From New Members area cont XIBIOUS

[Xibious]

OK so I think Ive posted enough at the newb section so Ill continue here with pics and progress

Just a couple of pics on the cargo van used to look and a few of the new crusier ...

My lil laptop fits so nice. I got the RAM mount somewhere in Iowa near a truck stop, damn I shouldnt have stopped there $$$$$$$
What a toy store ...

The RAM Mount is bolted to the face of the ashtray and can be pulled out to go in which ever van I want it in. A simple bracket was put in the back of the ashtray area to stablize the tray.

Check'n things out under the hood, hhmm what do I do with that, oh and that, thats gotta get changed ...

Man Ive got ADDDDDDD, working on 2 vans at the same time.
This interior I picked up at a bone yard, damn it if it didnt take 3 days to get all the stuff I wanted, all the bolts rusted solid and they wont let you bring in any heavy gear to get the job done fast.

Well the van these seats were going to go in is kinda sorta sold, you know how it is when you sell to friends ...
Oh and I returned these seats for even better ones, BUT the back bed had a motor so I snatched it before dumping the seats in their trash and then brought home the new seats. The new bed has a motor too

Now on to the cargo van, how about a lift ? Ok but first I need a spoiler I found at the junk yard, PERFECT FIT !

This thing was a piece of cake to lift, no overland no welding just new 5 leaf leaf springs and max out the keys, thats it, oh and shocks but that didnt lift anything. Really, no lie ...

[Xibious]

Oh you noticed tires and rims did you

Hurcules Mudders on V-Tech Rims

Old vs new

Now the 03 I havnt done much with, just added solar panels so the cooler stays cool and the battery stays charged.
Here are the vans side by side after the lift on the cargo,

note that all work on this 03 has stopped and the solar panels stripped off. Theyll be put on the cargo van to charge up a new battery bank with up to 8 AGM batteries, havent got all the research done yet for that project.

Now with the tires and lift I decided to find some trouble, and I found some ... Went and picked up friend from the SOUTH side and there was an empty field where he and others parked, and in that field was a log, one waiting for me to drive over BUTTTTT ! I didnt, rear wheels just dug up half the empty lot and threw the dirt all over a couple cars parked on the road.
The AWD light was always on but when put up on the rack it worked just fine, well it seemed to. Things are a little different when under load, the AWD wasnt working, so back to my friends garage to see what was up.
The transfer case has a switch at the bottom and the hole in which it is seated in was worn oblong so the switch cocked and didnt actuate the AWD , BUMMER ... I had just bought clutches and oil thinking it was going to be rebuilt, well I used the oil, anyone need clutch parts ???
Got another TC from a bone yard and installed it, the clutches were all good and the switch was sitting just right, now back to the log ... Went right over it, works like majick.

So next is paint and some work on the new van, oh and names, got to have names ...

[Xibious]

The new Van

It sure looked great on the lot. Originally 8k and they reduced it a grand ... well I had to put it up on a rack to find things wrong with it to get the price down ...
New brakes all around, a couple of calipers ... hhhmm a brand new transmission ? WHOA, Im not going to tell the dealer that. I cant remember all the little things but it didnt add up to much, then all of the sudden the van started spitting and sputtering, we thought it was bad gas but I made a big deal out of it, good thing too. Well I got them down to $5500.
The interior is pretty nice, leather with no rips, the carpet was all stained tho, koolaide everwhere. Oh and no spare tire, someone stole it, cut the cable and grabbed the tire.

Well the little things were taken care of fast but the engine just kept on spit'n. Brought it back several times to my friends shop when he had time for it, it wasnt bad gas.

So while I had some time between one garage and another getting the viper installed and the interior gutted I went and had new springs put in.

This just looks funky ... Got to get new rims and tires, anyone need some Regency Rims ?
New Assassin V Tech rims and Hercules mudders replacing the old tires, which are in great shape, they just dont look right any more.

Took the torsion keys to their max but this 03 is much different than the 2000 cargo, as you can see the front is way down. So I ordered new keys from someone other than overland, $120.
Got them in and left a little play, van drove nice but still low in the front, so I jacked the keys all the way ... whoa horsey, the damn thing rides like a bucking bronco now lol
NOTE, reduce torsion ...

Remember my ADDDDD problem ... Havent gotten to it yet.

Ill post some picks on my paint job on the cargo van, I didnt care for the paint job, everyone says its fine but Im kind of afraid to pressure wash it and watch all the paint peel off.
So I sent the new van to a pro to get painted, and to get a couple other things taken care of.
The tires rub on the inside of the moldings so that needs to be cut and patched, bumper needs to be pushed forwarded a bit, also the middle window on the drivers side is coming out and being blocked out. An access hatch on the passenger side with outlets for AC, 12V, Air and Propane will be installed.

This is going to be my traveling van so I need to make sure I have internet and phones working. On the way back from the last trip I was driving down Rt 6 in Nv, and for about 250 miles there was nothing, just nothing, not even a gas station. So Im putting in antennas and amps for cell and internet service, oh and some extra lighting, its really dark out there

Note the 400 thousand candle GO LIGHTS
Wireless remote up to 100', 360 degree turn and I think 120 degrees up and down.

