1987 Ford E350 Former FBI Mobile Command Post

[Bullwhacker007]

On to another project - I've named this one 'BadaBoom"....
I just scored this 1987 Ford E350 460 big block Gasser van with what appears to have a 13-14 foot Ambulance box on a cut away Van..? It only for real 4100 miles on it. Sat allot used little. I got it for a little over 1200......
The "hot damn" about it is it is already wired for 120v, comes with an onan 6.5Kw generator with only 90 hours and a whole lot more.
The other "hot Damn" is THERE IS NOT A SPEC OF RUST ON IT ANYWHERE............ Even the paint is all nice and shiny.
There is also a "roof" AC installed; wait til you see where they put it..
Here is some pictures of it and a video link to my former project that I had turned a 1999 Chevy Escort FE bus into a mobile AC repair shop.
Night video of bus running:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRKcYm-a ... e=youtu.be

[bansil]

Wow, great score...

[schoolmarm]

Nice ride!

I have a 1985 Barth that was a Mobile Command Unit for the Maryland State Police.

[gbstewart]

nice great score
gbstewart

[proconsul100]

very cool, you can do a lot with it.

[sdwarf36]

It's got race car hauler written all over it!

[Bullwhacker007]

Thanks for the great comments.
I am curious is could I use a tow hitch for this model on it?
IF I can find one without having to make one.
The last bus was more than just AC repair; had a frig, full bed in back and 10K BTU window unit installed in the back middle window.
I joked with the better half as to where I am going to sleep when I get kicked out of the house? She didn't think it was funny.
The last time she did it I got very comfy in it and she was getting worried after a week; hey two can play that game..
I also was debating on type of "stove" and instead went to an "Inductance" Duxtop cook top. No heat just heats the pan. Boy dose it heat it fast.. I can cook and egg/ham/baconcheese with mayo sandwich in about 5-6 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZZBPhAaqmc

The way it is made and some cross support below you can inset it into the counter top like I did for a flat surface.
I am thinking about extending the "bumper out about 4-5 feet. Any ideas?
I was looking to haul my bike on it and the propane tanks.
I was also looking into if possible of building it strong enough to also tow a trailer.
The roof is big enough to mount solar panels and I am looking into that and a wind turbine as well. Use schedule 80 pipe mounted on the back as a retractable mast and park and extent it after putting the hub and blades back on; power 24/7 night or day then..
My last project I found out real quick the "bathroom" eats up allot of floor space.
I used a "marine" toilet and that gave me allot more options as to where I could put it.
When I can I will add more pictures.

[nat_ster]

Originally Posted by Bullwhacker007

I am thinking about extending the "bumper out about 4-5 feet. Any ideas?

Do you intend to move the rear axle back? Lengthen the wheel base?

Pics of the frame are needed. It would be a fair bit of work.

Nat

[BelltownBikes]

You need to visit here:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/f ... d-(and-2WD)-Camper-Vans


Plenty of ambo conversions there. B

[Bullwhacker007]

No I don't intend to move the axle back. As you mention far too much work; but a "tag" axle added would far less work. I am planning to find an enclosed trailer to pull to carry my bike, car, tools, etc.

The other half heard more evil cackling coming from the inside and asked wazz up; I told her this critter is a major score.
Found a Freedom 10 1000 watt inverter; also it handle battery charging and allot more; remote control panel and for the generator and AC as well. see the additional pictures.
The generator compartment also has a fire suppression system installed in it.
Fuel pump in the tank appears to has gone kaput so I will be changing that tomorrow.
I am looking at it and working to in corporate what is already there to cut costs. The two work stations one is such I can convert it to a "mini" kitchen.
I have ordered 8-10 inch 12v fans and will mount them to get the air moving.
I am looking at 420 watt solar panels and 6v deep cycle batteries for on board power; oh the Freedom has a switch over box next to it ( in the picture that gray box on the left side ). It will when shore power is hooked up ( it also has the 30amp plug ) sense it an switch to shore but also "share the load so the shore power breaker doesn't trip. When shore power is cut it will switch over to on board power automatically.
I crawled under this critter and again it is pristine NO RUST..
This is a keeper for sure.
I keep looking at it and keep find more and more expensive goodies and the goodies I would have had to buy for thousands for the conversion.
I now have to find another welder since I am going to need it; the other half made me sell it...
I am starting to think possible "mobile" man cave...

[sdwarf36]

You can have your local welder make a hitch no problem-doubt theres a simple bolt on soulution. When delivered as a partial chassis, the frame rails are just open in the back-leaving the box mfg. to figure out what back bumper set up to have.
A minor problem with extending your rear bumper/step-you just have to be careful swinging around in a tight area. The far back of it now is going to be quite a ways away from the rear wheels. Picture being pulled tight up against a gas pump-when you pull away, you have to watch how soon you cut the wheel.
What Ive done (twice now-once on a cube van + on my currect bus) Is build a new back bumper incorperating the hitch into the design. Theres plenty of metal back there to work with-and theres plenty of trucks like yours hauling race car trailers.

[Tango]

Roger the extended rear end consideration --- Pretty easy to adapt to but can be expensive to learn. Saw a guy take out an entire booth full of very high priced glassware at an antique show in Canton, Texas years ago trying to maneuver his bus into a tight spot. My old 40' Blue Bird had more than 12' hanging out behind the rear tires and took some practice to get comfortable with. Tight turns would swing the back bumper in quite a large arc. OK once you get used to it, it is OK...but it's also easy to forget at times. Rear cameras help.

