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

[huskyhauler]

The smaller logos are decals, standard automotive style. The large ones are professional auto decals by Fast Signs. $500 for the logo. Plus side is it's not permanent. If you don't like it down the road you can peel it off and replace it.

 

[patoz]

The smaller logos are decals, standard automotive style. The large ones are professional auto decals by Fast Signs. $500 for the logo. Plus side is it's not permanent. If you don't like it down the road you can peel it off and replace it.

OK, thanks!

 

[tgreening]

Yeahhh, not gettin much done now.

 

[tgreening]

The Mouses House bitches!!

 

[patoz]

Well, you've got fire and water, now where's the pretty girls? :sombrero:

 

[tgreening]

Unfortunately most of the pretty girls were just that, girls, and borderline literal jail bait. Of those two of them were with me. One my unfortunately-smokin-hot 14 yr old grand daughter, and the other the very attractive but borderline psychotic 14 yr old daughter of a friend. Thought I was gonna have to bust out the .40 n get postal on some of the wolves circling the campfire.

On a more interesting topic. My van just had the tranny rebuilt and converted to a 4x4 version using junkyard parts for the xfer case adapter and output shaft. Ever since the rebuild it had seemed a bit slow to hit reverse and it seemed like it took more rpm to get moving than it should. Reverse started acting funny and got to the point it would give up the ghost after it got warm.

Took it to my long time builder before my disney trip and then hit him up after I got back. Turns out tranny was cracked all to hell n back around the output shaft so they sourced a replacement case. All looked good till they tried to mate the xfer case and then all the various outputs would bind up and not want to turn.

Long story short they were baffled which kind of annoys me because the first thing I said at the end of this long drawn out explanation was " did you check the junkyard output shaft for true before you put it in"? Uhhhh was the response.

Threw a junk slip yoke on the output so we could spin it by hand and sure enough its bent all to hell. No wonder it cracked the case all to snot and was causing the tranny to drag.

So, they're ordering a new output shaft and he'll make it all right as far as all the labor goes, but dang if I'm not disappointed. I've been using him for probably 20 yrs or better and I'm surprised that I had to be the one to walk in and solve the problem, in about 15 minutes. Me, Mr dont know Jack or Squat about automatic trannys.

The delay isnt frying me too much because I'm pretty much a ghost around here come summer anyway. Heading out again thursday and making a round about path back to Florida, just because I'm so freakin in love with heat and humidity (sarcasm), and then going to slide up the coast up into Maine because I AM in love with lobster and real honest to god crab meat. Num num num.....

 

[tgreening]

To be honest I was fairly certain it was the tps, I just didnt expect it to be such a ridiculous beeyotch to get to. I mean it is deceptively visible, like RIGHT THERE, but you can't do anything with the dang thing till you pull that other crap.

It couldn't be the tach sensor. You know, the part that's right in friggin front of the motor just begging to be serviced. NOOOooooo, it's gotta be the one under the air cleaner, tucked up right next to the fuel filter that's in the way, that you can't remove unless you pull the lines, and unbolt its mount, and pull its wires, and and and. Grrr.

In an ironic twist, it WAS the tach sensor in the end. Snap...

 

[tgreening]

Oh, back home. Twenty two states this summer, with at least an overnight in just about every one. Put on close to 8,000 miles. New Orleans gumbo is da bomb, but man that place smells, literally. Stuffed myself stupid with lobster and crab up in Maine. Cant believe we burned the whole summer already and the kids are back in school. Kind of depressing. August is like Summers Sunday.

Upside is I picked up my ambo from the tranny guy and he replaced everything that needed replacing with no charge. Another case (used), a new output shaft, and new seals. Even though it was my supplied part that was bad. Anyway, running like a champ and I'm having fun bangin around in it. I bought superduty mirrors again, even though they dont fit as they're advertised to, and have started modding to fit. Next up will probably be something about the paint job. Gears are needed but I'll be going at that a bit slow. Never done gears.

Back at it...

 

[patoz]

Welcome back Tom!

We have at least two more months of summer heat to put of with, so if you start missing it.... Believe me, I'm sick of 95° temps with 70-80% humidity and rain every afternoon. I'm definitely ready for some cooler weather for sure!

 

[tgreening]

My wife is driving me nuckin futs over moving to Florida. Loves the heat, but hates to sweat. Loves the sun, but goes out of her way to avoid when outside. Loves the ocean, but hates going to the beach. Because it's hot and sandy. At what point does that start to sound a bit unreasonable?

I'm the one that likes being outside to do stuff. Not crazy about 110% humidity all the time. Heat I can deal with, but I hate that humidity.

 

[patoz]

I'll tell you what Tom, how about I set up a webcam and point it outside at the beach like maybe this...



...and you can sit the monitor on top of a heater pointed at her. No humidity, sweat, sand, or sunburn!

Actually, we do have a live webcam on Pensacola Beach. It has two cameras you can select, a south view and an east view.

http://www.visitpensacolabeach.com/webcams/south-view.php

 

[tgreening]

So I didn't have anything going on today and I had a pair of these laying around...

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These are advertised as direct replacement for a 1992 E350, if by direct replacement they mean as long as you have a drill, a step bit, and a hacksaw.

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But without too much pain it turned into these...

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And this panel was looking wayyy too empty.

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So I did this to it...

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Can you guess? Huh? Yay-uhhhh!

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My favorite passengers!

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So that's it for today. I really want to get something going for a sleeping platform so that's probably my next focus. I had thought about just rigging up some mounts for hanging a hammock, but one of my passengers really likes sleeping with his dad so I don't want to disappoint. I'm hoping to end up with a platform about 48" wide that will fold up behind the seats back in the box. I'll have to sharpen my sketchin pencil and see if I can figure something out.

 

[patoz]

Those mirrors look great on there, really gives it a more modern look.

I like the Power Tank so much, I've had one sitting in my Amazon wish list for about a year now. Back in the early 80's we made our own. I used a surplus wire wound, military aircraft O2 bottle, added a medical O2 regulator (from an ambulance 'M' cylinder), a coiled air hose and fittings, and filled it with Co2 from the Fire Dept. Co2 extinguisher filling tank where I worked. It worked great as long as you held it up right. It had a rounded top and bottom, so if it laid over it would expel the liquid and freeze up. The tank was a little smaller that the one you have, and I could easily fill four trucks with 38" tires.

On your bed situation, are you still wanting to keep the two seats you have in there now?

 

[tgreening]

Yeah, I like these mirrors a whole bunch better. They weren't really that bad to install. I actually had them once and returned them because they weren't the bolt on advertised and I got irritated. Derrrr. All I did was waste time.

The Power Tank is pretty nice. I bought it from someone here on the Expedition Portal Team, whatever that is. The downside is that it's certification was expired and that wasn't disclosed during the course of the sale. My supplier, who I've dealt with for 25 yrs filled it anyway, but alerted me to the fact it was expired. On one hand I'm a bit disappointed it wasn't disclosed, but on the other that fill would probably outlast a brand new cert anyway. IOW, my cert would expire before I run out and need filled again.

Yeah, seats have to stay. Kids love riding back there (for some reason) and it keeps them more separated than a bench. Stop touching me!

 

[Bikersmurf]

I've got similar chairs in the back and my kids love it back there... Add a small flat screen and DVD player and you won't be able to get them to come inside after hours of driving.

Do you have stretcher hangers on the wall and coming down from the ceiling? If you relocated them and lengthened them, you could hand your 48" platform off them... Everything is so overbuilt, I'm sure they'd handle the weight.