Van Renovation

Oliver was a badass.  The 1997 Dodge van that was my home for a year, got me around three different countries and ran almost flawlessly… was a total badass.  The problem with badasses is that they usually have some major character flaws.  For Oliver it was an unbelievably loud exhaust leak, a speedometer that occasionally read ’0′ while cruising the highway, occasionally lost all it’s electrical (that was my fault – I cleaned it out with a 300 mph leaf blower), had lots of wind noise, was totally underpowered (40 mph uphill anybody?), squeaked, rattled, rolled, shimmied and shook.

Well it was time to upgrade.  Sorry Oliver but you’re being replaced.  Have your desk cleaned out by 5:00.

Requirements for the new van:

1. More power
2. More clearance
3. As good or better gas mileage (17 mpg)
4. Quiet
5. Can put  a bed in without removing a bench seat

So I picked up a 1999 Ford E350 Diesel.  For a ’99 it looks about 2 decades newer than Oliver.  I think Dodge stopped updated their vans in 1980.  I opted against the Sprinter diesel vans because, although they get better mileage, they’re waaaaay more expensive.  In the neighborhood of $18k for one with 300,000 miles.  Balls.  I went with the E350 because the gas vans get 10-13 mpg.  The diesel can get 20 mpg.  I would have liked 4wd but that would be an extra $10k.  So I got limited slip.  I had to fly to Michigan to pick one up… after 3 months of searching I only found 2 that had the more reliable 7.3 L diesel, was a short bed, and a passenger van.

Upgrades:

1. Pulled off the running boards (more clearance)

2.  265/75R16 BF Goodrich All Terrain.  I destroyed the tires I had with one trip climbing in Arizona.  I had to do some fender trimming to fit them though…

3.  Flattened the floor, added padding, sound deadening insulation, and new carpet.

4.  Added some sound

5.  Added LED light to the front cabin, rear cabin, under the bed, and outside for cooking.

6.  Welded in supports and added a bed across the back.  Laying sideways I can keep both bench seats in and still sleep.  This is key for road trips;  when you get tired, you just go back and sleep… comfortably!

Note the fire extinguisher… I caught the van and cover sheets on fire a few times.

A few more tidbits:  I added a switch to turn off the dome lights even if the doors are open (key for camping and not running the battery down or attracting rodents/bugs).  I also glued some of the soundmat to the doors to get rid of the hollow sound when you close the doors.  The mirrors rattled around like bobble head so I yanked the fuckers out and put some rtv in the joints and foam around the edges to dampen it out.  The exhaust backpressure valve was leaking so I unplugged it.  The pinion bearing was bad so it got a new pinion, pinion bearing and ring.

The end result is an 18 mpg van (not as high as I wanted) that flattens hills, quiets the road, plays Stevie Ray Vaughan like it’s live and seats 8 people and a bed with no furniture movement!

His name is Henry.