Pinnacle Campers
Chateau spotter
This is the story/documentation of my 2006 Ford E350 v10 passenger van.
The intended use is as a daily driver/work truck/multi-sport utility van.
I primarily do residential remodeling as a General Contractor. As a carpenter by trade, I do most of the demolition, rough, and finish carpentry on the jobs I do. I have a couple trailers, for tools, and a dump trailer for hauling debris/materials requiring towing capacity and cargo hauling.
As far as multi-sport, I do mountain biking, snowboarding, SUP, backpacking/camping, and have dabbled in autocross/hill climb/auto events a bit sometimes requiring a tow/support vehicle.
I have never been a “wheeler” per se, but I do like to get into secluded camp spots now and then even fording creeks with water filling the wheel wells of my Toyota Tundra. My 4x4 needs are primarily for snow driving, at the same time I’m looking forward to something with a little more capability.
I also have a multi-sport 8 year old girl that is going to need a support vehicle over the next 10 years.
The most popular tool for my job is a pickup truck and I have had them for years, mostly Toyotas, my last being a, new 2000 Tundra, access cab, 4x4, with 180K.
The Tundra had been used and abused but overall held up well, rear wheel bearings, a couple starters, and more recently cats and oxygen sensors. Needless to say the cost of ownership per mile of the 4.7L V8 gasser was extremely low and I like that.
Truth is, I had decided way back in 2007 that I was tired of a pickup truck, tired of crawling around on my knees in the back, not having much interior space to “move about”, lacking secure locking cargo space (I did have a shell), and I needed something a little more robust.
It was the NCV3 Sprinter introduction in 2007 that got me headed in the van direction. The lack of 4x4, towing capacity, strong frame, etc. made me realize it wasn’t for me, but being able to stand up inside is so cool! For nearly 7 years I looked at vans, trying to make a Sprinter work in my head (the 2011? And up 3500 had 7500lbs towing but still no 4x4), looking at the Nissan NV vans (robust, bad MPG, can’t get excited about the looks, no 4x), AWD Express/Savana vans (no capacity increase over Tundra), converted/converting a GM van, even step vans, and medium duty trucks like Fuso, etc.
The last place I looked, and refused to look at for so long was converted/converting Ford vans. I’ve had carpet installers that have had them over the years and I always looked at them as junk, In fact I think I said at one time that I would “never own a Ford van”.
I’m an import guy, I have had VW’s, Toyota’s, Honda/Acura, Mitsubishi, etc. My first ever domestic was a 2004 Corvette Zo6 and I didn’t have good luck with it (oil systems aren’t up to high G force driving, go figure).
After reading many of the builds on the forum over and over, including Naterry’s (who’s mom I have lived next door to for 26 years) ambo, and van builds, and bknudsen’s build of Vandiana. I decided if I wanted a 1 ton van with 4x4, going with a Ford van and a ujoint conversion was the only practical way for a DIY’er like me.
I have worked with cars and mechanics all my life. My dad raced an econorail dragster in the 70’s. While I was in the single digits then, I think I picked up a few things while sucking on wrenches in the back of his Chevelle tow vehicle. I started dropping engines out of VW’s and rolling them out on a skateboard at 16, but being a mechanic wasn’t meant to be and I’m glad I don’t do it for a living and only as a hobby.
After many hours of research I decided I wanted a Ford passenger V10 (because of my history with gas motors to be reliable, low maintenance, less noise) with the Torqshift 5 speed auto (for the ease of conversion and extra gear), but no RSC. Since this is a 2005-2006 van it really limited the search. I did open up my search to include later model (2007 and up) RSC vans as I did like the new front end and dash.
Oh yeah, I was also really picky,
Budget of $15K
No white
I wanted grey
<100K miles
close to home
and no tan interior!
After 8 months, a few close calls, and a couple bad dealer experiences this 2006 Chateau showed up on my search tempest feed. I looked closely but didn’t respond for 3 days over the weekend, it was 2500 miles away, had tan interior…finally I gave in. I secretly wanted a Chateau, and I like how the black hides the tinted windows and looks less passenger like.
I found a very responsive seller who sent extra pics, dealer records, etc. He was the original owner. He was pretty shocked when I told him I was flying in from Boise to Philadelphia to buy his van.
The pickup/ sale went off without any hiccups.
I had a friend along and we made a trip out of the drive home. First going out to the New Jersey shore because we had driven from Boise to the Oregon Coast a couple months earlier and we wanted to say we had driven coast to coast within 3 months’ time. This required driving the “wrong way” about 150 miles.
The van had all of the seats in it so we slept in a tent. We spent a day in Philadelphia and a day at Gettysburg (amazing!).
Each night and morning while setting up/taking down tents, air mattresses, bags, etc. I thought about how nice it is going to be to have the van setup for travelling with multi nights on the road and not have to deal with that every day. Reality is the worst night was in a hotel in Wyoming because we were too lazy to set up/take down that stuff. This was October of 2014 and driving across the country at that time of year is beautiful, great color and perfect weather.
