The Belafonte - aka "Poor man's EarthRoamer" Ambulance Build

[Overland Hadley]

Enjoying following this build.


And the name Belafonte is great!

 

[McZippie]

Like! Keep updating...
FWIW
Many of you Ambo guys install or have an aux generators?
Is so, here's an idea for your Rigs that I never read about on Expo.
We recently did a nice, completly hidden Air Conditiioning and Espar Heater set-up in our E-350 Limo Bus.
An espar heater is nothing new, but for an A/C we used a unit made for Semi-Truck Sleeper Cabs.
It's not a typical RV roof A/C, it's a 2 part split system.
Inside part mounts under a sofa, bed or cabinet. Outside part mount under Rig.
They are also used on Boats.
http://www.dometictruck.com/select.php
.

.

 

[ujoint]

Love this thread!

 

[Haggis]

Today we were invited to Crowswing Ltd's Skunkwerks lab to do some interior work.

Careful, those folks at the Crowswing Ltd are hard core glampers. If you're not careful their disease will infect you and the next thing you know there'll be granite countertops and an Italian marble backsplash in your kitchen, and you'll find your whole budget blown on just your interior upgrades. :elkgrin:

 

[Nightkrawler]

Carl,
Great work man! Looks like such a FUN project! The work lights are key! Mods mid-trip not a problem anymore! :wings:

Here is some motivation for ya!

Belefonte in 2 years! You can do it! :drool:

WOW build thread? Luv the Ambu builds!

 

[johnnieev]

Sorry to bother you all with this post, but I jumped on e-Bay to see what there is for ambulances.

Saw this Chevy rig for sale:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/L-K-...8381?pt=Commercial_Trucks&hash=item25744cecdd

Only bad point might be the 454 gasoline power. Still, pretty good start for a winter project to be ready for spring 2013.


If you are not into the off-road camping, but prefer to do camping on a "normal RV-park" there is this rig:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chev...1809906?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2a21917f72

Or if you prefer a Ford van:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford...5928715?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2320e7f88b


Some items to look at. Might want to do some more digging. I once saw a Ford E-350 diesel-power 4x4 ambulance, but it appears some one got it (Dang-gone it!!).

 

[4lowdean]

Sorry to bother you all with this post, but I jumped on e-Bay to see what there is for ambulances.

Not to continue the hyjack, but... For used ambulances you're better off checking these sites:

http://www.ambulancemarket.com

http://www.heartlandwheels.com/Ambulance/Used_Amb.htm

http://www.ambulancetrader.com

All three sites have quality used ambulances at pretty good prices. If you're not in a rush I have seen plenty of 4x4 F-series chassis as well as a few Quigley converted E-series chassis on those sites over the last few years. They also have medium duty chassis on those sides, you know, in case someone has the balls to convert a Freightliner chassis ambulance into a 4x4 Expe rig.

 

[CLynn85]

Hey, quick hijacking my thread! :sport_box

So not a whole lot going on this week, crazy work schedules. I've been amazed how hard it's been to deal with DMV/Insurance on this thing, consumed more time than it should have for sure. Also spent about 10 min the other night pestering Chris with questions on the 4wd swap, so that's looking more and more like a reality sooner than later, thanks again Chris for straightening me out.

I did manage to get the drawer slides built up for the fridge. Still need to put a finish on them (not sure between brushing, bead blasting, or polishing) and get some better fasteners, but the mounts are done. Hopefully everything needed to install the fridge will be done shortly.

Profile



Compressed



Extended





We've been experimenting with primers on the formica and BullsEye 123 seems to be highly recommended and bonded pretty well to both sanded and unsanded samples, so we'll probably be stripping the left side out and priming/painting this weekend. That'll be followed by staining and reinstalling the kitchenette. Can't wait to wrap up the port side so we can get cracking on the sofa-bed!

 

[jronwood]

GREAT rig, and great idea......

I have a body I wanna make into the trailer. Also, I have a FC80 Freightliner CC mothballed but too big to convert for now anyway.

I also found this 7.3 unit for a friend, only $3200 CRAZY deal. Was a plumber or HVAC guy, they could not find someone to buy it.
My FC80

 

[jronwood]

Also, FYI, one guy on here took a Westfila fiberglass top and cut a hole in his roof of an ambulance and made it taller. Good idea, and given how well these things are constructed it can certainly take the hole in stride. He flanged his around the opening so no water could get in even if it bypassed the seal.

 

[CLynn85]

GREAT rig, and great idea......

I have a body I wanna make into the trailer. Also, I have a FC80 Freightliner CC mothballed but too big to convert for now anyway.

My FC80
View attachment 117063

Your body has the pullout drawer on the side, those are sweet, great camping accessory (until it ends up being 5ft off the ground I guess). The FC80 is a beast, can't wait to see what you make of it.

 

[CLynn85]

Well I was holding off on posting an update until after the weekend. I finally got everything else out of the way so I could put in some good hours on it today and tomorrow and I wake up to this:



So I guess I'll just post what I got done last weekend and this week.

Last weekend we decided it was time to go ahead and paint the interior so we stripped out all the cabinet doors, counter, and the panels that we had built for priming/painting. The goal was to prime Saturday, paint Sunday, and stain the wood Sunday as well. Mother nature once again had other plans because rain started to roll in and we were racing the weather to finish the paint Sunday. As a result it didn't really start to dry and cure well until mid-week. Hopefully that won't have affected the longevity and overall adhesion of the finish.

Old nasty white/red.



While we had everything stripped out we also decided to go ahead and replace all the red trim with black. A trip to the fabric store yielded a couple yards of black marine vinyl, so we set up a table in the basement for our sweatshop.





And then we started re-assembling the interior. It's changed quite a bit since we bought it already. I also disassembled the A/C and Heat covers up front and sprayed those in Satin Black to complete the transformation.





The area behind the counter will get covered with a sheet of aluminum to finish off the kitchenette area, and the wood surfaces still haven't been treated, they're just mocked-up in there for now.

 

[CLynn85]

Still not a whole lot of progress, but it's finally starting to look more like a camper!

This week we managed to make some progress on the bed, relocate some more of the electrical, and continue de-ambulification of the interior.

First off, we freed up some floor space but removing unnecessary garbage and relocating the inverter/charger.

Before:



After:



Found out that this box is useless since we no longer have a siren so it went away



KKK certified????



My biggest surprise was when I removed part of the cabinet that is to be the base of the sofa/bed, and removed the long stainless hinge.

With Hinge



Without



******?!??!

 

[CLynn85]

So that brings us to today. Blacked out the cabinet doors, almost done with those, the one that remains empty on the rear will in the future house a swiveling flat screen. Also got some carpet down, the dog approves, as he HATES hardwood/slick surfaces. Paint looks decent, should do for the time being. If the weather would just hold out long enough that I could varnish the wood surfaces and start final assembly of the kitchenette and install the fridge we'd be doing good!

 

[Haggis]

Lookin' good Carl...are you bringing it to the Float trip here in a few weeks for us to ogle over?