Memorial Day to the Kettle Crest area, I used it every night with no faults. It's fixed!

Would I recommend the Webasto AT2000ST gas furnace for a small camper conversion? Yes, as long as you use factory parts (or have it professionally installed) and follow the altitude adjust procedure I posted back on page 11 you should have no problems (procedure here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...van-PNW-4-season-camper?p=1993811#post1993811 )

Using gasoline from the tank is super convenient. There is no need to go outside and turn on the propane. You just spin the knob and your van gets nice and toasty!

 

[iridewheelies]

I haven't had any time to work on the van lately. There are a lot of things I'd like to get done but right now it's functional so I'm going to use it while the weather is good.

We've had a few great short trips. A week in Bend and Hood River for spring break and a few days near Republic, WA for Memorial Day weekend.


Ready for action with the bikes and the skis on my cobbled together adventure rack. I can't open the back doors with it on but I'm willing to make that sacrifice for the storage.



Saw this nice AWD camper conversion at a trailhead in Bend. Friendly couple, they didn't mind showing us their van. I'm never shy to ask to see other peoples vans. The Vanagon community was very friendly. I'm finding that the AWD express crowd is similar to the syncro people except we can actually use our vans on the weekends instead of having to spend half of our free time (and money) trying to keep them running!



This campsite would have been impossible to use without AWD. Old snow is the worst! This is on the road to Mt Batchelor.


Spring skiing at Batchelor is awesome. They charge $20 to camp in the lot and I think it's worth it for heated bathrooms and pay showers. After the lifts are closed it's time for some parking lot bbq parties and camper show-and-tell.



Memorial Day

Plenty of dispersed camping off hwy 20 between Republic and Kettle Falls in Colville National Forest.



This is why we went to Republic. There were several large burns there last year and Colville National Forest doesn't allow commercial pickers. I've never seen so many morels. It was amazing.



This is just a sample of what we found.



Cool Syncro at the Diablo Lake overlook on North Cascades Hwy. I don't regret selling mine at all. The seem so tiny inside to me now.

 

[borison]

FYI, you know it's Colville right? No "e". Come on man! You're from WA! I think I've seen that VW here in Spokane. Great looking vans.

 

[iridewheelies]

I love my campsite lights. I thought could be even better if I could control them remotely. I'm not willing to carry another keychain remote though so I had to figure out how to control them with my factory GM fob. I had several ideas, most of them were horrible, before figuring out a good one. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.

My factory remote has buttons for lock, unlock, remote start, panic and unlock only rear door. I never use the unlock only rear door button. The guy at the dealer told me is was for when you need to load your van but you're scared someone will jump in the driver seat and steal it while you're loading. If I'm ever in that situation remind me to get a new job.



Since I never use the unlock only rear door button (lets call it RDO from now on) I wanted to repurpose it as a switch for the roof lights. I used a combination of two 12v 5 pin relays and a latching relay logic board I got from amazon http://www.amazon.com/ELECTRONICS-S...&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00

I found the wiring diagram for the lock and unlock circuits in the GM upfitter electric manual https://www.gmupfitter.com/pdflists/view/34



I tapped into the fuse block under the driver seat for the CDO unlock and door unlock relay outputs. The relays are in series.



When there is a RDO unlock pulse and a pulse on the rest of the doors there is no output to the latching relay.
when there is a RDO unlock pulse and no other pulse there is an output to the latching relay.
The lock pulses are not connected to the circuit.

You can see in the video that the lights only turn on and off with the RDO button. Lock and Unlock buttons do nothing.


I stuffed it all into a black plastic project box. The two relays are under the circuit board.





And placed it behind the driver seat, above my CTEK C250S Dual & Smartpass.

 

[iridewheelies]

FYI, you know it's Colville right? No "e". Come on man! You're from WA! I think I've seen that VW here in Spokane. Great looking vans.

Yikes! I'm going to blame that on spellcheck. I'm also going to edit my post, thanks!

 

[SDSteve]

Nice work on repurposing that button. I love that type of thing...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Petrolburner]

Yeah, brilliant work on the repurposing of the remote's button!

 

[bknudtsen]

I would have been more impressed if you said, "I never panic, so...."

 

[iridewheelies]

I would have been more impressed if you said, "I never panic, so...."

Im saving that button for my La Cucaracha horn!