Introducing O'Billy - our new Type-II Ambulance

Bikersmurf

Expedition Leader
Although I've not seen a US rig in person... Just read a lot of threads along the lines of "Friends don't let Friends buy ambulances".

I suspect a lot if our drivers are better paid, and breaking their rig means they don't work. Also fewer people and a lot more area to cover.
 

huskyhauler

Adventurer
Although I've not seen a US rig in person... Just read a lot of threads along the lines of "Friends don't let Friends buy ambulances".

I suspect a lot if our drivers are better paid, and breaking their rig means they don't work. Also fewer people and a lot more area to cover.

It all depends on who owns the ambulance in the US. If it's a private rig or used as a hospital or AMR style transport it'll see a tighter maintenance budget, a lot of idle time, fast, cold starts and balls-to-the-wall driving. If it's owned by a fire department it'll see less idle time, a regulated maintenance budget and schedule, and easier driving.
 

huskyhauler

Adventurer
Thanks for all the comradery everybody! Ya, I'm really grateful for this forum (and all the ujoint site/videos/etc - inspiring).


It actually came from Los Angeles originally. The previous owner purchased it from the Las Angeles division of Schaefer's Ambulance (check out their photos on Google) just over 2 years ago. He intended to send it back to Mexico, where he used to work as a paramedic. Unfortunately for him, some laws had recently gone into effect and the export/import would have cost over $5k in fees... so it sat for 2 years in a parking lot in Las Vegas, until I found it on Craigslist.


Oh ya, we're going in tomorrow morning w/ masks, bleach, gloves and goggles: these things are built to be easy to clean, but we've found some nasty stuff in the few crevices that exist (IV needles inside the bench storage compartment, medical tape in places, several backings for EKG pads, etc.) It's been sitting completely unused for almost exactly 2 years, which makes this a bit less scary. Either way, my wife and I are both biologists by training (she is by profession) with WFR certs, so we know our way around sharps and biohazard. I plan to rip out the floor (my wife thinks it's unnecessary, but we'll see what she says when there's bare metal under where the bench used to be), and dispose of all cushions/fabric from the back part.


I'll see if I can take some photos tomorrow, and I'll definitely update when I add the solar. From what I've seen by peaking through the cabinets, the thing seems rock solid: there are steel cross-members every several feet (not sure exactly how frequently they repeat), and the fiberglass is thicker than I would have imagined (looks thicker than my old Cal-20 sailboat's hull!).


I'm not exactly in a rush to get this completed – I don't need this done for about a year – but I also don't see any reason to put anything off, as I'll definitely be using this on weekends when I have the time. I have a ton of modifications I plan to do myself, but the drivetrain work is outside my abilities.


Some quick questions for the community:

1. Does anyone know of a Southern CA or AZ -based shop that's done a u-joint conversion? @martell06's you mentioned somebody in Inland Empire - do you happen to know of that thread? Chris, if you know of anybody or have any recommendations for what to look for in a shop's previous work, it would be much appreciated!

2. Has anybody here used Raptor Liner before? LineX would be ideal, but it's about 5x my paint budget... I'd actually prefer doing this myself and the product looks really good.

3. Wiring. If anybody knows some good resources for these ambulances, it would save me tons of time.

Reach out to the manufacturer. Being a 2003 they'll likely have a digital service manual they can send your way.
 

mk216v

Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
It all depends on who owns the ambulance in the US. If it's a private rig or used as a hospital or AMR style transport it'll see a tighter maintenance budget, a lot of idle time, fast, cold starts and balls-to-the-wall driving. If it's owned by a fire department it'll see less idle time, a regulated maintenance budget and schedule, and easier driving.

Good to know on the fire dept, makes a lot of sense, thanks. (I'll cross post to the ambo thread).
Back to O'Billy!
 

dar395

Adventurer
Nice looking rig for a great start, really enjoy the cockpit photo, nice and clean. As with any service vehicle it all depends who takes care of them, I can truly say that I have been driving surplus for many a year and so far never had a complaint on there servicing. I have found that both the Navy and Air-force run a better maintenance program here in the US, and I just stay clear of city owned or police vehicles.

Looking forward to the build :safari-rig:
 

patoz

Expedition Leader
So you're saying Canadians maintain their municipal rigs better than us 'Mericuns? ;)

While researching some government regulations about something on my rig, I came across one that stated Ambulances in Canada are replaced every four years, no matter what. That is their total life span. If true, that would also explain why they are all in much better shape than ours, once they reach the civilian market.


mike.marcacci,

Welcome to the Ambo Club! It good to see another build going on, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

We have a thread going that is dedicated just for asking questions about ambulance builds, that may help you. I wish we could get all ambulance builds in one place, but maybe this will help.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/135844-Ambulance-Camper-Expedition-Rig-Conversion-FAQ
 
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Bikersmurf

Expedition Leader
Mine was 10 when it was sold... Most are younger. I think they're selling 07s now. But some are older
 

patoz

Expedition Leader
Mine was 10 when it was sold... Most are younger. I think they're selling 07s now. But some are older

I thought four years was not very long for an emergency vehicle unless they were really abused, or maybe it had to do with the salt on the roads or something. I worked for the DOD Fire Service for 30 yrs. (District Chief) and County EMS part time (EMT) and most of our vehicle were kept for a least 10 years.

