Tank (gmc g3500 extended)

[Gary68]

i find the common jackstand to be sketchy and use 4x6 or 6x6 wood,block it up on the frame and when your done give the van a good shake,if it moves you need to make some changes,i like to toss something under just in case like the spare tire or more wood

 

[unicutie]

Working on the van interior today

This is where i get to live now and work on it! Yup those are horses in that pasture over there! I can barely hear the interstate, it's glorious.

I pulled up the floor carpet and a few of the panels. Gross. At least though, there's already holes punched in the floor so i'm just gonna screw down a thick plywood floor to them.

Screw pile so far

Junk pile so far!

- bren

Sent from my LGMS345 using Tapatalk

 

[unicutie]

A couple more. Here is what the inside of the wall panels looks like. It already has metal rails to screw wall panels or whatever into.

The rear a/c blower! I was wondering what those cup holder looking things are, they're vents turns out :

edit dang this photo is upside down

-bren

Sent from my LGMS345 using Tapatalk

 

[unicutie]

hello again, long time no post : i've been living semi in the van in the driveway for the past couple of months now. I've been slowly working on it and it's basic but liveable! 

Paint cleaned up and roof painted white! I'm pretty amazed actually at how much of a difference the white paint makes. The afternoon in between coats, where there was still a dark green spot in the center of the roof, I ran my hand along the roof beams. Cool along the edge until i got to the bare spot and there it was -HOT-! I used flat white rustoleum and put it on with a roller, it's got kind of a texture which i like actually. it masks all the chipped rusted parts a bit

I tore out all the innards and put down a plywood floor :

I have a twin mattress on the floor, a couple of tubs, and boxes and what not, some nets on the ceiling, propane and camp grill, aux battery, and I got a bunch of blackout curtains that I have just hung up straight on the metal using some neodymium super magnets. It's a bit messy lol. I'm still going through all my crap and getting rid of what I don't need. I will take pics of the inside when it is light out. I will def need a better storage solution! But I don't want to build too much stuff into it.

todo, I need a battery isolator, and a sink (like for water, lol). no one has an isolator in stock so i gotta order one. :

I do have like a month worth of food stocked up though and like 20 gallons of water! Being vegan is convenient when it comes to this. : less to spoil. The problem with canned food is, it's hard to make small enough meals! You can't use half a can or anything like that. I don't have a fridge obviously ; I tried making a small bowl of chili today but i ended up making about double what i needed. shared with the doggie : I'm still munching on it. 

I quit my job last week and sold my car today : I'm heading west soon :

 

[rvpopeye]

Nice looking van.
Wouldn't it be nice if plywood was actually flat when you buy it?
We'll be waiting to see your build out.

 

[AbuelaLoca]

It is of great importance to our country generally, and especially to our navigating and whaling interests, that the Pacific Coast and, indeed, the whole of our territory west of the Rocky Mountains, should speedily be filled up by a hardy and patriotic population. James K. Polk

Enjoy your journey!!

 

[unicutie]

ha yea it being all warped made it more difficult to cut. but it's far from perfect anyway, i used a handheld jigsaw. so whatever

i've never been west of denver, i'm pretty excited  

it's rainy in my part of texas today

roof before after :

all that orange shit was STICKERS! i did sooo much peeling .... a guitar pick worked well to scrape the decals off once my fingernails gave out. X)

we're gonna have to figure out a way to share this bed O.O

 

[caretaker]

U, be sure to clean any rocker panel from the inside you can get to now. a lot of vans rot from the bottom up because the weep holes get plugged up with debree and won't let moisture drain away. at least give it a look now while its easy.

 

[Gary68]

great job on the roof

 

[user 37446]

Hi unicutie, 

You've done great!  A few questions for ya':

1 - how many quarts/gallons of the Rustoleum white did it take, and how many coats?

2 - Did you sand and prime?  Not picking at the job mind you, looks fine, just wondering...

