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Thread: SLM buys a flower shop van

  1. #11
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    Put some wire-rim 20s and hydraulics on it, then slam it

  2. #12
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    I rate Fords, however I can't help but think that's rather small as a camper. The SWB Transit isn't a huge footprint (5m long) however it has a lot more space inside.

    Anyway, good luck, will need some ingenuity to make it work I think !

  3. #13
    Member Member 21Kid's Avatar
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    Cool idea. Keep us posted on the progress

  4. #14
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    Very cool indeed!

    However, since I don't have the time nor the skills, I just decided to spend $19k to buy a brand new travel trailer instead!

    Hope things work out... for both you and me!

  5. #15
    Where are my keys? GB's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JoshInKC View Post
    #vanlife?
    So, YouTube always recommends vids for me from this chick, and I don't know why.

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-2...YoAnSog/videos

    So then I see your post today, and I actually SEARCH "van life" on YouTube.

    Holy shit, YouTube views pay people to do absolutely NOTHING. And I'm killing myself working.

    There are a lot of cute chicks living in vans for some reason, though.

    OK, back to slm's Transit C thread.

  6. #16
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    Little bit of an update. I don't have a huge amount of work done yet. I stripped out what little interior the van had in the cargo area so I can start from total scratch. One big thing though is that I'm well on my way to getting the heater installed. This thing is absolute tits. It's designed to draw gasoline straight out of your vehicle's fuel tank and burn it for heat. They're primarily made in a diesel variant for the trucking industry. Last night I took the very frightening step of drilling holes through the floor to mount it. Fortunately it looks like I got them all in the right places and everything lines up. Next step is to drop down the fuel tank and install a tap into it to provide the fuel for this little guy. It's a ton of work, but the idea of having heat without having to mess around with hauling around propane bottles or dealing with some finicky portable heater was too good to pass up.





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  7. #17
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    Huh, I did not know they still made gasoline heaters like that.
    -Formerly Stabulator

  8. #18
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    They do! Like I said they mainly make a diesel one that's designed for semis to reduce idling. But they also make this gasoline variant of the same heater.

  9. #19
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    Zany!

  10. #20
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    Work is coming along. I decided to do all of the nasty work underneath the van that I didn't really want to do before I got to the fun stuff of actually building the inside. It makes more sense anyway.

    Here is the heat exchanger that will, in theory, give me hot water. The lines that are connected to it are the coolant lines running back here from under the hood. I'll connect pex plumbing lines to the lower fittings. So when I want hot water, I'll circulate hot engine coolant through one side of this, and I'll pump fresh water from my water tank through the other side, and then re-circulate it back into the water tank. I'm going to have temperature probes on both the coolant inlet to this heat exchanger (you can also see it there), and the water tank inside the van.

    There will be a coolant shutoff valve under the hood to control coolant flow through this so I don't heat the water up too hot. (Also going to have a helper pump for the coolant so I can continue scavenging heat from the coolant even if the engine is shut off.) The fresh water holding tank is not really designed for hot water, so I have to keep the temperature reasonable. It will be vented though, so no pressure will build up in it. Since the heat exchanger will have fresh water inside one part of it and it's outside of the van, I can also monitor temp of the heat exchanger for signs that it's about to reach freezing whenever it's not in use, and I'll have the system programmed to keep fresh water and/or coolant circulating through it to prevent the water from freezing inside it.

    You can see the bracket I made to mount the heat exchanger, then the bracket I made to re-locate that bracket when I realized it might be in danger of being hit by the swaybar if the suspension traveled too much.

    Also, shoutout to Gates Green Stripe heater hose for being effin badass heater hose. This stuff is so beefy.



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    Last edited by Sad, little man; December 4th, 2020 at 05:20 PM.

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