Belafonte Reboot....Ambulance to 4x4 Camper Conversion
- Thread starter tgreening
- Start date
patoz
Expedition Leader
Well it's done. I didnt realize how absolutely crap-tastic the pics were till it was too late to take more. Try again tomorrow. You can get the basic idea so I'm open to opinions. At the moment, I'm kind of undecided. It looked ok in my head, but now that it's done, not so sure.
[/URL][/IMG]![E89F4D58-BBC5-496B-8A05-F0CD5A96F4A2_zpsnckfawxa.jpg](http://[URL="http://s237.photobucket.com/user/tgreening/media/Mobile Uploads/2016-09/E89F4D58-BBC5-496B-8A05-F0CD5A96F4A2_zpsnckfawxa.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/tgreening/Mobile Uploads/2016-09/E89F4D58-BBC5-496B-8A05-F0CD5A96F4A2_zpsnckfawxa.jpg)
Pulled the headliner down to recover because the cloth was starting to separate from the foam, and started scraping all that nastiness off. The last vehicle I did was my Wagoneer which was a whole lot bigger, but the overhead was like a really dense cardboard and was fairly easy to clean up. The stuff in the van is like some kind of thin foam core board with one side shot with a thin coat of long fiber fiberglass. That was a pain to scrape because my scraper kept catching and ripping into the fibers. After awhile I got the hang of it. I managed to finish it up and get it covered but didn't get a picture of that tonight. Get that up tomorrow. Looks a whole bunch better.
[/URL][/IMG]![89F83EF4-FFAC-4DF7-B3CE-4166C24A47E0_zpshkcljqyb.jpg](http://[URL="http://s237.photobucket.com/user/tgreening/media/Photobucket Desktop - Thomass MacBook Air/CamperVan/2016-09/89F83EF4-FFAC-4DF7-B3CE-4166C24A47E0_zpshkcljqyb.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/tgreening/Photobucket Desktop - Thomass MacBook Air/CamperVan/2016-09/89F83EF4-FFAC-4DF7-B3CE-4166C24A47E0_zpshkcljqyb.jpg)
[/URL][/IMG]![7BCA01A7-1FA0-495E-A9EB-E979EAEF0F71_zpswdv8l3xw.jpg](http://[URL="http://s237.photobucket.com/user/tgreening/media/Photobucket Desktop - Thomass MacBook Air/CamperVan/2016-09/7BCA01A7-1FA0-495E-A9EB-E979EAEF0F71_zpswdv8l3xw.jpg.html"][IMG]http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/tgreening/Photobucket Desktop - Thomass MacBook Air/CamperVan/2016-09/7BCA01A7-1FA0-495E-A9EB-E979EAEF0F71_zpswdv8l3xw.jpg)
This is what I see. When I click on the Photobucket icon, it opens but there are no picture to see, and it says they have been moved or deleted.
Anytime! Just be sure to bring a big fat check too because while I don't mind shooting paint, I absolutely hate sanding and taping and filling and anything to do with body work, except the actual shooting. Shouldn't cost you more than eleventy billion dollars.
Recovered! Woot n stuff.
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This is the plug that runs your overhead lights. I think the little green wire (1 on each side) are for lighted visor mirrors but I don't have those. Second pic is the van side of the plug. It's on the drivers side and runs down the corner of the cab. In my case it's buried behind the upholstery the Ambo up fitter installed.
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All installed.
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Next on the list is to get the rear springs R & Rd. Not looking forward to that but it should be quite as much hassle this time around. I know how to access everything and the bushings and what-not are fresh so should come out without too much trouble. Yeahhh.
Got to be done though. If there's one thing about the kit I'm just a tad disappointed in it would be the springs. They took over 2 months to arrive and when installed left the ******** sagging about 3" compared to the front. I compensated short term by adding a 2" block (all I could get quick) but they've settled even more and I think I'm close to where I started again. And it's got a wicked lean it didn't have before the kit.
To Chris's credit he got me replacements at no charge (to me. I hope he didn't have to eat it) so I really should get them in there. Spring guy tried to pass it off as the 600 lbs additional weight back there between the time I ordered and after I installed. Of course it couldn't have been the locker, the xfer case, the steel driveshaft instead of aluminum, the steel wheel adapters, he heavier than factory replacement springs yada yada yada. Basically all the conversion parts naturally add up to additional weight, and I weighed it each time with not much in it other than what the kit added.
Anyhow, spring R & R up next. Only got another month till the Expo.
This is the plug that runs your overhead lights. I think the little green wire (1 on each side) are for lighted visor mirrors but I don't have those. Second pic is the van side of the plug. It's on the drivers side and runs down the corner of the cab. In my case it's buried behind the upholstery the Ambo up fitter installed.
All installed.
Next on the list is to get the rear springs R & Rd. Not looking forward to that but it should be quite as much hassle this time around. I know how to access everything and the bushings and what-not are fresh so should come out without too much trouble. Yeahhh.
Got to be done though. If there's one thing about the kit I'm just a tad disappointed in it would be the springs. They took over 2 months to arrive and when installed left the ******** sagging about 3" compared to the front. I compensated short term by adding a 2" block (all I could get quick) but they've settled even more and I think I'm close to where I started again. And it's got a wicked lean it didn't have before the kit.
To Chris's credit he got me replacements at no charge (to me. I hope he didn't have to eat it) so I really should get them in there. Spring guy tried to pass it off as the 600 lbs additional weight back there between the time I ordered and after I installed. Of course it couldn't have been the locker, the xfer case, the steel driveshaft instead of aluminum, the steel wheel adapters, he heavier than factory replacement springs yada yada yada. Basically all the conversion parts naturally add up to additional weight, and I weighed it each time with not much in it other than what the kit added.
Anyhow, spring R & R up next. Only got another month till the Expo.
Started to R & R the rear springs tonight. Pain and suffering all around! Those suckers are heavy to muscle around by your old self. I took a side by side pic of the old new and the new new. There is a significant difference.
Back when I see installed the originals I was kind of surprised how easy they lined up because I could have swore I saw in one of Chris's vids a mention of how they probably wouldn't and would have to flattened out somehow. These otoh are being a bugger. With one end bolted in the other end doesn't reach its mounting hole. In essence these springs are shorter hole to hole than the hole to hole distance on the vans mounts, which wasn't unexpected, but boy it can be a pain.
I need a therapeutic shower and I'll post a couple pics. Not much, but it'll show the difference in the springs.
Back when I see installed the originals I was kind of surprised how easy they lined up because I could have swore I saw in one of Chris's vids a mention of how they probably wouldn't and would have to flattened out somehow. These otoh are being a bugger. With one end bolted in the other end doesn't reach its mounting hole. In essence these springs are shorter hole to hole than the hole to hole distance on the vans mounts, which wasn't unexpected, but boy it can be a pain.
I need a therapeutic shower and I'll post a couple pics. Not much, but it'll show the difference in the springs.
Bikersmurf
Expedition Leader
Even the stock ones are a major PITA under an ambulance.
You did a great job on the headliner. My Ford headliner is in good shape, but I'll need to tidy up the transition pieces one of these days. On mine, the transition piece is about a foot wide vs. the few inches.
You did a great job on the headliner. My Ford headliner is in good shape, but I'll need to tidy up the transition pieces one of these days. On mine, the transition piece is about a foot wide vs. the few inches.
Hmm. I made another post last night showing the springs and their differences and I see this morning the whole thing is gone, not just the pics. What up man!
It weren't not nuttin excitin anyhows so no big deal to do a do-over.
Sore this morning! Concrete, 95 deg 400% humidity, and heavy steel taking their toll these days. I try to just soldier on and ignore all the aches and pains, thinking that you don't really get old until you let your mind believe it to be so, but I wonder at what point the body is going to tell the brain to go pound salt.
It weren't not nuttin excitin anyhows so no big deal to do a do-over.
Sore this morning! Concrete, 95 deg 400% humidity, and heavy steel taking their toll these days. I try to just soldier on and ignore all the aches and pains, thinking that you don't really get old until you let your mind believe it to be so, but I wonder at what point the body is going to tell the brain to go pound salt.
patoz
Expedition Leader
You probably did like I do sometimes. You wrote the post, hit 'preview' to check it, got distracted and forgot to go back and hit 'post reply'. Once you closed your browser...Poof, it was gone!
Did you recover your headliner yourself or have it done professionally. If you did it, what did you use?
They aren't that difficult. As usual the prep is the biggest thing. This one was kind of a weird base material which made it more of a bugger to scrape but I managed to get the hang of it and in the end it weren't no big deal.
Make sure you have a MEGA sharp cutting tool. I bought a brand new utility knife and blades and it took about 3 cuts before the blade started to go south. You wouldn't think it would be such a killer because the material is just some foamy backed type stuff but it can be a bugger to cut sometimes. That speaker box stuff I covered my bench with was the same way. I could make one cut that would go like butter and the next cut just wanted to rip and shred, even with a brand new blade.
Use a good 3M spray adhesive. It's not super forgiving so gotta make sure you're on point when you stick the headliner to the form, because it's not really going to want to come back up. Trim the edges, install, and do the happy dance.
Haha! Could be. I'll have to go check my Mac. Lucky for me I only shut things down once in awhile so it might still be there.
I've always done them myself. Joanne fabrics usually has, or can get, headliner material, and the adhesive I just get at Lowes. 3M 90, or something like that. Green can as I recall. Good gooey stuff. It sprays out like Spider-Man is having a seizure so you have to pay attention to your coverage and overlap, but it isn't hard to use other than once you stick the two sides together they don't reposition well.