3 - Was that 4 sheets of 3/4" CDX?  Did you decide on going sideways as opposed to lengthwise for any reason?

Thanks for keeping us informed. I'm very interested in what you choose to finish the walls/ceiling with, and how you cover the windows. Lots to read on the sub-forums here, will be good to see what you did.

"Drive on!"

 

[masterplumber]

Great job so far! And your pup doesn't see a need to share - you are more than welcome to the front seats ;=) For food check out Harmony House - all freeze dried, vegan, gluten free etc, and really good stuff, even for a meat eater like me. They have prepared meals and also just the ingredients to make your own meals. And you can make as much as you want without worrying that the rest will spoil. Great solution when you have no refrigeration. And actually pretty inexpensive, I've known some who have switched and their grocery bills actually went down. Once you order they will send you online coupons that will save you even more.

Also, I noticed you're using the 5 gallon round water bottles. You can buy a pump that fits right on those from Wally World or online that will save you lifting them to pour into smaller containers.

 

[unicutie]

Hi unicutie, 

You've done great!  A few questions for ya':

1 - how many quarts/gallons of the Rustoleum white did it take, and how many coats?

2 - Did you sand and prime?  Not picking at the job mind you, looks fine, just wondering...

3 - Was that 4 sheets of 3/4" CDX?  Did you decide on going sideways as opposed to lengthwise for any reason?

Thanks for keeping us informed. I'm very interested in what you choose to finish the walls/ceiling with, and how you cover the windows. Lots to read on the sub-forums here, will be good to see what you did.

"Drive on!"

thanks :
1. I got 2 quarts and used about 1 1/2 of them. I only put on about 2 coats ish, some areas more like 3. I didn't do it very precisely because as you can tell from the before pic, the thing was pretty bad, haha. I have some now to use for touch ups : I thinned the paint with some acetone but it dries super quick (good and bad haha) there's another thing that you can use that's slower. mineral spirits? or mineral oil? something like that. 

2. I sanded it somewhat, as much as I could justify doing by hand, but no I didn't do any of that. Like I didn't get a sander or anything. I tried to sand out as much of the rust as I could on the important areas, and I roughed everything up with sand paper. Since it's white it's hard to photograph but you can still see the chipped areas when you look closely. I figured since I wasn't using gloss paint that it wouldn't matter so much. ; It definitely has a 'diy' look to it. If i keep the van for a while and do a real build out then i'll redo the roof anyway. This was mostly just to get it looking presentable so i can set sail ;P

3. my van is exactly 12' long in the bed so i got 3 sheets of (i think) 11/16 plywood and laid them side to side then traced the floor pattern onto that.

 

[unicutie]

Great job so far! And your pup doesn't see a need to share - you are more than welcome to the front seats ;=) For food check out Harmony House - all freeze dried, vegan, gluten free etc, and really good stuff, even for a meat eater like me. They have prepared meals and also just the ingredients to make your own meals. And you can make as much as you want without worrying that the rest will spoil. Great solution when you have no refrigeration. And actually pretty inexpensive, I've known some who have switched and their grocery bills actually went down. Once you order they will send you online coupons that will save you even more.

Also, I noticed you're using the 5 gallon round water bottles. You can buy a pump that fits right on those from Wally World or online that will save you lifting them to pour into smaller containers.

re harmony house, i heard about that from this forum a few days ago actually  i'm giving serious thought to buying a bucket of beans!  

i've heard of that pump too but I haven't looked for it yet! thanks for the tip on where to find it B-)

 

[eDJ_]

Congratulations on your first Van.  And that's a big one to get started in.    

When I saw the photo of the white roof I had to laugh,  cause that was one of the first things I did with my first one.  Paint it white so it would be much cooler inside.   Normally it got hot as an oven in the afternoons,  but once the roof was painted "fleet white"  (like a refrigerator)  it was way cooler. 

