The start of my own Ambo Expo rig

[Abitibi]

X2

And they usually come with a very detailed wiring diagram. In mine I'm minimizing it and removing what I have no use for but I'm doing my best to recycle as many of the circuits as possible (too bad I haven't found a use for that sucker pump!). I love relays so I'm in good hands!

Cheers
Mr. D

 

[catmandu]

Great. A cool build that is close to me so I can check it out!

 

[Skooter_Built]

Where abouts are you in Michigan?

I spent some time with a ruler yesterday getting some rough measurements of the interior. I have decided that everything on both sides will be removed. In place will be a 72" jackknife sofa and dinette with the shower/tub and kitchen setup in the rear. The floor will be aluminum diamond plate with carpeted sections. The walls will get reskinned with aluminum. With the ceiling i want to remove the section where the florescent lights are at and replace that with storage.

Here is a class b chinook whos interior i will attempt to copy, minus the horrible colors and oak.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHIN...1091750573?pt=RVs_Campers&hash=item1c31a17aad

 

[catmandu]

Looking forward to the build. I am in RO at 13 and Woodward.

 

[Skooter_Built]

So I've done some stuff so its time for an update.

I've finalized the interior and realize I'll have to add some floor and wall structure. Nothing major but it will need to be addressed when I remove the cabinets on the drivers side If the box. The step tub will sit on top of a grey water storage tank with the empty valving recessed below. I'm going to wait for a few things till I rip the interior apart. Mainly starting my new job, buying a house/getting it set up and until I buy the dinette and jackknife sofa.

I bought a replacement inverter so all the electrical outlets work again. I have rethought the main Rev electric system. Instead of 2 seperated systems (2 for vehicle & 2 for Rv) I'll steal the idea of using just 3 Rv agm batteries and a 3000w inverter. I'll use a transfer switch to connect to the shoreline/generator hook up when I use it.

For the 4x4 conversion I got the last major parts, the axles! It was a total PITA to locate a front 60 and rear 10.5. Everyone wanted an arm & a leg for a set. I finally was able to track down a set of matched 03 axles with 4.10 gears. The will be gone through and fully rebuilt and stuffed with Yukon zip lockers.

So far that's all I got.

 

[Abitibi]

Did you ever figure your black smoke issue?
Sounds like you have your hands full of projects! Lol

Cheers
Mr. D

 

[Skooter_Built]

Not yet, it hasn't acted like that since so it could have been an egr or ficu issue. When I'm ready to start ripping into the engine I'll go through a lot of diagnostic tests to see how everything is functioning. My guess is its coked up with carbon. This is 1of to many projects I have going on lol. Add makes life interesting and challenging.. .oh look a squirrel!

 

[tribeof5]

Good luck with your build. It's sounds like you are off to a great start. We have a very similar build going ourselves. I will try to get pics and a build thread posted this weekend.

 

[Skooter_Built]

Been a year since I bought this, guess its time for an update.

Ive been gathering parts and slowly picking away at the interior.

I have everything for the front axle rebuild, a complete EGR delete kit, a buttload of rv interior components, a full set of 285-70-19.5 wheels & tires... just this week I picked up a pile of Ujoint goodies (conversion brackets, front frame reinforcement panel, swaybar links...)

Im almost ready to start the 4x4 conversion, just need to get crossover steering, u-bolts, brake lines, shocks and caliper mounting bolts.

For the interior I basically removed everything on the drivers side of the box. This side will contain the toilet/shower room, kitchen (18" square ss sink & dometic recessed 2 burner cooktop) and a 64" jack knife rv sofa. I'm going to use unfinished oak cabinets from my local big box store and modify where needed. Counter top will be solid butcher block with glass mosaic tile backsplash. Floor will be laminate with stainless & diamond plate kick panels. Im replacing all 4 electrical recepticals with versions that have integrated UBS ports. The original cabinets that I'm keeping will be painted a grey/silver color, oak cabinets & floor red in color (I think)

Where I'm placing the sofa, I'm "restructuring" that area to contain a 30gal. fresh water tank, all the plumbing mechanicals (pump, filters, on demand portable water heater) and below that will be a 12.5 gal propane tank. The "bathroom" needs to finish being framed and i need to cut down my new fiberglass tub to fit I will use a 12gal. grey tank and the tub will be on top of that. The portipotty will also be housed in this area. No black water in my system.

