The Honey Wagon: 2001 Ford 350 7.3 PSD Crestline Ambulance Build Thread

[berimbozo]

Much respect to you for your 8 years of JJ!

I started a few decades too late (especially for Berimbolos ), but I still LOVE it! I really enjoy the physical and mental aspects of it, but it's challenging keeping up with the younger guys sometimes.

Better late than never! Saulo Ribeiro (JJ Hall of famer) has a famous quote: "It's never too late, it's never too bad, you're never too sick, and never too old to start from scratch once again." Best of luck to you on your Jiu Jitsu journey. If you ever make it out to the lower mainland in British Columbia, I know a bunch of places you can train at .

 

[berimbozo]

You can fully set one up to run on it's own before you install in your rig. That's a real confidence builder.
The hardest part really was drilling the exhaust and intake holes in the floor. There are a lot of horror stories about how hard it is to install them but I found it quite simple. (but I also read the directions and watched a couple installation videos first)
If you can't follow instructions then don't do it as there are a couple ways to easily install it wrong and cause yourself problems.

What I found to be excellent on the diesel heater was it's ability to keep the interior dry. I did a couple 3 day ice climbing trips last winter. Cold, wet and semi-frozen gear is the norm. Everything was dry and toasty in the morning.
View attachment 599979View attachment 599980

What size heater is that? 5kw? The popular ones on Amazon are all 5kw but I've read that it's overkill and you really only need a 2kw in a van (they seem to be harder to find though). Also, what kind of amperage is your heater drawing?

 

[iggi]

What size heater is that? 5kw? The popular ones on Amazon are all 5kw but I've read that it's overkill and you really only need a 2kw in a van (they seem to be harder to find though). Also, what kind of amperage is your heater drawing?

I have the 5KW. It spends most of it's time at the low setting but it's nice to have the higher capacity to heat things up in a hurry.
At least in the Rockies, in an ambulance I suspect the 2KW might be a bit underpowered without additional insulation.
The coldest I camped at was -15. At -25 and some wind I bet you'd be sitting around the 2.6 - 3.2kw setting to stay comfy

Draws roughly an amp once it it's all warmed up.

Ian

 

[Abitibi]

Nice, another Crestline! Just went over your thread, great start!

Just sharing some thoughts and experience on the points you brought up...

Adding wood strips to the aluminum ribs was a good idea. I didn't do it on my 1st ambo (I glued some insulation foam instead) and it would sweat where the screws were going in.

With the wood it avoid this issue, hads some extra insulation and makes it much easier to mount stuff (cabinets...) on your walls. I glued mine with PL700 and used stainless screws. I only used 3/4" strips and I'm adding another 3/4" of cedar boards on top.

As for original insulation there's no real issues with it, does the job fine. Only possible issues, it may absorb water if you have a leak... Roxul is a great replacement or 2" solid foam also works great and has higher R value.

As mentioned, big culprit is the front cab. I took the time to properly do my doors, floor and ceiling. Helps with temperature but even more so with road noise! My process included a mix of Dynamat, 1/2" closed cell foam, car specific bubble wrap and Roxul.

For the fan I'm a big fan of Maxxair but they are so pricey nowadays that I like what you guys are doing. It just that Maxxair is so quiet yet powerful, push or pull air, low consumption and can be used in the rain (some models). But with the ongoing crisis they are getting pricier and harder to find!

Heater! Diesel heater is the way to go but I like the 2kw over the 5kw as running them on low too often seems to gums them up. Easy to install and great heat source. Plus not thirsty at all, I think I barely used 10L of diesel for 3 full days at -10 / -15°c up on Baker last year. Other great option is a mini-cubic wood stove

What do you envision for the rest of your build?

Cheers
David

Ps. Sorry, pics aren't in order

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[Abitibi]

Oh, and I'm very curious about that auxiliary port on the fuel tank! Please share once you figure it up (Iggi)

On the 7.3 they have a drain hole at the bottom which makes it easy to switch it to a fuel pick up for the heater.

