The Rig Runner ...a 2010 E350 5.4 DIY Coil Conversion

[Raul]

A little update.
Interior: I decided against doing my own corners between the headliner and the wall. I am going to use the original headliner. Since my grief against it was the vents hump in the middle, I am cutting it and replacing it with a varnished plywood. The roof vent ends behind the rear seat.

Death Wobble:
After replacing the cc880s with cc880, I suffered the dreaded Death Wobble. I suspected the new spring rate and the change in ride height was a factor, but component wear could be another element so i decided to replace the tie rod ends and the drag link. No change.
I am a big fan of triangulation and when i was considering doing my own brackets vs. buying the MG kit, I always though about reaching from the track bar bracket to the other end of the frame. Since I had an useless old drag link and the brackets from the original van's suspension, I made a cross link to provide extra rigidity to the track bar bracket. This didn't fix the death wobble issue. MGs bracket is up to the task, but I do not think I am hurting anything and it may relieve some stress from the steering box area.



Caster. Caster has always being discussed on DW issues. I think that my issue was that since my van sits a little by lower than intended with the softer spring (cc880) when going through a big bump (that's when i had the problems) the suspension cycles between negative caster to zero to positive caster. This is creating the excitation that reaches the harmonic frequency to create havoc. I replaced the 0deg. bushings with 2.5 degrees and now the wobble is gone. I take the same railroad crossing next to my house that induced all the vibration and any rate of speed and the van land very stable. I'll update as I put more miles. So far so good after one day trying to shake things up.

 

[another_mike]

A little update.
Interior: I decided against doing my own corners between the headliner and the wall. I am going to use the original headliner. Since my grief against it was the vents hump in the middle, I am cutting it and replacing it with a varnished plywood. The roof vent ends behind the rear seat.

Looking forward to see how you did this. I picked up a headliner for the same reason and got it from a salvage yard for $25. Wasnt sure if or how I was going to deal with that center section, but something like a 5mm underlayment finished would probably work really well.

 

[Raul]

Looking forward to see how you did this. I picked up a headliner for the same reason and got it from a salvage yard for $25. Wasnt sure if or how I was going to deal with that center section, but something like a 5mm underlayment finished would probably work really well.

I am quite please with my approach. Cutting the center section has remove the center bump, making easier to move inside. An added advantage is that if I ever need to run wires or add lights, etc. it is fairly easy to remove the center portion.
i replaced the center dome light with flush LEDs. They are very nice and controlled by its own 3 way switch. Once I have a house batteries the full on position of the switch will come from them.

 

[another_mike]

I am quite please with my approach. Cutting the center section has remove the center bump, making easier to move inside. An added advantage is that if I ever need to run wires or add lights, etc. it is fairly easy to remove the center portion.
i replaced the center dome light with flush LEDs. They are very nice and controlled by its own 3 way switch. Once I have a house batteries the full on position of the switch will come from them.
View attachment 455189View attachment 455190

Nice! What did you use to cut the headliner? sharp utility knife?

 

[Raul]

Nice! What did you use to cut the headliner? sharp utility knife?

I went hi-tech... Steak knife. The serrated end worked great. Just make sure you cut going in, towards the fabric.

 

[Raul]

A little progress over the weekend. The Galley. Still need to be varnished, wiring connections and few other detail, but you get the idea.

I do not do long off the grid trips so it was hard to justify a 12v fridge. In the old van I used a dorm fridge and worked great on road trips. On this build, the goal was to have a well insulated ice chest with the possibility of cooling it down while driving or if we are in an electric camping spot. the main features:

• 110 v Magic Chef 3.1 ct dorm fridge
• Compressor moved 2" outward to allow extra insulation
• Compressor recess area: 1" of polyiso on top and 2" on the wall that separates it from the bottom of the fridge
• 1" of polyiso Top and bottom of the fridge
• 3" of extra insulation on the back of the fridge.
• Sidewall have no insulation since this dorm fridges evacuate the heat through the side walls. I'll glue "L" aluminum profile on this areas as a heat fins and I may put insulation on the inside walls.
• It latches on the Captain Chair Bracket and the top bolts on a bracket next to the driver seat belt.

