Traumahawk 99 E350 class 2 Ambo build!

[gmtech]

[/ATTACH]


Got this mad beast about two months ago now .
found it on CL up in Chicago. 240,450 ish easy miles on her when I got her! didn't know until I bought her but she lived all her life till being sold in Fayetteville NC ! no rust on her at all!!! score!

so far I have removed ugly running boards . stripped out quite the pile of old ambo stuff







removing cabinet allows easy access in side doors. and opens the whole thing up good.
don't plan on making it 4x4 or anything just going to make a bed platform and use it as a mountain bike hauler 2 people camping rig.
plan on removing the decals and just running it white for a while

 

[gmtech]

added some LED bulbs to the low setting of interior lights. and added a volt gauge on the switch panel by the reverse facing seat

 

[FDM2012]

Nice find!

 

[gmtech]

yea! I missed out on a couple that I thought were gonna be good. was trying to sell an old camper before I got this one. but to get a 99 E van with no rust in the Midwest!!

Update after 1000 trouble free miles, pulling into my drive last night... lost power brakes and bout ran into by Tacoma!
vacuum pump sounds like its got rocks in it and isn't making any vacuum.
hopefully should have that fixed tomorrow.

 

[Bikersmurf]

Vacuum pump is an easy job. I replaced mine as soon as it got noisier... didn't want to find out what a 9000 lb rig would be like to drive without power brakes. I'd recommend buying a pump that includes a new pulley... pulling the original pulley wasn't worth the headache.

240k miles isn't bad, but nothing is easy about ambulance miles. Do you know how many hours on it?
Mine has a similar number of hours... but highish 16k hours on it. Yours looks to be in excellent condition.

Do you have any plans for the mic and other things you've removed?

 

[gmtech]

no hour meter that I could find =/ it says medical transport on the side so my theory is that it was used to transport patients from one hospital to another. and didn't get idled to much. I had a class 3 chevy in my shop not too long ago that was a 09 with 303,000 miles on it . so being as mine is almost 20years old with only that many miles on it .I dunno haha
well I had to replaced the power steering pump while I was there. the shaft seal had been seeping since I got it. soon as I removed the belt to do the vacuum pump the powersteering pump started puking fluid from the shaft seal. like 6inch puddle in 30 seconds =/ so it got a new steering pump while I was there.
the cabinet I took out is my new garage shelf. all the VHF radio stuff got tossed. so im left with an old school light bar and two air horns. dunno what ima do with that.
got the bed platform done this past weeknd ill post some pics of that soon.

 

[eporter]

Looking good. I really think you need to keep the air horns...

 

[gmtech]

haha I could never get them to work and they looked hoaky I though ...
but I am going to use the air pump and reservoir under the body to make some sort of onboard air for bike tires. it has some sort of auto turn on at some pressure . every other day or so when I turn on the module power the pump will run for about a minute and then shut off. any idea what pressure air horns work at? don't need more than 40 for bike tires.

 

[Oldcarnut]

Looking good. I really think you need to keep the air horns...

I'll second that! People don't pay attention anymore while driving. I've got a 110db steam whistle I'm hooking up for my bus. Does not matter how big, small, or brightly painted you are.
I get cut off time to time and I'm a yellow short bus with a 6 inch lift.
My friend and his white Crew Cab long bed got side swiped because the driver did not see him right next to them.

 

[Raul]

I'll second that! People don't pay attention anymore while driving. I've got a 110db steam whistle I'm hooking up for my bus. Does not matter how big, small, or brightly painted you are.
I get cut off time to time and I'm a yellow short bus with a 6 inch lift.
My friend and his white Crew Cab long bed got side swiped because the driver did not see him right next to them.

Reminds me the discussion we had in a motorcycle forum about hi-visibility clothing and riding. everybody had an opinion until this paramedic mentioned that even on the big ambulances with all the lights and horns, people will get in their way and claim "I didn't see you"

Your ambo looks great. Once you remove the passenger side cabinet is leaving you a great platform.

 

[gmtech]

well got the bed platform done.
mattress is 54-75-4 inch memory foam from amazon. super comfy !
its not the most elegant but it serves its purpose and is easily removed form bike hauling around town.














anyone know why gopro pics will not upload on here? I had some I wanted to add that look better bbut it wont upload them

 

[gmtech]

actually it wont let me upload anymore files at all?
it took one gopro picture

 

[gmtech]

finally insulated the doors! poor mans dynamat and two layers of reflectix

 

[gmtech]

 

[gmtech]

better shot of bed platform. mega comfy! hopefully first trip this weeknd. feel like I live in Alaska here!