[Benjamin Loyle]

Hey guys - I haven't created an official 'build' page', because I'm not really sure what I'm going to build.

However - right now I've got my Wagon down to bare metal from the driver's seat back so I can put in some thinsulate. So I took some quick photos this weekend in the dark as people are always asking to see under the skirt of the wagons. If you need any more photos / requests - I'm not expecting the thinsulate to come until this weekend - so let me know.

https://goo.gl/photos/3WK8ypMz3HYysXR39

The original plan was to gut the rear and make it into a cargo van for the back half with hard wood walls and L-Track all around. With the abundance of air-bag sensors along the rear windows - I don't think I can put the L-track as high as I would want to. To keep those protected and covered I am going to keep the headliner - column trim - and cup holder level trim all in. All that leaves is the flimsy black plastic as a place to put the L-Track. I haven't decided if that will be worth the effort. I may just put in the cargo version d-rings and call it a day for tie down spots.

Anyway - enjoy the photos.

 

[Lincoln Lightning]

Benjamin, are the airbag sensors above the rear windows or do they extend into the pillars? Can you run the L track vertically into the pillars?
Thanks for the photos
Steven

 

[Benjamin Loyle]

Steven - yes and no.

The sensors run along the bottom of the window and wrap up the back wall by the brake lights. So there is nothing on the pillars for the windows. You should be careful with the airbags themselves because they deploy down to the bottom of the windows. So depending on what you had mounted on that L Track you could have some issues in a crash.

Also worth noting that the airbag sensors are only in the back windows. The side window across from the sliding door has no sensors on it and is 'clear'.

 

[Benjamin Loyle]

Benjamin, are the airbag sensors above the rear windows or do they extend into the pillars? Can you run the L track vertically into the pillars?
Thanks for the photos
Steven

Steven - threw a few more photos on there of the pillars if that helps.

 

[Lincoln Lightning]

Benjamin, you are the man. Thanks for the additional photos, that will help alot as I continue my build. Its snowing here in VT so the conversion has slowed to a crawl. Good luck wth your design and I'll keep an eye out for more photos of your build.
Steven

 

[belloinsella]

Hey Benjamin. Did you get your thinsulate installed?


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[Benjamin Loyle]

Yes pretty much. I haven't done the rear doors as I got cold and decided that working on the shore power [space heater] is more important right now.

So I've got all of the thinsulate in the body and sliding door done and all of the trim back up. What a pleasurable sound and temperature difference!

 

[keweenawbee]

Look king good!

 

[belloinsella]

Yes pretty much. I haven't done the rear doors as I got cold and decided that working on the shore power [space heater] is more important right now.

So I've got all of the thinsulate in the body and sliding door done and all of the trim back up. What a pleasurable sound and temperature difference!

Good to hear! I ordered Thinsulate and am pretty intimidated by taking off the headliner and walk panels. But I bought more trim clips...


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[Benjamin Loyle]

As far as 'taking things off' was concerned, The headliner was much easier then the stuff from the cup holders on down.

Step 1 - take off the beige vertical columns that say 'airbag' on them.
Step 2 - take out the overhead lights
Step 3 - Take off the plastic covers over the door latches up top
Step 4 - take out the visible plastic screws. All be the rear most two are super long and are a huge pain. I had success by getting them started and then just lots of rotate / rock / back and forth over and over.
Step 5 - get your trim tool into the orange tabs [normally 2 per headliner hunk] and pop em out. The most fragile thing is the glue holding the tab holder to the headliner carpet. If you break an orange tab - they're 20 cents. If you break the tab holder - you have to get some glue out and hope it holds.

We have faith in you.
If you get stuck - let me know.

 

[EL34xyz]

Hey, good pics
I have a question for you

I have a cargo van, so the walls are bare in the rear
But I see a third fuse on my fuse panel for a rear 12 volt power receptacle, which I don't have
So I am thinking that the wiring is in place in the main rear wire harness
But there is no plug from my harness going to a receptacle.

Do you have a power receptacle in the rear of your van?
If so, where is it?
And what color are the two wires?

I can go look for the wires in the harness and maybe find them
Thanks

 

[Benjamin Loyle]

https://goo.gl/photos/YZ4czDbj2xG5fATD6

This is the best I can do - I'm already buttoned back up - so can't take any more for you.

That is the wall behind the slider door. The very visible orange plug is the 12V receptacle. You can kinda make out the wire colors?

 

[EL34xyz]

https://goo.gl/photos/YZ4czDbj2xG5fATD6

This is the best I can do - I'm already buttoned back up - so can't take any more for you.

That is the wall behind the slider door. The very visible orange plug is the 12V receptacle. You can kinda make out the wire colors?

Ok, thanks
That looks just like the 12v receptacle plugs for the dash power points
So they probably used the exact same wire colors in the rear also

 

[garygnu]

Excellent work documenting the build, and I really like the work you did on your wagon. I've been lurking about here for a few months trying to figure out my set-up, yours and belloinsella's have interested me the most. Just getting started on a 2016 148" HR Wagon myself and wondered if you could answer a few questions for me.

I like the idea of the aluminum extrusion framing for the rear cargo/bed, did you use 1" or 1.5" for the framing in back? if you used 1", how is holding up? Also, I had not thought of the idea of using a flat piece into the van wall above the wheel well to support the structure. I see you used plus nuts to attach that to the van, but did you only attach to the liner or did you actually attach to the metal wall of the the van?

Thanks

 

[Benjamin Loyle]

Happy to help Gary, and glad to see my photos have helped. Belloinsells's got quite a sweet rig - I get jealous of his work a bunch.

The 80/20 framing in the back is working great for me and was a lot of fun to build. I used the 1" stock, but my design is supported well enough internally that it is as sturdy as can be. As long as you don't have any large [say 4'] spans that are unsupported you should be fine for two average weight people. My biggest fear is actually the wood I use to connect the two sides. I wanted it to fold up and tuck into a very specific corner, but that left me with only using 1/2" plywood. I ended up running little reinforcement strips on it [hard to explain], but that is also holding up well to any night time activities.

That single piece I run into the van is what prevents any lateral [from wheel to wheel] motion. It doesn't carry much load downward. I like it though because I did not want the frame to be free standing or have any ability to 'walk' around the van. The plusNuts were easy and highly recommended. I've used them in a bunch of places now and they keep proving to be more and more useful. There is no structural integrity to that liner, go into the metal wall. It's easy to do if you take your time. Don't forget to add a dollop of paint on the exposed metal and to suck up all of the shavings you can after drilling.

 

[garygnu]

Thanks Benjamin, got some 80/20 and Plusnuts on order and going with your idea for anchoring just above the wheel well.