This is not the original article I read, but it reflects some of the same information.

County cuts back ambulance service time

County treasurer Marian VanBruinessen said an ambulance in its sixth year of service costs about $30,000 to maintain. An ambulance in its first year of service costs about $7,500 in maintenance. The move to the shorter service life would save the county about $22,500 per ambulance.

VanBruinessen said most other municipalities use a four-and-a-half-year life cycle for land ambulances.
Read the rest: http://www.thewhig.com/2013/01/16/county-cuts-back-ambulance-service-time


So, it looks like it's more about the maintenance cost than the actual wear and tear they receive, even though they are proportional.
 

mike.marcacci

Adventurer
Time for some updates! But first, an embarrassing confession: I don't know how, but I completely missed the second and third page of this thread! I was so curious why nobody had replied :) No idea how that happened, I guess with all the short posts on the first page, I figured I would have to scroll another 1000px before it paginated! Woops.

Anyhow, thanks for all the support! I've been in touch with Chris from u-joint, and I'm going to be dropping off the van at Diesel Tech in San Jacinto in a couple weeks for the 4x4 stuff.

Meanwhile, my wife, brother, and myself have kept busy for at least a few hours most weekends, making the most of our limited tools and space… which is sometimes at odds with our relentless obsession with perfection.

Right now I'm desperately procrastinating all the work I should be doing, so I'll post up a few of our projects.
 

mike.marcacci

Adventurer
Operation #1: Demo Time

We needed to see what we had to work with. We ripped out the bench, the floor, and one cabinet to give us a larger "desk" and open up the side barn doors, which were quite crowded.

Emily removed the cabinet, which required cutting through the sheet laminate on the other side to access the screws. We made a bit of a mess finding the screws, but couldn't think of a better way to get at them.
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Tim and I got the bench out which was quite a project in itself. Leader put an amazing amount of work into these fixtures, which were unquestionably designed to be permanent.
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We all spend a good amount of time with gloves, masks, goggles, bleach, and a few other chemicals. Found a few IV needles (always safely recessed in their plastic applicator) and WAY too many EKG pads. But after they were all gone, well, they were all gone.
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Our very gracious neighbors have been surprisingly supportive and have yet to complain about the once-a-week mess in the front yard:
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...but eventually our landlord did ask us to ditch the bench we had stashed around the side. It got snapped up out of my truck within 20 minutes of being on craigslist, as there was a lot of good aluminum, and you couldn't beat the price.
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mike.marcacci

Adventurer
Operation #2: Sound Proofing (part 1)

The 7.3 is awesome… but it’s not quiet. One of our first projects was to gut the cab, insulate the **** out of it with everything that Dynamat makes, and then make it nice and pretty.

The cab wasn't in a much better state than the module, with an unsurprising but certainly unpleasant amount of sunflower seed shells filling all the crevices.
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We took it down to the paint, cleaning and degreasing anything that was supposed to be white.
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Then we added dynamat to the floor, doors, up onto the firewall: if it was made from sheet metal, it was covered in butyl. This stuff is absolutely incredible at what it's supposed to do: dampening vibrations. Our doors close with a "thud!" and the metal no longer acts like a drum head.
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On top of the dynamat, we added dynapad to further block outside noise, using a LocTite equivalent of 3M's 77 spray, after snagging our Home Depot's last can of 77. I definitely prefer the 3M, but they both worked well. The bottom of the dynapad is an open cell foam which, once glued in place, would absolutely tear if you had to remove it. The middle layer is a thick vinyl (they call it "dinyl," which is a bit silly) so the stuff bends very well, but doesn't stretch. Some of the more complicated curves up by the firewall required a few darts to be cut to prevent bubbling.
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mike.marcacci

Adventurer
Operation #2: Sound Proofing (part 2)

To finish off the sound proofing, we added hood liner to both the hood and the dog house, sealing the seams and edges with aluminum duct tape. When I was researching the hood liner, I was a bit concerned that it might fall off, but after using it, I couldn't be less concerned: whatever kind of adhesive they use in these things is absolutely immovable once set.

The liner adhered perfectly on top of the factory barrier in the dog house (degreased of course).

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The combination of the 3 dynamat products did a better job than we ever expected, and we can now talk comfortably while driving! I haven't totaled up exactly how much it cost, but it wasn't cheap – many hundreds of dollars – but it was absolutely worth it.


Before we could put the seats back in, we needed to add carpet. We ended up just using some good old outdoor carpet from Home Depot, which worked surprisingly well given its almost complete inability to stretch.

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patoz

Expedition Leader
Looks good, and looks like you guys are doing it RIGHT! Your hard work and expense now, will pay off later ten fold. :)
 

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