In May this year I purchased a 2003 Ford E-350 7.3L Ambulette in order to to convert it to a campervan. I have grand ambitions; however, time and priorities will tell between what parts get the all-in epic treatment, and what gets the 'done is better than perfect' treatment.

Thought to keep a thread on my progress to share what I've done in case it will help out future van dwellers, and also welcome any advice/input along the way.

First, a couple disclosures... Through all my research I've found ten different ways to do any one task in such conversion. By no means are my methods here any proven technique, it's simply me having made a decision (money, time, dedication, e.g.) and running with it. Second, I am a complete noob in all regards, e.g mechanical, electrical, carpentry, etc.

Here's what's kept me busy the first few weeks on the project, some tasks I'll share in detail and others I'll just keep a running list in case anyone is curious for details.

Mechanical:
- Replaced turbo up-pipes with Dorman bellowed pipes
- Repaired air filter housing/intake and cleaned out massive amounts of debris from intake, turbo and engine block screen
- Measured fuel and oil pressure
- Removed rear HVAC and cut AC lines, returned coolant at doghouse

Exterior:
- Removed ambulette lights and sealed with fiberglass, filled holes with bond-o and spray painted white over the entire high-top

Interior cabin:
- Replaced stereo deck, front door speakers
- Insulated front doors for sound using bitumen (roof repair style from Home Depot) and 1/4" neoprene foam
- Added insulation to doghouse to reduce engine noise: bitumen, neoprene and denim carpetd
- Redid cabin roof

Cargo area:
- Removed wheelchair lift, old seat latches and filled some 50+ holes left from all these
- Removed rear HVAC and fiberglass repair to seal holes... lots of fiberglass used to seal up the old ambulette additions

Okay that's it for this part, can keep adding here as I go and I will add individual posts for unique projects. I have way more photos than anything I'll ever get to share here, so if you're curious for details about how I went about anything, and how I might do it differently next time, just ask!

Cheers!

 

I'm redoing the floor and ceiling of the cabin in black automotive carpeting. I like the industrial-chic kind of style and have always been a form-follows-function kind of person. Here's the work that I did replacing ceiling panel of the cabin, installing an LED dome lamp and switch, and adding insulation.

1) Here is the cabin ceiling after removing the stock panel. No photo of the before unfortunately (woops) but I think many of us know the standard grey cardboard-like panel. I installed four pieces of bitumen sheeting, the roof repair material from Home Depot, to help dampen the metal vibrations. Knocking the panel it wasn't too loud, so I think this will be sufficient for this cause.

2) The scribe I fashioned to make the cardboard template of the roof panel. I clamped a piece of cardboard to the rear of the ceiling (as in (3)) and wedged the block end of the scribe in the V between the windshield and metal.

3) Completed template clamped to ceiling. I used a ruler and razor, while clamped, to cut the areas needed to fit the visor pieces (see 10).

4) I didn't want to replace/remove the panel that had the oh-**** bars, but they left an ugly gap between where the panel ended and where my carpet would begin. I filled it with Great Stuff gap filler.

5) After the gap filler cured I cut it to shape with a long, flexible project blade.

6) Here is the wood panel that I cut with a jigsaw and sanded around all the edges. Here I am about to put the black automotive carpet on it (which is really lacking in quality IMO, but good enough). I glued it on with spray adhesive.

7) Wood panel completed with LED lamp installed, rocker switch and good amount of 1/4" Neoprene for sound insulation. Switch is simple SPST (I think) ON-OFF-ON (three terminals). The wiring is simply two (+) for always-on and door-switch-on and one (-) lead. The two (+) are wired to the switch along with the (+) of the LED and (-) to (-). Easy.

8) Wood panel completed from the front.

9) Ceiling is ready for the wood panel to be installed. I considered installing the wood ceiling and then carpeting the entire roof; however, deemed this too difficult/annoying with managing the light/switch install and also imagined cutting a single piece of carpet to the entire ceiling would be very difficult. Instead I opted to carpet the roof panel, and the edges around it. The roof panel will fit over this space. The only edges that matter, for the carpeting, here are the outside ones. The inside will be covered.

10) Visors reinstalled and now ready to install the ceiling panel.

... realized too late some of the images aren't rotated properly, sorry for any motion sickness!

 

Here it is after the ceiling panel is installed!

Overall I'm very happy with the results. If I had to do it again I would have spent a bit more time and patience cutting and glueing the perimeter pieces. There are a few seams I'm not particularly excited about; however, I'm very happy with 'done' and the overall result.

Some additional notes...

The vertical panels that go behind the seatbelt, drivers side, were accidentally lost so I will carpet this area too. These and some of the white areas still seen still, in general need a bit of work; however, I had to draw lines somewhere between what I will call 'ceiling' and elsewhere for the sake of one project and the next. I will probably wait to finish these areas until I do some of the paneling and electrical in the back in case I use them to run wires.

Also, someone else suggested my using Reflectix. As the high-top extends up over the cabin (seen in panorama) I will be installing Reflectix there but didn't think it would help much for just the cabin space.

 

Last item for now, here's some photos of the van from the outside ... my friends call it the pedo-van lol. All good by me, hoping that, when all over, it still looks like a busted up cargo van from the outside haha.

 

So why did you remove the A/C from the rear section of the van? Mine has front and rear, with the rear A/C running along the drivers side wall under my windows. Without it there would be absolutely no way i would ever get it cooled off inside.

Are you planning on a divider so you only cool the front while driving and then a roof mount or window A/C unit for the back when parked? There are a few options out there. Or you could always use an icechest A/C if it is for rare occasions.

What kind of house batteries and charging system are you looking at? Were you thinking about solar to charge the house batteries when parked? I have to research a little more, but what i would like is a couple of 6v golf cart batteries with a solar panel and an inverter for mine. This would allow for watching movies on the ceiling mounted dvd player, interior camping light, some electric houshold amenities etc etc.

 

Nice
I think I would have put some spotlights where those 2 amber lights were up top on the front.

 

Now that it's just me +1 and the AC would only ever be on when the engine is running, the rear HVAC just isn't necessary. When driving the front AC is cool enough, and I will definitely put in a heavy curtain divider behind the cabin which will help it stay hot/cold up front when in motion if needed. The rear AC just took up far too much space and would have been one more obstacle to work around when building. I don't plan on having any cooling when stationary beyond a basic fan and I'm not too worried about it.

Good question on the batteries! I've gotten a lot of recommendations for running the 6V golf car batteries, but I haven't made a decision yet. When I get on with installing the solar panels (after the floor and most siding is insulated and paneled) I'll make a decision. I'm planning on 2x 100W panels and ~ 350-400 Ah batteries for only a small refrigerator, laptop and lights as major users, 150W inverter. It's all a bit overkill for my planned energy use, but that's giving room for more energy use in the future if needed.

@ Vettex LOL! One of my good friends was pushing me hard for that also, and I considered it but thought it too much a bother with so many other things to do still... maybe in the future still.. maybe

 

Brief update for now as I installed the subfloor. The only piece missing to the floor is the vinyl that will go over it, which I'll wait a bit longer on to save it the wear and tear during construction. Here's a brief summary of the work to match with photos...

For plywood I went with Advantech 23/32" thick plywood. I would have preferred something more thin to maximize headroom; however, after doing some research I determined this would be the best (in cost and performance) to ensure the longevity of the subfloor should it be exposed to moisture.

Before installing I placed on the cargo van floor bitumen, same as before, the roof-repair version. When doing this I had some crazy idea that I would fill the gaps with another material so I placed this on top of the ribs. Whoops. Next time I would place it in the valleys or cover 100% but oh well.

For insulation I glued to the bottom of the three subfloor panels Reflectix with 3M 77 spray adhesive. Over the wheel wells I covered entirely with bitumen and denim insulation (should have used reflectix here maybe as well... oh well).

Installing the floor I used a Loctite Polyurethane adhesive (this stuff is crazy strong) and a minimum number of sheet-metal screws (~ 5 per piece).

Tips for past-Aaron from present-Aaron... Install all three sheets before screwing down, otherwise it's extremely difficult to fit the tongue-and-grooves. Install bitumen in valleys rather than hills (why waste space?).

Also, I know there is an ongoing debate about wether or not to seal the edges. I chose to do so and used Great Stuff Crack Sealer. I did make one attempt at a Si caulk sealant but the gaps were too big and it didn't cure and was messy to clean up.

I've been light on posts because I've had some setbacks on the ceiling. My original design got scrapped after two days effort, and am going with a new one. My high-top has no ribs or supports to screw in to so it's been a quandary, but hope to now have some progress the next day or two to share.

Cheers!

 

The last week about has been dedicated almost entirely to installing the ceiling while I also accomplished some other tidbits here and there. I decided to go with a domed ceiling out of wood construction. I lose some space on the sides at the high-top, insulating 3+ inches on either side; however, it was definitely the easiest method and ensured a uniform ceiling front to back. Here's how I did it...

Front to back was ~ 11' in length and 50" in diameter, requiring 3x panels of flexible plywood (wacky board). I ran 2x4s along the length of the van spaced 50" apart length-wise, and fabricated 6x 1.5-inch thick ribs out of plywood to hold the ceiling up. The wacky board has a minimum bend radius of 12". In the space I have to work, using 13"-radius arcs the quarter-circle gets me to almost exactly 1" clearance to the fiberglass ceiling of the high top. While thin, this is sufficient to put up a little insulation still.

The ribs were made using 3/4" plywood. I rough-cut twelve pieces, bonded them together for 6+ hours and then cut them to their final shape with the jigsaw. The critical measurements were the inside of the arc, making it exactly 15" diameter and all arcs the same would ensure my ceiling be flush and uniform throughout the van. It would have been too difficult to cut 12 identical pieces and then bond them together in twos, so I went this route. Once all six ribs were cut I sanded and planed them to together so, to the best of ability and time, make them uniform to within ~ 1/4-1/8" (wishing I had a power sander of any kind) which I thought a reasonable goal. The wackyboard ceiling is 3/8" thick so perfect was not required.

I installed the ribs in the van on top the 2x4s with 90-degree metal braces before putting foam and fiberglass insulation up, and then the ceiling panels up. When putting the panels up I also installed wiring for the three ceiling LED lights and also the ventilation fan to be installed later. I also built a nice little stash box in to the very first rib that has a hinged door. You access it from the front of the van, reaching in to the storage space above the passenger seat. There's no lock or anything but it's pretty stealth and just big enough for my camera and a few odds and ends, nothing too crazy here.

Installing the ceiling panels was a b*tch!! It took a lot of force to conform the panels to the arc and then hold them in while securing them (done with adhesive and screws, lots of screws). It took way more screws than I desired and it was very difficult to install them in any uniform way as it was so difficult just to keep the board up during install; however, I plan to cut some 2"-wide trim pieces with the remaining board to cover all the screws. Such a thin piece should be easy to secure using just adhesive. This and the ceiling still needs to be stained... coming later.