Belafonte Reboot....Ambulance to 4x4 Camper Conversion

[patoz]

4x4 usually means mud and water at some point (at least in the south), which invariably will get inside the unit. Ambulances are designed with a 'bathtub' type flooring system so they can be hosed out if need be. Since mine is going to be a trailer it will not see the 'action' that your vehicles will, but if I put carpet in it, it will be the removable kind like some boats have.

Maybe it's just me, but one of my AR-15's cost double what I paid for the entire ambulance, so I prefer to have mine high and dry. I may add an under floor box, but it will be for tools, camping items, etc.

 

[tgreening]

That under-storage looks cool and all, but it's a bit pricey solution to a problem that would only happen now and again. Security for the black rifles wont be much of an issue because they'd only be riding to/from something, and otherwise residing in my own personal fort knox. Handgun otoh might be inside on a longer term basis, but I think I'm on track for a solution to that.

 

[tgreening]

Found myself a decent D60 out of a 2003 super duty today. Got a complete axle with Warn replacement hubs, with sway bar, upper/lower spring plates and the track bar and drag link. Should be everything I need plus some. I can't believe the only picture I thought to take today was this...

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and this...

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Anyway, I'll get a couple more in the coming week. Ujor kit is on the way, got the tracking number today. Woot! Tires & wheels should ship in the coming week as well, at least according to The Guy.

Bought some replacement carpet for the deck today. Something to better match the interior. Hopefully I can get that installed this weekend, and actually remember to take some pictures of it.

 

[patoz]

Sounds like you are well on your way. It also sounds like you have a lot of work (aka manual labor) ahead of you too!

 

[tgreening]

I got a few things accomplished and/or on their way to being finished today. Changed the carpet to something that matched a bit better.

Out with the old...

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The underneath. No signs of water intrusion anywhere so that's a plus.

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And the replacement. Likey much more.

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Next I wanted to get that fan shroud for the Max-Fan back up. There was a big chunk cut out of the overhead which I had to remount, and then cut a hole in for the fans shroud to fit into.
But before I did that there were a few wire bundles that needed to be extended because I just couldn't quite reroute them around the shroud with placing a fair amount of stress on them. It might not have hurt anything, but I didn't want to risk breaking a wire or pulling it out of wherever it might be attached up in there.

The splicing. They are all staggered so none can directly contact another and they all have shrink tube around them.

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I put 2' of extension into all the bundles because I wasn't sure how much I'd need. Turns out it was more than required but no bigee.

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You can see that big ol' hole in the ceiling I was talking about in the pic above. Below is the piece that was cut out, with a hole cut in it to fit the fan shroud. I fabbed up a flange to go around the whole thing out of aluminum flat stock. It's screwed to the cut-out, and then will be screwed to the hole in the ceiling, but I don't have pics of that yet.

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Anyway, that's todays progress. I still have to get something together to cover up all those wires down by the floor next to the pass through. Up in the air on that. A piece of wood screwed in place, or a bit of blingy diamond plate? And I picked up a small 700 watt microwave today that should fit in the cabinet in the top right of the photo below.

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Progress being made.

 

[CLynn85]

Nice work taking care of all the little details.

 

[tgreening]

Nice work taking care of all the little details.

Thanks, but man those little details eat you up time wise. Seems like you always find another one that needs doing.

 

[rlrenz]

VERY NICE! The carpet makes a big difference, and you did the wire extensions right --- adhesive filled heat shrink over the splices adds a lot of strength and stiffness to the splice. A 700 watt microwave sounds like it will be OK on the Vanner inverter - a 700 watt microwave should pull about 1000-1100 watts, and the Vanner is rated at 1050 watts, with a little cushion.

 

[patoz]

Tom,

The new carpet looks great, and you did a good job of putting it down!

And while you're working on the vent fan area, I need a favor (just a little information). Looking at the pictures you and Carl have both posted, it looks like the aluminum square stock tubing that supports the roof is 2"x2" like the walls, but in some pics it looks like it's 2"x3", so can you verify what is actually up there for me please? Also, take a measurement from the top of the highest ridge in fiberglass ceiling panel to the underside of the roof skin. Looking at the fan shroud you made, it looks like there is a considerable space up there. Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Also, I'd like to know your opinion of the Fantastic Fan as far as how much noise it makes, and how much air it moves. Do you think it's capable of ventilating the entire space adequately?

BTW, the cabinet you chose for the microwave is the same one I chose also. I have an extra cabinet below that one that you don't have. I hate to loose any storage area, but really it's in the way for setting up any kind of kitchen in that area. I'm not even sure I can remove it without damaging the remaining cabinets, if I decided to go that route. The laminate on my walls is a light gray, so I'm trying to keep that and not damage it anywhere.





Maybe, I'll just keep it and try to find a microwave that will fit in that compartment instead, especially since the outlet is right below it. It's not like I need one big enough to cook a whole turkey anyway.

 

[tgreening]

I have to be honest, I got carried away and sealed up the roof before taking any accurate measurements, but I think I can get you there anyway. As far as I know there is no 2"x3" up there. What they have done though is stack some thick plate across some of the 2x2 where they mount the overhead grab bars. I would say that nets about 3" between the bottom of that stack and the roof skin. Probably within about 1/4", on the minus side. The highest point of the fiberglass roof panel screws to this stack, so it would also be 3" from there to the roof skin.