The passenger side will have a dinette booth seat/bed. One dinette base will contain 2 large house group 4 batterys, the other will be storage. The battery system will be seperated by blue sea products, isolating the vehicle and house setup. In the remaining cabinet unit, a refrigerator and panasonic 950w inverter microwave will be housed.

Only things I'm not 100% sure about at this moment are:

- if I want to install an A/C unit in the roof
- if my 1050w inverter/charger will power a 950w microwave (me thinks no from the reading ive done),
- should I leave my red LED exterior flashing lights as is or black them out or replace them with clear lens's
- if I want to install window's in the box. I'd like to but dont want to cut into the box's structure, Ill show in a following pic.

Regarding the microwave, very rarely would I ever want to/think about using the microwave on house batterys alone. Most times would be hooked up to shoreline or generator power. I dont use my house microwave other then reheating already cooked food so its not much to sweat over at this moment. If i had to Id look into a bigger 2000w inverter/charger down the road.

So ya, there I'm at. I want to be done with the 4x4 conversion by Aug. 16th for the Woodward Dream Cruise. The RV conversion to be completed before Thanksgiving.

Time to get to work!

 

[Skooter_Built]

Start of destruction. I removed all the sliding doors and metal trim before going to town. The construction was odd, the cabinet frames were attached to large plywood sheets that were then attached to the aluminum box frame. Pain in the ***! I was doing my best to not destroy any wiring.



Wood cabinetry removed, only aluminium remaining.



Hey daylight! Water tank, propane and jack knife couch will be in that space.



Make my 305's on 20's look small.

 

[flightcancled]

Awesome! Looking forward to more progress!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Skooter_Built]

Been poking around on this conversion little by little.

I painted a bunch of new front axle parts, along with the t-case. Ran into an interesting situation last night though. I installed 2 "new/used" batterys and tried to get it started. No dice, I'm pretty sure the ficm is dead!

That wasnt a big deal but I wanted to check what voltage its reporting. I plugged in my scangauge into the OBD2 port and nothing! Not getting any communication from it.

Also, while attempting to start out of no where all the ambulance functions just stopped. Thought I blew up something electrical like a relay or fuse but nothing. Then during another round of engine cranking everything came back to lift.

No clue as to the reason for this but guessing it had to do with the battery voltage and them being charged at the same time?

None the less, I plan to replace the FICM (have a line off a factory Ford replacement for $175) or go aftermarket. Im also planning on ordering my front crossover steering tomorrow, so the axle teardown can begin!

Ill do what I can with the mechanicals while waiting on parts to come in and switch back to the interior and start finishing that up. Im still up in the air about putting in windows at this present time. Might leave it as is and add them later on.

Parts in paint


No destroyed wires, it all works and I got the sirens to work

 

[java]

Looks Good! I can't for the life of me get my horn to work. did they use the horn switch as a trigger for the sirens?

My wife said she would never sleep in an ambo That one is out for me....

 

[cem17]

Java: In my 97 ambo, the coach builder had 2 horn circuits and spliced into the oem wiring under the engine compartment battery. If you haven't checked there.

 

[Skooter_Built]

Looks Good! I can't for the life of me get my horn to work. did they use the horn switch as a trigger for the sirens?

My wife said she would never sleep in an ambo That one is out for me....

In my case the wiring for the sirens and horn appear to be seperate, the siren wiring was just unplugged for the controls lol. That was a quick fix.

Its nice to be single, I can do what I want lol!