The next natural progression - more reseach and things!

Alright, so lets continue on in the picture ramblings of my progression related to van research.  

 I actually at the time worked at a lighting manufacturer, which gave me a bit of a hard thing for good lighting.  I wanted to use something from my workplace to light the bus...but as time went on, I knew I would have to just buy something.  LED's are the way to go though.  They allow me the ability to get the color, output and customizability, that other technologies just dont have.  This light below is a good representative of something I was initially thinking of doing, albeit not so.....uh....direct and blinding. 

Then, there was the busniess of trailers!  Yes, at the time I was towing things weekly with my little vw golf.  Including things such as a 2400 lb milling machine, lathe, 900 lb cast iron gang drilling press table, and enough other shit to fill my basement to the brim.  What more could I need?  

Of course! A beefier and stronger trailer......You and I were thinking the SAME thing.  So I found a few on Craigslist, but none of them came home with me.  They were too pricey for the same thing as what I had (capacity and size). 

More trailers.....nice but small...

YES!!!! But probably too heavy for my taste.  

On the flip side, the wife and I were also trying to figure out colors for the interior and the exterior.  SO many colors to choose from.  When you have a blank slate and the possibilities are endless, where do you start?  We tried to gather a few samples of appropriate fabrics, but its not as easy as you think to just happen across good materials.  We ended up going with materials we found at a local ....place...... but ill talk about that adventure later. 

 Leathers.....canvases......etc..

Ooo....that looks like a durable and nice looking seat material.  

Same with that! And on clearance!

Oh, and then theres also the business of safety.  I knew I would be needing to lift my van up for extended periods of time, and this would need to be done safely.  

So, the way I was raised, you used wood to save your life if something might just crush you.  So I went out to a craigslist posting about 40 miles away, to an old farmers house that had some 100 year old barn lumber.  This stuff was REAL.  I mean actually 6x6 or 8x8 or 10x10 inch square LOGS of hard ass oak.  This stuff could save my life I tell ya.  Below are some pics of what I saw when I arrived.  

So we basically got a chainsaw and he let me cut everything up that I needed.  Some of those pieces of wood were over 20 feet long and we couldnt have moved some of them without the skid steer.  It was a fun time.  I think I paid like $60 for 8 pcs of 8x8" or 10"x10" sections that are about 2 feet long each.  They were heavy, and loaded down the back of the golf quite a bit.  Peace of mind is priceless.

 Yeah there was a lot of lumber....

I also wanted to test my painting skills a bit, so I took my newly aquired band saw from CL, and painted it.  

Old black nasty....NIB though...

 New and pretty equipment that is easier on the eyes. 

WARNING:   CUTE  CAT  PHOTOS  ONLY  A  CAT  PERSON  WOULD  LOVE

How about THAT for a selfie?

 Dat wrinkley face.....

And, the one thing that I hate is when things just have to happen against everything you attempt to make it go your way.  I spotted this little son of a B on craigslist like, two weeks after I brought my van home.  I was ready to kill a mother.  I was tapped out for liquid cash and I couldnt safely buy this guy.....I am kicking myself in the ass to THIS DAY for not buying this guy.  

 

I hate life sometimes.....but you cant win them all.

Some more cool things I wanted my vanagon to have!

Here are more photos of awesome vanagon mods/hacks!

 This was a cool little PVC door that someone made to keep out the dog from the front area of the van.

Here is a really nice little simplified electrical wiring diagram to install extra lights in places.  See?  lots of support on these vans.  

 I could see this being me in a few years......

 I was also doing research into components that I could purchase that would allow me to do all of the things that I wanted to have in the van.  This pure sine wave converter from magnum would be a great choice to make sure I have 110v power in the van.  The boating industry had a lot more information regarding inverters and generators than the RV industry did, so thats why boating stuff will pop up from time to time.  Ill use what I can from other industries to get what I want accomplished.  I still to this day have not bought an inverter....so I didnt choose the one above, it was only research. 

 In the meantime, I was also re-painting one of my tables.  Its funny because I call it a table because it has four-ish legs with a work surface....but its actually a cast iron gang drill press machine base.  Its about 600 lbs and has channels around its top work surface to have oil and coolant get collected as it is used on the worksurface.  It has 6 drill presses attached to it.  I eventually sold all of them and just use my milling machine.  

 

 More sine inverter stuff that I was looking at.  

 I was also trying to see what other people did for space management.  I really enjoy this one.

 This was also a cool post from a gentlemen who made a toyota tacoma into an expedition vehicle.  He used that aircraft tracking to allow different things to hung up and quickly accessed.  Cool Idea.