On the 6.0 there is none so I'm cutting a floor access trap above the tank sender for easier service and to add auxiliary fuel pick up...

Cheers!

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[berimbozo]

Well between my last post and now, Summer finally arrived in British Columbia and between camping and moving, I haven't had the chance to do much on the ambulance so here is a short little update.

We ripped out part of the subfloor to see what was underneath and how badly water-damaged it was. After pulling the subfloor, I immediately regretted it.



So we put in some new foam and supports and a shiny new piece of plywood (I bought this off some guy on craigslist and 3/4" birch finished on both sides was $48 a sheet)





The most recent thing that we did was build this "shelf" for my battery bank. Featuring 4 6v 208AH Kirkland golf cart batteries.





We're hoping to finish up wiring all the electrical this next week so stay tuned!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Eric

 

[Abitibi]

How hard was it to remove the floor Eric? I was very tempted to do the same and double the insulation thickness but I'm itching to get started on the interior...

Like what you've done so far!

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

 

[Bikersmurf]

Well between my last post and now, Summer finally arrived in British Columbia and between camping and moving, I haven't had the chance to do much on the ambulance so here is a short little update.

We ripped out part of the subfloor to see what was underneath and how badly water-damaged it was. After pulling the subfloor, I immediately regretted it.
View attachment 605334View attachment 605335


So we put in some new foam and supports and a shiny new piece of plywood (I bought this off some guy on craigslist and 3/4" birch finished on both sides was $48 a sheet)


View attachment 605338View attachment 605339


The most recent thing that we did was build this "shelf" for my battery bank. Featuring 4 6v 208AH Kirkland golf cart batteries.


View attachment 605340


We're hoping to finish up wiring all the electrical this next week so stay tuned!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Eric

Be sure to vent those to the outside. Here are some pictures of what’s in a 5th wheel for reference...

 

[Bikersmurf]

How hard was it to remove the floor Eric? I was very tempted to do the same and double the insulation thickness but I'm itching to get started on the interior...

Like what you've done so far!

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

pulling the wood was easy... the flooring over it was a bit more of a challenge, but not bad other than it’ll grind through knives you try to cut it with

 

[berimbozo]

How hard was it to remove the floor Eric? I was very tempted to do the same and double the insulation thickness but I'm itching to get started on the interior...

Like what you've done so far!

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

Removing the rubber flooring was the easy part for me but I think a lot of spots were lifting already due to water damage. The wood subfloor however was kind of a pain. I had a lot of rusted out screws that had to get grinded down afterwards.

 

[berimbozo]

Be sure to vent those to the outside. Here are some pictures of what’s in a 5th wheel for reference...

Thanks for the reference! I do plan to build an airtight locker for the batteries and vent them to the outside.

 

[berimbozo]

Finished most of the electrical and started building the inside!

Swapped out the old 600w inverter for this 1000w Renogy one to run my window AC unit and other 120V AC loads. Also swapped out the 20amp charger for this 55amp charger. Added a battery monitor to keep an eye on my loads/discharging/charging. Originally, the box would only have power to it if 2 conditions were met--vehicle is running and the "ambulance connect" switch is on. We bypassed a relay that required the vehicle to be running but after putting the battery monitor on, we realized that with everything wired to the ambulance connect, there was a parasitic load of about 2-3 amps. I plan to put a 120V AC fridge in it so the inverter needs to be on all the time so that's too high for my liking. We bypassed the ambulance connect and rewired a bunch of stuff so now the battery monitor reads -00.6 amps. I'm not sure why but it's not really a problem. If I had to do this again, I would probably fully gut the electrical. It would probably take quite a long time to separate the electrical required for vehicle operation but I think the space I would have gained and having better organization of the electrical would have been worth it. The last picture shows what the "electrical compartment" looks like. Lots of stuff to clean up but it's the best we can do for now.



