VanKrishna: Operation K.I.S.S.

[Jb1rd]

Method 'Grid' wheels

After seeing the Wheel and tire combo on the WT SEMA build and suffering a break failure over the weekend it seems appropriate to get a larger diameter wheel so I can get larger rotors and calipers. What I am not sure is what offset is necessary for a 2003 E350 Quigley conversion?

 

[Raul]

This is the grommet where the vacuum line comes from the reservoir through the fire wall
View attachment 373166

On this other picture you can see my reservoir (originally for a BMW) and the check valve. The red end was connected originally to the tube coming out of the firewall. you are just adding an extra tank and check valve in between. Once connected, you tug the reservoir up the footwell.
View attachment 373167

I've updated the pictures. You should be able to see them now.

 

[Jb1rd]

Thanks Raul!! It's great having pics to reference

 

[Jb1rd]

Agile Offroad

Just wanted to give a big shout out and thank you to Jesus and crew at Agile, I called them on Tues (election day no less) afternoon and my replacement shock got here this afternoon and is on my van!!! Amazing customer service!!!

 

[Jb1rd]

Mosquito Doors

Having mosquito nets made while I am in Colombia, hope my pattern is right. I will post pics as soon as I get home and install them. These are conventional but my brother in law who is an industrial designer decided we needed a new approach and I have to say I like what he is coming up with. A little hard to explain but I am having him mock up a prototype. The basic concept is creating a "semi universal" product (so you don't have custom sets built or bought) using Lycra and stretchy tent style screening that can "mould" to opening then it accordions into itself in a stow pocket that can stay attached to the top mounting hooks or packed away taking up minimal space. At the moment I am hoping that basically two sets can be made, one for Ford/Chevy and one for the Sprinter/Transit style vans.

 

[Jb1rd]

Screens got made, headlights are scheduled to arrive today and I think I have made my decision on my top, going with the 20" aero top I'm pretty sure this was one of Ujoints builds, Joslyn at Fibirine was super helpful and informative, she said that this top afforded 76" of headroom (bare floor to bare ceiling) does anyone have one that can confirm? As for electrical I am ordering the Switch Pro 8100 and now trying to figure out the interior wiring diagram and needs.
http://www.switch-pros.com/
http://www.fiberine.com/GVMR/Full_Size_Van_Tops.html#33

 

[Jb1rd]

The lights are a huge improvement over stock, need to find a good solid wall to make sure that they are aimed correctly don't want to blind anyone unnecessarily. I think I will wire up the the bumper lights to a temp relay and switch until my Switch Pro gets installed (which will be a bit, need to find shop space with a tall enough door :Wow1

 

[hobovan]

Sweet rig...also surprised to see the spare battery and block heater on the gasser. As to electrical load, the secondary battery is simply wired in parallel with the primary, so it is not as if one runs some things and the second runs others. Regarding mounts, the factory box you have it a pretty stout/sweet solution and should be adequate for anything short of fording rivers or bouncing off rocks. As someone stated, it is pretty easy to split the two at the main terminal and you can use the underbody as a house bank separate from your start bank. If you aren't happy with it under the vehicle, the only other place i've seen then moved is inside the cab in a box under the build (couch/bed/cabinet/etc) and this should be fine as long as you go with a sealed battery, which you would for house bank any way. Sam's club has a good deal on energizer 6 volts from time to time that you can wire series to get to 12v or 4 series/parallel to get to 24 depending on what you want to do and how long you want to be able to run without charging.

Quick question....did you ever make headway on the cruise control retrofit? Thanks and, again, sweet rig!

 

[Jb1rd]

Thanks Hobo,
Unfortunately I have not made any headway on the cc, it's on the top of the list but now that winter has come in full force, it's on hold until spring.

 

[hobovan]

I hear that....up north here too and it's cold and dark by the time I get home...can't get anything done. Nothing like painting/deading with a heatgun in hand.

 

[Jb1rd]

Sad day

I have posted a preliminary ad for Krishna, big changes coming in 2017.

 

[chiliVANilli]

Already thinking about selling mine, too.

 

[Jb1rd]

Ordered and received my new Riv-Nut tool over the holiday and headed to Home Depot to get some copious amounts of 3M spray adhesive and some speaker box material to start covering the walls and headliner! Going to use the rivnuts for my paneling of which the PO started using them then switched to self tappers. Still need to do a lot of things before selling but I am determined to see it through!! :Wow1:

 

[Jb1rd]

carpeting is on hold until it warms up, even with heater blasting and preheating with propane heater still to cold to get a good adhesion. Oh well, there are worse things in life and on the plus side we are getting a lot of snow, run off should be good!! :wings:

 

[Jb1rd]

Still snowing and cold but I in my mind I am sipping water from a coconut on the beach. That being said I am having massive anxiety about the thought of selling Krishna, I just keep having visions of my old VW and my AS and how insane the market is for these crazy rigs. I can not begin to explain to people who are not in this bubble how difficult it is to find such beasts, they just stare in amazement, thinking that I am pulling their leg. I suppose I am lucky in the fact that I do not "HAVE" to sell, and that my brother is super kick arsssse letting me park it at his place for the low price of towing his Jet skis to the lake every now and then Nothing new to report other than the studded snow tires allow me to drive around in 2wd 99% of the time, these things are killer, I have the hubs locked just incase I need to get it in 4wd in a hurry and I suppose that is having an effect on my gas mileage but worth the piece of mind. On a side note, has anyone here tried these recovery tracks? They popped up on my amazon page and get good reviews, seem like a pretty direct comparison to Maxx Traxx but I am completely talking out of my arassse as I have only seen them in a shop and have never used a set. I also saw these tire deflators on an episode of 4xOverland any one have experience with these?

Tracks:
https://www.amazon.com/Innovations-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=AXEPEH7T28NJYXGBMJCJ

Tire Deflators:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005VF7M00/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A320BE2V1QR0G5