Like most of the projects in my life I think they'll be relatively simple and they end up turning out to be way more complex than I anticipate. This tends to have two results; one is that I tend to take on more ambitious projects than the average person might and two, is that I tend to take way longer to finish my projects - some are currently in the "taking forever" stage.
Like how hard can it be to make a new panel for the rear speakers? Simple right? Maybe a couple of hours.
I used a jigsaw to cut the bulk of the roof sheet but it wasn't the right choice. It vibrated and wasn't able to get close enough to the edge. In the end I used the aviation snips. All of them.
This cleared the whole area so I could make a new brace for the sides. As a side note the existing brace was doing pretty much nothing and nothing happened when I took it out.
Also, having seen the inside of a high roof van I hope we never roll over. Just saying.
Since the roof has a slight arch in it I laid the 1-1/4" square tube (what was in the material rack and seemed strong enough) on the edge. I zeroed my digital angle block to compensate for whatever tilt the driveway had and measured the angle from edge to center. 2.8 degrees wasn't much but I went with it.
I cut the center of the tube at 1.5 degrees and welded it up. I haven't been welding much so my first ones were my warm up and by the last weld I was getting back my groove.
That is 1-1/4" angle that I used for the sides.
And another view but painted.
And then I got frustrated and quit taking photos because, seriously, how long and complicated could this be? It took me two days of making and remaking this to come up with that very simple looking panel. That doesn't even cover the sides. To be fair to myself I didn't want to just screw it in everywhere so I took the time to make a tongue and slot affair at the top and then drilled and tapped the metal bar so this whole affair is solidly held with only three screws. I'll take it back out to cover it and I'll shoot some photos then. I wanted to make sure that once the speakers were in it didn't rattle or vibrate or otherwise make any annoying noises and surprisingly (or not) it sounds much better than the panel that was in there before. It's certainly more solid and rigid and being much closer to the back of the top probably helps as well.
The next thing I wanted to address was an outside temperature gauge. I don't care what the temperature is inside because, well,
I'm inside and can reach the thermostat. I prefer the old style slider of red to blue over the "pick a number" settings on the new stuff. But outside temp is something I missed from my F150. It was always really helpful when you were driving in cold weather - is that ice or water? Is the road frozen? These are really important questions when your driving almost 9000lbs of van down the road.
SIDE NOTE: I pulled off the last time I was coming back from dirt biking. The van with me and my sister and two dirt bikes came in at 8850lbs. Just sneaking over the 8500lb Oregon limit of no inspections or emissions. Not that I'm against that but generally my vehicles on are the ragged edge of legality.
Anyway, thermometers! I bought this one off Amazon:
TmallTech DC 12V Digital Thermometer
Again, I didn't bother with photos because I thought it wasn't a big deal and for the most part it
was simple. I just used a small cut off wheel (and file and sandpaper) to enlarge the existing hole to fit this new digital thermometer and then I extended the probe wire and ran it out by the door.
I figured for placing the probe the trick was to keep it away from engine heat (not under hood or behind the grill) and out of the sun (obviously) and since the van is white hiding it behind the door near the hinge wouldn't catch heat sink as it might if the van was black and also was out of direct sun. I used gaffer tape as I wanted to be sure that the location was going to work. So far it's great and quite accurate. Well, compared to my keenly honed sense of, "Hmm, I think that
does feel like 42degrees..."
So next up is to finish the back speaker set up. Not sure if I want to make the sides part of the panel or if that will prevent me from being able to refit it. I'll need to experiment and then, when it's resolved, I'll come up with some sort of covering. The good news is that dirt bikes now roll in with no problems. Success!
So with the summer quickly approaching I want to knock some things out on the van. Next up on the punch list: New door seals, new rear seats with better seat belts, redoing the floor in the back and sound deadening the interior a bit more. The front doors were fixed when the stereo was installed and they're so quiet that I want to do the sides and back. MG sold me his prototype floor plate and Transit seats so I'm going to get that in.
Lots of stuff on the way. More updates soon.
Gregor
