The Rig Runner ...a 2010 E350 5.4 DIY Coil Conversion

Raul

Adventurer
The shifter is a piece of iron pipe hinged on a bracket bolted under the floor. I still have not figured the right parts for the 4r75 and the 271. Since I do not used too often, the current set up is not bad.
 

CaptainBuilt

Well-known member
Asking because I'm about to install the 271 myself.

What's the shift pattern going from the forward back? What bracket did you use to hold the new transmission up with?
 

Raul

Adventurer
Rear door panel, storage solution, pop out window and bug screen.
Finally I have the hatchet handy. You never know when the zombies will start attacking the mall.

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Raul

Adventurer
Getting more use out of the van now that the interior is more functional. Sink and rear shower are pending and few details here and there, but quite pleased with the set up. The fridge is good for overnight camping which is just what we need for now. We will see once the weather gets hotter if it can work for full day. Microwave works out of the alternator fine, no need to accelerate like in the old van. 0 AWG cables form the main battery to the home batteries and to the inverter and two new Deep cycle batteries seem to do the trick.

Surfside Beach and Galveston Island (Houston's beach front). One night sleeping at the beach and Beach Clean Up. This was allegedly an organized event, but only 6 people showed up. Still, we managed to fill up a pick up. Thanks Spring Breakers :mad:


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My daughter posted this on her Instagram. All is good :love:

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Raul

Adventurer
More interior decoration pictures.

Fridge: My goal is to have an efficient ice box that, when possible will run the compressor. From a plain dorm fridge, I've moved the compressor to allow adding 0.75" polyiso around the compressor cavity, 3" of polyiso and fiberglass in the back, 0.75" o top and bottom and now, the door, with 0.75" to 1.25" of polyiso and plywood as additional insulation. Since this fridges evacuate heat throughout the side wall, no isolation there.
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Side table to work while on site. Curve allows to open the door with the table open. Weird profile on the side is to clear the seat and being able to lift the table with the door closed.

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Raul

Adventurer
Minor update. Fridge is now lined with Reflectix. Now I have some extra insulation on the sides. At least now there is some extra isolation keeping the heat from the condenser coils build into the walls.

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Raul

Adventurer
Easter in Arkansas. Ouachita National Forest. Beautiful place. First trip with the four of us. Set up worked quite well.

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End of the trip at Hot Springs to enjoy some spring water baths and this lovely motel; Hot Springs Best Court. Built in the 1930s the garages were sized for Model T and the likes. Do not try to fit the van.

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Raul

Adventurer
Finally I decided to tackle the problems I was having with the power seat. The bottom was moving up and down on an offset motion and sometimes I was sitting tilted. I removed the seat and took the bottom part out expecting to see some broken gears. It turned out that the back pivot tap was bent. All I had to do was pry it back in the right shape and now is working fine. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures.

Since a post is always nicer with pictures, here is the latest addition to make my van mor expedition ready : stickers!!!
I got this compass stickers that are reflective so they have some safety feature.

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Raul

Adventurer
Some progress with the indoor plumbing. Water tank secured in the back, water pump installed, water lines routed. Outdoor shower is done, need to connect the front faucet and run a switch for the pump up front. Pump is on demand, but I still want to be able to shut it down when not in use.

Getting ready for the summer road trip. Going against the clock so not much time for finishes.

The idea with faucet by the door is to be able to use it from outside and inside. I wear contacts so been able to wash my hands at night is important. The tall trash can works great to do the dishes with little water.

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Raul

Adventurer
Summer trip concluded. East Coast 2019. Houston to New Orleans, Panama Beach, Virginia Beach, Washington, Smokey Mountains, Nashville... 3,650.6 Miles in 14 days. Maybe a tad too ambitious as we had a lot of road time, but beautiful country to visit.

First day as we cross from Texas to Louisiana, with record temperatures, the AC broke down (Request to help thread) . New lines and compressor on Panama Beach, FL, and broke down again last day as we crossed back to Texas.

Lots of road time allowed to pla withe the camera.
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Stretched Van?

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I manage to include in the itinerary a stop a the the East Coast 4x4 van Meca and meet The Man. Thanks Chris for the hospitality. It was nice to meet you, BDaso and Cornelius
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Saw this guy with a split AC unit. I thought about this as a possibility for my van. I do not think it looks a lot better than a window unit and for the cost, i do not think is wort it.
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Besides the AC issue, the van performed extremely well. The interior set up worked quite well for us, being able to sleep four. The MaxxAir fan was a necessity to be able to sleep inside. build-in mosquito screens on the pop-out windows worked great. The extra insulated/optimized dorm fridge worked great and didn't drained the house batteries in the 24 hrs intervals the was left without the van running. For our need I still believe this will work better than a $900 super duper 12V fridge. Door pockets are awesome. We didn't used the external shower, but the side door faucet worked very well. For longer trips away from water sources I may want to choke the flow somehow as as is, it uses the 7 gal tank quite quick.
 

Raul

Adventurer
Finally I went to an Off-Road park. General Sam's in Huntsville, TX. Mostly forest trails and very muddy since we had a lot of rain. Great time with a lot of great people. The van and the tires did great. Very slippery so quite a work out counter-steering.

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