HillBillyRV Build Thread - 87 Ford E350 Quadravan Pathfinder Conversion

[jacobconroy]

Got the bolts worked out for the drawer side of the drawer slides. I'll post since it took 1 hour of screwing around at the hardware store to find something that would work.

The slides call for #10 screws but I think they are a tad small for something this big. The channel in the IGT will let a 6mm screw slide around without being too loose. So, I needed:

• (10) 6mm - 1p square nuts (the only way I could find them was to purchase the type of inserts that go in computer racks....don't know what they are called but the first picture is the doodad in question).
• (5) 6mm - 1p X 10mm bolts (for the right-hand side of the drawer...the side where I will be standing during cooking)
• (5) 6mm - 1p X 12mm bolts (for the left-hand side of the drawer, which needs a longer screw because the wind screen will be sandwiched between the drawer and drawer slide).
• (5) 6mm washers (in case I need to play with the length of the screws on the wind screen side)

These are the widgets with square nuts in them. The nuts need to be narrow to fit in the IGT channel.


Pulled all the square nuts out of their containers and have a set of bolts ready to go.


This is how it's going to work.


I had to enlarge the selected holes in the drawer slide to accept 6mm bolts. If you do this, adjust the slide so that the hole you are drilling does not have more drawer slide behind it. VERY IMPORTANT!!!!! I almost screwed up one of my $150 drawer slides. Also, do not use the rear hole. The head of your screw will hit the "lock in" parts. The second to last hole is fine.


Slide into the IGT like so. This selection of parts worked great. Nothing was a PITA.


Drawer slides attached and tightened. This is a pic of full-extension. Ten MF feet long Yo!


A closeup:




Plenty of room for reaching insert controls (burners and such):


And closed.


Cool. I wasn't looking forward to that. Next is to design the box for the right-hand side. Since the IGT box inserts are 1-unit only, shallow, and nearly unobtainable...I am going to make my own out of the same sheet goods as the cabinets and make sure they are deep enough and long enough to store the crap I want to store.

Hopefully the insert will be built tomorrow thanks to @Riptide for giving me a lot of clearance measurements for IGT gear I don't have yet! Now I can be pretty sure the stuff will fit when I can afford it.

 

[Riptide]

That is now know as the MOAIGT...

 

[jacobconroy]

That is now know as the MOAIGT...

BMFIGT!

 

[jacobconroy]

Nothing exciting today. Got tired of moving the chop saw around, so I’m finally going to finish the new bench (for chop saw and thickness planer). Ran dust collection ducting and did some electrical.

At least it’s functional now, but there is at least a day more to go.

 

[jacobconroy]

I had some time to kill this morning and performed a test of the Snow Peak Baja Burner after I changed it to use the iso canister right-side-up. I ran it at "full-bore" for 60 minutes. The good news is that it didn't explode. The bad news is that it won't boil water. Never exceeded 160ºF.

It was 30º outside and the stove was 2 feet off the ground with no windscreen (and it was a little windy)....but I'm not impressed yet. I turned the canister upside-down as it is meant to be and tested again. Water reached 165º. Huh?

I might test it again with a windscreen before I give up on it. Pretty sure the problem is that it's a long way from the burner to that pan without a wind block.



While watching the stove I played with the layout in the van. As of today, I'm thinking of something like this. The drawer will be to the right of the fridge with big cabinet storage above it, and the bed will be in front of the fridge (so that I can reach the fridge while cooking at the rear and from bed without having to take the bike off the rear of the van).



In any case, we've decided that insulating the floor is the next step, so I have time to contemplate layout.

 

[mobydick 11]

I had some time to kill this morning and performed a test of the Snow Peak Baja Burner after I changed it to use the iso canister right-side-up. I ran it at "full-bore" for 60 minutes. The good news is that it didn't explode. The bad news is that it won't boil water. Never exceeded 160ºF.

It was 30º outside and the stove was 2 feet off the ground with no windscreen (and it was a little windy)....but I'm not impressed yet. I turned the canister upside-down as it is meant to be and tested again. Water reached 165º. Huh?

I might test it again with a windscreen before I give up on it. Pretty sure the problem is that it's a long way from the burner to that pan without a wind block.

