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It sounds like this build is just a little out of your "do-it-yourself" level. You might want to find a shop with an adventurous mechanic, and float it by him. Just trying to get ideas from people online, then playing Dr. Frankenstein sounds dangerous. I wish you all the luck though. It's something I can't do. The mere fact that I know where my limits are, stops me. I once had a crazy idea to drop a Ford 302 crate engine into a salvage yard Mazda RX7. But once I figured out that I did not have the knowledge, tools, or shop to do it in, I quickly factored in what it would cost to pay a mechanic.....and my dreams were killed. Actually, I had help. My ex was a real dream killer. She sprinkled reality into every one of my hopes and dreams. She kept reminding me that I was too old, fat, bald, and short to play in The NBA. She kept pointing out that no matter how many videos I made, and posted online, the adult video business was not knocking on our door because Ron Jeremy did his own stunts. She kept inviting her mother over, to remind me of what she would eventually turn into.

Mobil 1 is something that a lot of people swear by. Is it better? Is it better for what you're driving? Does Costco have a better price than Wal*Mart? I've been getting deliveries of Mag1 from an Amazon subscribe and save deal. It is a full synthetic. And the debate is out there over it's value & worth. Much like the debate for other oil brands. We have a little local boutique brand around here, RedLine, that a lot of people like. And guys who can afford to spend a little more will go with Royal Purple. Let's not forget the Amsoil cult. I've used Pennzoil, Lucas Oil, and on a few occasions, even the Wal*Mart brand of full synthetic. Switched back & forth between full synthetic, semi-synth, and even conventional. At times, I've used "high mileage" oil. Other times, not even the OEM spec weight. Plenty of times, I've mixed different oils......2 qts of this, 1 qt of that, and so forth. I'm not wasting oil I paid for. No science what-so-ever. I've always bought on sale and/or with a coupon. And I've never given up a car due to motor oil related failure.

Thanks for the photos. I notice when I lift the tailgate, my parking lights come on automatically and so does the license plate light. It should be pretty easy to install an LED light on the inside of the liftgate and with a mercury switch so it only lights when the liftgate is raised, it will make a very useful light to illuminate the cargo area when loading or unloading Don

You're right about that. If I need something with better payload, I would surely buy a van with more payload. If I want more power, I would buy a car that is faster. In my case, I knew going in, that I was not getting a quick car. Test drives confirmed it's lack of pedal power. It suited my needs to carry more than 2 people (i.e. cab of pickup truck or little Honda which nobody fits in the back seat), and the little four cyclinder was sure to be more fuel efficient than other multi-passenger vehicles with bigger engines. Of course being frugal, the pricing appealed to me as well. If I had wanted something nicer, I could have spent a lot more money. So shortcomings aside, I sort of got what I paid for. It's like eating in a cheap Chinese restaurant. You don't expect or get 5 star service or food.

We were shopping for a SWB van to travel in, but we were kinda put off by the 'sparse' interior - I figured it would have to be harder to heat and cool and probably a bit noisier at freeway speeds too But then, we got to thinking that occasionally, one or more of the grandkids would like to go with us on a trip and trying to fashion a safe and legal seat in the back of the van would be difficult, to say the least, so we started looking at wagons with the rear seats. Unfortunately, not one sales rep at any dealer we checked knew a darned thing about the TC wagons - We especially wanted to know how difficult it would be to remove the rear seats for the times we didn't need them, or when they were taking up space we needed for something else. "I suppose you could probably find some way to unbolt them and take them out" was the best advice we got We eventually found the 'right' TC SWB wagon - A used 2014 with only 13K on it and almost 2 years of the 3 year, 36K warranty left and we were able to buy it for $10.5K off the sticker. As it turns out, the rear seatbacks fold flat, then if you need more space, they lift vertically to stow just behind the front buckets and if that's still not enough space, they lift completely out of the van in 30 seconds using no tools at all. You can take out the larger one or the smaller one separately or you can remove them both. At the price for this barely used one, it was much cheaper than a new cargo van . . . . and this one has leather power seats. It took us over 6 weeks to find the right one and we had to travel 400 miles to bring it home, but it was really worth the wait Don

Engine off, key in pocket, any rear door open: Push the turn signal switch forward then back. Hear one chirp. This tuns off the outside lights until the next time the car has been locked. The dome lights will still stay on for ten minutes after each time a front door has been closed and opened.