Twinkie Hotel Improvements

[Sabatical]

Will the van have to be tagged with commercial plates due to the weight? Thinking if you weren't going to be subject to roadside inspections that there are cheaper ways to get fuel.

 

[BradKW]

Neat thread, going to finish reading it later!

I must admit I couldn't help but wonder if you got this " automatic tire chain" from the same place I found my board stretcher and sky hook

But since you didn't seem the type to insert random snipe hunts into a n informative mechanical thread, I spent 5 min trying to imagine how that could work, before I cheated and scrolled to the pics. Well, turns out even after careful study of pics, I still had no idea wth I was looking at.

Took a YouTube video before I understood...that's really cool! Does it work as well for braking as it looks to do for powered acceleration?

 

[karl]

Great build thread!
I have "vantisized" about belly tanks and hinging my doors, good to see someone actually doing it.

Lady friend had auto chains "professionally" installed on her Sprinter-they never got them right and they chewed the sidewalls of several tires away and bent the brackets before they gave up. We run them on hiway trucks and school buses with no issues.

If your travels lead through Vermont, I have a parking place and WMO (waste motor oil) fuel if you run other fuels than low sulfur.

 

[highdesertranger]

double super nice job. I know someone who would pay you for a custom tank. highdesertranger

 

[Fabber McGee]

I believe the scale weight of the empty truck when I sold the bread racks to a scrap yard in Houston was about 8500. With the unfinished interior and the contents it now carries, it's probably 10,000. It is registered as a private vehicle and is not for hire so it will not ever need commercial tags and is still a long way from the 26,000 that would require the driver to have a CDL (which I have anyway). 1200 pounds of fuel won't make any difference. Another advantage I thought of is the ballast factor. If I'm in an area with big cross winds, I can fill those tanks and have a little better stability. It's surprisingly very good anyway. Funny thing, the biggest turbulence i get from other trucks on the road comes from round tankers. I can feel them start to buffet me as soon as the trailer comes even with the back of my truck. Big boxy semi's have very little effect, in fact it looks like I push them sideways a little. Many times when they pass me (and everyone does) they start out with about 2 feet between me and the trailer, but by the time they're past me there is 3 to 4 feet, even when there is another truck on their left to be avoided.

Thanks for the parking offer Karl, but probably won't be getting to Vermont any time soon. This vehicle is for cruising the warmer climates visiting friends and relatives when it's too cold in Alaska for most of my outdoor activities. By the end of February I want to be home to race my antique snowmobile (we call them snowmachines) in the "Tired Iron" races. Then it's time for mountain riding on modern hot rod snowmachines for a couple months. In early May the rivers break up and summer arrives with the full tilt boogie playtime and project season that goes with 24 hours of daylight. Anyway, by the time it warms up in Vermont, I'm long gone from the little states. But, thanks again and I would like to see that country someday.

I haven't used the chains yet, but as Karl said, they are common to all the school buses and many of the medium duty trucks around here. I have a buddy in the water delivery business that has them on his trucks. Says they work good for stopping as long as the wheels are turning to keep slinging them under the tire.

20 years ago when I was in the welding business I would have gladly built tanks for anyone. I built a lot of them in custom sizes and shapes for aluminum river boats and pickups. At this point, I have sufficient funding and insufficient time, so working on other peoples projects is not on my list of things to do, sorry.

 

[rvpopeye]

Fabber
You are truly a very talented metal worker.
I bow to your greatness.
Enjoy your new rig and the sleds back home too !

 

[Fabber McGee]

Thanks Popeye, but no greatness to be found around here. Just an aging country boy cobbling together a bunch of junk to save a little money on motels. Plus, I can seldom get comfortable in a bed that's not mine, ha,ha. It just doesn't feel right. I'd much rather be on a cot in a tent or just under a tarp than in a motel bed that gets rented to the public.

My brother was a talented metal worker, a sheet metal man. When I was racing sprint cars (dirt track hot rods, not NASCAR) I watched him build a fan shroud for a stock car guy. Basically it was a square to round transition, but in this case rectangular to round. He walked over to the car, measured the size of the radiator, the diameter of the fan, the distance from the fan to the radiator and how far off center the fan was, both up and down and side to side. Then he walked to the rack and grabbed a sheet of galvanized, carried it to his bench, did a little math and laid out a weird looking bunch of lines. He grabbed a pair of snips, cut away the parts he didn't want, carried it to the brake where he folded  a hem all around and a pair of flanges to attach it to the car, then folded the corners on the edge of his bench.  He spot welded the joint, rolled a bead around the round end for stiffness and all of a sudden there was a square to round transition with about a 4 inch offset horizontally and maybe 3 inches vertically. Total time abut 10 minutes. He could see in his head what it would look like on a flat sheet and just drew the lines. Nothing to it. I can usually dream up the finished project and find a way to get there, but I can't see square to round on a flat sheet in my head the way he could.

 

[rvpopeye]

You're being too modest , he may have had more talent but you sure as hell inherited plenty of it !

 

[Patrick46]

First off...Outstanding work on the build!!

I too am a 'fab guy', and I know good work when I sees it! Love It!!

(I'm also a 'stepvan junkee', so I may be a bit bias!!)


but, you mention Vintage Snow Machines???? (Sleds to us down here in the lower 48)

Oh Baby!!!! Whacha got??

We had 7 sleds in our family, back when the kids were all teenagers. Everybody had their own sled, plus we had a back-up unit, and a parts sled. All were '75 & '76 Yamaha's. I've also owned everything from late 60's Sno-Jets, Cats, Ski-Doos, Polaris', Vikings, John Deeres, and a very rare Skiroule.
My nephew, has 28 Airen's sleds, including a super rare factory kids enclosed tote-trailer, and nearly all of them run!!!