View attachment 559499

While watching the stove I played with the layout in the van. As of today, I'm thinking of something like this. The drawer will be to the right of the fridge with big cabinet storage above it, and the bed will be in front of the fridge (so that I can reach the fridge while cooking at the rear and from bed without having to take the bike off the rear of the van).

View attachment 559500

In any case, we've decided that insulating the floor is the next step, so I have time to contemplate layout.

Jacob Maybe try boiling water in a kettle on two quart sauce pan with a lid . Also have you thought about spray foam from underside of the floor ? you would not be loosing any head room that way . But I don't know about the long term affect on the van. closed cell foam maybe OK

 

[Riptide]

That is alot of cast iron and alot of surface area to heat up. Is that what you're planning on cooking with?

 

[jacobconroy]

That is alot of cast iron and alot of surface area to heat up. Is that what you're planning on cooking with?

I plan to use an 8-inch diameter pot or pan. Today I retested with an 8-inch cast iron pan in the unheated garage. Boiled 1 cup of water in 3 min. That works.

So, wind shield is absolutely necessary and I might have a new plan for that.

After spending three hours staring at the BMFIGT today I came up with what I plan to do (as of today, I change my mind up until the point that the fab is done).

The IGT has been moved to the passenger side of the van because I want the fridge to be close by. With this new orientation:



I will have my sheet metal buddy make a single two-unit IGT box for the left side out of stainless. It will be 7.5 inches deep to fit a Snow Peak cast iron duo, my Snow Peak pour-over coffee kit, and whatever pot & pan I settle on up to 12 inches wide BUT only have 5 inches hanging below the IGT to match the depth of everything else. This will leave enough space to put in different stoves later if I want to.

The new storage box will be topped with one single-unit IGT stainless lid and one custom-made cutting board so that either can be quickly removed during cooking for easy access.

I'm also seriously thinking about adding a little room under the BMFIGT in the cabinetry to store another four-unit IGT table & legs for a mobile IGT table at camp. You know, in case I'm smoking meat in the grill and want to get it away from the van. It will make a good general-use camp table too. I will probably install the sink/cutting board gizmo into the mobile table.

And....I have a tentative plan for a windscreen. It will be 18 inches tall and on hinges with two hinged end screens. Why so tall? Well, when I fold it closed (over the IGT modules) it will span the IGT table, keep the entire kitchen drawer under 12 inches tall, and also give me a 60 inch X 18 inch stainless steel table when not cooking. In my experience this is very handy for holding tools while working on the rig.

Grand plans indeed.

 

[jacobconroy]

That is alot of cast iron and alot of surface area to heat up. Is that what you're planning on cooking with?

I'm still mulling over insulation options because I don't have a heated shop to work in. Gonna have to wait until spring unless I come up with some sort of buddy favor and find a heated shop.

 

[Mwilliamshs]

I've gone to RevereWare Copper-bottom Stainless cookware for my propane stove. By far the fastest and thus most fuel-efficient setup I've found. They're much lighter than cast iron, too. The percolator is especially nice, as is the pressure cooker. For just boiling water, I use a solid copper Simplex teapot made expressly for gas cooktops. It's amazing and definitely heirloom quality but also expensive.

 

[jacobconroy]

I've gone to RevereWare Copper-bottom Stainless cookware for my propane stove. By far the fastest and thus most fuel-efficient setup I've found. They're much lighter than cast iron, too. The percolator is especially nice, as is the pressure cooker. For just boiling water, I use a solid copper Simplex teapot made expressly for gas cooktops. It's amazing and definitely heirloom quality but also expensive.

Good to know. I'll check them out today.

I found these late last night and I'm liking the idea:

Hard Anodized 8-inch stack

Stainless 8-inch stack

Each set has an 8-inch pot, an 8-inch pan, and a flat glass lid with a real handle. First time customers get 20% off on their first order direct from Calphalon....so I think I'm going to order both sets this weekend.

The goal will be to have one stainless pan and one non-stick pot in the kit, have them stack, and have one or two lids in the BMFIGT. I was planning on building a 7-inch deep storage space for pots n pans....but I'll wait to see how tall these actually are when stacked.

Would have loved to have Snow Peak cast iron, but it's too damned expensive and too small. Or too big.

