Recent content by mrblacksemail@gmail.com

Welcome to the site! As far as the government is concerned, SuperTruck is still just a 1988 Toyota pickup. The registration and the insurance both reflect that, so no pain whatsoever. I never cut the cab, so realistically, the only integration of the shell would be the mounting bolts, a wire to...

Holy smokes that's a steal! Sorry to hear you missed it. I try to stay plugged into the 4x4 Chinook community and that's a new one to me. The color matching camper and cab really set it off.

Much thanks dude! Well, I only owned this beast for about a year after I completed the transformation. Shes off and having a blast in the Sierra's of Cali. The new owner hasn't had any complaints! Honestly it was the perfect weekend/week long getaway rig. The westy interior guts were key because...

Finished Product Ok, who am I kidding, these things are NEVER finished, but I've run out of build stuff, so this post is dedicated to dumping finished photos and any photos I don't recall putting on previous posts. Introducing the We're the Fukarewee Explorers's Ultimate Expedition Rig...

Miscellaneous Ok folks, with all the major camper components gone over, I just have a few random side projects to document... Front Bumper What's the point in building an expedition rig without some self recovery capability? I put in an order to Addicted off-road for one of their tube...

Electrical System The factory propane box was too small to house a 20lb portable propane tank, but the vented lid makes it a great place to house the group 24 deep cycle battery. It also now houses the solar controller, a 2 amp trickle charger, and the camper fuse block. The rather cheap PWM...

Happy New Year's, Expeditioners!!! Well, life got really busy over the holidays, sorry for the delay. I'll do my best to pick up where I left off. Please remember, this build was done in March 2016 and I'm just now finding the time to put this build thread together. That said, I'm trying to...

Flooring For this I used leftover hardwood flooring from a previous project. Specifically, its a laminate composite tongue and groove by Mohawk. The dark brown goes well with the tan Westfalia interior scavenged from an 1985 VW Vanagon. PAINT!!! Once satisfied with the fitment of the...

Camper Build-Out!! First step, MOCK-UP. With a little modification, the interior from the 1985 VW Westfalia donor should fit snugly. 1st order of business, creating back legs for the "jack-knife" seat from the van. Originally, the rear of the bench seat, which folds flat to help create the...

Roof Repair Let's begin with the roof. So if anyone is wondering how sealed their roof is without having to wait for a good storm is to simply wash the thing. My test came back with poor results and a wet interior. Not too surprising given how old the ole girl is. This is where the 5 gallons of...

Interior insulation Lucky for me, somewhere along the line, the Chinook interior had already been gutted once, and the crummy cardboard "insulation" had been painstakingly removed. I hear it takes a lot of scraping to get the honeycomb shaped cardboard material off the walls because it is glued...

Window Rebuild While the windows are out and the frames are all cleaned up, it's time to install new seals. The original rubber seal, called 1/8" glass glazing bead, was dry-rotten, shrunken, and hardened. I found new stuff here...

Rear Door Rebuild So, the rear door was falling apart. The 1x1 wood was too rotten to hold the screws for the bottom hinge. Like the door jamb, I decided to make it stronger than it was. Luckily, I have been blessed with the perfect woodworking shop and resident woodworker to help. My partner's...

I was extremely lucky in the fact that the camper floor and skeleton is in decent shape. In most cases I've seen, water damage has rotted parts of the floor out, generally around the rear door. Unfortunately, the rear door jamb fell apart long ago, and the stress caused a large crack on either...

As a Chinook owner, I'll throw in my 2 cents. As a full-time rig, a sunrader would be the way to go. I absolutely love my Chinook, but having a bathroom and not having to pop the top just to stand up in the rear would be clutch for livibility. A sunrader isn't that much longer, and it's likely...