My Old Van: 1987 Econoline E-150, or "Scope creep is my friend"

It's a bit cold here, so I was having a problem with productivity.  I decided waiting for warm weather sucks, bundling up a lot sucks, and heaters are too expensive, so I made this:

It's very much incomplete, but i'll finish it off eventually.  Basically, I took a heating element for a 1970's frigidaire dryer, a dryer cable, safety thermostat and fuse from a modern whirlpool dryer, a shop fan, some aluminum dryer ducting, foil tape, and duct tape, and made me a heater.  It's dangerous, don't try it at home, and it is literally a death trap, but i'm not cold anymore.  last night it was 5 degrees F outside, and 72 F inside the garage.

there is so much airflow the element never gets as hot as it does in a dryer

The one thermal fuse is even located in a factory location! it's practically safe! (not really, since all the wiring is exposed and the other thermostat isn't even mounted yet)

There is so much airflow, in fact, that I can do this when i'm feeling particularly rekless:

It also keeps my coffee warm

Anyways, a friend of mine sent me something to use as an anvil when i start forging stuff.  Until then, i found it handy for straightening out that fender patch:

a little more work with that and the shrinker/stretcher and it fits pretty good now:

I didnt' weld it on yet.  Believe it or not, my wife wants to weld stuff now so i'm waiting until "date night".  

So i started wire wheeling to look around for the next part to patch.  Remember that chamber that held all the compost?

turns out that is only on the drivers side.  Underneath, it looks like there is a little bump out to collect stuff that is supposed to go through that plastic flap:

If i make a removable cleanout door, i'll have to figure out the best approach.  I wanted it the size of the bottom of that chamber, but looks like it might have to be weird shaped.  I could do a smaller one, but i want to be able to get my hand and maybe a tool in there if needed.  Who knows.  The rust hole top left in that photo is along the seam where i want to separate the front from the body, as discussed before.  I might get it set up to separate the halves and when i separate them i'll do the rust patch there.  That means the hole in the floor (bottom of that photo) is the next RUST that i need to patch.

Also did some wire wheeling inside the engine bay on the other side of that compost chamber:

not terrible but it looks like the rust was following along the seam there, might have to address that.

Along the outside of there i see some hints of maybe rust, but nothing major:

To get a game plan going for patching the floor hole, i wanted to get a look at the whole panel.  That means inside the van, too. so this happened:

looks like floor rot running down the left side (under the hole), and a spot of rot under that tape in the middle of the floor

that's potentially worrisome.  I couldn't pound through it, though, so there's that.  More to come.  I also designed a welding cart.  I gotta get more steel today so my wife and I can start working on that tonight, along with that fender patch.  She's extra excited because this time we won't be bundled up in 3 layers just to stay warm.

so remember how i said i couldn't pound through that pile of rust?  I should've said "...with a screw driver."  Pick hammer on the other hand...

that bolt is a body mounting bolt.  Other things I noticed, there are a few small spots that might be an issue when the paint starts coming out.  It doesn't show up here, but there are a few points of light i can see through (there's a light under the van)

Also is it just me or is the engine a little.... wet looking?

The bigger question is which fluid is that?  I've found ATF dripping out the bottom, oil dripping out the drain plug, and a few other things oiled up, but i don't know where the coolant has been disappearing to over the last 5 years.  it's going somewhere.  I'll keep my eye out for a dripping frost plug or something.  Anyways, back to the rust....

I recruited some help to assist with wire wheeling. 

Not many good pics of this, i was helping hold wires out of the way and such.  I bravely let her use the resp-o-rator and face shield while i squinted and held my breath.

Trying to peel back the carpet turned into a man-vs.-screw situation.  There are screws that hold down this trim piece, which holds down the edge of the carpet.  I've had this off LONG ago when running wires to the heated seat, but this time the screws won't budge.  I got them all off (or broken) except for one.  This one:

I even used one of those bits designed to drill a small hole in the top of the screw, then a reverse thread thing is supposed to screw into that hole, jam up, and unscrew the screw.  Well, that worked about twice, then this happened:

It bit in, the screw budged 1/8 of a turn, then the bit snapped off in the screw.  Berk.

Anyways, cutting disk made the slot, then i unscrewed it with a screwdriver and PB blaster.  Normally i woulnd't care and i'd just drill it out, but i want to keep this trim looking somewhat nice, and a big gouge or bend in it would bug me every time i climbed in.  Little did I know, my wife would remove the trim, which is still attached to a small part of trim at the rear, by breaking it off...  No, dear, that's fine...

