Black Friday Ambo

[flightcancled]

You mentioned a while back you needed some dash parts, so you need to let me know asap what you need in detail, so I can go ahead and get it pulled. Once it goes out to his house, we won't have time to pull stuff like that and it'll end up in the scrap yard.

Nnnnnooooooooo!!!

Pat I'm looking for a few random bits,

The kick plate under my driver and passenger side doors are cracked/missing.

I'm missing the rubber boot on the end of my shift lever.

I'm missing the drink tray that pulls out above the dog house.

Is your dash compatible with a double din head unit? If it is I might beg for more stuff.

I'm sure there's more but it's still not back in the driveway. Should be this week though... All new tires, exhaust, did I mention basically anything with a ball joint?

Woo

Thanks Pat!!

 

[patoz]

I've been wondering what happened to you. I hate that you had to have all that stuff replaced, but at least when you head off into the wilderness somewhere you'll know everything is in good shape and you can depend on it.

The kick plate under my driver and passenger side doors are cracked/missing.

Are you talking about the plastic piece in the footwell on each side? If so, I already have them out and they are in pretty fair shape, I believe.

I'm missing the rubber boot on the end of my shift lever.

I checked on this a while back, and mine doesn't have that boot.

I'm missing the drink tray that pulls out above the dog house.

I don't have that either.

Is your dash compatible with a double din head unit? If it is I might beg for more stuff.

Nope, single din and I can't get the radio out even with a set of those 'U' shaped wire tools. I won't release for some reason.

Do you need any window or door lock switches, A/C vents, A/C controls, etc?

Here are a few pictures of my cab so you can see what you have to pick from. I know you don't need it, but I'm hanging on to the emergency switch panel until I get mine completely done and know for sure I don't need any parts from it or have to trace any circuits.

 

[tgreening]

Pictures no workee pat.

And 2nd. I know you're keeping the switches and what-not, but what about the switch housing that attaches to the dog house? I want one that I can cut up and modify to be quite a bit narrower than the one I have. It makes it too much of a pain in the ******** to get out of the drivers seat. Do you have any pictures of yours? And how does it mount to the dog house? My dog house has what amounts to two thin parallel female channels that have matching male counterparts on the back of the switch housing. It just drops in from above and slides down the channels. Gravity keeps it in place. Sound familiar at all?

 

[patoz]

Tom,

For the last couple of days I've had problems uploading pictures directly from my computer using the built in forum uploader. This is what I've been doing since day one, and never had any problems until now. I used my photobucket account to do it this time, but that's a real pain due to all of the extra steps.

I believe we have the exact same console up front, and yes it's a piece of crap! You are more that welcome to it, but as you can see (or maybe you can't, let me know) in the pictures above that I just reposted, it's pretty beat up and full of holes from all of the different pieces of radio equipment installed over the years. You might be able to chop off the bottom and fab up something new, but I think you probably be better off starting from scratch.

Once I'm completely switched over from the push button switch panels and positive I don't need them any more, I'll contact you and you can have them for spares. It may be a pretty good while before I get to that point though.

Anyway let me know, and I'll start looking for a box to ship the console in.

 

[flightcancled]

Well the rig went on the alignment rack today... At least that was the plan. That will complete the front end overhaul and put her "back" on the road.

Pat to answer your question I've been pulling huge hours and switching between days and night when I'm not working both so I just haven't had time to post much. That and since the forum update last week the app I use, Tapatalk, has stopped working. The site still needs to update its software.

Good news is I am moving to a new job soon (promotion!) so I will have freedom again soon. And I have a sweet moving van now too!

Mean time while I am stuck in a hotel I have been pondering chopping up a 3ft LED strip and turning it into my Hi/Low dome lighting solution and using the remainder for my counter lighting. Has anyone else played with these? Waste of time?

Ken has used a flip-out head unit in his awesome rig. SOMEHOW it manages to clear the shift knob. I went and spent some time picking the brains of a custom stereo shop staff who had absolutely nothing good to say about flip out units. They were convinced that any unit available is substandard, limited in function, and will have the articulation servos die within a minute of the warranty expiring. Not too inspiring. I'm going to start hunting for a newer van in a scrap yard with an intact unmolested dash. I saw a thread where someone swapped his whole front end to the new one with minor clip changes and drilling new holes. I am hoping for something similar inside.

 

[patoz]

First of all, congratulations on the promotion!!

So vBulletin updated the forum software huh? Maybe that's why I can't upload pictures directly from my computer any longer. I'm about ready to start my own build thread, but don't want to unless I can easily upload pictures.

I'm thinking about using LED strips also, but I don't think 3' is going to be near enough to light the whole interior, including under counter. Here are two companies I will probably use, and they are both in the USA with real people who answer the phone, and are willing to help you.

LEDs - flexible LED strips, LED modules, 12v LEDs

M4 Products

As far as the flip-out stereo heads go, I've never owned one but thousands of other people do. I think I would get a second and third opinion from reputable dealers/installers and go with the majority. Also, if you find a unit you like, Amazon is a good source for reviews and Crutchfield is a good source for reviews and free technical information.

Since you're considering swapping the dash front clip of your rig, does that mean you don't need any parts from mine before it goes under the knife (cutting torch)? I will save the plastic footwell liners for you.

 

[tgreening]

Tom,
You might be able to chop off the bottom and fab up something new, but I think you probably be better off starting from scratch.

Once I'm completely switched over from the push button switch panels and positive I don't need them any more, I'll contact you and you can have them for spares. It may be a pretty good while before I get to that point though.