The van was pretty comfortable to drive although a little sketchy on curves over expansion joints. The van wallows under its weight, and is a far cry from my IRS front end Lexus Tundra, and size wise feels like a semi by comparison.
On the drive the van got 12mpg in the east, dropping to 11 in the hilly windy west.
Van specs include:
2006 Ford E350 Chateau, Black with Tan leather interior
95K miles
7 Passenger seating with 2nd row removable captain’s chairs
V10/ torqshift 5 speed
Rear heat/AC
3.73 rear end
tow mirrors
Factory receiver hitch
Dual batteries/ engine block heater
Besides regular maintenance, the batteries had been replaced and transmission flushed less than 15k miles ago.
This is the third vehicle I have bought not wanting tan interior and ended up getting it.
My plans initially include:
Get rid of the rear bench seat, some sort of bed platform, and a durable, truck bed like, rear under bed area for hauling toys, tools or cargo
take care of some surface rust on the frame
DVD/rear camera, trailer brake controller
Blackorize the exterior
Insulate for sound and heat
Screens/ventilation, more pop out windows
Maybe a microwave at some point, no other permanent appliances
Eventually a water tank/ hot water shower handheld using an exchanger off the rear heat/AC lines.
I still plan to camp “beside” the vehicle but often sleep in vehicle. Meaning I won’t be camperizing this. Stove, cooler, sink, will be set up outside or under canopy (I have an easy up) in inclement weather.
This is primarily my daily driver so keeping it light with good mpg (as good as a v10 can get?) is important. Four full seats for passengers, ample, durable cargo space and a bed platform.
I’m considering a bed platform that converts to a bulk head behind the second row captain chairs to retain large cargo and suppress the noise.
I planned on doing a “phased” ujoint conversion with a scheduled completion of fall 2015 but after getting “stuck” twice on the 2500 mile drive home from Philadelphia, once on the beach in New Jersey and the other time, a muddy campground in Iowa, the ujoint conversion moved up the list.
I plan to keep my truck while I pull the van in the shop and get it done in one shot!
Every van seems to have a catchy name, mine has been called a few, one of my favorites since the conversion is, “Double Decker Hearse”.
The one that has stuck and I like is “BATVAN”. I’m not a huge vanity plate fan but I did consider it, unfortunately it is already being used in my state.
Thanks to all those that contribute to the forum.
As they say, more later….
Brian
The intended use is as a daily driver/work truck/multi-sport utility van.
I primarily do residential remodeling as a General Contractor. As a carpenter by trade, I do most of the demolition, rough, and finish carpentry on the jobs I do. I have a couple trailers, for tools, and a dump trailer for hauling debris/materials requiring towing capacity and cargo hauling.
As far as multi-sport, I do mountain biking, snowboarding, SUP, backpacking/camping, and have dabbled in autocross/hill climb/auto events a bit sometimes requiring a tow/support vehicle.
I have never been a “wheeler” per se, but I do like to get into secluded camp spots now and then even fording creeks with water filling the wheel wells of my Toyota Tundra. My 4x4 needs are primarily for snow driving, at the same time I’m looking forward to something with a little more capability.
I also have a multi-sport 8 year old girl that is going to need a support vehicle over the next 10 years.
The most popular tool for my job is a pickup truck and I have had them for years, mostly Toyotas, my last being a, new 2000 Tundra, access cab, 4x4, with 180K.
The Tundra had been used and abused but overall held up well, rear wheel bearings, a couple starters, and more recently cats and oxygen sensors. Needless to say the cost of ownership per mile of the 4.7L V8 gasser was extremely low and I like that.
Truth is, I had decided way back in 2007 that I was tired of a pickup truck, tired of crawling around on my knees in the back, not having much interior space to “move about”, lacking secure locking cargo space (I did have a shell), and I needed something a little more robust.
It was the NCV3 Sprinter introduction in 2007 that got me headed in the van direction. The lack of 4x4, towing capacity, strong frame, etc. made me realize it wasn’t for me, but being able to stand up inside is so cool! For nearly 7 years I looked at vans, trying to make a Sprinter work in my head (the 2011? And up 3500 had 7500lbs towing but still no 4x4), looking at the Nissan NV vans (robust, bad MPG, can’t get excited about the looks, no 4x), AWD Express/Savana vans (no capacity increase over Tundra), converted/converting a GM van, even step vans, and medium duty trucks like Fuso, etc.
The last place I looked, and refused to look at for so long was converted/converting Ford vans. I’ve had carpet installers that have had them over the years and I always looked at them as junk, In fact I think I said at one time that I would “never own a Ford van”.
I’m an import guy, I have had VW’s, Toyota’s, Honda/Acura, Mitsubishi, etc. My first ever domestic was a 2004 Corvette Zo6 and I didn’t have good luck with it (oil systems aren’t up to high G force driving, go figure).
