AmboVan Restarted

[hobietony]

Off the vehicle for finishing and painting

It's kind of big heavy mother when it is all welded together. I dont really want to know the total weight.

Grinding and finishing

Getting the reciever welded in. More on this later...

Priming and painting. Just using rustoleum satin black, same as I am using for all the frame touch up, and the sliders.

Back on the rig

And now for the annoying things - I picked up the reciever portion at a 'discount' location, because, hey, it is just a piece of tubing, right? Aparently the 'brace' portion at the end of the steel tube can be misaligned with the tube.

I think my alignment of the tube itself is a bit off as well, but not nearly as bad as it looks - I'll end up cutting off the brace and rewelding a new one, because I am not going to be able to stand looking at it like this.

Also, the lateral pieces the run under the box have the brace welded to the inside, and when I welded that brace, the laterals warped - didn't think a 3x3x1/4" would do that, but there you go. It ended up pulling under the vehicle so the reveal I set with the aluminum trim above is out of whack

I think I will try putting a big fat vertical weld up the outside of the tube, opposite the brace, and see if I can get the heat/cooling to pull it back. I'll have to think about it a bit.

Next thing is the get all the headlights/taillights back in working order, so I can drive it to get the engine/exhaust work done, so I can actually get it registered. My wife would also REALLY like to see some interior work progress, so roughing out the shapes of the cabinets/etc is on the list as well. Ready by October? We'll see...

 

[ujoint]

Looks GREAT. Outstanding job, great design!!!!

 

[thetonka]

Awesome work!!

 

[Sheep Shagger]

That is an amazing rear bumper, I don't think I have seen one built quite like that before, very nice work.

 

[paragus]

awesome bumper!

 

[Ozrockrat]

Hmm can you build another one of those???

Great work. I will have to check it out and steal all your ideas. One thing I was looking to include when I build one is putting a roller across the bottom. Just to make it easier when (not if) it drags its tail at some stage. Just something so it tries to go over the rock/dirt instead of grading a new path.

I have used conveyor impact rollers on our service vehicles (4x4 Hino Trucks) in the past but being out of that industry now one made of heavy wall pipe would be sufficient.

 

[Ozarker]

:drool::Wow1::drool::Wow1::drool::Wow1::Wow1::Wow1:

Man that is really nice!

 

[hobietony]

I don't think I have seen one built quite like that before, very nice work.

Maybe a bit tough to tell from the pic, but I worked out the basic design on my Tacoma, got the basic layout from looking at a lot of bumpers on the TTORA forum. Just a matter of scale...

Thanks for all the kind words, pretty happy with the results

 

[hobietony]

Next Update

It moved! Pulled it out of it's parking space for the last several months, good to know that Drive and Reverse still work

What else? Got a steam sprayer and blasted the underside, and got most of it repainted. (which was why I was moving it) That was the main thing in the way for getting the tail lights hooked back up, had all the wires pulled away from the frame so they wouldn't melt when I welded the sliders to the frame, and wanted everything cleaned and painted before I put them back. No pictures, but the lights on the tail of the vehicle actually work now.

Got that hitch realigned, and welded on the tow chain attachments

Got the trim on the box finished, and got the fender flares installed - One small item out of my bedroom/office!

 

[hobietony]

Next project - Get the house batteries installed. Need them attached the the van before any interior electrical work can happen.
You may recall that the sliders had the supports spaced so that the house batteries can tuck up adjacent to the frame - Those 4d batteries are huge! It is a shoehorn operation to fit those things up where I had planned...

Battery tray for the first house battery

Test fit - The next battery better not be any bigger

Painted

Drilled and tapped the slider arms to attach the tray

Tray for the vehicle battery visible here, installed that a few months ago. Needed to add a short piece of square tubing for attachment of House #1

Floor jack kinda a critical piece of equipment. I read on the Sportmobile forum once that you should put Sikaflex between the battery and the tray lip, so pebbles cant get between there and work their way through the plastic of the battery casing - So I did

In Place

 

[hobietony]

House #2 - Figured out the system for the second one

I drilled the holes in place with the tray held up with clamps and a jack, keeps me from screwing up the layout

Added a rock guard to the 2nd tray, this one is directly in front of the rear dualie, needs a bit more protection

All caught up - Paint on #2 is drying overnight, will try to get that in place this week

 

[hobietony]

Over two weeks since the last update? Got the second house battery installed, not hooked up electrically, but in place - I'll try to find a picture but really, it looks good.

time to get the front end back together. The front fenders and lower valence were pretty battered, and the fenders had those big holes cut in them for the ambulance lights. Looked on craigsllist, one of the local shuttle van companies has a yard full of vans, nothing interesting for the interior, but some good body panels. Color was a bit off though...

Old fenders - can't really fix a hole like this

Looks even worse before it gets better

Took the opportunity to scrub the exposed painted metal while the body panels were off, hosed everything off, and happened to look in the winch compartment in the aluminess bumper. Holy crap, an inch of standing water! Have they never figured out that the friggin thing ponds water when a winch is installed? (covering the holes in the bottom of the compartment) The winch fasteners were corroded already, and the winch cable was threatening to corrode as well. I drilled a few drain holes in the compartment, replaced all the fasteners, looks like a bit of WD-40 and the winch cable is none the worse for wear. Seems odd that I am the first one that has had this experience with a an aluminess bumper, anybody else?

 

[hobietony]

Got the new panels painted and installed, blacked out the original grille, and installed new clear lens headlights.

Starting to look like a finished product

A reminder of the original 'vision' sketch:

My thought was always to have some sort of non-rooftop AC for the coach - didn't want the clearance problems, or to put it up there in harms way, and the topper on the sketch (still half finished in my garage) was never really designed for a heavy AC load. However, i couldn't find a reasonable alternate, and ended up buying a rooftop unit anyway. Dont want to have it on the topper, I think I am going to cantilever it off the front of the ambo box, and figure some ducting into the front of the box, instead of a direct down draft. Certainly going to be a PITA, but what isn't?

Find a place for this:

Try to figure something in aluminum, dont look to close at the welds

Got this far - the upper bars are to protect the AC unit, there will be a brace going back to the face of the ambo box (and yes, it will be flat, not angled up)

I think I am on the right track, thought it would be much more obtrusive. How do people weld aluminum anyway? I look at some cheap-a** walmart bike, the welds are these great stacked-dimes beads. Mine look like bubble gum, it's annoying, and I pretty much have to commit to grinding everything smooth

 

[hobietony]

Finally, drove it again! Went roaring around the neighborhood, felt good to have it roll again.

Drove it to the exhaust shop this week, new 4' exhaust from the turbo back, fix the manifold leak, new donuts at all the connections. Diesel shop after that to get all the oil leaks fixed, and get some tuning to match the new exhaust. Stay tuned...

 

[RocKrawler]

How do people weld aluminum anyway? I look at some cheap-a** walmart bike, the welds are these great stacked-dimes beads. Mine look like bubble gum, it's annoying, and I pretty much have to commit to grinding everything smooth

Either by TIG which is the best way, or robotic MIG which has a steadier and more consistent speed than most humans can duplicate, although I know a few guys that can rival TIG with a MIG setup, but they have been doing it for a living all their lives. The van is looking very good - did you paint the front end stuff yourself or farm it out to a body shop?