The Lunchbox Build... 4x4 chevy shorty van

Lunchbox2

Explorer
I threw a charger on the motorhome for a few minutes, and it fired right up! With only 42k on the odometer, she runs like a new one, and I'm 100% satisfied with my purchase. I went with a TBI motor over a late model LS engine for a few different reasons. #1.... I probably saved over $2,000 by using it instead of the LS engine. #2.... it's a very simple design, and is extremely reliable. It won't make as much power, but they are very torquey, and will suit my needs for a couple years. I can always swap in a 6.0 liter later on down the road..... #3... By buying the motorhome, I got all the a/c stuff I need, dash, harness, doors, etc.... so I was money ahead from the get-go...

Basically everything from the doors forward is going to be swapped into the van, so the next time we hear the sweet song of that small block chevy, she will be powering the Lunchbox!



 

Lunchbox2

Explorer
So I got the Lunchbox COMPLETELY gutted, down to the sheetmetal.... Then I soaked her down with a heavy dose of "brown ****" and pressure washed it

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Lunchbox2

Explorer
The motorhome had about a 1/2 inch of mildew on the outside of it, so I soaked it down and gave her a bath too. This thing looked really nice, ALMOST makes me not want to rip it apart....

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Lunchbox2

Explorer
That lasted about 2 minutes.... So we started to gut it. Everything needs to come out, be cleaned up, then put back in the Lunchbox.... So out came the dash, ducting, steering column, and wiring harness. I took it all home, soaked it down and pressure washed it. I'm not diggin' the brown, so I dyed the dash black, and it looks SOOOO much better. It was "flat" but really turned out more of a "satin" finish, I'm 100% satisfied...

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Lunchbox2

Explorer
The plan is to get all of the ducting, harness, steering column, and dash back into the Lunchbox first, then we will start on getting the motor mounted. This isn't a show-truck, but I wanted the under-hood to all be one color, so I sprayed it with Eastwood Co. Chassis Black. It's not like you're going to be able to really see it, but it'll look good when the hood's popped...

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Lunchbox2

Explorer
I have everything ready to start going back into the Lunchbox, so that's what I'll be working on for the next couple days... This is going to be fun...

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Lunchbox2

Explorer
This is awesome. What are your plans for the "living" space?

I'm not exactly sure what my plan is yet? My original vision was to just bedliner EVERYTHING. Then install 4 captains chairs and leave the back open, so it could carry 4 people and all their gear, just an adventure vehicle. Then the vision morphed into half adventure van/half camper..... So now I'm trying to decide if I want to sacrifice being able to carry passengers, and just make it more of a camper.... IDK... I have a couple weeks before I really NEED to start thinking about it, so I have a little more time to research and come up with a plan..
 

Lunchbox2

Explorer
I'm really digging the hard shell, roof-top mounted tents.... That way it would be easy to convert to camper mode, AND still be my adventure vehicle I originally envisioned..... They are pretty pricey though, so we'll just have to wait and see...
 

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