I love the Maxxfan as far as noise level and the amount of air it moves. I see no issues of this ventilating the whole space as long as you leave a window open somewhere so it has somewhere to draw air from. My only complaint is you cant set it so it comes on as soon as power is applied. When power is shut off, it shuts off, and when you reapply power you have to turn it back on at the fan. They have a version with a remote control and maybe that one works different, but even if not, the remote makes it fairly painless to turn back on. It also has its own built in rain guard so you don't have to worry about closing it during rainy weather.

Honestly, if it were me I'd lose that lower cabinet and stuff the microwave in the one above. I bought a 700 watt Emerson, and that's a pretty darn small unit. I can't imagine finding anything small enough to fit that lower cabinet. If you cut it out, you won't really see the underside of the one above, and the one to the left could be covered with something back-splashy. You'd never know it had been violated.

 

[patoz]

What they have done though is stack some thick plate across some of the 2x2 where they mount the overhead grab bars. I would say that nets about 3" between the bottom of that stack and the roof skin. Probably within about 1/4", on the minus side. The highest point of the fiberglass roof panel screws to this stack, so it would also be 3" from there to the roof skin.

Yeah, I saw that in a couple of the pictures, and then saw just plain 2" in some of the others, and that's what was confusing. I'm 6' tall barefooted and the ceiling height is only 66", so I was just wondering if I could squeeze out a few more inches of clearance. I know some people have removed that ceiling and gone back with just a flat piece to accomplish this, but that's much more remodeling than I want to get into. I want to use mine some time before I die!

My only complaint is you can't set it [Maxfan] so it comes on as soon as power is applied. When power is shut off, it shuts off, and when you reapply power you have to turn it back on at the fan.

I have ceiling fans with remotes in my house that work like that. If the power blinks off and then back on, you have to turn them back on with the remote. It's a pain in the butt when it happens in the middle of the night while you're asleep, and the fan is in the bedroom. You don't know it happened until you wake up sweating. I don't want to cut any holes in the roof if I can help it, so I'm looking at trying to mount one so it will ventilate through a sidewall (front once the cab is removed) or even down under the floor via ductwork inside the existing A/C cabinet.

Honestly, if it were me I'd lose that lower cabinet and stuff the microwave in the one above. I bought a 700 watt Emerson, and that's a pretty darn small unit. I can't imagine finding anything small enough to fit that lower cabinet. If you cut it out, you won't really see the underside of the one above, and the one to the left could be covered with something back-splashy. You'd never know it had been violated.

That is probably what's going to happen. I hate losing the cabinet space, but maybe I can use it somewhere else if it will come out intact.

Thanks for the info Tom...

 

[tgreening]

Man I hope to hell there is a Wheeled Coach electrical god viewing this thread because I need one. For some reason my control panel on the doghouse has ceased to control anything.

The Master switch still powers up the sub-panel back in the box, and it turns on the lights in all the switches on the main panel, but none of the switches will energize the circuits they are supposed to control. I can't turn on any of the external lighting, or power up the Heat/AC circuit back in the box. If I hit the Master all the switches light up, but if I press a switch its "energized" light doesn't come on, nor does it do anything.

I'm assuming whatever it is has to be common to every switch on the panel because every switch on the panel is affected. Actually that's not true. The one switch that still functions the way it should is the backup alarm switch. It works fine.

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That bottom connector is labeled 1-21. It corresponds to the switches though only 1-8 and 15-21 are actually installed, but the connector has no wire for switch #21. Terminal one is somehow connected to the Master switch and reads 12 volts with the Master switch in the off position. None of the other terminals have power at this point, with the possible exception of the backup alarm. This one I don't remember. When the Master is pressed all the other terminals read 12 volts.

The connector at the top I'm having trouble remembering now. If I recall everything has power except the white wire in the middle. The jumper strip above that. I believe all the jumpered pins have 12 volts, plus 1 more. I believe they correspond to switches 2-8 and 15-20, with pin 21 having power as well, though there is no jumper on it.

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Hopefully someone can make some kind of sense of that mess and at least give me a direction to investigate, because right now I've got nuthin.

 

[ben2go]

One of those power wires may have a blown inline fuse.Where it's hiding is anyone's guess.

 

[spencyg]

I don't see any logic chips in the picture of the board, so it appears to be just circuit traces. You've clearly got a label for power coming into the board, you can then follow that power via the traces to each push button switch. I see some jumpers which could cause some headache. From the shadows it seems the board is dual layered (traces on the top of the board as well as the bottom, so mapping it will be....fun Just get out the multimeter and start following circuits with the beep function on the ohm meter. It may be best to just pull all the wires from the board so you can ensure the resistances you're getting aren't due to a connected circuit somewhere else on the truck. Once you start getting into it you may actually have fun playing detective....

SG

 

[cjken]

I had a similar problem that turned out to be a grounding issue. Is the master solenoid kicking on?
When my black ambo blew a fuse the whole panel shut down.