Yeah... it's turn is coming up soon.
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Van Go
- Thread starter Jim
- Start date
RockAuto delivered a few days early. New cable installed , insulation added and the door's all back together. 
@Jim
Just ran across this thread, don't know how I missed it. Fantastic job!
Who took the time to paint the black lines between the simulated bead-board? Detail!
My wife has MS, and has a lot of trouble walking. I've been thinking of making a van for travel. To keep it low, I was thinking of one of the newer FWD vans. I'd need a hightop so we can stand up in it, then I'd add a toilet, etc., so she wouldn't have to go into rest stops and gas stations. Lot of good ideas on your build.
Just ran across this thread, don't know how I missed it. Fantastic job!
Who took the time to paint the black lines between the simulated bead-board? Detail!
My wife has MS, and has a lot of trouble walking. I've been thinking of making a van for travel. To keep it low, I was thinking of one of the newer FWD vans. I'd need a hightop so we can stand up in it, then I'd add a toilet, etc., so she wouldn't have to go into rest stops and gas stations. Lot of good ideas on your build.
Thanks.
The black lines are a permanent marker sharpie. After the varnish is applied, it's really permanent.
Holy smokes Jim, that cabinet with the sink and cook top is beautiful. Nice
Nicely done!
Nicely done!
Thanks, John!
I moved the wall outlet from it's original location to down below the top of the kitchenette. The wood cover over the hole is kinda sloppy, but I'll be adding a metal backsplash over the top of it, so hakuna matata... 
Cut a 2-1/2" hole in the back of the kitchenette so there's access to the outlet in it's new location. I'm gonna add an outlet on each end of the kitchenette and one on the inside for the cooktop. That will all get powered through the 2-1/2" hole.
Since the wall of the van is curved, I cut a piece of wood to follow that curve and give a flat surface for the back of the kitchenette. It's fastened with sheet metal screws all the way into the vans metal frame and glued. There'll be 3 screws to hold the kitchenette tight against the wall. That's mounting point #1
Mounting points # 2 and 3 are on the floor. 2X2" steel angles, bolted through the floor. There's nuts welded to 'em and the kitchenette screws into 'em at each end with 1/4" screws.
Put a good coat of varnish on the outside of the kitchenette. All the van's interior wood only has one coat. Once all the woodworking is done, I'll put a good second coat on everything in situ.
And finally mounted in place permanently. I say permanent, but removing it involves removing 7 screws, so it can easily come back out in under 5 min if need be.
The sink is also permanently mounted. Those clips are fiddly little bugger, let me tall ya...
Next up will be wiring up the kitchenette and adding the water tanks and plumbing. But I tweaked my back and now I'm flat on it. Might be a day or two...
Cut a 2-1/2" hole in the back of the kitchenette so there's access to the outlet in it's new location. I'm gonna add an outlet on each end of the kitchenette and one on the inside for the cooktop. That will all get powered through the 2-1/2" hole.
Since the wall of the van is curved, I cut a piece of wood to follow that curve and give a flat surface for the back of the kitchenette. It's fastened with sheet metal screws all the way into the vans metal frame and glued. There'll be 3 screws to hold the kitchenette tight against the wall. That's mounting point #1
Mounting points # 2 and 3 are on the floor. 2X2" steel angles, bolted through the floor. There's nuts welded to 'em and the kitchenette screws into 'em at each end with 1/4" screws.
Put a good coat of varnish on the outside of the kitchenette. All the van's interior wood only has one coat. Once all the woodworking is done, I'll put a good second coat on everything in situ.
And finally mounted in place permanently. I say permanent, but removing it involves removing 7 screws, so it can easily come back out in under 5 min if need be.
The sink is also permanently mounted. Those clips are fiddly little bugger, let me tall ya...
Next up will be wiring up the kitchenette and adding the water tanks and plumbing. But I tweaked my back and now I'm flat on it. Might be a day or two...
That coat of varnish really brought that walnut to life.
Yes it did. I might have to come get some more from you. Not sure what for, but I'll think of something.
Hope your back is on the mend. That cabinet looks heavy!
Well the back has been a bit of a setback. Two weeks in and just now able to do a bit.
One of the areas that tend to get overlooked as far as insulation is the step in the side doors. It's bare metal underneath, so it needs something. I used some of the foam rubber sound insulation, which doesn't have much in the way of heat insulation qualities, but it's better than not insulating at all.
... and reinstalled the factory plastic step liner. Bit of a tight squeeze with all the foam underneath it, but eventually wrestled it in place.
Cut holes in the sides of the kitchenette and installed outlet boxes, wired 'em up and connected to the rest of the vans AC power.
Tried to connect the stovetop but found out both plugs wouldn't fit the hole I previously made. Had to make another just below that.
... and finally installed the stovetop.
My plan was to have the van livable before the cold weather hits. Not done mind you, just enough so we could escape the inevitable cold snaps we get here in the midwestern plains. Two weeks on me back has thrown a wrench into that plan. We'll see. I have an MRI on my back tomorrow (Sun), so we'll see what the doc has to say and go from there.
Ahhh... the joys of gettin' old.
One of the areas that tend to get overlooked as far as insulation is the step in the side doors. It's bare metal underneath, so it needs something. I used some of the foam rubber sound insulation, which doesn't have much in the way of heat insulation qualities, but it's better than not insulating at all.
... and reinstalled the factory plastic step liner. Bit of a tight squeeze with all the foam underneath it, but eventually wrestled it in place.
Cut holes in the sides of the kitchenette and installed outlet boxes, wired 'em up and connected to the rest of the vans AC power.
Tried to connect the stovetop but found out both plugs wouldn't fit the hole I previously made. Had to make another just below that.
... and finally installed the stovetop.
My plan was to have the van livable before the cold weather hits. Not done mind you, just enough so we could escape the inevitable cold snaps we get here in the midwestern plains. Two weeks on me back has thrown a wrench into that plan. We'll see. I have an MRI on my back tomorrow (Sun), so we'll see what the doc has to say and go from there.
Ahhh... the joys of gettin' old.
R4 beats R0 by infinity... 
You know you have to elaborate now... right? 
He burst through the cheese wall
and back safe in the land of Lincoln!
and back safe in the land of Lincoln!
Open heart surgery. New aortic valve, aortic root and a section of the aorta plus 1 bypass.You know you have to elaborate now... right?
That was not the worst of my hospital stay. 2 days after surgery my heart started acting up. At times I would be laying in bed resting then all of a sudden my heart rate would go wild. 60ish beats a min up to 150+ and then float around. Eventually my heart would beat too fast for too long and get it's self out of time. I believe it's called A-Fib. Then things would get scary, eventually it would slow down tying to get back in time. When it couldn't do it it would just go real slow and then stop, pause, restart, still not be in time, stop do a long pause and restart again. If back in time it would go back to a normal resting heart rate. If not stop and do a longer pause.
Keep in mind I'm laying there watching all this on my EKG monitor. I would not loose consciousness unless it skipped 3 beats (longer pause). I was amazed how fast the response was from the hospital staff. In a matter of minuets I would have a dozen people in my room and another dozen in the hallway outside my room. All very professional and working together seamlessly.
I did get them to drop their professionalism for a minute. First time it happened when my heart got back in time one of the staff commented that things looked good but my blood pressure was high. I said what do you expect I've got 5 very pretty girls around my bed and I'm alive.
Well I'm glad to hear you're still on the grass side of things.
Hopefully the prognosis is good?
Hopefully the prognosis is good?
