Finally found my Van! Ford E150 2002.

[Tomcor]

Craigslist 2002 Ford E150 $2800. 128k miles. Outside great condition. Interior has some broken pieces. I will be removed all rear seating. And taking alot of the conversion parts out.
Engine and tranny no leaks. Making a sound in the driveshaft though. My nephew is a mechanic so he will be helping me.

Looking to build a bedframe and cabinets first. The carpet in back ratty so I thinking of new flooring.
What is a good flooring material not to expensive? Lay down plywood first?

 

[SoulRaven]

I would probably leave the original floor/carpet alone, and just put some nice throw rugs over it that can be taken out and washed. Normally trying to rebuild such things winds up being inferior, and in the case of the floor the road noise usually increases.

The people that do such things for a living usually do a job that would be very hard to duplicate or improve upon.

 

[Theadyn]

Congrats on your new find!! Found a similar one myself and have been very happy with it so far.

 

[Tomcor]

 

[Tomcor]

 

[Tomcor]

Not sure how to post more than one picture at a time.

 

[eDJ_]

Congratulations on your Van project. 

When I started my first Van I needed it for weekend recreation camping or travel,  an occasional extended stay, and to be able to pull the interior out of it so I could haul stuff with it.  It couldn't "just" be a RV.   Still 75% of the time I could leave all the stuff in it and have room to haul small stuff like a LazyBoy Rocking chair or Electric Dryer or boxes of clothing & appliances for family members yard sales.  But if it was helping someone move, then it  was emptied to be a utility vehicle again. I've used both 1/4" Masonite and 3/8" ply wood flooring in my Van's.

When you are new to Vanning...you will make some mistakes starting out.  Everyone does.  So I encourage
all the newcomers to "think" things through as to what the Van needs to be able to do to give you the most
service for the investment.

My signature line below is a link to my website.  I created it to help others to learn how a few simple things
can offer much more than the sum of their parts.

I found that besides the Bed which provided for storage beneath it,  the kitchenette cabinet with cook top
and sinks made up probably the other 90% of the Van's useability. Ice chest, propane heater, lanterns, fans
aux battery/inverter tool box etc made up the rest.  But even in the smallest apartment the bed and kitchen
are the main utilities.  Bathroom's can be found in camp grounds, road side parks, Gas stations and are a
very small percent of one's needs.


Good luck and all the best.

 

[ttpadilla]

Congratulations! That's is a good price, on a good-looking van. I agree with OffGrid about leaving the original flooring. If you're looking for something you can just sweep out, I think they still make that clear plastic "carpet protector" that everyone used in walkways and stairs when I was a kid. It has little nubs on the back so it doesn't slip, and you could put throw rugs over that for warmth in the winter. Just a thought.

 

[ilovemyvan]

Oh Tomcor,

This is so exciting, your very own van. Are you back with us yet or you're still on cloud 9? It looks great. Good luck with the mechanic.

One thing I can tell you is what not to do, use the engineering floor planks. That's what we did, it looks good but it scratches easily and if you drop water and it gets between the planks it swells up. It's a lot of work to remove the carpet but there is a nice thick rubber kind of carpet under the top one -sorry I have no idea how to explain what I want to say, so I would suggest to look at the second link under my signature. I documented our built with photos and captions. You'll see what I mean about the carpet stuff. A picture is worth a 1000 words.

Have fun with your build.

Nicole

 

[Tomcor]

I will start by removing the rear seating. Shampoo carpet and front seats. Has a pet smell I need to get rid of. I will just find another piece of carpet to lay over the old one. It probably needs to be thin to able to fasten under the side entrance plastic step. I am 6 feet tall so bed frame would be built longways. Thinking either a 36" wide to double as a couch or full 48" or larger that folded to also make a couch setup. I am traveling single so looking for the best setup.

 

[SoulRaven]

I found that besides the Bed which provided for storage beneath it,  the kitchenette cabinet with cook top and sinks made up probably the other 90% of the Van's useability. Ice chest, propane heater, lanterns, fans aux battery/inverter tool box etc made up the rest.  But even in the smallest apartment the bed and kitchen are the main utilities.  Bathroom's can be found in camp grounds, road side parks, Gas stations and are a very small percent of one's needs.

I believe that a toilet & shower are must haves too.  Those two items can make a huge difference in just how comfortable your house is under all conditions and circumstances.

Something else that I find handy is to not have my stove or sinks built in, but rather just place them on my counter top when I want to use them so that I can have the empty counter space for other uses too.  Additionally that makes it easy to take things outside to use without duplication.  Duplication can eat up your already limited space very quickly.

 

[SoulRaven]

I will start by removing the rear seating. Shampoo carpet and front seats. Has a pet smell I need to get rid of. I will just find another piece of carpet to lay over the old one. It probably needs to be thin to able to fasten under the side entrance plastic step. I am 6 feet tall so bed frame would be built longways. Thinking either a 36" wide to double as a couch or full 48" or larger that folded to also make a couch setup. I am traveling single so looking for the best setup.

Hollywood bed frames are pretty good choices to make sofa/beds.  If you position one so that the side closest to the wall has the outermost tracks, and add legs to it on the aisle side.  Then the second part of the track fits inside of that and creates the slider part, with the original legs supporting the outside edge and the middle being supported by the newly added legs.

Since the original legs aren't long enough to clear the wheel wells, you can slip metal conduit over them to raise them up, then use crutch tips on the bottom to protect your floor.

I'm using a metal framed futon/sofa for myself, but it might be too short for some people.  I normally just sleep on it in sofa mode if I'm alone.

