The Lunchbox Build... 4x4 chevy shorty van

L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
I got the heater box pulled from the motorhome, cleaned up, and installed back into the Lunchbox. That butyl tape is a pain in the butt! I got all of the heat/ac ducting put back in, then I started running the harness, which took a LOT longer than pulling it from the motorhome took... The dash itself is dry, and all put-together, so I should be able to have that put-in tomorrow.







 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
I also got the motor almost ready to pull..... The harness is sitting on top of it, all fluids drained, hoses un-hooked, and there's only 4 bolts holding the entire subframe in. So as long as I can get to the wrecker tomorrow, I should be able to have this thing sitting on the ground by the end of the day....

 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
Well, I finished the harness and got the dash put-in, but it took allll day.... I hope I don't have to see a soldering iron and shrink tubing any time soon.... lol

 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
I shot a commercial today, so I'll be editing for a couple days, then I can get back to work.... That motor will be on the ground friday!
 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
I'm a one man show, so I do it all. I got sick of watching people make money off of me, so I just started doing it all myself. I like the editing, but only because I get to get out and work with people, and be behind the camera too. If I was stuck behind a computer all of the time, just editing, I'd shoot myself.... lol
 
normal_dave

normal_dave

waytoomuchwritinginposts.
Ok, so I'm hooked. Neat project so far, if "shop cat" gives it the blessing, then you are good to go. Great crew you have there, reminds me of some of my bunch, get-r-done!. I now am ashamed for complaining about working out of my one-car garage, been a long time since I tackled a project in the gravel drive. I used to have a 5-bay shop to work out of, those days are long gone. For living space, I'm going to offer up what we did: a cargo trailer conversion. My van still hauls people, (and gear) for short trips, but hook up the homemade toy hauler/camper for larger trips. Also makes a good base camp for your van to hit the trail by itself. You could build a smaller trailer for your needs. This was our trailer build, this site also is full of build ideas: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=48345 Don't get lost over there, finish the van first. Hijack over, carry on.
 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
normal_dave said:
Ok, so I'm hooked. Neat project so far, if "shop cat" gives it the blessing, then you are good to go. Great crew you have there, reminds me of some of my bunch, get-r-done!. I now am ashamed for complaining about working out of my one-car garage, been a long time since I tackled a project in the gravel drive. I used to have a 5-bay shop to work out of, those days are long gone. For living space, I'm going to offer up what we did: a cargo trailer conversion. My van still hauls people, (and gear) for short trips, but hook up the homemade toy hauler/camper for larger trips. Also makes a good base camp for your van to hit the trail by itself. You could build a smaller trailer for your needs. This was our trailer build, this site also is full of build ideas: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=48345 Don't get lost over there, finish the van first. Hijack over, carry on.
Click to expand...

Luckily, the gravel is only for tear-down for the most part. Once everything is on the ground and ready to go back together, he'll let me pull it inside and do the fab work. I just like to be as least invasive as possible when I come into somebody else's work-space, so I try to stay out of people's way. He's been watching me roll around in the gravel for the past few weeks, busting my butt and getting things done. So he doesn't feel bad about letting me in the shop, he knows I'll get in there, kick ***** and be out in a few days. We just need to make sure that everything we need is sitting there before it goes inside....

And it's funny you bring up the trailer idea, as I've been looking at them for a few days now thinking about a build-out. I've been finding fairly short (and light) travel trailers as well that are reasonably priced. The van would be great for 4 people and a bunch of gear, to go exploring for the day, then come back at night to the trailer. And I can definitely lift a trailer and put bigger tires on it, so we can get it to non-conventional camp spots. Definitely something to think about.....
 
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L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
It's been a rough week.... My attempts to drop that motor out were thwarted at every turn. Every time I got the wrecker hooked up, within minutes, I had to UN-HOOK it again for a wrecker call or something. So I got caught up on all my busy work.....

I buttoned up the dash...

 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
Then I pulled the Dana 60 apart, to get it ready for re-assembly. We got it all loaded up on the trailer, and dropped it off at a fellow F-body owner's house (I'm a camaro guy) to finish up the assembly. He builds trikes for a living, and has probably set up 1000 rear-ends, so I'm going to let the pros handle this one...





 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
My buddy felt so bad for putting me off for the past 4 days, that he jumped-in this morning and helped me drop the motor out. It was only hanging on by a couple bolts, so it only took about a half-hour, and she was on the ground... I FINALLY feel like I've reached my half-way point, it's all down-hill from here!





 
L

Lunchbox2

Explorer
I'll head back in the morning to pull the doors, and cut the exhaust off the motorhome, then it's time to fill it full of bullet holes and haul it off! I've been itching to break-in a new .308 lately, so a couple 20-round mag dumps are in-order.... :coffeedrink:
 
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