The trim came off, a bunch of carpet came off, wire wheeled some more and it looks like more cutting and welding is in my future.  Also removing the driver's seat which is all wired in and such because it's a powered seat.  that'll be fun.  This is where I stopped, it got late, I have work tomorrow.

The hole in the floor looks a bit odd, like multiple sheets lay on top of each other there, on top of a frame.  The body frame is where the bolt attaches the body to the frame rail.  The body frame part looks totally fine, but the floor above it is nasty and in multiple layers.  Time for grinders and a cup of tea to help me plan.  It's how the Bad Obsession people do it, might as well give it a try.

And despite it being frigid and snowing outside, i started sweating.  I think i need a thermostat for this heater i made

Rufledt said:

I didnt' weld it on yet.  Believe it or not, my wife wants to weld stuff now so i'm waiting until "date night".  

All SWMBO wants to do is watch cat/dog/horse videos online.

I've seriously considered repurposing a dryer as a heater before. Somehow, in my brain, that was too much work. My brain might be defective. 

In reply to Crackers :

Yeah, because combining a Lexus and a rambler, that’s so much easier 

the main issue was making the duct to adapt the weird fan outlet to the element tube.  It wasn’t hard.  I want to make a little frame for it to keep it a bit more stable, currently using a mix of foil tape and duct tape for structure... it blows so much air it circulates evenly, so the whole room and everything in it heats slowly.  No condensation anywhere.  It does take all day to go from 30 to 70 though, but it only drops from 75 to 55 over night.  I turn it off when asleep or not at home.  Also I leave it off during the week.

Any idea how much power it's using? 

No idea about the fan but the element is about 5000 Watts, 240v 21 amps.  Some elements draw less, some whirlpools draw slightly more.

In reply to Crackers :

No kidding... it's because of my past SWMBO that I sold my '90 conversion van. 

I desperately want another 70 Dodge 1 ton van. She's not so keen on that idea.  

Crackers said:

I desperately want another 70 Dodge 1 ton van. She's not so keen on that idea.  

I agree, you need a 1970 dodge van.  There’s a guy around here who drives an old dodge panel van from that era in the summer.  It’s awrsome.

I saw one on the side of the road a few days ago and it renewed my obsession for having one. 

It literally took everything I had to not go back and leave a note on it. I've gotten a good deal on a couple cars that way. LOL

An old customer sold me an RV conversion 1 ton for $100. Stripped all the RV stuff (except for the bed in the bubble) and used it for hauling to gigs with my band. 

Best part had to be the pivoting captains chairs.

2 years and all I ever had to do to it was change the oil. Still kills me I sold it when I moved. 

I spy a Jacobs ignition on that 5.0, those are not cheap and work very well.  

That was done back in the towing days, in an attempt to get some more power.  It worked I guess.  It’s not fast but I’m told before all the stuff was done to the engine it would have trouble maintaining 75 mph.  

removed the seat/trim, pulled back the rug, and uncovered some terrible carpet glue all over everything.

also removed the rubber step.  Probably should've left that there to set tools and stuff on...

Tried goof off and acetone to get the nasty glue off.  Don't know if I really need to remove all of this, i do plan on carpeting this again when i'm done.  Then again, i found some poor paint adhesion and rust under some of it.  Don't know how well it shows up, but here you can see paint that peeled right off around some of the screw holes:

Back to looking at the patch from the bottom:

Looks like the floor is welded to a flange.  What's clear from poking around is that the flange there is actually gone.  Completely gone.  There is seam sealer with paint and some rust stuck to it, but the structural part of that flange is gone.  So, do i fix the flange, then fix the bottom and spot welded like factory, or do i just cut out all the rot and weld in 1 solid new piece?  I'm thinking the latter.  Cut out all rot, replace with a single piece eliminating the lap joint entirely.    Thoughts?

Also, any tips on stuff to remove that carpet glue?  Acetone, rags and elbow grease works, but i don't wnat to inhale acetone fumes for hours if there is an easier alternative.

I couldn't help but notice that we got this far in the thread without exclaiming how berkeleying dope those wheels on the van are.  I love this thing.

Crackers said:

 

Is that the new Eastwood stripper? How do you like it? 