After reading many of the builds on the forum over and over, including Naterry’s (who’s mom I have lived next door to for 26 years) ambo, and van builds, and bknudsen’s build of Vandiana. I decided if I wanted a 1 ton van with 4x4, going with a Ford van and a ujoint conversion was the only practical way for a DIY’er like me.
I have worked with cars and mechanics all my life. My dad raced an econorail dragster in the 70’s. While I was in the single digits then, I think I picked up a few things while sucking on wrenches in the back of his Chevelle tow vehicle. I started dropping engines out of VW’s and rolling them out on a skateboard at 16, but being a mechanic wasn’t meant to be and I’m glad I don’t do it for a living and only as a hobby.
After many hours of research I decided I wanted a Ford passenger V10 (because of my history with gas motors to be reliable, low maintenance, less noise) with the Torqshift 5 speed auto (for the ease of conversion and extra gear), but no RSC. Since this is a 2005-2006 van it really limited the search. I did open up my search to include later model (2007 and up) RSC vans as I did like the new front end and dash.
Oh yeah, I was also really picky,
Budget of $15K
No white
I wanted grey
<100K miles
close to home
and no tan interior!
After 8 months, a few close calls, and a couple bad dealer experiences this 2006 Chateau showed up on my search tempest feed. I looked closely but didn’t respond for 3 days over the weekend, it was 2500 miles away, had tan interior…finally I gave in. I secretly wanted a Chateau, and I like how the black hides the tinted windows and looks less passenger like.
I found a very responsive seller who sent extra pics, dealer records, etc. He was the original owner. He was pretty shocked when I told him I was flying in from Boise to Philadelphia to buy his van.
The pickup/ sale went off without any hiccups.
I had a friend along and we made a trip out of the drive home. First going out to the New Jersey shore because we had driven from Boise to the Oregon Coast a couple months earlier and we wanted to say we had driven coast to coast within 3 months’ time. This required driving the “wrong way” about 150 miles.
The van had all of the seats in it so we slept in a tent. We spent a day in Philadelphia and a day at Gettysburg (amazing!).
Each night and morning while setting up/taking down tents, air mattresses, bags, etc. I thought about how nice it is going to be to have the van setup for travelling with multi nights on the road and not have to deal with that every day. Reality is the worst night was in a hotel in Wyoming because we were too lazy to set up/take down that stuff. This was October of 2014 and driving across the country at that time of year is beautiful, great color and perfect weather.
The van was pretty comfortable to drive although a little sketchy on curves over expansion joints. The van wallows under its weight, and is a far cry from my IRS front end Lexus Tundra, and size wise feels like a semi by comparison.
On the drive the van got 12mpg in the east, dropping to 11 in the hilly windy west.
Van specs include:
2006 Ford E350 Chateau, Black with Tan leather interior
95K miles
7 Passenger seating with 2nd row removable captain’s chairs
V10/ torqshift 5 speed
Rear heat/AC
3.73 rear end
tow mirrors
Factory receiver hitch
Dual batteries/ engine block heater
Besides regular maintenance, the batteries had been replaced and transmission flushed less than 15k miles ago.
This is the third vehicle I have bought not wanting tan interior and ended up getting it.
My plans initially include:
Get rid of the rear bench seat, some sort of bed platform, and a durable, truck bed like, rear under bed area for hauling toys, tools or cargo
take care of some surface rust on the frame
DVD/rear camera, trailer brake controller
Blackorize the exterior
Insulate for sound and heat
Screens/ventilation, more pop out windows
Maybe a microwave at some point, no other permanent appliances
Eventually a water tank/ hot water shower handheld using an exchanger off the rear heat/AC lines.
I still plan to camp “beside” the vehicle but often sleep in vehicle. Meaning I won’t be camperizing this. Stove, cooler, sink, will be set up outside or under canopy (I have an easy up) in inclement weather.
This is primarily my daily driver so keeping it light with good mpg (as good as a v10 can get?) is important. Four full seats for passengers, ample, durable cargo space and a bed platform.
I’m considering a bed platform that converts to a bulk head behind the second row captain chairs to retain large cargo and suppress the noise.
I planned on doing a “phased” ujoint conversion with a scheduled completion of fall 2015 but after getting “stuck” twice on the 2500 mile drive home from Philadelphia, once on the beach in New Jersey and the other time, a muddy campground in Iowa, the ujoint conversion moved up the list.
I plan to keep my truck while I pull the van in the shop and get it done in one shot!
Every van seems to have a catchy name, mine has been called a few, one of my favorites since the conversion is, “Double Decker Hearse”.
The one that has stuck and I like is “BATVAN”. I’m not a huge vanity plate fan but I did consider it, unfortunately it is already being used in my state.
Thanks to all those that contribute to the forum.
As they say, more later….
Brian
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