Camper vans....

Ive been working on mine for some time now and its almost done, drivetrain first then int.....hard work, lots of cash and time....if anyone needs help or advice please ask.....the bed is up top....

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/showgallery.php?si=&thumbsonly=2&perpage=16&cat=500&ppuser=10408&thumbcheck=2&page=1&sortby=f&sorttime=999&way=desc&cat=500

 

very nice job you have done with the Van. Im sure you have a few bucks tied up in that! You could live in that thing if you wanted! Are you going to travel in it or what?

 

Thats the idea...travel.live and work outof it....soon it will be done...

 

Ive been putting some more long days in it, even redesigned the tool crib area as to use the space I have better....

Today I worked on an inner cabinet and running my new propane lines for the stove and the 2000 to 5000 catalatic propane heater when im off the grid.

Its the smallest one made, mines a few years old and I got to light it manually I was gonna opt for the newer remote cliclker started....384 bucks....hell no.

Mine is just fine.

If anyone is really gonna restore a camper van vs a rv be prepared for about the same costs as most of the items are the same as the big rigs, some even more....

Ive not yet thought about my int cost of van, my engine rebuild, my new overdrive trans kit...and now the int...

New insol 30 r in most places..., new tripple spar pollyed on both sides tellow pine panaling, and now the hard wood floor with advantech under it. All the t-n-g....alll the sanding sealing staining and more polly work.

 

Mid line 9 inch tv/dvd.mp3 player, sony explode remote 500 watt system, xm sat radio, ive the small gyro dish to mount soon for sat tv and internet. 2500 and 1000 watt inverters.....now 3 deep cycle house batts and a solar panel with morning star controler.

I got the panal from hhb in a swap, it was cracked (the glass)semi bad but its like safty glass and held together(plastic inside)....it put out about 89% of what it should so I got the morning star controler as it would even charge too much in the shade....

I use the good ole standard but gold quality liquid house batts....they like 12.7 to 13.0 volts, gel or sealed batts cant be refilled or adjusted if your system isnt right... Ive also have then in a vented box.

Top of the line ssb cobra cb, the new trendy radar jammer and detector...more and more and more....I wish I had a helper...

I will update some pics soon...

 

Ive had a 1000 watt xantrex in a diff van so this was a easy pick and for a hundred bucks its very decent.

Common sense says use heavy cables and only as long as you need them to be.

Now ive four house batterys total. Two seemed to be fine but I got a deal on the other two, making all four match. I welded boxes up and bolted to the frame under each front side, the fit well.

I put a few pics up in my gallery.

 

Nice work! What kind of work do you plan to do on the road? I just got a minty fresh Vanagon that I'm converting to a fake Westfalia, except of course better because it's getting handmade everything =) Can't wait for summer, even if the project isn't done yet and I have to go 'ghetto camping' with an icebox and coleman stove.

I just ordered a 15-watt solar panel to keep me charged, but I'm still figuring out the other equipment needed to isolate my second battery and charge off the panel...anyone know of a good guide to this stuff online?

 

Prior to this project I had a 85 westy wolfsbug ed. westfilia, I will post some pics of it.

It was a very nice ride but for me I loved the 23 mpg but hateed the lack of power, even with the bigger water cooled motor it still slacked.

Now with my dodge I gained a chassis that can weigh near 9000 lbs and endless power, but for the price of 8-12 mpg and about 80 on each engine.

But even with my current 127 inch wheelbase van ive loads more space.

I also had a 81 westy air cooled, it was awsome but I think I simply run it in the ground.....a 3600 mile wide open trip mostly in the desert.

 

Cool...I'm always fascinated to see how other people's campers are set up! But I will steal any particularly good ideas =)

I'm going the other way, from a big old 8mpg Cadillac to the VW. My 1.9 wasserboxer is actually pretty spunky in city traffic, though my weekend trips to the mountains are now taken at 65 instead of 90-something

 

I had to pull out the deck and tv and one speaker tonight in order to run and mount the normal uhf antenna for the tv. I had put it off for a while but had too much idle time on my hands this evening.

But it let me take and post a few pics of some of the work as well as the ex sat set up.

As I mentioned I spent a few extra bucks on the sony deck to get it xm ready as they say but had to buy the xm box as well as a converter box to make it humm with a sony brand deck....so it was deck plus a hundred bucks just to have xm sat radio of which I never listen too.

Oh im gonna post a pic of my old 85 solar westy...I loved it but it just didnt fit the bill for my uses. The small trailer in the pic I built by hand with a roll of aluminum or however its spelled. I got it from a friend that worked at boing in seattle. It seems it was easier to pull weight than have it in the van.

My westy was a sweet ride with alot of options and I got almost 23 mpg as long as I kept it under 60 mph.

When I sold it it said 265,000 on the mileage clock.

 

You-say....though my weekend trips to the mountains are now taken at 65 instead of 90-something


65 in a vanagon is pushing it a bit if you do a bit of research on the 1.9 the best rpm range for it is in the 55-58 mph range if you have stock dia. tires.

This is for two reasons, first mileage-it drops off bad over 60 mph unless you have a better than stock cam profile. Second this is more or less just an air-cooled v-dub engine with a water jacket and these things do not like alot of long term high rpm or abuse.