I'm a big fan of keeping everything portable so that it can be easily rearranged if the need arises.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Craigslist 2002 Ford E150 $2800. 128k miles. Outside great condition. Interior has some broken pieces. I will be removed all rear seating. And taking alot of the conversion parts out.
Engine and tranny no leaks. Making a sound in the driveshaft though. My nephew is a mechanic so he will be helping me.

Looking to build a bedframe and cabinets first. The carpet in back ratty so I thinking of new flooring.
What is a good flooring material not to expensive? Lay down plywood first?

Yeah, lay some 1/2 inch plywood over the carpet (carpet will reduce noise and insulate a bit). Then I would put some linoleum over it. Easy to clean and cheaply bought used off craigslist.

 

[eDJ_]

Offgrid 24/7,

Here in Ohio they want conversion Vans (to RV's) to have these things build in.

Our Ohio form asks for 4 specific things to qualify as a motor home:
1. Facilities for cold storage of food: (specify)
ice box or refrigerator
2. Facilities for cooking of food: (specify)
range top or oven
3. Facilities for consumption of food:
table with seating
4. Facilities for sleeping
bed

Time was you had to take the Van to the State Police Barracks and have it inspected.  They looked
to see if the sinks were built in and the cook top fixed.   Similar for the Bed.  As for the dining table
it could be something set up with folding canvas chairs.  They weren't too picky on that.

Today at the County Court Houses  there is an "affidavit conversion to motor home" form you fill out
and send in.  Honor system.  I'd hate to be caught "stealth camping" and some cop want to Inspect
so he can have grounds to town in the Van and require me to appear in court for not being compliant.

I have a piece of ply wood with formica bonded to the top I can lay over the sinks.  MY folding table top
is positioned in front of the cook top area.   Makes a kind of U shaped kitchen with the ice chest by the front seats.

I have a Thetford chemical toilet but most of the time never use it as I'm stopping at Gas Stations or Truck Stops.  If I'm in a Campground there are bath houses, laundry facilities and so on.  If I rough camp (boondock) I'm only there for a few hours sleep before moving on.

 

[eDJ_]

Offgrid 24/7,

Here in Ohio they want conversion Vans (to RV's) to have these things build in.

Our Ohio form asks for 4 specific things to qualify as a motor home:
1. Facilities for cold storage of food: (specify)
ice box or refrigerator
2. Facilities for cooking of food: (specify)
range top or oven
3. Facilities for consumption of food:
table with seating
4. Facilities for sleeping
bed

Time was you had to take the Van to the State Police Barracks and have it inspected.  They looked
to see if the sinks were built in and the cook top fixed.   Similar for the Bed.  As for the dining table
it could be something set up with folding canvas chairs.  They weren't too picky on that.

Today at the County Court Houses  there is an "affidavit conversion to motor home" form you fill out
and send in.  Honor system.  I'd hate to be caught "stealth camping" and some cop want to Inspect
so he can have grounds to tow in the Van and require me to appear in court for not being compliant.
That could be several hundred dollars easily.

I have a piece of ply wood with formica bonded to the top I can lay over the sinks.  MY folding table top
is positioned in front of the cook top area.   Makes a kind of U shaped kitchen with the ice chest by the front seats.

I have a Thetford chemical toilet but most of the time never use it as I'm stopping at Gas Stations or Truck Stops.  If I'm in a Campground there are bath houses, laundry facilities and so on.  If I rough camp (boondock) I'm only there for a few hours sleep before moving on.

 

[ZoNiE]

Yeah, lay some 1/2 inch plywood over the carpet (carpet will reduce noise and insulate a bit). Then I would put some linoleum over it. Easy to clean and cheaply bought used off craigslist.

Used Linoleum? no way. Yuck. Sheet Vinyl (what i't called now) is so cheap, buy it new.

I'm kind of in the camp of "Take out all the old smelly carpet and padding and either leave it out or put some new stuff in".

I have no carpet in my current and last truck (Both sport trac's) and they don't smell like old trucks with carpets filled with spilled soda and whatever smell like.

Just my opinion.

 

[Tomcor]

So how would I fasten down the 1/2" plywood over the old carpet. Any advice for removing the seatbelt anchors and seat mounts?

 

[Almost There]

You don't need to attach the plywood if you plan the layout - that is, if you're building the bed/cabinets in as opposed to simply installing pre-built components.

Here's a pic of the floor in my van - if you look carefully you can see the seams. (Click on the pic for a larger view).



The seams are where I want them so that when each of the components are built in they can be screwed to the floor and all the floor seams will be underneath the various parts. My kitchen is going to run from behind the drivers' seat back, then the bed is running across the width of the van (I'm short... ). The toilet compartment will be in front of the bed on the passenger side. All the exposed flooring will be seamless.

I used 3/4" plywood rather than 1/2" so that I could ensure a good anchor with the screws going in to the floor boards.

As to removing the seat bolts - I did this with a previous van I owned - the Astro had full seating when I bought it. It ended up taking a body shop with a cutting torch to remove the bolts. Then they patched the holes in the floor. I removed all the carpet though because I don't like living with the possibility of mold etc.

 

[Canine]

Congratulations on your Van project. 

"When you are new to Vanning...you will make some mistakes starting out.  Everyone does.  So I encourage all the newcomers to "think" things through as to what the Van needs to be able to do to give you the most service for the investment.

My signature line below is a link to my website.  I created it to help others to learn how a few simple things can offer much more than the sum of their parts."
:idea:

Excellent primer on how to set up a van! You should get this made as a sticky... Maybe a mod will agree and do it.

Dusty

 

[Tomcor]

Been working on the van slowly. It's been 110 degrees here in Nevada. I redoing the overhead lighting to led bulbs. And working on the conversion van pieces that are broken. I last owner had some destructive kids or something.