Zionese E350 EB Wagon Weekender Build

[jmbrowning]

Hi all!

Just joined and wanted to say hi! We left the most populated state to move to one of the fastest growing towns in the US, surrounded by public lands and 6 national parks in a day's drive!

The little ones are getting to an age where they are wanting adventures with the Folks so we ended up getting what is mirthfully referred to around these parts as a "family wagon", an Econoline 350 15 passenger van. Will be documenting our light mods here on the #vanlife subforum and our adventures with Los Niños on Family Adventure Planning.

Look forward to sharing and learning from all you!

Keeping a few notes here.

Goals:

1. Dedicated vehicle to allow family of four to pick up and go for a weekend to weeklong trip in any of the nearby public lands and sleep in vehicle if desired.
2. Safety, reliability, repairability
3. Minimal cost
4. Maximum capability not required. We are going out to have fun, not break ********. Rutted dirt roads and maybe dry sand if I'm feeling dangerous. I am not kidding myself that this is going to drive around the world or negotiate Johnson Valley, other vehicles for that are available.

Build elements:

1. 2008 E350 EB Wagon: Acquired, need to go through complete mechanical and electrical inspection and accumulate miles to get accustomed to this vehicle's drive style.
2. Has Advancetrac RSC. Need to learn how to use/accommodate that.
3. A/T tires: won't be going deep into the bush. Has new Cooper Discovery A/Ts. Use these for now. Need to replace OEM spare and ensure spare drops. Could move spare from under vehicle to top or rear tire carrier but I'm old enough to remember 60 Minutes showing these vehicles rolling like dice in Las Vegas.
4. Recovery gear: Sticking with 2WD for now so will need tow hooks in front. Has 2" receiver in rear. Bottle Jack and base. Tow strap. Maxtracks. Air (12v or aluminum CO2 cylinder for now but have Kilby if room available under that tiny hood). Shovel, saw, axe.
5. Fix it bucket: what breaks in these vans? A lot of people mention the serpentine belt.
6. Swivel front seats
7. Remove rear benches for bed. Keep benches #1 and #2 for now. Bench #1 can come out to make the "great room" when swivel front are installed. Need to keep interior safe from things flying around during acceleration/deceleration.
8. House electric: put Inergy Kodiak in there for now since I have it layng around. Plan dual charging options from solar and alternator.
9. All year equipment boxes: Tent, kitchen, water, tools, navigation stuff.
10. Seasonal equipment boxes: clothes, sleeping gear, toys
11. Roof rack: maybe find a ladder rack on Craigslist and mount the Thule Canyon XT basket up there with room for solar later. Try to keep this light, cheap, and cheerful.
12. Not sure about 4x4 conversion, pretty spendy and not necessary for planned destinations. Maybe a selectable rear locker and 2WD instead? Maybe a lift to accommodate bigger rubber and improve clearance, but concerned about how that will affect RSC.
13. Exterior lights to facilitate night time activity around the van. Cheap LED floods off house electric?
14. Rear receiver bike rack. Might be able to stick a couple in the van. Swing away would be nice.
15. Awning, but will settle for tarp or shade umbrella for starters

 

[Raul]

#2- I've not got any issue with the RSC, and mine is 4x4
#3- I'll leave the spare under the van. 15 passenger roll because the higher center of gravity with all passengers.
#4- Easier than front hooks, get a front receiver hitch. more versatile and solid recovery point.
#5- Serpentine belt, water pump, ball joints
#7- lots of examples here on interior lay-out. On mine I used a fold down seat from a Tahoe as third row.
#12- 4x4 Lot of work, expensive, lot of work. whatever you plan to spend in money, times 2. Whatever you plan to spend in time, times 3.
Easy to fit an OEM Ford LSD.
New front springs MOOG CC880 or CC880s and rear block can easily allow you to run 33" tires
#15- You can do a decent hybrid awning/tarp like I did. Raul's awning

 

[CaptainBuilt]

Amen on the cost. And man, what a lot of work for 4WD. And I'm not even done yet!

 

[Bikersmurf]

I’d stay 2WD... lots seem to want 4WD just in case, but for the cost I’d stay 2WD unless you run out of areas to explore and need something that’ll go further.

Your plan to do a minimal build makes a lot of sense. Get out there and you’ll learn what is needed.

 

[jmbrowning]

Electrical:

• Auxiliary battery in 5.4L
• Inergy Kodiak is probably not going to be sufficient to charge AGM battery through external battery bank connection. Only outputs what the lithium battery is charged at which is 12.4-12.5 VDC. Can't insert a dc-dc charger per instructions so the Inergy will be alone for house electric. Probably won't be a problem for now in the build and with availability of auxiliary battery to also serve as source of house power.

 

[jmbrowning]

Kitchen:
Looking around the garage unearthed a Dometic RC3000 which we had taken to the Maze District/Lake Powell a decade and a half ago. It had been laying about in storage to provide cold storage on propane when "The Big One" hit and AC went out. Well, we moved out of Great ShakeOut country and I forgot about this thing. Will need to see if it still works and if the manual is accurate when it says it used 85 watts DC or 160Ah/24h. I think the Inergy Kodiak meters might be useful in this endeavor. If consumption is that high, will probably only use 12v when driving and put it outside on propane when we are parked.

2 hours later

Chimney doesn't get too hot when using 12 volt in these ammonia fridges.