We've also built this propane/window AC locker to take advantage of the existing vent in this door to vent the propane/hot air to the outside. It's not finished yet (still need to properly mount it and put a "back wall" in). Now that I'm looking at the picture, it seems like we way oversized the locker but that's probably because we sized it to fit the air conditioner on the upper shelf.


I built a locker to contain the batteries and vent them to the outside. This box is going to eventually double as storage and the frame for one side of my pull-out slat bed. I still have to plan out the rest of the cabinets that are going to make up the base of the bed.


This last part was inspired by advice given in this thread. I expanded the hole of one of the scene lights that I wasn't using to fit a 9" x 9" pop-out vent. It's ugly, cheaply made and overpriced but it does the job really well and I haven't been able to find anything else that is this size. There is a T-bolt on the inside that you can turn to open and close the vent. On the opposite side of the box, there is a window in the side door that I've mounted the radiator fan that was suggested by Bikersmurf. I've rigged it up with a potentiometer so that I can manually control the speed (and volume) of the fan. At 50% the fan already moves a lot of air and with the vent that I installed there is a constant and strong breeze. However, I will likely be testing other fans in the future as this one is a little bit louder than I had hoped for and it's kind of power hungry when it's at full power (8 amps, where as at 50% it only takes about 2 amps).

That's it for now! I'm pretty excited about the things we've been able to accomplish and what I've been able to learn. Now I'm looking forward to building out the interior. Hopefully we get some good weather soon and I'll get some more progress pics up!

 

[iggi]

Great progress! I had to replace that relay with a switch as mine was using up over 4 amps.
You're planning to run a dorm type 120V fridge and AC simultaneously from the inverter?

 

[Bikersmurf]

Finished most of the electrical and started building the inside!
View attachment 614184View attachment 614181View attachment 614183View attachment 614182
Swapped out the old 600w inverter for this 1000w Renogy one to run my window AC unit and other 120V AC loads. Also swapped out the 20amp charger for this 55amp charger. Added a battery monitor to keep an eye on my loads/discharging/charging. Originally, the box would only have power to it if 2 conditions were met--vehicle is running and the "ambulance connect" switch is on. We bypassed a relay that required the vehicle to be running but after putting the battery monitor on, we realized that with everything wired to the ambulance connect, there was a parasitic load of about 2-3 amps. I plan to put a 120V AC fridge in it so the inverter needs to be on all the time so that's too high for my liking. We bypassed the ambulance connect and rewired a bunch of stuff so now the battery monitor reads -00.6 amps. I'm not sure why but it's not really a problem. If I had to do this again, I would probably fully gut the electrical. It would probably take quite a long time to separate the electrical required for vehicle operation but I think the space I would have gained and having better organization of the electrical would have been worth it. The last picture shows what the "electrical compartment" looks like. Lots of stuff to clean up but it's the best we can do for now.

View attachment 614225View attachment 614226

We've also built this propane/window AC locker to take advantage of the existing vent in this door to vent the propane/hot air to the outside. It's not finished yet (still need to properly mount it and put a "back wall" in). Now that I'm looking at the picture, it seems like we way oversized the locker but that's probably because we sized it to fit the air conditioner on the upper shelf.

View attachment 614227View attachment 614228
I built a locker to contain the batteries and vent them to the outside. This box is going to eventually double as storage and the frame for one side of my pull-out slat bed. I still have to plan out the rest of the cabinets that are going to make up the base of the bed.

View attachment 614229View attachment 614230
This last part was inspired by advice given in this thread. I expanded the hole of one of the scene lights that I wasn't using to fit a 9" x 9" pop-out vent. It's ugly, cheaply made and overpriced but it does the job really well and I haven't been able to find anything else that is this size. There is a T-bolt on the inside that you can turn to open and close the vent. On the opposite side of the box, there is a window in the side door that I've mounted the radiator fan that was suggested by Bikersmurf. I've rigged it up with a potentiometer so that I can manually control the speed (and volume) of the fan. At 50% the fan already moves a lot of air and with the vent that I installed there is a constant and strong breeze. However, I will likely be testing other fans in the future as this one is a little bit louder than I had hoped for and it's kind of power hungry when it's at full power (8 amps, where as at 50% it only takes about 2 amps).

