1997 Utilimaster step van conversion...

[TucsonAZ]

I just figured I would share what I'm doing in hopes it will help/inspire others. The goal for now is to be as stealth as possible, I'm sure that will change but for the time being that's what I'm going with. I'm not going to drag on as pictures tell a better story but if you have questions I would be happy to answer, if you have comments I would love to hear them.

This is how she came, there was over 1,000 pounds of steel racks in the back, they were held in with no less than 45,000 rivets, so much fun to remove!


Racks finally removed.

On a 107 degree day this was the outside surface temp in a dark area, the interior was about 20 degrees over ambient.

After removing the roll up door this was me prepping to enclose the back.

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Chest freezer conversion completed, this drops energy consumption from about 30w/hour to 10w/hour.

Cleaning, prepping, tune up, wiring in a tach.

This is what 1,840 watts of solar panels look like, of which 1,380 are going on the roof of the step van. Trailer was built by me and the corolla pulling it was bought totaled and rebuilt by me as well.

Back getting enclosed. Clearly a mobile parabolic mirror and stealth aren't going to work out so something will have to be done about that.

Got the aluminum rear in place, it was doing using all sealed rivets to help prevent leaks.

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Supports for the back added, I also removed the skins from the roll up door, hammered them flat and added them to the rear to maintain the stealth look. I still need to add the handle but didn't have the time to fab up a spacer for it yet.

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Working on projects like this makes for a lot of clutter, arrrg.

Solar goodies, MidNite Classic 150 and a Cotek 24v pure sine wave inverter.

Home made combiner/breaker box using an Iboco din rail enclosure and CBI QY DC breakers.

 

[Luisafernandes]

Very nice! But I must say, some of that solar would look better on top of my van. : )

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I'm looking for a step van just like this to begin my own conversion process, so I will be following your posts with intense interest.

Question about the inside pictures which show a metal roof:

I'm presuming that that's an internal metal roof? If so, how is it attached to the roof struts? Rivets? Screws? Will you be able to take it down to insulate between the inner and outer roof?

Thanks much.

Regards
John

 

[TucsonAZ]

Question about the inside pictures which show a metal roof:

I'm presuming that that's an internal metal roof? If so, how is it attached to the roof struts? Rivets? Screws? Will you be able to take it down to insulate between the inner and outer roof?

Here's a photo, I removed the internal skin, it was full of dust up there, I didn't know where the wires were and I'm not a fan of fiberglass of which they had about an inch of.

Studs are steel, the top of them are about two inches wide with the top middle being empty space. They're riveted (two) on the edge (side) lips from the top down (before the roof went down) which you can see in the photos. It was attached to the roof (top or outside) skin via double stick tape only, otherwise the roof is one piece and held down on the edges, the tape is just to keep it from making a ruckus while driving but it was well beyond the usable life. I won't have an issue as I'm mounting the solar up their on rails and presume the rails bolted to the beams will keep the roof from making too much noise.

Why style, year, motor are you looking for?

 

[kyonu]

Good gravy! How much did all those panels cost you?! What kind of battery bank are you putting in?

 

[Patrick46]

The studs are steel???

Hmmm...I wouldda thought that they were aluminum.
The double sided tape not only holds the roof skin from banging around while blowing down the road, it also lets the skin expand and contract due to heat from the sun. Plus, it keeps to frame separate from the skin, to help prevent electrolosis from the 2 mixed metals. Oh...and it helps hold the skin without the holes for rivets.

Love the build!! Keep up the good work!!

 

[akrvbob]

Fantastic work! Can't wait to see the rest!
Bob

 

[TucsonAZ]

Good gravy! How much did all those panels cost you?! What kind of battery bank are you putting in?

They're Solarworld panels, I got them locally at $0.69 a watt which is a really good price.

Battery bank will be on the smaller side, 250ah @ 24v or 6,000 watts (four 12v AGMs) but I will be in Seattle for awhile so that'll insure they'll get a good charge for now, I will upgrade later.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Why style, year, motor are you looking for?

I don't care all that much what year it is. I'm looking for an 18 foot cargo area. Non diesel. Automatic Transmission. Must have an all metal roof - not that translucent plastic.

That's all non negotiable.

Air conditioning would be nice. I would also prefer one without a driver's door. Cruise control would also be nice. But I could live without any of that.

Every weekend, I check Ebay, Craig's List, TruckTrader.com and TruckPaper.com

So far, nothing close or semi-close to where I live.

I have found a few dealers down in FL and TX that seem to specialize in these, and I've seen a few models listed down there that are what I want and in my price range. If nothing locally shows up, I will doubtless end going down there and driving one home after I retire in about eight months.

Regards
John

 

[TucsonAZ]

I don't care all that much what year it is. I'm looking for an 18 foot cargo area. Non diesel. Automatic Transmission. Must have an all metal roof - not that translucent plastic.

That's all non negotiable.

Air conditioning would be nice. I would also prefer one without a driver's door. Cruise control would also be nice. But I could live without any of that.

Every weekend, I check Ebay, Craig's List, TruckTrader.com and TruckPaper.com

So far, nothing close or semi-close to where I live.

I have found a few dealers down in FL and TX that seem to specialize in these, and I've seen a few models listed down there that are what I want and in my price range. If nothing locally shows up, I will doubtless end going down there and driving one home after I retire in about eight months.

Regards
John

Sounds pretty much just like what I was looking for, I got this one for $2,780 with 175k on it, there was another to pick from (in Phoenix also) with 215k had a new motor and AC but he wanted more like $5,000 to maybe $4,500 for it (I'm sure he still has it). I was happier with this one so I figured AC and cruise can come later down the road.

Good luck on your hunt, Entenmann's drivers own their routes, many are switching to trucks and trailers so these things may end up becoming a thing of the past. I would suggest calling locally on this to see if you can find one that way, I'm sure somebody is selling one off.