60k is all you can expect from a 1.9 before you have to reseal the heads if not less.

Im not knocking the vanagons, I loved all I had but its more of a cult thing than a practicle ride.....parts are hard to get and cost more.....mine was a early 85 but still had alot of 84 engine parts on it and replacement was a bitch for these parts cause 84 to 85 there was small but subtle differences in engine parts.

 

heh, yeah, I'm one of those cultists, it's my 4th VW and 3rd Type 2.

Nice Westy and trailer, though I can see how it'd get cramped in one after a few months. The new rig looks a bit more comfy! Where ya gonna go in it?

Since I'm ultimately planning an extended trip in the van, I expect to get a 99% stock rebuild before too long. Who knows? Maybe when it's warmer and I really dig in, she'll just need the heads done and I'll have that much more to travel with.

I know I have to drive her slower :-\

 

Dont get me wrong I love the vanagons in so many ways.....my current rig is just more practicle for me at this point.

And as fucked up as it may sound in this day and age I dont want to be typed as a hippie traveler by the man, id rather be looked at as the clean cut guy in a nice old dodge van whos traveling.

I put over 4k on my 81 air-cooled vanagon westy in one month all in the summer heat and mountains of mexico.

The ironic part is a friend at that time had a dodge van similar to mine and when I rode in it all I thought was...fuck this big ole tub.

Go figure.

One of my biggest trips was do I take the 24 inches I partioned off in the back for tool storage or pull a small trailer and rig a small shower and toilet.

But I can go anywhere and where there is water I can get clean.

The pic of my 85 I posted was sweet as hell, ele windows,mirrors from a 91 westy. Org v-dub mag rims dual heaters, rear ac.....

But one offered me 13,500 and that was more than the rig was when new. It was only 12,800 when new in 85 so it had to go.

 

Where am I going in mine....shortly when its done I will probably be going west where its dry and no humidity.

As you can tell im doing it to spend alot of time in, wait till I post the rest of the picks, its got so many trick things on it and in it its nuts.

My current org 360 now has 10k on it, it runs strong with good heads and a 509 lift 292 dur. camshaft but sitting on my porch is a 440 big block with a aftermarket crank makin it 472 cubic inches at almost 11to1 comp.

Here is my issue, ive the new 360 as well as a new 727 with overdrive (the trans is yet to be put in) so do I run this or put in the 472 bb.

My desktop dyno says It will make about 525 hp with the set up I have(the way the 472 is configured)....do I need all this in a van?

If im gonna get 8-12 mpg it just dont matter what engine I run.

And im not looking forward to pulling it again as well as installing a big block.

 

Ive been kicking around if I really need a fridge in my campervan and comprimised on what I ended up with.

A real 110/12 volt/propane fridge is just way to costly for what my needs are so I got this cool lil 12 cooler/fridge at the local discount house for 22.50.

Its very cool for the price and works well, I used one almost like it for the almost 10 months I lived in my van before getting set up in the town im in now with a real place to live.

This unit will hold up to a 12 pack of soda,ect and holds right at 40 degrees and pulls almost no power.

Im gonna frame it all in this weekend but just posted a few pics of it before hand.

After alot of thought, this seems to be the best option as it can run non-stop with my curent solar setup.

 

That's neat - what does it draw? I've got a big Koolatron I found for cheap, but since they never cycle off, at 4.5 amps it won't be any good for boondocking. (unless I get a lot more solar power going!)

I hear you about the stereotyping crap. I used to roadtrip in a purple '76 Westy with hair down to my ass and "Pagan Clergy" bumper stickers etc., so the stock-looking Vanagon seems relatively tame.

Cops don't seem to give me disrespect for my long hair etc. anymore anyway - it's like they can smell the fact that I have a "respectable" corporate job now and don't break any major laws

 

This pulls 2 amps and works great so its no strain at all on my system.

I used to have one like you refered to for ten months while my van was parked and I drove a diff rig for work...they work very well.

Well like a fride should and mine would even ice up and freeze shit if I didnt get in it everyday.

I will have it all built in this weekend I think as well as my puter set up and I will mount my sat internet unit up top.

The best part is I got this fridge at the discount store for I think 20 bucks or close to it give or take cause it was out of the box.

 

What did you get, one of the Direcway deals?

I'm a programmer by trade and could probably get enough freelance work to live on the road indefinitely, but the antennas run 3k+ and look bulky. I keep hoping they'll drop or that I'll find another option.

I've thought of making a pringles can high-gain wireless antenna and just hopping onto whatever unsecured residential connections are around, but that's kind of shady and no help in the mountains.

Nice pussy in your gallery, BTW

 

This unit was 2600$ and is very small less than 3 inches thick and about a foot and a half wide and is supposed to work on the go no matter how you drive.

I paid 3 years ahead on there package which is the net and tv service.

Ive had it hooked up and it works great and you can set it to run off 4, 12, 24 sats.....and its also a killer gps unit.

 

Ive been bitching in a few prior posts that I need to do a bit of work in the wire dept, and so I did. Ive now a master on my house batts as well as an inline fuse on every 12v item as well as a switch panal for items that draw current while off.

I will put some pics up after I shower.