[Checkswrecks]

I've gathered so much from others on the forum that this is to share whatever I learn when I get to whatever I get to.

I'm starting out with a 2016 T150 148MR that is from an RV/used car place that got it from a Budget Rentacar bankruptcy auction with 60,000 miles. It's in quite good shape and one of the things that drew me to it was the proof that it had service every 3,000 miles. On the cargo wall behind the driver seat was a field of stickers, with one for each service. Also came with a new set of tires and the Ford cargo liner interior. Pretty basic T150 otherwise:

Anybody need a WeatherGuard wall in good shape? Removing it was wonderful, as it gave me over 2" of seat travel and is one less thing to rattle.

Put in a ScanTool2 and found I had to replace 3 ignition coils to clear recurring fault codes (P0300, P0303, P0304) but those may've been caused by the dealer cleaning the engine. The biggest problem otherwise is that the aft left door is slightly sprung and dented from people closing the wrong door first. It's also occasionally generated a P1450 code, so I'll need to eventually pull the valve and probably replace that. (<$20) Impressed that this big of a vehicle so far has been getting 18-19 mpg overall.

Out of curiosity I downloaded a sound meter app to my phone (Samsung S10) and took some baseline measurements. Highly doubt that these are very accurate as far as calibration, but as I make changes, I'll be using the same phone and app, meaning that any changes should have good relative value. Although the following data has the problem of different measuring techniques with different devices, I'm an engineer so love to have data. (iPad sketch) The black are my values and the green & red those of member Travlin, which I found in an older post he made:

Goal for the van is to be an enclosed pick-up that I can carry tubs of tools to go work on an old sailboat, haul the occasional motorcycle, haul a couple kayaks, and occasionally sleep in. For now I have a hammock to stretch out in and that seems to work well. Am planning to do some insulation without spending too much or going too crazy. Eventually will have some type of walls, ceiling, and bed but being a 150 want to keep the weight gain as minimal as possible.

Tomorrow I'l start putting in this sound deadener, which was a lot less expensive than Noico, Kilmat, and most other brands:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZKLKHN5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lifted the rear corners of the Ford floor mat and found that the fabric is soaked so getting that out and putting in a level floor is a priority too.

Will post more when more happens.

 

[OKTransit]

Awesome - following this thread and looking forward to seeing more of your progress!

 

[njvagabond]

as I make changes, I'll be using the same phone and app, meaning that any changes should have good relative value.

GREAT!! I have been looking for some "data" but have not come across many objective measurements.
Are you planning to do the floor? I am curious about the difference that makes vs the walls/roof.
Is you baseline with the (wet) floor mat in place? Bare van reading would be meaningful.
Thanks

 

[Checkswrecks]

Not much done so far in big changes but have been making minor steps.

Installed a ScanGauge II and love it. » ScanGauge II
Since I never move the steering column up or down it sits on the rubber joint on top. It's just out of sight unless I lean forward slightly and is very easy to use at that spot. One trick is that plugging it into the OBD connector results in the OBD connector door not closing, till I pressed the two tabs to release the OBD connector from the sheetmetal, pressed it forward of the installation hole, and plugged in the connector for the ScanGauge.

One reason for the ScanGauge is that I was getting a series of codes, right from the first drive home. These codes were:
On the 54 miles home on that first Saturday the check engine light (CEL) came on when accelerating at a freeway on ramp. ODB2 showed codes:
P0300 Misfire detected: Error code P0300 - Auto Service Costs
P0300pd
P0303 Misfire detected cylinder 3: Error Code P0303: Cylinder 3 Three Misfire Detected
P0303pd
P0304 Misfire detected cylinder 4: https://autoservicecosts.com/obd2-codes/p0304/

Cleared the codes and no issues for several starts.

Sunday was a hard start where the starter kept going for about 10+ seconds before the engine ran. Showed no codes. Ran fine for several more short drives.

