IZwack
Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- February 5, 2003
- Messages
- 21,675
- Reaction score
- 49
- City, State
- Germantown, MD
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1998 Ford Explorer
This is going to be my thread for my van's buildup.
Vehicle:
1995 Ford E-350 15-passenger Club Wagon; 7.3L turbo diesel; 2wd
Intro
So this is what the van looked like when I picked it up. It used to be a prison van for the city of Philadelphia. It used to have bars over the windows. Fortunately, the previous owner has already removed the bars. Being a prison van, it has an aluminum diamond tread plate interior floor.
With a rather large dent on the front bumper:
Purpose:
1) Tow rig for my Explorer
2) To haul my friends and I to the slopes during the winter, and to haul my cousins and I to the mountain bike trails during the summer.
The Plan
1) Bumper: Obviously that front bumper needs to be replaced. I've spent some of the past few days building another bumper and, other than a few minor things, I thnk I'm pretty much done with its overall shape and design:
Sorry the colors are so off, I had to really bend the curve in PhotoShop to bring out the bumper
2) Body: The body had a few dents but a bigger concern were the holes that were left from removing the tabs that supported the window bars (they were riveted on to the body). In addition, there were also a few half-inch holes used for bars of some sort. So part of the past few days have also been spent doing some bondo and some other little things like de-badging the van (removed "Power Stroke", "Econoline" and other emblems from the back, and removed the Ford oval at the front). As for the paint scheme, I'm going to go for this:
3) Roof Rack: Not sure exactly what this is going to look like but its purpose is to cary snowboards and other gear. The rack will also have a ladder which will cover the last rear side-window on the passenger side.
4) Windows: The window panels behind the driver are going to be tinted with 5% film. The rear window is going to get tinted with 35% film. The windshield and the two front windows are going to remain as they are (required by law).
5) Door Locks: Since the previous owner did not have keys to the door (only the ignition), I bought a 4-door keyless entry with an alarm system. All of the doors are going to be locked/unlocked electronically with the driver's door being the only door with a key-hole.
6) Hitch: The hitch has already been installed - its a Class-4 hitch rated for 10,000 lbs.
7) Trailer Brake Controller: Nothing much to say about this other than its just sitting there waiting to be installed.
Vehicle:
1995 Ford E-350 15-passenger Club Wagon; 7.3L turbo diesel; 2wd
Intro
So this is what the van looked like when I picked it up. It used to be a prison van for the city of Philadelphia. It used to have bars over the windows. Fortunately, the previous owner has already removed the bars. Being a prison van, it has an aluminum diamond tread plate interior floor.
With a rather large dent on the front bumper:
Purpose:
1) Tow rig for my Explorer
2) To haul my friends and I to the slopes during the winter, and to haul my cousins and I to the mountain bike trails during the summer.
The Plan
1) Bumper: Obviously that front bumper needs to be replaced. I've spent some of the past few days building another bumper and, other than a few minor things, I thnk I'm pretty much done with its overall shape and design:
Sorry the colors are so off, I had to really bend the curve in PhotoShop to bring out the bumper
2) Body: The body had a few dents but a bigger concern were the holes that were left from removing the tabs that supported the window bars (they were riveted on to the body). In addition, there were also a few half-inch holes used for bars of some sort. So part of the past few days have also been spent doing some bondo and some other little things like de-badging the van (removed "Power Stroke", "Econoline" and other emblems from the back, and removed the Ford oval at the front). As for the paint scheme, I'm going to go for this:
3) Roof Rack: Not sure exactly what this is going to look like but its purpose is to cary snowboards and other gear. The rack will also have a ladder which will cover the last rear side-window on the passenger side.
4) Windows: The window panels behind the driver are going to be tinted with 5% film. The rear window is going to get tinted with 35% film. The windshield and the two front windows are going to remain as they are (required by law).
5) Door Locks: Since the previous owner did not have keys to the door (only the ignition), I bought a 4-door keyless entry with an alarm system. All of the doors are going to be locked/unlocked electronically with the driver's door being the only door with a key-hole.
6) Hitch: The hitch has already been installed - its a Class-4 hitch rated for 10,000 lbs.
7) Trailer Brake Controller: Nothing much to say about this other than its just sitting there waiting to be installed.
