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

[boardrider247]

What type of pop top are you considering?


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

I have a top I pulled off a 78? VW westy.
It should be a relatively painless process but also a custom one off that may drive me insane:drool:
The easy part about it is I can totally fit it to the van before cutting a hole in my roof, so that gives some peace of mind.

 

[bdog1]

Man! I can't find a pop top around Florida. I'd like to do similar top to my Ford.


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

 

[boardrider247]

Man! I can't find a pop top around Florida. I'd like to do similar top to my Ford.


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

Yea I'm pretty constantly scouring CL for deals on VW campers. I hate to admit this now but I let a complete vanagon pop top go to the crusher a couple years ago. Still have no idea what I was thinking.

I got pretty lucky with this old bus. Picked her up for $150 but it was pretty well stripped. I was able to salvage the fiberglass top, the rear bed/seat and the transmission out of it. Then sold the transmission for $150 before sending the rest off to the crusher.

 

[boardrider247]

Out living up to the title of Fun Hog!

Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

A parking lot board tuning with friends

Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

 

[boardrider247]

Just made it back to the flatlands yesterday after a couple weeks out west.

Totalled just under 3500(odo indicated) miles. 50 or so of gnarly two track.
Before the lift and tires I was averaging a computer indicated 17.1 mpg. Over the course of this trip computer was indicating 14.5mpg.
If my math is correct there is approximately a 7% difference in revs per mile between the old and new tire size.
Making it closer to 3745 miles divided by my 241.5ish gallons of gas and I end up with 15.5mpg.
Overall a 1.6mpg loss between summer unloaded mileage and winter loaded mileage.
I can live with that.

If you aren't totally bored just yet a little more math.
Gas prices by my house today are $3.40 for regular.
3.40/17.1=$0.198 per mile
3.40/15.5=$0.219 per mile

3745x.198=$741.51
3745x.219=$820.15

So this trip cost me a extra $78.65 due to the lift/tires.
My previous travel vehicle only averaged about 10k miles per year so triple that and the extra fuel cost per year is about $230 per year.
Again I can live with these numbers for the added ground clearance. I wouldn't have ever takin it down a couple of the roads we traveled in it's previous state.

I wish I had more pics of the van in action but we just didn't stop to take too many. On top of that my passenger was more then a little gripped when we were going down the more "interesting" roads :smiley_drive::Wow1:

I'm still VERY happy with my decision to go with a GM awd platform.

 

[ripper1600]

You have done some stuff to this fan I never would have thought to do. It's a pretty sweet project and look forward to seeing the progress.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[fritz]

Nice job with your van.

After a long decision process I just picked up a 2010 Chevy Express AWD cargo van on Wednesday. Thanks to you and all the links you mentioned in your first post for helping me decide on this platform.

Very interested to see what you decide on the seat swivel.

 

[boardrider247]

Thanks!
Hoping to dig into the seat swivel this weekend. I have a pile of parts sitting there ready to go

 

[boardrider247]

Here are a few quick shots of the van all packed up from the last trip.
Snowboard gear for two guys and surf gear.


Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr


Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

Pretty much all of this, times two


Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

 

[sgosine]

Great Looking Rig! Great for riding how you hauling boards?

 

[boardrider247]

Great Looking Rig! Great for riding how you hauling boards?

Thanks! Your van was inspiration for sure.

Snowboards get hauled in roller bags

I can stack two of those below the current temporary bed platform.

And the surfboards get hung with bungees on the driver side wall.
Untitled by boardrider247, on Flickr

 

[iridewheelies]

I'm going to copy your unistrut bed platform idea for my temporary bed solution. It's a great idea. Thanks for posting. Any tips?

I'm hoping we can sleep sideways. I'm 5'9" so I think there's enough room.

 

[boardrider247]

I'm going to copy your unistrut bed platform idea for my temporary bed solution. It's a great idea. Thanks for posting. Any tips?
Make friends with anyone you know who does commercial construction, we can get leftover strut for free most every job:sombrero:

I'm hoping we can sleep sideways. I'm 5'9" so I think there's enough room.
You may get lucky, at 6'3" i am definitely not sleeping sideways:Wow1:

^^^^^^^^

 

[iridewheelies]

^^^^^^^^

oh yeah, I'll be getting lucky back there.

I've already asked my electrician friends. If I can get scraps at least I can get a good deal on some new stuff at contractor price.

 

[boardrider247]

oh yeah, I'll be getting lucky back there.

I've already asked my electrician friends. If I can get scraps at least I can get a good deal on some new stuff at contractor price.

If you need any angle brackets, square washers or strut nuts let me know. I can fill up a flat rate box and send it your way.