Dealer changed three ignition coils, cleared the codes, and a couple days later the CEL was on and ScanGauge showed:
P1450
Inability of Evaporative Emission Control System to Bleed Fuel Tank. (Fuel tank vacuum valve, aka Evaporators purge solenoid, Error Code P1450: Unable to Bleed Up Bleed Fuel Tank Vacuum
P1450 pd
P0300pd Misfire detected. The new coil should have addressed this.

At this point I was suspecting that all of this was simply a bad seal at the gas fill port. Did not clear the codes and checked them again a day later when the following code was added:
P0400PD EGR flow: P0400 Code – What Does It Mean & How To Fix It - OBD2PROS

Cleared the codes, and all was good till a couple days later the ScanGauge showed:
P1450
P2196 stands for “O2 Sensor Signal Biased/Stuck Rich (Bank 1, Sensor 1).” The P2196 code indicates an issue in the oxygen sensor between the catalytic converter and the engine. P2196 - Meaning, Causes, Symptoms, & Fixes | FIXD Automotive
P2198 stands for “O2 Sensor Signal Biased/Stuck Rich (Bank 2, Sensor 1).” P2198 - Meaning, Causes, Symptoms, & Fixes | FIXD Automotive

So list them in order and the van showed issues with:
The Evap valve, P1450
Misfires in cylinders, P0300, P0303, and P0304
And the O2 sensors coming out of both heads, P2196 and P2198.

Pulled the Evap valve since it was the most upstream item and found it leaked freely, able to pass air in both directions. Replaced that, cleared the codes and no more problems for the last week.
The NAPA p/n for the valve is CRB 2283712 ($46.99)
and an install video:

 

[Checkswrecks]

Finally got to check the brakes to take it in for inspection and while all the pads look new, one of the rear rotors was ever so slightly too thin. Looked into what it takes to do the work and decided to pay somebody else for this one while doing the State inspection. Believe it or not, to replace the rotors requires dropping the rear axle!!!

Got the Fantastic Fan and spacer for mounting, so those aren't too far off. However, it was 39F this morning and while sitting in the van making calls it got cold fast so I made the executive decision that thermal insulation just got moved WAAAY up the list of priorities.

btw - Been using the van as a pickup truck and got another noise data point. With old doors and much of the rest of a basement woodpile filling the interior several feet deep for a dump run, the sound levels measured 5 dB less at 25 mph and greater. Since sound is a log scale, that 5 dB was substantially quieter than with just the Ford cargo liners and floor.

 

[Checkswrecks]

As others have found, the FanTasticFan fits perfectly between the last two ribs. Almost like Ford made the edges 14" apart intentionally.


Have an observation to share about using Heins' adapter between the fan and roof: It's made of 4 separate pieces and in low 50 temps is already brittle. Mine dropped off a stool about 18" tall and broke into two. The material is a black expanded foam, like a harder version of Azek. Fixed it with PVC cement and was SUPER careful to make sure it was square, but was pretty surprised it broke so easily for a $65 piece of plastic. If I do another van I'll make my own.

Anyway, here's the fan on the adapter. There's Windo-Weld between the adapter and roof that was softened with a heat gun, MaineSail butyl between the fan and adapter, then 795 sealant around the edges of each. I added a a ring of butyl under the head of each screw plus a touch of LifeSeal to the top of each. Anybody who has done sailboat deck hardware or porthole replacements will be right at home with this. For anybody doing this for the first time, MaineSail has an excellent instruction on bedding deck hardware here: Welcome To MarineHowTo.com by Compass Marine How To

This is the butyl sailboat owners swear by for good reason, despite the price:

***Buy Bed-It Butyl Tape*** by Compass Marine How To

pbase.com

DOWSIL 795 used for skyscraper windows. The trick to this and most sealants is to have it thick enough to flex. If squeezed to where two surfaces are in near-contact, there's not enough gap for the rubber to stretch and it'll tear. DOWSIL™ 795 Silicone Building Sealant | Dow Inc.

LifeSeal: BOATLIFE Life Seal Sealant | West Marine

Note also that these and most sealants have a life that is typically only a year or so. Doing a kitchen project at my daughter's, I recently didn't realize I picked up a 5+ year old tube of plain silicone sealer and the stuff never hardened.

Aft is top of the photo. Wiring is temporary. Who the heck EVER thought making the black wire positive was a good idea when that is the ground color for just about anything else in the world?

Since the adapter is black and I had a black tube of DOWSIL 795, that was the color used. I hate seeing people who needlessly lather sealant all over the place.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Extension cords - A cautionary tale of "Don't do like I did"

It's been into the 30s here, so the other evening I put my little 1500W office desk space heater in the van about an hour before starting to work inside it. Got in and noticed a bit of a plastic smell, but the place I bought the van used so much Armor-All that I just attributed it to the heater cooking some out of the vinyl floor pad. Got to work and after a while, let like the frog in the heating pot when the frog realizes something is not right. The inside of the van was full of smoke! I had a drop light on the other side of the spool the extension cord was on and when I looked down the light was illuminating a steady stream of smoke rising from the spool.

I've done countless investigations so instantly recognized why, snapped the photo, pulled the heater plug, threw the spool out the door, then unplugged the cord. After it cooled, the outside of the spool doesn't look too bad other than a bit of brown on the wire coming from the center.

But unreeling didn't take too long to find that the wire insulation toward the center had melted into a single mass.

It would not have been much longer before flame began. Cutting across found the white conductor turned brown and the conductors were close to a dead short in multiple places. If lucky this would've popped the breaker before flames began but at this point it was a horse race.


The little office desk space heater is not much of a load - less than a heat gun - that was a brand new cable, and I've used that spool many times with 14 and 12 ga extension cords.
So what happened? The short answer is that I put too thin of a cable into a bundle situation and the moral of the story is to not put cheap 16 ga extension cords on a reel.

I generally will ONLY buy 14 or heavier extension cords, not 16 like this one, but I didn't want to buy another expensive one for when my "helping" kids AGAIN cut the cord with the hedge trimmer. The thinner a wire is (higher the gauge #) the more resistance it has and wires have two ratings, one when alone ("free air") and one for when used in bundles. I got this cable specifically for a little leaf blower and hedge trimmer, neither of which is a heavy load and being stretched across the yard so the cable would not be on a spool when in use. Being on the spool in what is essentially a bundle means that the heat from resistance builds up, unlike a wire run by itself.

Hope this helps somebody else avoid a similar situation.

 

[surly Bill]

Out of my half-awake eyes I read "Cheserek's thread for a minimal build stealth camper" and I thought wow, King Ches has jumped on the #vanbum bandwagon, too. Go Ducks!

 

[Checkswrecks]

LOL - "King?"
Had a beat old phone company van in the late 80s and have wanted a new style camper van for a long time, so here I am. Loved my F150 but it couldn't hold or do as much as the van. Besides, things go faster when I get more done working on this in the drive for a little bit at a time and several times a day, where to work on the boat means almost 2.5 hours of driving to turn the first screw. DC gets cold in February and I want to wander south.

OK - So here's something on topic. BEST mod to the van so far is this silly cheap stick-on handle to close the back door from inside:

From https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087JN914N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[surly Bill]

"King" Ches because he had the most NCAA #1 titles in history. You can see how Checkswrecks and Cheserek can get confused.

I through-bolted some 50 cent plastic handles into the cavity below the windows. Also handy to tie stuff to if needed.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Lots of thread questions about seat swivels, so here's a passenger seat installation for the $199 Amazing Auto F3 from Amazing Auto LLC.
I picked it because of seeing a few good reviews, the fact they went to an independent lab and met FMVSS 207 impact requirement, the fact is has a large hole for the airbag cable to pass through, and of course the price. There's nothing magic about making a swivel, so I refuse to pay the prices demanded by Scopema and others.

First good surprise was the weight at 26.6 lbs and this assembly seems really solid and tight. In fact, it is hard to initially get to swivel so it is not going to rattle when driving or rock with a person in it.
Second good surprise was that at 1.25" it is a little thinner than the advertised 1.5". You can see the thickness of the metal here too.

Third good thing was that it came with what seems like good hardware. Swivel on the left and Ford on the right.

Extra hardware was included as shown below. Half of the washers were extra, as well as the left two T30 bolts and nuts. The T40 Ford OEM bolt is on the left edge for comparison.

Fourth was a negative, in that there are no instructions at all. If you go on their website, there's a color illustration about which holes to use for which model of van, but that's it. C'mon guys, just throw in a single page with some basics. Feel free to use what you want from this thread.

Tools needed:
T40 Torx bit - For the Ford OEM seat bolts
T30 Torx bit - For the swivel bolts
7 mm socket - For the airbag connector
13 mm socket - For the swivel nuts
Bolt cutter or grinder with cutting wheel - For the metal loop sticking up from the rear of the seat base
Dab of black gloss Rustoleum paint - After cutting off the loop.

Start under the passenger seat, by removing the 7mm bolt in the front of the airbag connector. Then pull the rectangular connector forward to separate it.
DANGER: AIRBAGS HAVE KILED PEOPLE. Make sure the key is NOT in the ignition so there is no power. Removing a battery cable is called for by the OEMs when working with or around airbags.

Use the T40 to remove the Ford OEM bolts from each corner of the seat mount. The seat can then be moved aft off the base to get it out of the way.
At this point I trashed the dust collector that the airbag cable goes through.

Turn the swivel (it's stiff) about 45 degrees and then place it on the seat base with the latch handle forward and sprinterswivel.com sticker on the top. Re-use the Ford T40 bolts to hold the swivel to the seat base. Bring the airbag cable up through the center hole. (forward shown to left)

Cut off the metal loop and put some black gloss Rustoleum on to prevent future rust.

Here's the first place the instructions would have been handy. I started with the back two bolts (T30) and found that the front bolt holes didn't line up. oops shown below. Assemble the fronts FIRST and then which back holes are correct will be obvious.

Here's the second place the instructions would have helped. Normal convention for almost any bolt & nut is for the bolt head to be on top. This seat swivel needs the bolt heads (T30) to be on the bottom and nuts (13mm) on top. I found the hard way that having the nuts on the bottom causes interference and the seat will only swivel a few degrees. Get all four bolts and nuts started before tightening any of them.

MAKE SURE THE KEY IS NOT ON THE IGNITON FOR THE NEXT STEP.
UNTIL THE ENGINE HAS BEEN STARTED, DO NOT LET ANYBODY SIT IN THE SEAT AND STAY AWAY FROM THE UPPER PORTION OF THE SEAT. INADVERTENT AIRBAG DEPLOYMENTS HAVE KILLED PEOPLE.
Reconnect the airbag connector with the 7mm socket THEN reconnect the battery cable if removed.

Cut off the shrink wrap protecting the red swivel knob.

When done, the seat can rotate with the passenger door shut after it is slid forward. You could not do this while sitting in the seat. It's nice to have the recliner and when stopped for lunch.

A final note is that there is a nylon or HDPE plastic sheet between the top and bottom halves of the swivel. This is the wear surface and with enough beach sand it probably will wear over a number of years. Fortunately, there is nothing magic about it so if it ever does wear enough for the seat to rock, the swivel can be disassembled to replace the plastic and it should be available from nearly any plastic supplier. I generally use www.piedmontplastic.com since they have a location near me.

 

[EddieZ]

Finally got to check the brakes to take it in for inspection and while all the pads look new, one of the rear rotors was ever so slightly too thin. Looked into what it takes to do the work and decided to pay somebody else for this one while doing the State inspection. Believe it or not, to replace the rotors requires dropping the rear axle!!!
...

A clarification: the axle shafts do have to be removed, to get the rotors off. But, your phrasing makes it sound like the entire rear end / axle housing needs to be removed.

 

[webtravelver1200]

www.piedmontplastic.com

It's Piedmont Plastics missing the 's' for others...

 

[webtravelver1200]

Have an observation to share about using Heins' adapter between the fan and roof: It's made of 4 separate pieces and in low 50 temps is already brittle. Mine dropped off a stool about 18" tall and broke into two. The material is a black expanded foam, like a harder version of Azek. Fixed it with PVC cement and was SUPER careful to make sure it was square, but was pretty surprised it broke so easily for a $65 piece of plastic. If I do another van I'll make my own.

I'm going to be doing my fan install in a week or two. I was just going to use butyle tape instead of Hein's adapter. Would this be better: McMaster-Carr High-Temperature Silicone Rubber Sheet with Adhesive-Back (McMaster-Carr) I had to order the silicone rubber sheet for the roof rack that I'm doing any way.

Any other plastic rubber I should consider?

 

[Checkswrecks]

...I was just going to use butyle tape instead of Hein's adapter.
...
Would this be better: McMaster-Carr High-Temperature Silicone Rubber Sheet with Adhesive-Back (McMaster-Carr)
...

There's enough curvature to the roof that you need something to adapt from he flat fan to curved roof surface. I'm fairly comfortable working with fiberglass, so if I were to do it again I'd probably:

1. Clean the area of the roof and put wax on it in case the wax paper get a hole.

2. Cover the area with wax paper, using a generous overlap, then mark the general area of the fan. Create a dam a few inches away just in case some resin leaks out of the fiberglas lay-up and dribbles across the roof.

3. Wax one side of a piece of glass from Lowes or HD.

4. Dry lay up a half dozen or more layers of fiberglass, using a sharpie to number the plies. You probably will find you need less layers toward the center line of the roof.

5. Mix up either a polyester or epoxy resin (polyester laminating resin is cheapest) and do the wet lay-up. Use spray wax (furniture wax works) on the lay-up if using laminating resin to get the edges of the surface to harden.

6. Lay waxed paper and then the glass on the fiberglass to create the top flat surface.

7. After it hardens, remove it from he roof so you can trim it to fit.

After installing the fan, make sure the fiberglass is protected from UV by paint or whatever sealer you use.

 

[webtravelver1200]

Thanks. That is a lot of steps and too much for someone wh has never worked with fiberglass before. What's the risk of using multiple layers of butyl type (I've seen several threads here and on your tube where they just use multiple layers of butyl tape) and then seal with eternabond tape or just sealant.

 

[Checkswrecks]

It'll work but the problem is that butyl never really hardens so a too-thick layer (probably 1/4"+ on both the left and right) probably will extrude over time, picking up whatever dirt gets to it.
I guess if you left an edge gap all the way around and filled the gap with a sealant like DOW 795, the sealant would form a dam, but I've never tried doing an install that way.

 

[dustboy]

Lots of thread questions about seat swivels, so here's a passenger seat installation for the $199 Amazing Auto F3 from Amazing Auto LLC.
I picked it because of seeing a few good reviews, the fact they went to an independent lab and met FMVSS 207 impact requirement, the fact is has a large hole for the airbag cable to pass through, and of course the price. There's nothing magic about making a swivel, so I refuse to pay the prices demanded by Scopema and others.

I’ve had my finger on the trigger several times now to buy swivels, but they’re always either too expensive, or janky, or backordered, or don’t appear designed for safety, OR all of the above.
But, these seem to check all the boxes and now they’ve been installed by an accident investigator on his personal vehicle...that’s all the endorsement I need! Thanks for the install write-up, I’ll be using it soon.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Just recording that I did a temporary version of the cargo light switch mod. At first it was puzzling because one side worked fine to turn the lights on without the timer, but switching to the timer side just got a momentary flash. Took a couple of minutes to realize that the doors were closed and the timer had already timed out. - duh- Opening and closing a door made everything work the way it should.

There will be a cleaner install once the upper left cabinet encloses the area and the snazzy Sharpie captions are removed but this works for now.

fwiw, the roof beam seen is opposite the sliding door, the White/Blue light wire is 18 ga, the BlueSeas switch is rated to 10A, that's 16 ga to the new ground, and the conduit will be for the new house lights.
The foil tape tapes shut the structure stuffed with PolyFill and the stuff has been doing great as thermal insulation. Used metal tape so the PolyFill is isolated from any potential ignition sources if the interior somehow caught fire.

 

[Smrachek]

Lots of thread questions about seat swivels, so here's a passenger seat installation for the $199 Amazing Auto F3 from Amazing Auto LLC.
I picked it because of seeing a few good reviews, the fact they went to an independent lab and met FMVSS 207 impact requirement, the fact is has a large hole for the airbag cable to pass through, and of course the price. There's nothing magic about making a swivel, so I refuse to pay the prices demanded by Scopema and others.

First good surprise was the weight at 26.6 lbs and this assembly seems really solid and tight. In fact, it is hard to initially get to swivel so it is not going to rattle when driving or rock with a person in it.
Second good surprise was that at 1.25" it is a little thinner than the advertised 1.5". You can see the thickness of the metal here too.

Third good thing was that it came with what seems like good hardware. Swivel on the left and Ford on the right.

Extra hardware was included as shown below. Half of the washers were extra, as well as the left two T30 bolts and nuts. The T40 Ford OEM bolt is on the left edge for comparison.

Fourth was a negative, in that there are no instructions at all. If you go on their website, there's a color illustration about which holes to use for which model of van, but that's it. C'mon guys, just throw in a single page with some basics. Feel free to use what you want from this thread.

Tools needed:
T40 Torx bit - For the Ford OEM seat bolts
T30 Torx bit - For the swivel bolts
7 mm socket - For the airbag connector
13 mm socket - For the swivel nuts
Bolt cutter or grinder with cutting wheel - For the metal loop sticking up from the rear of the seat base
Dab of black gloss Rustoleum paint - After cutting off the loop.

Start under the passenger seat, by removing the 7mm bolt in the front of the airbag connector. Then pull the rectangular connector forward to separate it.
DANGER: AIRBAGS HAVE KILED PEOPLE. Make sure the key is NOT in the ignition so there is no power. Removing a battery cable is called for by the OEMs when working with or around airbags.

Use the T40 to remove the Ford OEM bolts from each corner of the seat mount. The seat can then be moved aft off the base to get it out of the way.
At this point I trashed the dust collector that the airbag cable goes through.

Turn the swivel (it's stiff) about 45 degrees and then place it on the seat base with the latch handle forward and sprinterswivel.com sticker on the top. Re-use the Ford T40 bolts to hold the swivel to the seat base. Bring the airbag cable up through the center hole. (forward shown to left)

Cut off the metal loop and put some black gloss Rustoleum on to prevent future rust.

Here's the first place the instructions would have been handy. I started with the back two bolts (T30) and found that the front bolt holes didn't line up. oops shown below. Assemble the fronts FIRST and then which back holes are correct will be obvious.

Here's the second place the instructions would have helped. Normal convention for almost any bolt & nut is for the bolt head to be on top. This seat swivel needs the bolt heads (T30) to be on the bottom and nuts (13mm) on top. I found the hard way that having the nuts on the bottom causes interference and the seat will only swivel a few degrees. Get all four bolts and nuts started before tightening any of them.

MAKE SURE THE KEY IS NOT ON THE IGNITON FOR THE NEXT STEP.
UNTIL THE ENGINE HAS BEEN STARTED, DO NOT LET ANYBODY SIT IN THE SEAT AND STAY AWAY FROM THE UPPER PORTION OF THE SEAT. INADVERTENT AIRBAG DEPLOYMENTS HAVE KILLED PEOPLE.
Reconnect the airbag connector with the 7mm socket THEN reconnect the battery cable if removed.

Cut off the shrink wrap protecting the red swivel knob.

When done, the seat can rotate with the passenger door shut after it is slid forward. You could not do this while sitting in the seat. It's nice to have the recliner and when stopped for lunch.

A final note is that there is a nylon or HDPE plastic sheet between the top and bottom halves of the swivel. This is the wear surface and with enough beach sand it probably will wear over a number of years. Fortunately, there is nothing magic about it so if it ever does wear enough for the seat to rock, the swivel can be disassembled to replace the plastic and it should be available from nearly any plastic supplier. I generally use www.piedmontplastic.com since they have a location near me.

Will they work with 10 way adjustable with heat?