Anyway let me know, and I'll start looking for a box to ship the console in.

I don't intend to use much of the console. I plan to cut the back out of it, which is the "mounting" portion, and fab something to attach to that. To me it's just a whole bunch of empty space in there and I want to try to compact everything down so I can get my leg around the seat a bunch easier.

When you're converting yours over to rocker type switches, make sure you keep detailed notes on how you eliminate that funky circuit board thingy. That way once you go through all the pain and suffering figuring that all out I can step in and steal all your research. Just call me a Chinese Engineer!

Btw, what switches have you settled on? Oh, and did yours have a factory tachometer? If so dibs on the dash display!, and sensor!, and wiring! or whatever. Hehe.

 

[patoz]

I don't intend to use much of the console. I plan to cut the back out of it, which is the "mounting" portion, and fab something to attach to that. To me it's just a whole bunch of empty space in there and I want to try to compact everything down so I can get my leg around the seat a bunch easier.

When you're converting yours over to rocker type switches, make sure you keep detailed notes on how you eliminate that funky circuit board thingy. That way once you go through all the pain and suffering figuring that all out I can step in and steal all your research. Just call me a Chinese Engineer!

Btw, what switches have you settled on? Oh, and did yours have a factory tachometer? If so dibs on the dash display!, and sensor!, and wiring! or whatever. Hehe.

OK, I'll get the front console housing boxed up and headed to you. It might be a little while yet, because I'm trying to get mine ready to go to my friends house to remove everything I don't need, and a tongue fabed and mounted. He lives 70 miles away, and needs it for about a week or longer, so I'll be driving back and forth pretty much every day. I think I still have the address I sent the marker light to, so do you want me to send it there?

The first thing I'm going to try to do is move the circuits and switches that control the 7" x 9" red and clear lights on the sides, to the panel in the rear along with a few others. Then I'll have to use that panel (rear) for a while until I get the outside finished. Once I determine what electronics, lights, computers, weather station, communications, etc. are going in there, I'll know how big of a panel I'll need. I'm also adding a fairly complex matching AC panel with transfer switch. So, I'm looking at the Blue Sea Systems stuff for ready built, or building my own using a combination of the panel and switches Alex sent me, and adding a lot more. Either way, I'll be using the Carling switches. After all of that is figured out, determining the location for it will be the next hurdle.

Nope, no tachometer. Just the plain Jane dash like yours.

 

[cjken]

Hey Alex,

I cant post from my phone anymore either.
The flip out head unit was cheap enough (Best Buy open box) that it doesn't matter if it fails at some point. I am not as ambitious interms of swaping the dash..
I do prefer the newer style dash that my green van had so it does sound like a good plan.

I want to convert to LED's as well haven't had time to work on anything lately..
Good luck with your new position!!!

 

[flightcancled]

Yeah no such luck Ken. If something pops up on Craigslist this winter I may go that route for the time being. Otherwise I am willing to go for broke. I'm sure the bigger challenge will be wiring in the new controls if it does actually work. Cause apparently I didn't already do enough of that nonsense...

Here is my LED conversion solution. Total cost was $38 with off the shelf parts at Radioshack and it will do all the dome lights, the cab ceiling lights, and I think the counter too.

The strips they have are made to be cut down in increments of 3. Super simple to figure out by just looking at the demo set in the packaging. In total I think there were 21 sets of 3 lights including the demos.


Prep:


Final product. Took about an hour total including taking calls for work. I still haven't decided if I will seal the plastic cases and make the strips waterproof again. I did notice that the bare demo strip was brighter, and I think it will stay cooler. The singles will be the Low setting and the double sets will be High. These will just be double-sided taped into place in the housings.

 

[patoz]

That's pretty much what I thought about doing, I just don't have any way to determine what size (lumens) of strips I'll need to achieve the amount of light I want. Maybe, you can get a pic of your old lights on, and then the same pic with the new LEDs for comparison.

 

[flightcancled]

What I did was go into a room where I could get near-perfect dark that was a similar size to the box (Hotel Bathroom). A little experimentation showed me that 3x in each of the 6 dome lights will probably be overkill for low. 6x in each dome should be bright as day on High. I may wind up not installing all the strips, or only using 3x in the centers for High.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Very interested in the results, I've got the same setup and LEDs are on the list... I'm sure they could be on for hours and hardly drain the batteries. We use ours as an office, so the high power of at least one bank is needed... High power of both banks is somewhat overkill, but it is handy at times.

Before and After pictures would be great, as well as your opinion of light quality and color.

What's the power consumption of the LED strips?

 

[patoz]

Speaking of lighting, I was poking around in mine the other day looking for the lights that this switch controls.

I had already looked at the fixtures in the long recessed areas on each side, so I assumed these three were the same but they're not.

They're the elusive fluorescent lights I've been looking for. They're made in Germany and have 12VDC and 120VAC ballast both, so they will run off of either. The bulbs are made in Holland, and so far have not found any. None of the lights work (voltage to the fixtures is good), but I will probably replace them anyway with something completely flush that runs strictly on 120VAC, for use in pay campgrounds. Sixty six inches of ceiling height and I'm 6' tall, so those things are definitely head knockers.

BTW, you guys do know you can get dimmer controls for LED lights, don't you? That's what I'm going to do and not really worry about High and Low circuits.

 

[patoz]

I see the forum is still messed up, so if you can't see the pictures, please let me know!