 

[jacobconroy]

Today I messed around a bit. First, I did a bunch of measuring and mocked up the final working height of the BMFIGT table to see how it felt. Glad I did that, because it was 46 inches off the floor (when emulating it's resting place in the back of the van). A bit too high for me at six-feet tall.

After a whole lot of measuring and thinking, I brought it down to 42 inches from the floor. To do this I'll have to eliminate the decking, floor insulation, lower IGT storage, and the possibility of using the Snow Peak dual-burner stove. I'm OK with that. My stoves will either be Partner or Baja burners. In short, there will be 6.5 inches of free space between the bottom of the IGT deck and the top of the drawer box bottom. The rear deck in the van is 36 inches off the ground.



Unless my new pots and pans are taller than 6 inches.. the height is settled. Will find out next week when my new pots and pans arrive. Also ordered two single-unit steel box covers so that we can settle the dimensions for the custom-made double-IGT storage box and have it made.

Prepare to be amazed.....

After a week of brainstorming about wind screens I think I've come up with a million dollar idea. Here are some mockups of single-IGT windscreens out of 1/4 inch plywood. One is 4 inches tall, and one is 6 inches tall.

Of course, the final product will be made out of thin stainless steel and won't have any hinges.





This single-IGT screen setup seems like it might work, but where in the hell would I store them? I can't leave them like this in the drawer because it will raise the huge storage shelf that will sit above the kitchen by 6 inches. I have a lot of heavy crap to lift in and out of this storage at camp. Lower is better.

I went upstairs and thought it about for 10 minutes, then said, "Holy ********" and started jumping up and down. Here is my million-dollar idea:



Looks the same, right. Not quite. Watch what happens when I turn it over.




No additional height needed over the IGT and no wasted space underneath man, and a full six inches of height when it's needed. Wow!!!!





The grill won't drop all the way in there due to the thickness of the 1/4 plywood, but it will when these are made out of stainless.



Anyway, the wind screen issue is settled. I'll have to work out a few details about how to brake the stainless correctly, but I'm sure it can be done. Pretty proud of this.

Yes, each IGT unit needs to be lifted out to flip a wind screen, but I've had worse problems. This solution also renews the possibility of installing a second, mobile three-unit IGT table but it would need to be above the kitchen (instead of below it as I had previously planned). Kinda pretty-sure that I want a second IGT.

 

[jacobconroy]

New pots arrived today. They will work!



As suspected, I can mix and match between the two set. I plan to use one stainless pan, one non-stick pot, and two lids. This stack is 5.5 inches tall at the max. I think a rubber band around them will create a rattle-free stack.







One pot with lid, one pan with lid. That's all I wanted and I finally have it.









If a fellow wanted to cut the handles down, they would fit in a single-IGT box module (if you could find one to buy). Since I'm building a 2-box module they will fit as-is and so will the other gear.



Well, that's settled. I'm still waiting for the sheet-metal guy to complete a galvanized prototype of the wind screens. Once that is here and approved I can spec the double storage box to have it made.

Getting close to having the BMFIGT finalized, then the woodwork can begin for the van.

 

[jacobconroy]

Half the Snow Peak order arrived. The trash bag holder is kindof a joke. No idea where it is meant to mount...but I wanted it here when cooking.



Falls right off of there. Howerver, a little hillbilly engineering (plus turning it over) lead to:


Success! Nothing more tedious than walking back and forth to a Trasharoo when you are cooking. It's also high enough that the camp dogs won't be able to get into it. Probably.

 

[jacobconroy]

Talked my sheet metal pal into cutting my the first chunk of backsplash this morning. I've decided to simplify things. No doubt I would get tired of turning over the little wind screens above, so we are going to imitate a Snow Peak IGT backsplash. Sorta.

Here we are with a new chunk of stainless. 8 X 59 1/16 long. I've already ground a radius on the upper corners, deburred everything, and it's time to mark the holes for the slide screws.



I then punched the holes and started the drawer slide screws.



And here is what it looks like from the back when mounted.



And the front



I wanted to make sure that I could rest the lids against the backsplash/wind screen because there is no where else to put them. Tomorrow morning we will cut the left and right end chunks and I'll get them fitted.

Also ordered a second Baja burner. Making progress.