I never got into racing myself, but we went up to the Eagle River Nationals several times. (I was raised in Wisconsin)

Naturally, I had to flame them all too!!






Next you'll be telling me that you fart around with old Harley's too!!!

 

[Fabber McGee]

Yes Patrick,  vintage Harleys too and thanks for the compliments guys. I built a custom 1974 iron head Sportster in 95. Never quite finished it. 17" seat height, custom plate says "KNEEHI". I built everything but the engine and the wheels. The frame, tanks, fenders, suspensions, all mine including the paint. I didn't stitch the moose hide seat, but I shaped the foam.


Oh yeah, I built a leanin' wheel side car for my 2000 Softail, too.



Here's a Tired Iron video I made a couple years ago when I got home from the little states too late to prep mine. 4 laps over a 6 mile course on the river that runs through town. I have about 20 other videos on there too if anyone is interested. User name 3toedtreetoad.


  I race a twin track Raider 440 TT. My current fleet consists of a 69 SkiDoo Olympic 399, the 74 Raider and a half dozen parts machines, a 91 EXT Special 550, 99 Powder Special 600, 2010 Z1 4 stroke turbo and the pride of the fleet, an arm stretchin' son of a gun 2012 M-8 156.

 

[highdesertranger]

love your guy's custom machines. nice looking Blue Healer too. highdesertranger

 

[Fabber McGee]

Hard to believe how much time I've burned up working underneath this truck at 8 to 12 hours every day, except Christmas Eve when I had friends and family over for home made egg noodles and chicken (tradition in this house), then went to bed early and waited for Santa.

But, it now has around 160 gallons of additional fuel capacity, an auxiliary transmission, the rear axle is mechanically freshened, air bag rear suspension helpers, automatic tire chains, large low mud flaps to help keep the road salt off the underside, brackets for a battery bank in the stairwell area for the drivers side door that it doesn't have, a new front seal in the main transmission, rust scaled off the worst parts of the frame (was ugly, but not yet severe) then re-coated with tar, oh yeah and the engine runs.

Now time to let it down off the blocks, take it outside to turn it around then start on the doors. I had a local sheet metal shop fold up some aluminum for a door frame to go around the side door and some pieces for the back door structure.

Way over a month behind my intended departure for warmer climates, but I've accomplished a lot of the things I wanted to improve. Hopefully in the future there will be very little mechanical work to be done on this truck.

Next year before my annual winter sun and fun adventures, maybe I can start on the housing part of the project. It currently has a temporary wall 8 feet back from the engine cover with storage shelves behind that. Inside is a twin mattress in a fitted box that I tip up against the back wall and lash with a ratchet strap, a small temporary counter with shelves underneath for long flat under bed style totes, a recliner and a 5000 watt inverter to run the dorm size fridge and the convection/microwave/broiler combo. I'm comfortable in there for now. 

Hopefully I'll be on the road before the end of this week.

 

[rvpopeye]

Sweeeeeeeeeeet , lots of work but sure sounds like it was worth it.
Bet you'll have a big smile when you drive it !!

 

[Fabber McGee]

First picture is the cross member that goes under the transmission, to which I added mud flap brackets and supports for my battery bank to go under the drivers seat where the stair well would be if it had a door on the left side. The factory left me a very nice aluminum box there which will be an excellent location for the batteries.


I also built a pedestal for the passenger seat. This is in kit form and can be installed sometime when I'm in a warm climate and looking for a project. I did the work that requires my shop and tools. The rest can happen later.


Rear view of the automatic tire chains.


...and looking at the front side. This should clear up a bunch of questions about them.


The front mud flaps installed and the battery bank support brackets upper left. Hard to see, but you are looking right into the big compartment where the batteries will live. The shiny black is tar that I brushed on over the welds and any other place with no paint. After the picture, I slid the original aluminum bottom panel back into place and attached it with a few screws. Before I leave I need to remember to fold up a stainless steel pan to go under the batteries. When I make the install, I'll need to cut an access panel out of the side of the truck. I will probably fasten it back on with Dzus buttons. They're fast and quite solid.

 

[Fabber McGee]

Finally got it out this afternoon and spent a few minutes sweeping the shop floor. About 5:00 and running out of daylight. We currently have around 3 hrs. 45 minutes of possible sunlight with a couple hours of twilight on each end. Hot out this week, almost +30 degrees today.



Then turned it around and ran it back in to start on the side door project. When I left a little after midnight I had a pretty good start on a door frame.

 

[karl]

Very interested in your door project- something I have dreamed of, but never pursued.

 

[highdesertranger]

very nice I am jealous, can I use your shop to build my trailer? lol just kidding. nice work. I love looking at your updates. highdesertranger

 

[flying kurbmaster]

this is amazing stuff your are doing what great skills to have.

 

[Fabber McGee]

Some spray foam insulation and a bead or 2 of caulking and it was time to install the frame. I welded the corners and moved on to hinges.

Before snowfall I rounded up a door hinge from a mid 70's Mack dumpster truck at the old truck bone yard with this job specifically in mind. My door is taller than the Mack, so I cut the hinge in two and moved the pieces as far apart as I could for better support.

I had to remove the hinge pins and turn the offset halves end for end to get the offset in the right direction for this application. I bolted them to the door frame then set the door in place and marked the hinge locations. Then some careful drilling and bolting and I left the shop tonight with the door suspended from the side of the truck on hinges. This time tomorrow I hope to be done with that darned door.

 

[karl]

Sweet!
Looking fwd to your latching system