Like many of us here I dont like to not be able to go where I want to go, so the idea of a luxury traveling van dont cut it unless it can take me where I want to go.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Nice vans! I really love the look of the lifted cargo! The tires fill the wheel well great. What size are they? The Regency is gonna look great when its done.

How much for the Regency wheels?

[Xibious]

Nice vans! I really love the look of the lifted cargo!

Wait for the new paint picks, if you like it now youll love the new look.

The tires fill the wheel well great. What size are they?

Hercules 245/75 R16

The Regency is gonna look great when its done.

How much for the Regency wheels?

Thanks, the wheels Ill set aside for the guy that bought the first 03, he said he wanted them but I dont know
Im really interested in the snowbear plow you have.
How is it attached to the frame? Did you have to reinforce the frame to handle the plow?

Im looking to put together a new diamond plate bumper for the cargo and then the plow to it along with a 12k winch. However 3/8 aluminum diamond plate isnt cheap nor easy to find, then welding aluminum will be a major issue ...

[LiftedAWDAstro]

I bought the mount brackets direct from Snowbear. When I called them last fall, they only had 2 sets available. I bought 1 set. I made the plow mount piece myself as I wanted to reinforce it. Pics are located here about 1/2 way down. If you search on here for Snowbear or snowplow, you'll find a bunch of info.

[Xibious]

Ok here's the story on the paint job

I got a gun from harbor freight, not the best idea Ive had ...

So I covered up most of what needed to be covered and started to paint ...

I got an orange peel affect but I really liked it, Matt Black with the texture, Its really pretty cool

I had nothing but problems setting up the gun, had it working then not, just couldnt get it right so I bought a Devilbiss and got it to work for the last 2 coats, but I still had the orange peel.

I was painting for about 2 weeks. The drivers side I kept screwing up, had major drips, so I kept sanding them out and repainting until I was satisfied, (actually fed up with doing it over and over and over again) .
I put about 5 coats on the whole thing, including the top.

Time for a clear coat, matt finish clear. Now another headach, even with the new gun. I just couldnt get it to spit the paint out like it should, it kept on sputtering. I tried vaious needles and it still just woudlnt come out right so I just went ahead and put about half a gallon of clear matte on it.

Took off the grill and painted it with canned paint for plastic, then added some stobes and so called "fog lights" all LED

The paint didnt come out too bad, if you look closely in the right light you can tell a newb did it.

The thing is, without lights its practically invisible at night lol

Its far from done, I need to add aluminum diamond plate bumpers front and rear, 2" trailer hitch instead of the small one, long story ...
Winch and snow plow and the inside stuff, Ive got just about all I need for Adrian boxes but its going to be custom through out.

I hope you guys enjoy and maybe a couple of my ideas can add to your AWD dreams

[mdmead]

Cool cargo!

And I'm a sucker for conversion vans (as I have one in pieces in my shop)!

[H2OJoe]

Nice job! That's a sweet looking van. Love the stealth look.
Merry Christmas and welcome to the forum.

[Xibious]

You remember where I said it wasnt the gas ?
You know, where I was talking about the high top spitting and sputtering, even shutting down.

Ive read thats a real problem on some vans ... so here's the story ...

So I read all I can on the problem, something very similar happened to a voyager I had in 2011 but I just shot it ...

So we replace the rotor, cap, plugs ( damn, they had the wrong plugs in the thing) NOT the problem tho, still spitt'n. Wires are fine, but we did find something loose that caused a drop in rpms as we're messing around with the wiring, but that wasnt the problem.

Catylitic converter ... well we ruled that out thanks to a long rod ... I wont say any more on that

Ok so my mechanic friend and I are brainstorming and someone says computer, no, noone wants it to be the computer ... take it out look around, put it back in, whoa things working, no spitting ...

Not too fast guys, boom it starts up again, but we have a lead. Im saying its a bad ground, but where, tested all the prongs, so we just attach a chassis ground to the computer case, IT WORKED !
All that work for a faulty ground in the computer and the fix is attaching a 10 ga wire from chassis to the computer case, it runs like a dream ...

Kind of excited for this week, should be making some more progress on both vans.
Ordered black out tail lights for the cargo, lots of LED stuff ordered direct from Hong Kong. Paint should be done on the High Top. Back to the muffler shop for resinators, the cargo is just a little too loud and Id like to see if they can reposition the exhaust tips further back.

Kind of hard to notice the tips .

Also to see what can be done about the high top for exhaust, this is just too loud but I still want duals and higher proformance from the exhaust.

I love seeing people getting up to 17 mph, but Im lucky to get 12 in any of the 3 vans I have. Im looking into a dual phase chip too, I dont care for the prices tho.

Can anyone recommend a proformance chip ?

[Xibious]

Nice job! That's a sweet looking van. Love the stealth look.
Merry Christmas and welcome to the forum.

Thanks Joe, and a Happy Solstice to you and yours .

Me, Im waiting for SNOW ! I WANT SNOW !
Perhaps I better watch what I wish for, I cant afford Matt Trax yet