Simple kind of van, a 2006 e150 build thread.

[villageidiot327]

Simple kind of van, its now a 2016 transit connect. its now a 2016 transit connect.

Backstory......

in 2007, i bought a gently used 2006 ford e150. drove the wheels off of it for 13 months and 60K+ miles. gas went to crazy town, and i dumped it in favor of an econobox car as i was driving 150-200 miles daily. Ever since i got rid of it, i missed it, constantly looking at em on line, every new car purchase since I've reconsidered, but finally i am in a position to get back into a van.

my former van was simple, just had a "cot" slammed right up against the back of the drivers seats, 2'x6' on a steel frame that lifted up so i could put stuff under. i used this van mostly for hauling mopeds to and from moped rallies all over the country. i don't think i have any pics, but will see what i can drum up.

so, I'm ready to purchase a van, get the all clear from SWMBO, and find what i thought was a creampuff in chicago. made the arrangements, fed-ex'd a check, booked a flight and went to get it. long story short, it was a rusted and painted over pile of junk. drove well, but has mega rust holes, and for a 2008, its just not in the cards for me, being from southern california. so i copped a plane home (the day before thanksgiving) and put it behind me.

stumbled upon a 2006, e150, cargo, 4.6, barn doors, power windows and locks, virtually identical to my former van, with 78k on the clock, and booked it down the one hour trip to go check it out. heres the pics from the ad.

i got down and looked at it, loved it, and left the guy a deposit, had to figure out where I'm getting the $ for it, as i still had a pending refund from the other van coming back to me. heres the pic i took as i left.

made my $ arrangements, jumped on a train, and headed down to pick it up yesterday. he picked me up in the van, we made the deal, and i drove back the one hour home (only about 35 miles, but traffic sucks). got the van home, showed the wife, she's like "whatever" cuz she hates vans. but she knows I'm stoked because its the perfect vehicle for me, and finished out the days plans.

took the van to the shop (where i work, I'm a auto mechanic, i do classic mercedes benz) and stripped out the "shelves" and the floor wood, cleaned up a copious amount of sawdust, and got it to the point where it is now.

i still have a much more thorough cleaning to do to the inside before i get started, but i just wanted to get it cleared out, so it wasn't so dusty in there, plus the shelves were pointless for me, the guy had a cabinet shop, so theres sawdust in every nook and cranny, will take a good cleaning, but it hasn't seen crazy abuse.

buildout will be slow, and one thing at a time. have to do some research on some more things, and figure out the layout that i want. ideally, id like to have sleeping for 2, about 54x76 (bench converts to bed),table, a slide out cooler, some LED lighting inside, maybe a sink, storage for the camp stove etc, and i am going to try and make it so i can still put a motorcycle inside. i will also have a moto on a hitch hauler, possibly a double hitch hauler so i can take a friend and not have to tow. so we shall see how this goes.

 

[dar395]

Nice looking base!

 

[philos]

Much cleaner inside than mine was!

 

[villageidiot327]

Much cleaner inside than mine was!

its still filthy inside, i need to attack it with the air hose/blower/shop van combo, as well as pull the front seats, and the floor mat. i will do all that this week after i get it smogged, and transferred into my name.

 

[Treenail]

I'm in the boat behind you...still looking for a van.

I found that the payload capacity for 2007 E150 was increased depending on a few variables. Up to 2,800# in 2007 from 2,275 in 2006.

Is there a reason you chose an '06 not an '07?

Maybe I'm being too concerned...

Tom

 

[villageidiot327]

I'm in the boat behind you...still looking for a van.

I found that the payload capacity for 2007 E150 was increased depending on a few variables. Up to 2,800# in 2007 from 2,275 in 2006.

Is there a reason you chose an '06 not an '07?

Maybe I'm being too concerned...

Tom

the reason i chose an 06 vs an 07 or later is for no reason. i had an 06 before, i guess i just kinda picked the best example of a van that i could afford. i know the 08 and later are the 3/4 ton axles and hubs, and i gotta say, the 08 i picked up in chicago, drove a little firmer and stiffer, and that was nice, but i have plans for that.


i don't really plan on heavy towing, or towing at all, maybe 500lbs on a hitch hauler, which i will build myself a special hitch with 3 receivers, to spread the load to the frame.

i also plan a small lift (4") which will give me heavier coils and such, but i figure the difference in payload is probably due to the brakes.