I really like it.  A lot.

ate through the carpet glue, paint, primer, and some surface rust really quickly.  If i had any gripes, it's that the tool is pretty big and heavy so extending arms into a van holding it gets a little tiring, but i'll get used to it.  Also, the nature of the tool means it can't get into tight spaces.  The stripping drum iwas using (the black one) works great but does not conform to concave details, like spot welds that sink down.  You have to hold it at an angle and hit the spot weld with an edge.  That said, it gets flat and convex surfaces stripped to nothing in seconds.  The marketing is right, the panel does not get too hot to touch either.  Just keep the thing moving and don't sit and pump heat into one spot.  

Oh yeah, it's loud as berk. wear ear protection.  The thing is awesome in every way.  I'd rather put up with a heavy, loud tool that works than a lighter, quieter one that doesn't have this much power.

Nice. Trying really hard to cut back on my tool spending, and this isn't helping. LOL

If you’re on the fence about price, I’d say the tool is easily worth the price.  The drums, however, are veeeeery expensive.  One stripping drum does a lot of work, and it’s priced accordingly... some of them are very pricey.  

I'm pretty sure my next toy is going to be a TIG welder. 

A stripping tool is pretty low on the list. I've already got a sandblaster I've never even used, so it's not like it's I have a huge need for one. 

Love the death trap heater, it's sweet! Also jealous of your metal shaping skills, I need to learn that.

I'm only on the first few posts so far.  I've gotta say, cars like this '87 have come full circle.  By that I mean they've gone from sought after (when new), to meh, to 'OMG I wouldn't be caught dead in that', all the way back to lookin pretty sexy again.  I'm really digging this one.  I think you should shoot it black and go with a 10 year newer version of the famed DeniMachine.  You're probably too young to even know what I'm talking about.  I'm pushing 50 and am almost too young too.

Edit:. Upon Googling I see the Denimachine was red, white, and blue.  I remember it as being black.  Told you I was old.  

Edit II:  betcha these will back-date with the early grille fairly easily.  Provided you can find the grille.

Sooooo remember how I said my wife and I were going to do the patch on "date night"?  Yeah, turns out that didn't happen.....

We started making a welding cart instead:

Work in progress.  Then we'll get back to the van, I promise.

Finished the welding cart: 

Started welding that fender patch on today.  Earlier i think NOHOME mentioned something about wire size, and how he doesn't buy the thinner wire thing.  I now agree.  Doing the patch i was having all manner of trouble with irregular spots.  Sometimes the wire would just go POOF and burn back to the tip, other times it would be fine, other times it would burn through instantly.  No idea why.  Switched to 030 wire, made adjustments according the the chart on the welder, and just about solved 100% of the issues i was having.  photos to come.

akylekoz said:

I spy a Jacobs ignition on that 5.0, those are not cheap and work very well.  

I was wondering about that....if it is a Jacob’s coil.  I had one on my MKII Supra over 20 years ago.  I think it’s actually still somewhere in my parents basement because I pulled it and a few other items before selling the car.

Two questions. 

3 legs? 

Cardboard welding helmet? 

I must have missed the wire discussion, but I never put much stock in the whole "specific size wire size for specific material thickness" thing myself.

I used to run an old Millermatic 250 and never used anything other than 0.023" wire welding material from 22ga up to 5/8". Just crank up the feed. 

The welding on my wagon has all been 0.030-0.035" flux core wire. (I bought a cheap lot a while ago.) 

In reply to Crackers :

The answer to your questions are found in these videos:

but basically the 3 legs is because i saw This Old Tony do that.  I figure (as he did) it would allow easier access to a welder under there and not get in the way of cables and stuff.  Also it's a test of the welds (i stand on it at one point).  It looks kinda goofy, but i like goofy.  The cardboard welding helmet is something I made as a joke that kinda ended up working really well.  It's the backup one.  my wife and I did the welding (she did most of the welding) and whoever held the gun was wearing the normal auto darkening mask.  The 'observer' wore the cardboard one with the welding glass taped inside.  Also they kept their distance!

I don't know why the thinner wire was so problematic.  I adjusted settings accordingly, but it seemed like it caused all kinds of problems.  It's decent hobart wire, while the 030 is china wire.  Weird.  The 030 seemed to work fine, so i just used that.  

No pics yet but the fender is welded up.  I had some camera error messages and what not, but i'm pretty sure I got the photos i need.  It looks like it did before only without the rust.