[Bullwhacker007]

Roger that on the swing out; was a trucker for 20 years and that brought back memories of having to watch out and not forget that swing. I remember having to pull a furniture van 50' with the axles slide way forward; had a real nasty swing and was paranoid I'd swat something in a turn. Same thing when I was stuck driving a "bob tail" van..
Oh Oh I just ordered a Curt III/VI hitch; cxl'd it asap or get it and drill the mount holes in the frame?
I am also curious can you still draw gas from the tank when your pump has quit using a frame mounted pump?
The van has a four barrel Holley carb and doesn't use the "booster" pump the morons at Ford went with - low pressure pump in the tank and the high pressure pump mounted to the frame rail.

[ol trunt]

I used the Ford high pressure frame mount pump from a 1987 full size Bronco with my fuel injected motor in my '71 Suburban.
I had to remove the original Chevy in tank pump as it kept the Ford pump from drawing. I'd be concerned that the Ford EFI pump might be too strong for the needle valve to control in a regular carb but I haven't actually tested one. I'd like to hear what you discover.

[Bullwhacker007]

They have frame mounted fuel pumps for "carbed" engines. I was asking because I was feeling lazy about having to pull ANOTHER gas tank.. My friends keep coming to me to do the job when theirs fail.
I use my motorcycle jack to lift and lower the tanks; far faster and easier than using a floor jack..

[sdwarf36]

If its got a carb, you don't want more than 5 psi. Doesn't your 460 have an engine mounted mechanical pump? I can't recall a partial like that having an in-tank pump.
If you get a low psi electric pump (one of those square Facet pumps work fine) mount it in the back--its made to push not pull.

[Bullwhacker007]

Nope no mechanical pump on the engine; just the block off plate by the crank on the drivers side..
Looks like I am going have to pull the tank after all..
I just found a 2006 Freight liner mobile dental unit. 7300 miles; generator sized to run a city, stabilization jacks, holding tanks, even has a bathroom and a whole lot more..

HHHmmmm; oh oh been found out; the better half is showing flashing red eyes and smoke from the ears....

[Bullwhacker007]

Woo Hoo.. Been busy this week.
Got two 6v Golf cart Deep cycle batteries; hooked them in series and hooked them up to the inverter and gen leads. I first made sure the wiring was okay and no shorts to cause a fire; moron mechanic played chop chop on the wiring. Powered up and all the interior florescent light came on; no AC, fan would not even run. I am assuming the inverter hasn't enough grunt to run it and it it wire to the genset and shore power only; I am waiting for my plug adapter. 30 125v female to 120v 15amp male.
Thinking later of either going two, or four more to total about four or six. I am looking at solar panels and charge controller to install. I want to charge the house batteries and starting battery on the same system; I think it can be done of I use a battery isolator to keep them separate and also the Alt. when driving to charge the house batteries again keeping them separate. So I think I'd need two isolators and anyone know have they put a diode on the "alt" stud to compensate for the 1v loss they cause?
Grr still waiting for the fuel pump sending unit assembly. What is screwy is the reg says 1987 and the tenth place on the VIN on the reg has a "k" indicating a 1989??
Also the pump and sending unit plug is different. The one ordered has the four straight across contacts and the one on the van has three prongs in a distorted triangle.
Changed the oil, filter on gen-set; cranks no start; smell bad gas &^*&*, now have to pull the carb and clean it out. I first checked for spark; damn we have spark are got nailed when cranking. I am also thinking maybe convert it to run on propane; I have two 100lb tanks I can mount on the back of the van.
The work station on the drivers side I am removing the shelf and moving the top one down to make my counter to install the inductance cook top and sink, will slide my 5 cuFoot frig under and to the right.
Heading to the hardware to get some plywood cut to size to make tops for the cabinets you see on the right and the take down bed.
The curt hitch showed up and I will have to drill eight holes in the frame to bolt it on; no holes in it. The other problem is the receiver ends about six inches short of the back bumper under it; thinking about making an extended receiver for the ball and use small trailer springs square u-bolts to go around it and through holes drilled in the flat part of the bumper and backed with a 1/4 plate. It would be strong enough for the III/VI rating the hitch has.
I am trying to find a better place to put the pictures besides creating an ad on Craigslist and linking to that.

[ol trunt]

I'm sure there are many ways to skin the picture cat but many of us use Photobucket because it is free and quite intuitive
when it comes to using it. If I remember right, Crazy Cal is up on how to use PB and I'm sure he'd be glad to help. There may even be a tutorial somewhere here on Skoolie. I feel sort of foolish posting this because since you know how to get pics from Craig's list to here you must have figured out PB as well. Anyway, we don't care how you get the pics here --just keep them coming.

[BUBB]

Remember with Dc power you want wires as big as you can get going to the battery, inverter, etc, preferably 2 gauge or better, stranded wire is more efficient, also make sure all the wire runs are as short as possible,
I installed one of these fuse boxes, it makes it easier to install lights and stuff, it also saved my wires when I was wiring a light backwards, I blew a few fuses and it protected the wires.
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems- ... x+blue+sea

Going to 4 or more batteries it will increase your power efficiency and be better at equalizing the charge between the batteries if you use a positive/negative bus bar rather than hooking up the batteries together,


I had a one of these installed, 180amp http://promariner.com/products/prolsocharge-series/
it is supposed to have a only a .2v loss but by my measurement its loss is .5v, If it had to do it again I would just put in a switch and charge the starter/house batteries separately.