Yet another E350 build

[Sheep Shagger]

Thanks for all the compliments guys, I'm on vacation at the moment so that's why I've been quiet. Hope to get round to finishing this, and posting some other changes I've made soon.

On the freezing issue, someone also mentioned RV antifreeze to me, I haven't had chance to read up on the stuff yet, but seems like it may be option to draining the system on the 1 or 2 trips a year I do to very cold areas.

I should have weighed in by now with my praise too. I had to call the wife in to see your rig; very well done, man! I have emailed my fab guy this pic:

Let me know if you need any dimensions.

[BajaBus]

Let me know if you need any dimensions.

That would be a great help! Do you have them?!

[Sheep Shagger]

Had some time to do a few things. Had the EGR delete done, and with that a SCT tune to get rid of the EGR engine check light. The tune really woke the van up, so I decided to put in EGT & Boots gauge as I want to keep an eye on them now. Decided to mount them overhead as I don't much care for A pillar gauge pods and didn't want to cut up the dash.
Spent some time finding the right gauges that matched the Ford coloring. Ended up with Autometer Ford match gauges, but they created 2 problems.
The green night display is LED powered, so the dash light dimmer has no effect, think I can fix this with a resistor, but haven't spent the time to work out the value yet.
The EGT probe mount that came with the kit is a real POS, no way in hell are you going to get a air tight seal with the design. It's a NPT bolt with a hole through it for the probe and a set screw to stop the probe coming out. I tried it anyway, and got an exhaust leak as I expected. So I had to order the Autometer probe housing for weld-in bung, that has the compression ferrule fitting like all other kits, that one worked. But think it's made out of gold and cut with diamonds going by the price.


This is the crap fitting that came with the kit. (taken from another website), seems many people are complaining about them. Wish I'd taken the time to research first.


This is the type of fitting I used in the end, just threw away the weld in bung (piece on the left)


Next up was covering the air and water connectors. I tried a few different things but didn't like any of them, so I ended up machining some plugs. They are machined to catch in the female connector clasps but not push the valves open. So the plug itself is not holding any air or water back, just stopping dirt getting into the fitting. First time I had machined anything for O rings, that was harder than I thought if would be to get just the right fit.




Not sure how long those chains will last before rusting, but it's all I had handy in the garage. I'll find something better at a later date.

[r_w]

thems purdy!!

I think I would want a more substantial tether as those may walk off they are so purdy...

[Sheep Shagger]

Also got round to tidying up some of the accessory wiring/fuses/relays & switches.



The fusebox / relay holders are mounted above the brake pedal & below the steering column behind the dash.

[Sheep Shagger]

thems purdy!!

I think I would want a more substantial tether as those may walk off they are so purdy...

Thanks. A friend suggested steel wire/rope covered in plastic tube, I think I might try that. Like this.

[BajaBus]

That is too cool! Heading down to La Paz for 6 weeks first thing in the morning. As soon as it's a permanent move, I'm going to do the EGR delete as well. Nothin' but trouble!

[Sheep Shagger]

The gravity water fill I did in this post/link below, can be a bit of a pain if not parked perfectly since it's only a few inches higher than the tank.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...315#post921315
After messing around, I decided I wanted a different kind of fill, one that I could connect directly to a hose. Picked up a "city water fill" valve from an RV store and set about making it fit in the rear door jam. Really only had to trim one side off to make it fit in the jam. Since I pulled the rear door speakers there was no need for the rubber accordion thing that holds wire and fit's between the door and the jam, so I pulled that and re-used the hole it once fit it. So now I have a water fill hidden in the rear door jam and I didn't even need to drill a hole. BTW, removing the rear light gives you all the access you need to the other side of this for all the pluming.

[ujoint]

Great mods, I love the air line plugs & clean wiring setup! The water fill is pretty darn slick too.

[spencyg]

Not sure how long those chains will last before rusting, but it's all I had handy in the garage. I'll find something better at a later date.

I'm totally stealing this idea for Boomer. I have just recently contemplated bringing a quick disconnect line to the front and rear bumpers of Boomer but was worried about contamination. Great stuff.