 

[Treenail]

Gotcha...have fun with the build.

Still looking!

 

[ohpyramids]

Sub'd. Stoked

 

[villageidiot327]

ok. so i got the graph paper and colored pencils out and took some measurements of the van (+or- an inch) and here is what i come up with

the van measures basically 72"x 116" (6'x9'8") behind the drivers seats to the inside of the threshold of the rear doors.

the bench (orange) will be at the left rear. i plan to utilize a slatted slider approach to making the bench/bed platform.

the red will slide out and make a bed of 78" x 54" (basically a full size mattress) the beds mattress will be used as the back to the bench seat when its in bench mode. the top of the bench will be 2 sections that flip up and ill have access to things underneath, (extra bottled water, and other supplies.

***** the red area will be open when in normal driving mode, and i should be able to get a moto inside if need be *****

green will be a pretty tall storage cabinet, i didn't measure the height of the van, but the plan is to have 2 "closets" one accessed from the rear, to hold things like a folding camp table, chairs, etc. i expect the rear portion to be 48" deep out of the 72". the front closet will be accesed from inside, maybe a single door and some shelves, maybe some wide drawers.... haven't thought it all out, but ill need places for gear (boots, helmet etc etc) as well as clothing storage, blankets, and other stuffs like that.

the purple will be the "kitchen" it will have storage for the cooler (on a slide out shelf) and above that a drawer for the stove to set into, and some cooking utensils, maybe a "cupholder" for small green propane bottles etc.

the shaded area in pencil color is the area for the side door step. I'm thinking one of the barn doors can have a cabinet on it, maybe a simple gravity feed sink setup. small tank on top, flexible ball valve spigot out the bottom, sink tub in the middle, drains into another tank lower? maybe something else.

the other barn door will likely have a table that flips up to be used when sitting inside the van on the passenger seat that will have a swivel to face the rear.

please don't hold my color selection against me, i just used what was sharp.

 

[villageidiot327]

not much progress this week, got it registered and smogged and its all in my name and stuff now.

I've ordered some stinger road kill to start the sound deadening process, not going to get buck wild and cover EVERYTHING, just the wheel wells, and a square or 2 in every panel.

also, Home depot had a ripping deal on a 5.0hp shop vac, which will make cleaning the perpetual sawdust out of this thing, which is the weekends project......

get it all cleaned out and ready to start.

 

[villageidiot327]

got the interior out.

was going to start in the back, and clean it, and then on to the front tomorrow, but it was such a dusty mess, i decided to take it all out today, and tackle it as a whole.

got things (99% sawdust) broken loose, and the big chunks up, have to brush and vacuum the whole thing. its amazing how big these are with no seats in it.

all the brown is just compacted stuck sawdust, ill clean it all up.

tomorrow, i plan on getting it all cleaned up and ready for reinstall, but the "stinger roadkill" won't be in until monday, so ill have to stay late a little bit and road kill it, and re assemble during the week.

 

[villageidiot327]

Got the inside cleaned up pretty well. air blower, shop vac, more shop vac, and finally a complete wipe/scrub of simple green and a towel. i have not done the back floor with simple green yet, will do that before i get to making the floor stuff, but in the meantime, I'm sure it'll get dirty by then, no need to wash it twice.

front floor is very nice under the stock rubber mat, cleaned up to my satisfaction

rubber mat was scrubbed with simple green and a scrub brush, its all caked in with sawdust, I'm not sure how it'll come out, may end up just having my upholstery shop carpet it after I'm thru with the roadkill.

seats all blown out and vacuumed, ready to go back in when the front floor is re installed.

 

[philos]

You can get OEM take out carpet for the front on fleabay. $100
You could also use a pressure washer on the rubber mat.

I bought the $100 carpet.


Sent via flux capacitor

 

[villageidiot327]

You can get OEM take out carpet for the front on fleabay. $100
You could also use a pressure washer on the rubber mat.

I bought the $100 carpet.


Sent via flux capacitor

thanks for that, I've been looking, not finding anything.

 

[philos]

here's one for $157
Different vendor than the one I used, but basically same thing.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ACC-92-...ash=item5d34ecafcf:g:AV0AAOxydB1SeWbg&vxp=mtr