Scoutkid's van is HERE!!!

[nely]

My wife always calls me manchild. I dont mind it really. Scoutmanchild could be a hit. Haha.

Atleast i feel a lil better. Your close to my age. I was beginning to ponder why i started build a 4x van at 26 & not concentrate on housing and other things.

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[scoutkid]

My wife always calls me manchild. I dont mind it really. Scoutmanchild could be a hit. Haha.

Atleast i feel a lil better. Your close to my age. I was beginning to ponder why i started build a 4x van at 26 & not concentrate on housing and other things.

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Meh, it goes both way. I have done the houses thing. Bought one, remodeled a bit, lived in it (bought it for the shop ) then rented it out and bought a big ol' house, sold the big ol' house and moved back to the small one with the shop. Turns out, I don't need a lot of house, just a lot of shop and tools

 

[nely]

Meh, it goes both way. I have done the houses thing. Bought one, remodeled a bit, lived in it (bought it for the shop ) then rented it out and bought a big ol' house, sold the big ol' house and moved back to the small one with the shop. Turns out, I don't need a lot of house, just a lot of shop and tools

Hahaha. More shop space is a plus.

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[sdski]

That is a fantastic question. I am sure that I probably will, but it may not happen before THIS winter.

I'm still doubtful that I'll get mine ready for the mountains this winter at this rate, but I am trying to find the best combination of low profile, high thermal resistance, low cost and ease of install. I'll be sure to post up what I find!

I was beginning to ponder why i started build a 4x van at 26 & not concentrate on housing and other things.

Yeah but Nely, a campervan is a house. Thats what I keep telling myself. I'm only 24, and need to live in an area with jobs, but spend every moment I can away from it all skiing, biking, etc. Can't afford a cabin in the mountains, so why not build a cabin on wheels?

 

[Patman]

Atleast i feel a lil better. Your close to my age. I was beginning to ponder why i started build a 4x van at 26 & not concentrate on housing and other things.

You're all young, but its all in your mind anyways. Not like investing in real estate currently is a great place to be!

The adventures you'll have in the van will be a far better dividend then the .0002% chance of making any money by owning a house now.

When you're 50, do you want to look back and remember all the places you've been and seen, and the people you've met, or look back at the months spent throwing money at a remodel that may or may not be worth what you put into it.

Just saying

 

[nely]

Sorry for the hijack scout kid. Your build is awesome and i look forward to seeing it continue.

Hopefully ill have an update on my thread this week.

Btw, i notice it doesnt get touched much in expo threads, but the 7.3 being a powerhouse of an engine... Do you have plans for mods of the engine? Chips or other things?

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[scoutkid]

Answers to questions in a minute, first, PROGRESS!

So I picked up my Man sized Ujoint/dshaft around 1:30PM

It goes BEAUTIFULLY with the big ol' 10.5".

THEN I got motivated.... I wanted the Vantom driving tonight. Period.

I went into a wrenching frenzy. Remember those little bastid clips I couldn't get off? Use a brake lever, wiggle wiggle pop.

BAM. Front brakes in.

Steering stabilizer? Check.

Front shocks? You kiddin me? Upper mounts welded, shocks installed. Bam.

Front sway bar links all up in there. They are pretty damn vertical, the camera angle is a bit funny. Askew as it were.

I even put in a new drivers side hood post that I grabbed at the junkyard yesterday. Now my hood closes even.

And what did this 5 hour wrenching bonanza result in?

Vantom is mobile!!! :sombrero::sombrero:

 

[loren85022]

sweet baby jesus.......thats just down right beach'n!!!

 

[ujoint]

Alright!!!! Good job, glad to see it rolling.

Don't forget to paint those u-bolts! We can't have any rust showing on a super clean install!!!!

 

[scoutkid]

Btw, i notice it doesnt get touched much in expo threads, but the 7.3 being a powerhouse of an engine... Do you have plans for mods of the engine? Chips or other things?

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Hmmm, I do have a propensity for modifying anything that I own... you could say I have a few ideas

sweet baby jesus.......thats just down right beach'n!!!

Thanks Loren!!

Alright!!!! Good job, glad to see it rolling.

Don't forget to paint those u-bolts! We can't have any rust showing on a super clean install!!!!

As soon as I get the rear shocks in I am headed to the pressure washer for a massing undercarriage washing. I can do that now that the van is more than 4" off the ground

THEN I will go around and make sure everything gets a nice semi-flat coat of paint or 4.




Next steps (aside from the wash n' paint above) will be to:

Install rear shocks
Move ebrake cable retaining plate forward a few inches
Tires
Drive around till fuel tank is empty (its about half right now)
Pull fuel tank and have it shortened
While tank is out, pull apart donor tranny to relieve it of output shaft and Tcase
Install fuel tank
Find and modify a cross member
Drive Vantom to undertermined tranny shop to have them pull tranny, install tailshaft and tcase, remount with new crossmember and install a CV joint @ tcase end of rear drive shaft
See what I need to do to modify the front F350 drive shaft I have

That should keep me busy for a few days

 

[arz]

very nice...

 

[scoutkid]

What is Vantom bigger than? My house... oops..

I got a bit more nitpicky stuff done, rear shocks installed. But I figured a picture of shocks was boring, and I am sure you wonder what I look like. So here you go.

Thats me dressed up as a pretend-like-i-know-how-to-be-a-welder.

I finished JUST in time, the rain started to come down just like I had prophesized. Prophecied? Guessed it would.

So, being an adventerous spirit, I naturally took off for a test drive in a newly lifted/axled/steering system etc. giant lumbering vehicle with unproven electronics and completely bald tires, at dusk, in a downpour.

Where did I go? Discount tire. What did I do? Bought my tires. They will be in tomorrow, apparently I got the only damn set of 315/75/16's in the state. Go me.

To the tire store was local surface streets, around rush hour, lots of stop and go with no real problems (other than I can tell I need to rebleed the brakes). The way home was highway, torrential rain and I could tell them bald tires were hating life. I am pretty stoked for new shoes tomorrow! Other than that, the highway manners were great!

I have to tip my hat to Chris yet again, this thing drives and rides like a dream. Not super 'van' squishy, and not quite as harsh as a 1 ton pickup. Just right!

I also thought I had the steering wheel nice and lined up, but much to my surprise, it is about 30 degrees off still, oops.

 

[TangoBlue]

Do you have any relatives in England? The STIG, perhaps?

 

[scoutkid]

Do you have any relatives in England? The STIG, perhaps?

LOL, not gonna lie, I had to Google that (I don't really watch TV) But I laughed when I saw what Google came up with.

 

[scoutkid]

Vantom went to the shoe store today (note that I elminated the lovely Roadrunners and USA's):

And came home looking SHARP!!

And lets remember what was:

For those who are interested, a final height at front fender:

and at the rocker under the drivers door:

Front:

Gotta straighten out the steering wheel ONE MORE TIME.. .I am REALLY bad at that. Otherwise, rides like a dream, the 3.73's seem like a perfect match for the 315's. With the motor work I am gonna do, I shouldn't have to worry about lower gears for UMPH :sombrero: