My van plan

[eDJ_]

Thoughts ^^^

It seems the Promaster is prone to water leakage in the cowling over the engine/transmission. Likewise some of the Transits.

Debris collects in the drainage system and as you would guess, it leaks on the most important components of the engine/transmission/battery etc. These have to be kept clean of leaves, road dust that will accumulate and once wet become mud, and even deterioration of plastic parts from engine heat & time. This is when rain water can enter the vents to the transmission, air intake of the engine,
and even enter the passenger compartment. Likewise A/C drainage or blockage has in some cases caused some issues.

It's my understanding that the transmission oil cooler is independent of the engine's radiator. So the transmission oil is cooled in it's own separate air exchange radiator. (thus water may not be getting into the transmission thru that component)

The early Pentastar engines were the ones with problems that would be expensive to fix.

 

[Dirtrider]

I have a 2022 Promaster 2500HT 159wb that I built out. My #1 must have in it was to store my MTB inside with only taking the front wheel off. It's on a 5ft slide out tray that hold 500 lbs which I also store stuff on.
The whole design started there...
Above about 1/2 of the van I have a 6" full size mattress and I sleep sideways with my 5'9" height. Perfectly fine and not touching the sides at all. Taller folks can sleep a bit of an angle if needed. The only issue for some is the height of getting into bed but I built out slide out storage steps which work great.
Like I said, for me... the bike had to go inside. That back area has all the electrical for solar/ invertor/ battrries/ and 25 gal water tank too. No space is wasted which you be thinking about too.

I suggest you figure out what your "must haves" are and design it as needed.

Have fun with it !!

 

[rruff]

On the subject of the Promaster rear axle and clearance for off road travel, there are mods beginning to show up for that. But it can only provide so much as the axle would bang against the floor if raised much higher. (as you can see in the photo

I think I'd extend it over to the spring perches as well... gives more ground clearance, plus a lift. The Transit has rear shock mounts that hang down too far, but that is an easier thing to fix. Transit also can be bought with AWD which might be helpful, but it lacks a low range which I think is a more important thing to have. If I had to buy one of these, I think I'd opt for the Transit 2wd with the non-turbo engine, swap the rear diff ratio for the lowest I could get, and install a locker at the same time. Then tires and suspension.

For budget, I'm shooting for $25 K but could go up. I'm thinking $15-20 K for the van, depending on miles.

You may want to look at GM vans, too. Making and installing a high roof wouldn't be hard if you are handy. Paying someone will cost $5k I think, though. Based on my research I'd say the Transit and Promaster are both in the same ballpark for middling reliability.

For that matter, I don't believe that being able to stand inside is a big deal; you can set it up so you can do everything seated, and if you want to stand, you can go outside! That's the great thing about vagabonding in the west, it isn't hard to be in dry pleasant weather all year.

A buddy recently bought a used Transit low roof, non-turbo, 100k miles, for $20k. Cheap vans are hard to find...

 

[rruff]

I have a 2022 Promaster 2500HT 159wb that I built out. My #1 must have in it was to store my MTB inside with only taking the front wheel off.

Mine is in what used to be the rear seat area of the truck... along with 6 big storage crates of stuff, plus drinking water and tools, etc. Externally accessible storage is a great thing to have! The only door of the camper part is a big rear hatch where I can access a lot as well.

 

[eDJ_]

My first rig was an early Ford E-100 Econoline Van. Hightop's weren't really a thing then like they are today. I was just our of College and a young guy back then.

In my own experience.......I had installed foam backed indoor-outdoor nylon carpet and I found myself moving around the interior on my knees. If I didn't I had back pain from being bent over all of the time. Banging my head against the
roof ceiling wasn't any fun either.

I say.....to each their own. I like the hightop I have now.

 

[LargeMarge]

Insulation:
Against the wall and ceiling, we mounted:
.. adhesive-back acoustic, a gap, then
.. one-inch pinkboard, another air-gap, then
.. two-inch foil-side poly.
.
The floor has one-inch pinkboard, then half-inch marine plywood painted on all sides to seal.
Our visual flooring is a bamboo perimeter with slate in the center.
Over two decades full-time live-aboard, that pink-board shows zero crumbling or degradation.
.
Our windows are 3010 (three feet wide by a foot tall) dual-pane sliders designed for a stand-still house.
We mounted these at our eye-level standing inside, about eight feet above pavement.
.
Windows near the ceiling reduces ceiling shadows and mimics natural sunlight.
"But but but LM!, small windows turns the interior into a cave!"
We do not live in our rig.
We live out of it.
.
We use a Wave 3 catalytic heater.
With our excessively obsessive insulation, we rarely run the heater above 40°f/4°c.
.
We always open two windows on opposite walls.
How does that look?
Maybe a quarter-inch on the lee, maybe a half-inch to windward.
Escaping warm air carries odors and humidity.
.
.
Our introduction with plenty of portraits, plus our reasons for our decisions:
https://vanlivingforum.com/threads/expeditionvehicle-build.44908/#post-576110