New here. Build plans, advise needed.

[njtacoma]

I see the rubber mats out of cargo vans for sale new and used on Ebay from time to time. One of those cut down for just the rear portion may work?

No direct experience, but seems like it should work.

Cole, who is building a eurovan uses a cool round dimple patterned rubber flooring in his van, not sure where you get it, but might have more info in his thread http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/135200-Eurovan-Blu-O-(2-0)

hope that helps.

 

[89s rule]

Keep us posted on the seats you decide to run. I want a set for the rear that has seatbelts and dual arm rest. Can't seem to find both in anything reasonably priced. Would love some Sienna seats but they seem to have gone up in price most recently. Ideally I would like to find a few options I can keep my eyes peeled for at the junk yard. Front seats I have considered a Tahoe seat but not sure about the width as I have swivel bases for all four buckets.

 

[RickM]

I do know this. The Siena seats in the back are awesome. I absolutely love it. The fronts are still up in the air. I am thinking about just wrapping them in the leather kit for now.

 

[RickM]

So I have not done a whole lot to my van but I did add the steering stabilizer to the front end. This is probably a absolute done deal for the conversions to 4x4 but for me, and my wanna be 4x4 this was not a part of my setup. I have seen how the moog stabilizer is just not entirely effective, but the setup used on ambulances did make a rather big difference. I am probably out 115 bucks and and hour or so, and it made a rather huge difference in how it drives.

Next will be for an onboard air presurized shower!

 

[RickM]

Quick note. I was looking at adding an onboard hose water/shower system for cleaning off after MTB rides. I was going to mount it underneath and add a pressurized air intake of it. Anyway, I am going to table that. Found this this weekend and it looks promising.

http://www.rinsekit.com

Certainly not as small,*but pretty slick if you ask me.

Aaaand Out!

 

[RickM]

So here is a quick update on some thoughts on the rear end of my van. I towed a fleetwood e3 travel trailer this weekend to the farthest reaches of West TX which involved a gravel road section of 8 miles that was not well maintained. So this trailer has a huge tongue weight. I have to run a WDH system on it. An E350 should tow better than that and not need the WDH system in my humble opinion. I then came home, and put the Honda EU300is generator in the back of my van, and could also tell a huge difference in how settled the back end felt with that weight. Then today I put a bag of concrete in my van, and could tell a difference there. I started thinking about the seats and weight I have pulled out of my van in order to have more cargo space. I am thinking that I am running a super soft rear end without some basic cargo. That said, I purchased some Supersprings for the back end of my rig that are supposed to add some weighted stability, but not impact ride feel. I will take pics of the install and report back on progress, but I have yet to read a review that said that the Supersprings did not work.

 

[RickM]

Finally got around to installing the super springs. Then un-installed them. I pulled them as it really lifted the rear end up a notch. When I installed the action van lift I put in a 1"block. My plan is to remove the block, and then reinstall. I did drive it though and it kind of stabilized the rear end a bit.

 

[RickM]

Well I installed my super springs and removed the 1"block. I liked the look but was noticing the upper bracket for the superstring was hitting my Hvac lines. All that said I think I may want to go with a helper spring or a new spring pack. My worry about stiffer rear springs is that I'm really not trying to lift the rear. Going to talk to my buddies at a local shop and see what they suggest.

 

[philos]

Maybe pull a leaf from the pack to soften the ride up a bit? Did the same thing on my FJ60 years back...

 

[RickM]

It's been a bit since I posted up much about the van. We have put in a truckload of miles with this bad boy, and are so happy with the decision to buy this van.

So question. I'm noticing an awful creaking in the rear end of my van when hitting speed bumps and stuff. Mostly when the van is unloaded. I thought it was just inside, then I hit a speed bump with my windows down. It was almost worse outside. Anyone have a similar issue, and know where to start to get rid of this?

 

[hobovan]

Creaking is usually indicative of worn or broken suspension components. You should climb under the van and check your bushings, and look at the giant u-bolts that hold the rear axle in place and make sure they aren't loose. Inspect and grease your u joints while you're there. Shocks could be trash, but they usually don't make noise, just generally suck. Check your exhaust hangars as well. Also this thread needs moar pics. Looks like a sweet van. Best of luck with the creaking.

 

[RickM]

Ok, all. The Action items are coming out today. The Weldtec designs 4" is going in. Pics to come.

 

[RickM]

Howdy all. Been a bit since I have updated this thread but here goes.
1. I insulated the inside of my van. Doors and all. Well all but the two front doors. Made a huge difference in road noise below, Plan to tackle the roof etc this holiday season.
2. I also did in fact add the Weldtec 4". It is pretty sweet.
3. Added lights to the back and front of my roof rack.

Projects I would love some input on.
I would love to be able to power my kids dvd's and my exterior lights off a separate battery. The concept being I would love to be able to go to a MTB race and know that my kids can watch dvd's, or we could use our exterior aux lights knowing that if the power gets killed then I can start up my van and charge all batteries off the alternator. Is this extremely hard to do?

 

[Bikersmurf]

Not hard. Easiest place to mount batteries is on the frame rail using stock battery boxes. Blue Seas ACR to isolate and control charging and a suitably sized sine-wave inverter to power your 110v accessories. Ideally you want to use a max of 50% of the AH of your battery bank before recharging. You'll likely need to top them up when you're home... unless you're driving 10 hrs each way.