I'M BATVAN! ...a 2006 E350 V10 DIY Ujoint Conversion

Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
As most might have noticed, I chose black diamond quilted vinyl for my upholstery fabric.
Not really sure how I came up with this but I did want a wipeable fabric as the inside of this thing will get dirty.
As I mentioned previously, I had cut and painted plywood for the metal bed frames. I used Glidden exterior black paint. I did look into putting black laminate on these panels but passed as I thought it would be to expensive.
Then I wrapped the panels with the DQV. Since the frames are only 1" it didn't leave much room for the overlap. I used my 1/4" pneumatic stapler to fasten it.
This is the cut, fold, staple I mentioned previously in a pic with the ABS cover plate.
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I put t nuts in from the upholstery side before covering. This will end up being the passenger side forward facing panel. The notch is for the seat belt.
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This is the drivers side vertical panel. The lower painted part is facing the back in the cubby. The upper is cut out for my electrical panel.
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Here is the electrical panel installed with plenty of room to expand. The panel itself is a scrap of the removed tan interior panels. Trying to blend old with new and reuse at the same time. :)
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Here is the back of the panel, it has standoffs to create a hollow when the back panel is in. The back panel is below and attaches with Velcro. You can see here the Blue Sea "house" fuse box. I will clean up the wiring a little more as things start to solidify and additions/changes slow.
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That panel in place along with the interior window cover panel.
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The "finished" drivers side rear. The forward most cubby is really hard to get to so I plan on a 10g water tank, pump, and heat exchanger for that area.
Converting a passenger van to a "camper" does have challenges but I think they are worth it. I worked to "integrate" as much as possible.
Here is one on those challenging areas.
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I had originally planned on laminating some wood strips together to make this little curved cubby. Since I had scraps of HDPE laying around I figured I would try to bend some. A little heat and some clamps in a jig and....
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The ledge in the OEM plastic combined with a little ledger on the HDPE made for a perfect little stash spot. Im holding the "bottom" in my hand with a little finger pull hole. I find that my headlamp ends up here on top.
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Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
This is the lower part of the passenger side vertical panel (where the towel is). I had planned on putting a vinyl wrapped panel here with hinges but after a while it didn't make any sense. If there was anything on the floor you wouldn't be able to open the door. Here you can also see the cantilever in the front bed platform, which needs some black plastic caps still.
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Just inside this cubby there is a steel spot welded flange, its about 3" above the floor. The flange combined with a ledger on the vertical side panel created another storage area. The lower has a rain jacket, some emergency clothes, batterys, etc. The upper usually has towels, an extra blanket/jackets. etc.
Finger pull for access, coolest thing is you can use it for a cutting board in a "pinch."

Here you can see my "shoe gutter", since HDPE came into my life :) I have found all kinds of uses. I found that the step well, behind the seat and the previous cubby were filling up with shoes. If they were in the step well they would usually fall out when the door is open.
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I even put scupper drains in it so it can be washed out with the hose. ;) Still need to work on the step well hardware....I like how the HDPE looks so similar to the OEM Ford black plastic. I might make a new one of these with a bend instead of a joint. I have also considered folding up some aluminum for this.

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Here is more crafty HDPE work. I put a swivel under my passenger seat, thanks to "1der" for the group buy on Sportsmobile forum (GB #5 going on now I think). The swivel actually opens up a bunch of space under the seat. I tend to put "daily" shoes or flipflops here. We also have a Kleenex box "encapsulated" in the front so that you don't have to hold the box to grab one from either seat. That is a box of business cards stuffed into the seat framework.
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Here is the passenger side rear facing panel. I added a "footman loop" to help keep the belt guided from slipping between the panels and or abrasing the vinyl. Here you can also see that I have cut and filled in the 2" gap below the window molding with portions of the old side panels below.
 
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Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
Nice attention to details!

