The great white fun hog (another white GM awd build)

[boardrider247]

Hey boardrider - Your build is giving me lots of ideas. I want to use the cargo tracks myself, but am unsure how to secure them to the van. How did you do it? Thanks.

The portion of the van I secured the tracks to is a seam where two pieces of sheet metal spot welded together.
I tried to use the correct flat heat screws so they would sit flush in the track, but I broke every one and switched to #10 self tapping screws. My intended use is rather light duty so these should be fine, there is a screw every 4".

If you are mounting them somewhere you can access the back side I would use grade 8 flat head machine screws if you can find them.

 

[boardrider247]

Thursday night into Friday morning it snowed here.
A lot
My daily driver car wasn't going to get shoveled out before work so I finally got to give the awd a solid test.

Holy crap does this thing handle snow/ice great. I was trying to hoon about a bit and she just wasn't having it. Every slide I initiated instantly corrected itself. Just straightened out and hooked up.
Found a few side streets that hadn't been plowed yet 6-10" of fresh light snow with a few rutted up tracks through. No problem at all. Honestly this van handles snow as good as my CTD pickup did with half the weight. And the ice covered roads it handled as good as my old Audi 200 with snow tires.
I am VERY happy with my choice to go awd right now :smiley_drive:

 

[boardrider247]

Anyone out there have some input on swivel seat bases?
I just scored some cheap oem seat bases off ebay and I have a few pair of nice leather seats stored in the pole barn just waiting to be used.

I figure with a little cutting and welding I should be able to come up with something :sombrero:

I get a little confused when it comes to swivels though.
Obviously the cheap ones meant for boats aren't going to hold up in a crash.
Discount van has these http://www.discountvantruck.com/rvvanseatbases/rvvanChevyseatbases.htm for $500 a pair I would expect they are stout enough for van duty.
However after seeing this thread http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26316900.cfm I question how good those bases actually are. Especially for the money.

Then I came across these http://www.factoryrvsurplus.com/products.php?product_id=1615
They are a different style, but I think I could make it work. What I question About these is if they are going to be strong enough. They look to me to be at least as good of quality as the discount van offerings but make no claims of being reinforced or crash rated.

Opinions?
Other options I haven't found?
Anyone ever made their own swivel bases? It seems a big tapered roller bearing between two sheets of 1/4" plate steel would be about all it would take.

 

[boardrider247]

I'm going to put this here as another option
Just so as not to lose it http://www.mcmaster.com/#turntables/=qthavb

Reviews from the sprinter forum are pretty negative of the discount van swivel. So they are off the table.
There are some sprinter specific swivels which I'm sure I could make work if need be. These have far better reviews
http://www.eurocampers.com/Sprinter-Seat-Swivel-Adapters_c_66.html

 

[bdog1]

After "sticker shock" I found an EBay RV surpluses seller and got a new one for $50. I see others going the JY route, but when I was there I couldn't find anything. By the way, well worth the effort for extra usable space inside!


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

 

[boardrider247]

A very minor update (spent most of today moving snow and cleaning my shop)

I sewed up the second blanket I had as a curtain.

Made two of these

Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

And ended up with this

Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

 

[boardrider247]

I'm heading out west shortly for some snowboarding. So last night I started to pack some of the essentials away into the fun hog.
Turns out the 3gallon roughneck totes are the perfect size to fit in my storage boxes.

Here is my tool kit, first aid, jack, misc bungees ect and some emergency rations. It all stowed away very nicely out of site.

Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

I used to carry a ton of tools with. But now have gotten to just bringing a few items to handle small problems.
Honesty this isn't a overland vehicle and I am not driving it through Mexico any time soon.
I do need to get a spare serp belt, tensioner and rad hoses thought to keep in the van.

 

[bdog1]

Put the new belt and parts on the truck and keep the old for spares. 1 you know they fit. 2 you prob. won't need them now.


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

 

[86cj]

A very minor update (spent most of today moving snow and cleaning my shop)

I sewed up the second blanket I had as a curtain.

Made two of these

Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

And ended up with this

Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

Nice and tidy with a splash of color, looks good........................

I agree with your observation of the AWD Van in the snow, "it just goes where you point it" this winter has thoroughly tested it.................

 

[dentedvw]

Where are you headed to snowboard? We are getting another storm late this week, looks good for the weekend.

 

[boardrider247]

Put the new belt and parts on the truck and keep the old for spares. 1 you know they fit. 2 you prob. won't need them now.


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

That is what I will do, should have phrased it better.
Also need to get some spare fluids stored in there.

Nice and tidy with a splash of color, looks good..........................

Thanks! The gray hulliner was kind of sterile, it needed some attitude.

Where are you headed to snowboard? We are getting another storm late this week, looks good for the weekend.

Wherever it's snowing!
Honestly not sure, the general idea is to make our way out to the panhandle of Idaho.
But if it's dumping somewhere else we will change plans in a moment.

 

[Funrover]

Looking good!

 

[boardrider247]

Looking good!

Thanks!
Hopefully the build will get a but more interesting as I move away from the interior onto the pop top and bumpers.

 

[Herbie]

Anyone out there have some input on swivel seat bases?
I just scored some cheap oem seat bases off ebay and I have a few pair of nice leather seats stored in the pole barn just waiting to be used.

I figure with a little cutting and welding I should be able to come up with something :sombrero:

I get a little confused when it comes to swivels though.
Obviously the cheap ones meant for boats aren't going to hold up in a crash.
Discount van has these http://www.discountvantruck.com/rvvanseatbases/rvvanChevyseatbases.htm for $500 a pair I would expect they are stout enough for van duty.
However after seeing this thread http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/26316900.cfm I question how good those bases actually are. Especially for the money.

Then I came across these http://www.factoryrvsurplus.com/products.php?product_id=1615
They are a different style, but I think I could make it work. What I question About these is if they are going to be strong enough. They look to me to be at least as good of quality as the discount van offerings but make no claims of being reinforced or crash rated.

Opinions?
Other options I haven't found?
Anyone ever made their own swivel bases? It seems a big tapered roller bearing between two sheets of 1/4" plate steel would be about all it would take.

Check my build thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=727521

I used the Discount Van Truck swivel, but had to do some extra work to make everything perfect. In my opinion, a certain amount of metal work will be needed for any solution that doesn't include a replacement pedestal, since bolting in a swivel will always raise the seat height by an undesirable amount.

Making the replacement pedestal runners and modding the swivel was a one day job. The hardest part was grinding off the rivets Chevy used to secure the slider tracks to the original pedestal.

In my case I took the opportunity while I was making a custom base anyhow to locate the passenger seat a little further aft, this gave my wife more foot room.

Overall, definitely a worthwhile mod, that seat gets used every time we camp. I'm even redesigning my interior storage to remove the portapotti/center console I usually store between the seats so that I can use the swivel more regularly without having to jockey things around first.


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[bdog1]

What type of pop top are you considering?


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT