Newbie Here

[roach711]

Welcome to the loony bin!

We have a couple of step van conversions going on here so you'll be in good company.

[ol trunt]

Yup, ya seen one tin tent ya seen em all. Welcome and get the pics flowing!

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

Yup, ya seen one tin tent ya seen em all.

[magic_bus]

Welcome!
I had a 1967 Chevy step van. Bigger one in length, can't remember exact length.
It had a 292 inline six banger and a 4 speed w/granny.
I stripped an old motor home and installed the stuff in it.
I ran that thing from about 1990 until around 1997.
Got 10mpg and was trouble free the whole time.
I took it across country several times and to Sturgis a few times as well.
Slow but sure.

I miss it and wish I never sold it.
I had a 64 Chevy short bus at the time (also a 292/4 speed - I love that combo) and felt I didn't need both.
waaaaaaaaaa.... hindsight doesn't count.

I'll see if I can dig up some old pics and scan them to post.

[ol trunt]

14"? I only have 10"--could you give me a couple of feet? Just kidding. You will want to think out your floor plan and then hide it and think out a couple of more before you commit. Like others have said, it all starts with the toilet (and black water tank) and then flows to congress--er a and then all else follows. Jack

[Tango]

Welcome to the Madhouse Alaska! --- and don't feel bad, everyone here was a newbie at some point in time. Grummans have an excellent reputation and should make for great conversion platforms. As Trunt noted, just figure out your toilet plumbing and build around that. Also figure on changing your mind a few hundred times. It's just part of the game. Do it your way and enjoy the process.

[Tango]

Great looking unit! --- All aluminum body? And with all those straight lines and square corners, it should be an easy buildout. Keep the pix coming.

[thommassey]

Glad to see a new build... welcome

[Shawn C]

Post removed

[Tango]

Hey Alaska --- a roof raise on that puppy would be a piece of cake! I pushed the roof on a 40' Blue Bird by 19". The Ex-Wife and I did it in two weekends. In your case, you would need access to aluminum welding capabilities but that's no biggie. Heck...go for it, now's the time!

And I have to second Shawn's rave review of SketchUp. Gotta be the coolest FREE program anywhere. Here what I did with it and I'm a Geezer...



Best part is that it's real time 3D...you can turn & rotate the drawing to see how things fit!

[bansil]

Tango
I love your magazine rack beside the throne

[travelinwithus]

Welcome Alaska! When are you hoping to have it done? Is there any time frame you are working with? Just curious...

[Tango]

Hey Bansil --- Actually, that is some shelving that is open to the aisle but nested into the otherwise unused space in the shower. The whole thing forms the door to the combo shower,toilet and swings out. Always hated not being able to use all that upper shower stall space in a couple of other rigs I've had so I worked on a way to utilize it in this shorty.

[ol trunt]

Alaska, welcome! You live in a beautiful area. Back in '73 I drove a brand new GMC Suburban 4X4 up your way arriving in early June and departing sometime in September AFTER the first big snow having clocked some 50K miles and turning my brand new Suburban into a brand old Suburban in the process. Most of my time was spent around Eagle. For anyone reading this, you just "gotta" see Alaska! Jack

[Tango]

Alaska --- actually, a roof raise is a pretty easy & surprisingly cheap fix. And the only welding necessary would be on the ribs. Everything else could be done with aluminum rivets which are much easier to deal with than steel. Just sayin'.

[magic_bus]

Originally Posted by Alaskagrummby

..........
My Grumman is a 1982 with Chevy 350 and 4 spd
Looking to upgrade on the engine after the conversion.
I............
Cheers

Upgrade to what?
The 350 has the advantages of being a solid, dependable engine that is super easy to fix and the parts are cheap & easy to find anywhere.
Same with the 4 speed in this year truck, IMHO (and being a Chevy freak from birth).
Only "upgrade" I could imagine would be to a 292 inline like I had ( still use one in my 78 C30 pickup).
292 will bolt right in, take up less room, be easier to tune, be bulletproof, get better MPG and have more torque & power at a lower rpm.
They work out good when you swap them into v8 trucks as you usually have more long legged gears and the 292 will still have the juice to pull it good.

But, like I said. The 350 will do you just fine too.
Hard to improve on either Chevy engine as far as gasoline engines go.
And hard to beat "old school" Chevy dependability and ease of maintenance.

Ya gotta love that all aluminum body too. Light and rust proof.

[100MPG]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

Yup, ya seen one tin tent ya seen em all. Welcome and get the pics flowing!

[roach711]

Ceramic tile needs a rigid flex-free base or the tile will break or break free of the backer or plywood. Mix your tile thinset mastic with some latex additive to give the mastic some give. Home Depot has a nice 32x32 shower base for about 90 bucks. The one-piece base makes drain installation easy.

[chev49]

if you actually in AK, at least 4 inch of good insulation all around....
I put 6 inches worth in my cabin outside soldotna, and still needed more...

[roach711]

Originally Posted by Alaskagrummby

Thanks Roach711,
I will look at that idea makes sense. Will it be ok to install my toilet on that pan also?
Limited to space trying to build a combo.

Here's the base I mentioned:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... PV0g_KDmSo

And here's our final floor plan. I have 16 1/2 feet behind the driver's seat and was able to put in a 32x32 shower and a separate Thetford porta-potti and still have some closet storage on that side. If you were to eliminate the closet or shorten the kitchen area you could have separate shower and toilet. Using the porta-potti eliminates the black tank as well as the plumbing to connect to it.

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