eVANgelion Unit-01, construction and the birth of something new.

[Michael T.]

This thread is dedicated to the construction pictures and ramblings of a young physicist as he builds a literal vehicle to financial freedom. EVAN-01 is a 1998 dodge ram 3500 extended cargo van, equipped with a 360 C.I. engine (nicknamed S-2 engine) 4 speed overdrive transmission and 4.11 geared rear wheel drive.

I began this journey just about a year ago, in the interest of taking my life into my own hands, and to have an additional edge over my peers on the field of financial battle. I desired to have minimum living expenses and maximum flexibility in the interest of becoming financially free by the age of 30. Once I have achieved this goal, my scenario includes venturing on the quest for immortality, providing healthcare and financial support for my wonderful parents, and sluffing the mortal coil or finding and developing methods for overcoming death and disease. 

In the extreme long term, if things play out within tolerances, space travel and exploration are certainly big options on the horizon.


This whole process would likely have been much much more difficult without my father and his wide array of experience and skill. I appreciate him more dearly than he knows. My mother has tolerated my idiosyncrasies and my interest in effectively becoming a "homeless vagrant"  and to her I also owe much knowledge, time and money, likely more than can reasonably be repaid in a human lifetime. 

Pictures are inbound, raising AT-fields, prepare for chronological impact!
Opening blast shields, Acquire target! 

Feel free to add your own thoughts and opinions throughout, I would like to integrate into this community, personally at some point, but only digitally for now. Perhaps I will meet you all at the RTR next year.

 

[Gideon33w]

Looking forward to this thread

 

[AbuelaLoca]

Awesome! Bring on the pics!!

 

[Putts]

 

[VanKitten]

Cool...pass the popcorn!

 

[Michael T.]

Sorry for the long delay everyone, My photo album is proving to be a bit finicky. I have taken all 4k photos, So i am having to down scale them to fit on this forum. I think I am just going to link to an external site to show these pics, that way things are little faster and smoother.

Thanks for the enthusiasm.

 

[caretaker]

do you mean 4000?

 

[Michael T.]

I have been busy lately. I made a movie instead of trying to squeeze 4k photos into 2mb file limits or setting up shoddy hosting...


Forgive me for my negligence. Enjoy.

I may post regular updates to the channel about stuff that happens or just whenever I want to talk about something for whatever reason. I tend to ramble about all kinds of bizarre things. So be warned.

 

[Gary68]

overall not a bad job for a first timer,if you would of been a jerk off in school like me you would of ended up in wood shop and those seems would be tight but nooo had to go for physics,teach you

 

[Michael T.]

overall not a bad job for a first timer,if you would of been a jerk off in school like me you would of ended up in wood shop and those seems would be tight but nooo had to go for physics,teach you

Lol my dad was an automechanics and woodshop guy. I love him to death. 

There is always this disconnect between what engineers and scientists can design and what it is actually feasible to fabricate...the technicians and machinists probably know this fact most personally. 

I often wish my skills were better, but I make do with what I have

 

[tx2sturgis]

overall not a bad job for a first timer,if you would of been a jerk off in school like me you would of ended up in wood shop and those seems would be tight but nooo had to go for physics,teach you

lol...

Wait, I remember wood shop in 7th grade...oh ...I guess I was a 'jerk off' in school too!

 

[Gideon33w]

You gotta split up the different portions of the vid.
Audience retention on Youtube drops sharply after the first 5 minutes.
If you plan to continue the vlogging at all anyways.

Ditch the little AC fan for a 12V RoadPro.
No use inverting DC to AC for something so small.

Plans for ventilation? DO NOT underestimate its importance in a van.

Those hammock eyelets mounted in the van need a nut on the other side of the sheetmetal. They will pull out in the middle of the night one day otherwise ... Ask me how I know ...

Adding a top and bottom vent to that electronics cabinet door will go a long way towards keeping the inverter and charge controller cool.

All and all it is a great start. A little paint will go a long way towards making it feel more homey. I suggest low VOC paint so that you aren't staying in a box that is slowly outgassing toxic substances over the next 6mo.

 

[Gary68]

the maths never match the real world,math is a figment of human imagination and thus fallible,the real world is in a constant state of flux

be water my friend-Bruce Lee

nice build though as you use it and mod it to your liking it will only get better

 

[Ballenxj]

You gotta split up the different portions of the vid.
Audience retention on Youtube drops sharply after the first 5 minutes.
If you plan to continue the vlogging at all anyways.