That's it for now! I'm pretty excited about the things we've been able to accomplish and what I've been able to learn. Now I'm looking forward to building out the interior. Hopefully we get some good weather soon and I'll get some more progress pics up!

I’d want to paint the 9x9 vent to make it disappear. I can give you the colour match coding from the can of paint I had made... but the colour could be a bit

 

[Bikersmurf]

Finished most of the electrical and started building the inside!
View attachment 614184View attachment 614181View attachment 614183View attachment 614182
Swapped out the old 600w inverter for this 1000w Renogy one to run my window AC unit and other 120V AC loads. Also swapped out the 20amp charger for this 55amp charger. Added a battery monitor to keep an eye on my loads/discharging/charging. Originally, the box would only have power to it if 2 conditions were met--vehicle is running and the "ambulance connect" switch is on. We bypassed a relay that required the vehicle to be running but after putting the battery monitor on, we realized that with everything wired to the ambulance connect, there was a parasitic load of about 2-3 amps. I plan to put a 120V AC fridge in it so the inverter needs to be on all the time so that's too high for my liking. We bypassed the ambulance connect and rewired a bunch of stuff so now the battery monitor reads -00.6 amps. I'm not sure why but it's not really a problem. If I had to do this again, I would probably fully gut the electrical. It would probably take quite a long time to separate the electrical required for vehicle operation but I think the space I would have gained and having better organization of the electrical would have been worth it. The last picture shows what the "electrical compartment" looks like. Lots of stuff to clean up but it's the best we can do for now.

View attachment 614225View attachment 614226

We've also built this propane/window AC locker to take advantage of the existing vent in this door to vent the propane/hot air to the outside. It's not finished yet (still need to properly mount it and put a "back wall" in). Now that I'm looking at the picture, it seems like we way oversized the locker but that's probably because we sized it to fit the air conditioner on the upper shelf.

View attachment 614227View attachment 614228
I built a locker to contain the batteries and vent them to the outside. This box is going to eventually double as storage and the frame for one side of my pull-out slat bed. I still have to plan out the rest of the cabinets that are going to make up the base of the bed.

View attachment 614229View attachment 614230
This last part was inspired by advice given in this thread. I expanded the hole of one of the scene lights that I wasn't using to fit a 9" x 9" pop-out vent. It's ugly, cheaply made and overpriced but it does the job really well and I haven't been able to find anything else that is this size. There is a T-bolt on the inside that you can turn to open and close the vent. On the opposite side of the box, there is a window in the side door that I've mounted the radiator fan that was suggested by Bikersmurf. I've rigged it up with a potentiometer so that I can manually control the speed (and volume) of the fan. At 50% the fan already moves a lot of air and with the vent that I installed there is a constant and strong breeze. However, I will likely be testing other fans in the future as this one is a little bit louder than I had hoped for and it's kind of power hungry when it's at full power (8 amps, where as at 50% it only takes about 2 amps).

That's it for now! I'm pretty excited about the things we've been able to accomplish and what I've been able to learn. Now I'm looking forward to building out the interior. Hopefully we get some good weather soon and I'll get some more progress pics up!

v
I’m not sure if it’s because it’s a different brand or if because mine is more broken in, but I’ve found my fan only draws 5-6 amps

It is interesting to know that there’s so much to gain by adding resistance. Stock E-series Heaters have a block with 3-4 resistors toallow the fan speeds. I was planning to add a 12v thermostat I got off Amazon. This gives me the idea to have a very low speed to keep air fresh and then have the thermostat bump it to a higher speed if the temperature gets Too warm. I’m thinking mostly for our dog if she’s in the rig. Not in very hot weather, but for days that aren’t so hot, but that still get stuffy/warm in the rig.