I remember Dad taking me out in it with me behind the wheel and instructing me to pull further out into the  lane I was going to turn into before executing my turn....so I wouldn't drag the side of the Van into a telephone pole or a Stop Sign.  LOL   I had been driving a little economy car up until I got the Van so he figured I needed some  coaching on how to maneuver it in traffic before turning me loose in it on my own.

Dad had put a new set of tires on it for me with raised white letters.  He thought that would make it look classy. But when he realized that I was rubbing the curb trying to learn to parallel park it,  he immediately took us to the Auto Parts store and got one of those Wire Curb Alerts to warn me when I was about to rub the curb.  You can't patch a sidewall of a radial tire if it is damaged.  Better to just buy a new tire.

Since these were radial tires he was concerned with the care of the sidewall of the tire for safety.    So one of these was bolted on to the side just before the right rear wheel. 

But it's a little different driving one of these rigs than it is a car.

As for other safety equipment, if you don't already have one,  those fish eye stick on mirrors that go on your
side view mirrors may be handy.   On the right side mirror in particular.   Since you have side windows it will
be to your advantage for visibility.  But a 3" wide fish eye may help with any blind spot when on the big highways with multiple lanes.

Hope you get your front suspension/steering buttoned up and road ready soon.  So you can be fixin to go on the road.

 

[unicutie]

Congratulations on your first Van.  And that's a big one to get started in.    

When I saw the photo of the white roof I had to laugh,  cause that was one of the first things I did with my first one.  Paint it white so it would be much cooler inside.   Normally it got hot as an oven in the afternoons,  but once the roof was painted "fleet white"  (like a refrigerator)  it was way cooler. 

I remember Dad taking me out in it with me behind the wheel and instructing me to pull further out into the  lane I was going to turn into before executing my turn....so I wouldn't drag the side of the Van into a telephone pole or a Stop Sign.  LOL   I had been driving a little economy car up until I got the Van so he figured I needed some  coaching on how to maneuver it in traffic before turning me loose in it on my own.

Dad had put a new set of tires on it for me with raised white letters.  He thought that would make it look classy. But when he realized that I was rubbing the curb trying to learn to parallel park it,  he immediately took us to the Auto Parts store and got one of those Wire Curb Alerts to warn me when I was about to rub the curb.  You can't patch a sidewall of a radial tire if it is damaged.  Better to just buy a new tire.


Since these were radial tires he was concerned with the care of the sidewall of the tire for safety.    So one of these was bolted on to the side just before the right rear wheel. 

But it's a little different driving one of these rigs than it is a car.

As for other safety equipment, if you don't already have one,  those fish eye stick on mirrors that go on your
side view mirrors may be handy.   On the right side mirror in particular.   Since you have side windows it will
be to your advantage for visibility.  But a 3" wide fish eye may help with any blind spot when on the big highways with multiple lanes.

Hope you get your front suspension/steering buttoned up and road ready soon.  So you can be fixin to go on the road.

yea i had to buy new tires because one of them came with a hole in the side wall already! >.< i drive like a grandma in this thing lol i know people get annoyed by it but i don't care ;

i have some bubble mirrors but yea the right one is too small. i need a for real one on that side!

 

[unicutie]

i ordered the battery isolator online. no one had it in the store. :-/ stinger 200a relay

now I need to track down the right wire ... I am gonna use 4awg if i can find it. I'm going to build a plywood box and put the battery between the front seats, for now it's in a plastic tub.

I need to track down wire, terminals, inline fuse holders and 80amp fuses. I'm gonna try to do that tomorrow while I wait for the package. I have lowes, home depot, a few auto parts stores, car toys, and a couple of farm stores, in my town that might have some of those. oreilly appears to sell "primary wire" by the foot. maybe i will go to tractor supply first :huh: i bet they have stuff like that. i know car toys has the fuses but they sell everything at like double the price so i hope i find it somewhere else first and I don't need fuses that glow purple or whatever 

 

[unicutie]

texas it's hot today. we're "chillin" at the park under this big bois d'arc tree