Thanks again,

Rear door panels were on the list, with the desire to increase storage, durability, and functionality. If someone hasn't seen the interior of the door, there are a number of things that limit the size of storage. The speaker, and the lock actuator cables. I remodeled the structure of the door to maximize space and that meant consolidating the speaker to the cable areas. Missing here is the aluminum flat bar I used to tie in the right side of the speaker with the top and the bottom creating the left side of the storage. I used a jig saw with a fine tooth metal cutting blade to cut the sheet metal. Then hit the cut edge with a flap disc before sponging on some por-15. The blue tape is temporarily marking locations for riv-nuts (8mm).
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Here is the interior structure of the door as seen from the exterior. Bottom left is a bent piece of aluminum that goes around the interior door structure for the bottom hinge. The attachments to the door panel itself are aluminum angle scraps I had laying around. To the upper right is the back panel which is 1/8 luan ply sandwiching a glued on piece of coin flooring. I might go back and replace the ply with aluminum, it bugs me that its there. These doors still need insulation (in fact I think I might grab some thinsulate from Hein) so the panels will be coming off but it is easy to do now, just 6 8mm countersunk socket heads.
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I lined the interior with scraps of rubber coin flooring sealed with black caulk. I even managed to reuse the original speaker grilles, again blending old with new. I'm finding my rear door screens ended up in the top one quickly. The bottom has air compressor accessories, a hitch lock, and a trailer jack handle.
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Its funny to see all of the abrasions on the surface with my desktop PC, doesn't show up so much on the ipad. The HDPE wasn't perfect to begin with, and this is definitely a low grade HDPE product not to be confused with the king starboard type products MG used in the Optima build, this isn't a fine finish product.
Additionally, this isn't the "show" van that Naterry has insinuated it is. ;)
These areas will see a lot of use and abuse, think of it as more of a "patina". Any type of wood product is going to wear much worse and not be moisture resistant.
The passenger side doesn't afford as much storage because of the license plate recess but I did consider reconfiguring that too. The passenger side got a matching HDPE panel though reusing the grille and the original handle. With some better planning I could have recentered those two a bit better but oh well.
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Also in that pic you can see my LED reading/map light attached to the previously mentioned curved cubby. I found it on Amazon for $20. Its great for reading in bed, it also swivels out over the bedslide for a nice cooking light.
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Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
Here is the view of the bed area from the front.
I moved the 2nd row seats a bit from their original positions, back and outboard. I moved them so outboard that I took off the outboard arm rests (they don't need any stinking outboard arm rests). I also had to modify the bulge in the drivers side plastic for the fuel filler to allow for the seat base.
They are also swapped, this may seem insignificant but only one of them has a forward and back adjustment and the fixed one has a child seat "latch" system. The adjustable was on the passenger side so it could go forward enough that you could get behind it and the rear of the side doors to access the rear bench. With that not necessary anymore I put the fixed base in front of the door which has the "latch" system someone may want to use from out the door, and puts the adjustable base where it wont get moved forward in front of the egress/ingress of the door.
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Note the rear door handle and latch handle are easily accessed above the bed. I want another tan handle for the other side.
Drivers side,
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Pass. side with door closed,
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Arm rest block off panel, aluminum sheet painted satin black, I may do something else with this later. It only gets seen when the rear door is open.
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Also, in this pic the "shoe gutter" has spacers on the far left vs. the previous pics. I had cut the front panel wrong, I cut the long point as the short point and it was tweaking the step well on the left side.
My jobsite comment would be, "I've cut it twice and its still to short!"
Instead of cutting a new panel I just installed a couple spacers out of 1/2" OD tubing painted black.
Anyways, take it as a tip, I have always said, "the best (carpenters) are the ones that can fix, their mistakes and turn it into a positive outcome" You can insert DIY camper builders or just about any trade for carpenters, I have been cutting things to short in carpentry since the 7th grade. :) Don't be afraid to make mistakes....
Also, someone mentioned "engineering". I had an overall "vision" for this interior in my mind, I made a few hand drawings on graph paper, and crunched some numbers on the pivoting, multi position frames but for the most part this is, "put some tunes on in the shop and fiddle around type of engineering". Ya dig? :ylsmoke: Where solving problems often takes the path of least resistance, and because of lack of deadlines (unlike my home remodeling jobs) allows for things to be put on the back burner and thought considered before coming up with a good solution or to find/acquire the right materials or hardware. Everything is custom and custom fit to an intricate space. It takes time.
I hear a lot of people asking how long it takes, or saying they are going to throw a van together in a month or two and hit the road. This has taken nearly 2 years at this point (4wd conversion and interior), working the weekends I don't want to use it or don't have other commitments, evenings after work, and yeah even skipping/hiding out of work to work on it.
Anyways, enough office work for today, I need to go out and play. :)
 
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Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
Ok, one more, I mentioned folding up aluminum earlier....
I don't have any free hats or anything....
Does anyone want to guess what this is?
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mk216v

Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Some brilliant ideas in here, awesome!

Ok, one more, I mentioned folding up aluminum earlier....
I don't have any free hats or anything....
Does anyone want to guess what this is?
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Oh yeah, I know what that is. It's a conveyor slide for when you're making fresh doughnuts in the morning. Tip that aluminum at an angle and down slide the doughnuts into your pretty lil' hands. :wings:
 

Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
Although we typically camp in the cooler areas and in the shade, I did see a need to move some air through the van occasionally. Most importantly its nice to move moisture out and keep condensation to a minimum. I wasn't quite ready to install a roof fan yet so I made this little gem.
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It runs using a pair of computer fans wired up to a cig lighter plug. The substrate is 1/8" ABS.
The water proofness of the ABS combined with the window deflector keeps water out. At the top it fits tight into the window channel. At the bottom its channeled so the window goes inside creating a nice tight fit.
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Folded up and cord wrapped for storage.
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Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
Organizing pics I found a few miscellaneous things worthy of mention.
This is the rear HVAC flapper door. Allows the switch between Hot through the floor, or cold through the roof.
Mine was broken when I got it.
The little hook/pin arrangement that allows it to pivot are thin and break. I found the plastic pin piece (shown between them) down in the lower part of the blower housing. I think these are around $100 new, and I think most yards would rather sell the rear HVAC as a unit.
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I attached a piece of scrap metal with some rivits. Here it is shown with a bolt as the pivot pin. I later used a clevis/cotter pin connection/pivot.
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Also, this can be R+R'ed without removing the rear HVAC contrary to some of the searches I did found. Its not easy but can be done.
 
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Pinnacle Campers

Chateau spotter
Are you freakin kidding me. That window thing is genius.

I enjoy your problem solving, pragmatic and open-minded.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That window fan is awesome! Nice work Brian!

Thanks for the positive vibes guys. :)

I didn't mention that the window fan is set to exhaust. If I ever get some rear door pop out windows, I will be pulling air through those, over the bed and out. I often just leave the rear doors open to some degree.
Also, the window fan can be installed on the passenger side as well to intake air. Of course the switch would be on the outside but you can always just unplug. The cig plug will reach the dash, starter battery, or the rear outlet, house battery when on the drivers side.
 

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