 And I also came upon the website sewfine.com at this time.  They have a LOT of cool fabric stuff for the vanagons and buses.  Like I said, nice aftermarket support for the vanagons.  Lovin it.  

 Even Sun visors?  psh....this place rocks.  

 I was also looking into engine conversions.  I didnt know what I wanted, but all that I did know was that my mechanical and naturally aspirated diesel of 46 hp (and a top speed of 55mph) was NOT going to cut it.  It had huge design flaws in the transmission as well as the diesel was not supported well.  Sure, decent MPG.....but bad everywhere else.  This website above showed me a few cool conversions done.  Also, gowesty.com had a wonderful library article on why they dont sell replacements for the 80-82 transmissions.  That sold me on a conversion.  I needed a good trans.  

 I will also be making sure that I have LOTS of battery power in my van.  

 I can buy pretty much whatever I need through the samba.  Electric side mirrors will be something I add.  

 I also was doing a LOT of trailer hauling at the time, so i was poking around to see what people were towing with their vanagons.  Basically, I ended up finding out that I can safely tow 2000 lbs behind my vanagon.  Pretty much the same as my VW golf.  

 Well that is a cool trailer....

 I started doing some research into the cooling problem for my vanagon and found out that the radiator is a common problem.  I will have to flush out the one that I get to replace mine.  

More interesting info on radiators. Woot to the samba

 

 I was also curious on how people deal with kids or pets in their vans.  So these photos have some cool ideas on how to manage more sleep room.  

 How cool.....baby storage.  

 now THAT is the way to sleep as a child......  or an adult.

 How creative....

 Nice idea on storage... of said human storage.

 Nice place to hang them too...

 Even NICER place to hang them.....   Nice...

 Huh....what a cool idea.  I love it.  Put a drawer there!

 Yeah I am so going to do that....

 Solar charger....nice...

More storage!.... nice idea there buddy.

some backstory and what I wanted my van to have.

Alright!!!  Onward with the information stream about our Shiggles.  Some background information I just found I thought was a good idea to mention.  I was looking through my photo archive and found the photos of craigslist vehicles that might have been a good candidate for our moving house on wheels adventure wagon.  Below are a few of the ones I looked at. 

 I was looking at newer eurovans

 Older 70's buses....

 Vehicles with BT4 diesels in them

 Box trucks

 Cargo Vans

 

And Vanagons!  

I ended up going with the vanagons for multiple reasons.  The most important one, aftermarket support, followed by Size, Design, cost, customizability, and looks.  I didnt like the 70's buses because they were just to damn small. Plus, the engine bay/engine was a nightmare to work on (ergonomics yo) and it was out of date and underpowered.  I just didnt want to hassle with trying to have to find 70's bus parts in the middle of montana when we broke down because something wasnt meant to go 60 mph.  All of the other options also seemed to not fit the criteria as well.  Either they were too large, not enough aftermarket support, didnt allow enough customization, or were just too expensive.  So the vanagon was the choice.

Inspiration and Examples of what I liked in Vanagons!

(not my vanagon/vehicles...)

 I would love to have a vehicle like this....but although out of my reach at the moment, it was something I consider a good representation of what I wanted.  I also think this vehicle was made in Europe....The place where alllll awesome cars are.  I hate the US for how limited we are on variety in vehicles. 

 The back shot showing a ladder and hitch stuff. 

 These sorts of little tricks were nice to see lots of vanagon owners doing.  Seemed people really loved these vehicles. 

 Again, more things to show how nice they could look if you spent some time on them.  I REALLY like how this looks.  Not really the colors, but the presentation and utility aspect of it.

 And who doesnt like sound systems?  What a nicely done door panel. 

 More little curtains and things to hang off of the back of the van.  I really enjoyed the automatic awning that the vanagon back hatch provided.

 OOOoooo Nice interior there mate

 Yeah I could dig some solar panels on the top of my van.  Its totally in the plan! And of course, my biggest pet peeve is NOT having enough light.  So a big part of my restoration plan was to make sure I had enough LED lighting for alllll different situations.  The photo below is a good example of nice lighting in a vanagon.  Even distribution, nice color, good locations...etc..

 

 Yay more stuff to hang off the back of vanagons.

 I was also at this time looking at photos of wheels and tire combos. I found these next few photos which embodied EXACTLY what I wanted to see on my vanagon.  The cream colored vanagon below will essentially be my Shiggles in a different color when Im done with her. 

 UGH!!!  Look at those RIMS!!!!  They will be MINE!!!

And that bitchin Tire Carrier!  I want it!!