Since a lot of folk here have limited bandwidth, I recommend condensing it into the span of two to three minutes. People here will be a lot happier.

 

[Michael T.]

You gotta split up the different portions of the vid.
Audience retention on Youtube drops sharply after the first 5 minutes.
If you plan to continue the vlogging at all anyways.

Ditch the little AC fan for a 12V RoadPro.
No use inverting DC to AC for something so small.

Plans for ventilation? DO NOT underestimate its importance in a van.

Those hammock eyelets mounted in the van need a nut on the other side of the sheetmetal. They will pull out in the middle of the night one day otherwise ... Ask me how I know ...

Adding a top and bottom vent to that electronics cabinet door will go a long way towards keeping the inverter and charge controller cool.

All and all it is a great start. A little paint will go a long way towards making it feel more homey. I suggest low VOC paint so that you aren't staying in a box that is slowly outgassing toxic substances over the next 6mo.

Thanks for the tips, I am not in my natural state when vlogging, it still feels weird since I am so used to being anonymous or psudononymous online. I am a big supporter of FOSS and decentralization of major services, so I will probably move over to LBRY as soon as possible...and I will take your advice lol, although I am really just doing this to record my journey, its more for me than for the audience. Though its fun to have other peoples thoughts.

I plan to have a zero breeze if/when it becomes available again. That should solve the ventilation issue as it exhausts some interior air to the outside and pulls air in through any gaps and cracks in the van interior. It dehumidifies and cools, so it should handle my needs in the summer.

 I have considered the 12 volt systems, and find it difficult to justify building the second circuit for the marginal power savings on small items. I will probably ditch the little Hawaiian breeze fan for a battery operated fan eventually. I just happened to have that fan, so I used what was free to me.

I cannot reach to the other side of the sheet metal to apply a nut, but I am hoping my JB weld on the threads of the screw will do the job just as well...

Thanks for the compliment. I am looking forward to the new adventure. It has been said somewhere that small advantages over long periods of time make for success. I figure a cheap place to live anywhere is a pretty big advantage. Give it some time and we shall see how my scenario plays out.

 

[Michael T.]

the maths never match the real world,math is a figment of human imagination and thus fallible,the real world is in a constant state of flux

be water my friend-Bruce Lee

nice build though as you use it and mod it to your liking it will only get better

I am not using grade school arithmetic, I am building a worst case scenario using statistical probabilities for someone my age, education and approximate social standing and intelligence. I can defy the odds with enough persistence, but only so much in a limited time span. The way I figure, it will take me little time to generate a income stream that exceeds my expenses in the van, after that, its just a matter of accelerating to build interest earnings. I have more detailed paths, but I  won't elaborate to bore anyone around here. I have made a multitude of options for myself and have some prior experience as a small business owner. So If I cannot make more working for someone else having them handle the annoying bits, I'll just bite the bullet and do it myself.  Always have at least 10 different options considered and mapped in the most up to date fashion possible, and don't be afraid to mix and match to achieve desired outcomes. Things change and sometimes fast, so you have to have a wide margin for error and a high flux tolerance.

 

[Gideon33w]

The ZeroBreeze is a recirc only. No fresh air draw. Also, early reviews (from the few backers who have actually gotten theirs) are not terribly promising. That said, it's obviously something I'm interested in as well.

I use an abridged 12v system which is essentially just 4 outlets about a foot from my inverter. The central location means that I have 12v wherever I could need it and most of the 12v items have long cords. The 10-15% power savings isn't huge but measurable. Also, less wear and tear on your inverter since theirs times you simply don't need to be running anything AC besides items like lights and fans which you can run on DC.

For the hammock, I'd seriously consider running double eyelets in that case. Few inches of spacing. Sheet metal just doesn't retain well with repeat load distributed over such a small area. When it fails it will do so suddenly and ruin your night.

It certainly can be a viable solution when trying to maximize economics. Looks like you have things fairly well planned out but I would caution that there is a huge difference between planning and reality. 2x for the inexperienced. Remember the 10% rule and that will go a long way. Always add 10% to a given budget and always retain 10% of the value of your property in savings.