There is about 3" of gap between the drawers frame and the fridge wall to allow heat dissipation.

i also got rid of the seat covers on the Tahoe seat and painted black the vinyl. Once I am done with the wall panels on the driver side I'll take pictures of the Galley and the seat installed.

 

[Kneeboarder1025]

I've wondered about using a used mini fridge w/ an inverter, but wasn't sure if a dorm style mini fridge would work very well. Glad to know it worked for you, as 12V fridge isn't going to happen anytime soon.

 

[jblaze5779]

Where in south Texas are you?

 

[jblaze5779]

Where in south Texas are you?

 

[Raul]

Where in south Texas are you?

I am not in south Tx. I am in Houston.

 

[jblaze5779]

I saw your reference to south Texas dust in the first couple posts and jumped the gun. I'm in three rivers and am doing a ujoint leaf conversion. I've got the simple stuff done but I need to get the transmission and front gearing done. There's no one in the middle of nowhere to do any sort of stuff like that. I was going to give that Kyle dude a call and see if he might be able to handle my 7.3l 4r100 for me....

 

[Raul]

I saw your reference to south Texas dust in the first couple posts and jumped the gun. I'm in three rivers and am doing a ujoint leaf conversion. I've got the simple stuff done but I need to get the transmission and front gearing done. There's no one in the middle of nowhere to do any sort of stuff like that. I was going to give that Kyle dude a call and see if he might be able to handle my 7.3l 4r100 for me....

The van started its life in South Texas.
Kyle should be able to help you although he was not a big fan of using my 4r75 on such a big van. It was hard for me to find decent place and i am in a big urban area. Still, Kyle's place is one hour away from me.
I thought that you do not need to re-build the 4r100 to replace the flange and output shaft.

 

[bknudtsen]

5R110 is a bolt on conversion. 4R100 needs to be torn down to swap output shafts.

 

[Justgosurfin]

Another update. Trying to finish the sleeping platform area. I am 5' 7" and wife and daughters are shorter so we should be able to sleep sideways with our feet under the overhead.
View attachment 443800

The feet area almost finish. Pending final paneling, lights and 12v charging sockets.

View attachment 443801

Completing the platform there is a fold-able picnic tableView attachment 443802
This will be the "header" of the bed. It will not have a full overhead cabinet. Probably a 1' section matching the other side by the door to cope with the weird corner of the van and to put small stuff by bed time. The curvature of the wall and how to mate the wall and headliner are the main challenge at this point.View attachment 443803

Well now I wish I could sleep sideways across the van. And also the extended body gives you so much more space between the bench and the front seats. Regardless I really like the use of the wheel well areas for bed frame support. I may give that a shot so I could potentially slide the platform out for daily non camping use.

 

[Raul]

I've been able to keep adding the best addition to the van: Memories. The reason I build this van is to be able to share adventures, discover new places with the family. I used to have a Dual Sport motorcycle and do motorcycle and car track days, but these are things that you do mostly by yourself.

This summer we went to Salida in Colorado. I spend a few days hiking together and I left to Casper WY for work to came back to Colorado to pick up the family and back to Texas. 3,400 miles in 12 days. The van did awesome. It can cruise all day above 75 mph, no issues in the mountain passes- it screams going over 4000rpm when downshifting and I wish I had at least 5 speed, but no big deal. I think that if I change from 33" to 35" tires it may downshift earlier and it will keep up speed easier. Speedo is spot on and CPU will not let you pass 90 mph.

4x4 is awesome! we did some climbing and the van did great. In one trail I led a Jeep Rubicon pass us as we were enjoying the scenery and it had to let us pass later on as they were (in my opinion overly cautious.

We only had one instance of Death Wobble as we transitioned form dirt to asphalt.

Tire pressure matters. I didn't lower the pressure on the first hard off road trail and the family hated me. The van had no issue, but was rocking left and right quite violently.











Fly fishing at 12,000 feet. Our friend Scott is an awesome fly-fisher. If you want to explore the Arkansas River Valley in Colorado ask for him to guide you at ArkAnglers










Her first fourteener. So proud.



The reason for all of this.