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KevinRollin

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Everything posted by KevinRollin

  1. KevinRollin
    There were 5 crudely-done holes in the left-rear cargo area, installed by the original owner to hold down some mystery piece of equipment. Basically looks like they drilled tiny pilot holes through the rubber mat and the metal floor, then anchored the device with four big lag screws. I don't need any of the holes, and while I considered installing threaded plus it’s, my bigger concern was rust and water intrusion. I peeled back the mat and dug all the metal shard from the drilling out of the foam. Then ground down the bent metal with a Dremel and sanding drum. A little black paint & primer, then some of the caulk leftover from the window project.
  2. KevinRollin
    Reflectix for Windows and nothing else in a vehicle! jrm223 explains why Im going to do a single layer of the black Noico on all exposed roof skin inside the van. It will be sound dampening, insulation, and ceiling in one; so worth the weight penalty. Remaining bits of Noico will get slapped on the inside of the exposed body panels, and those readily accessible behind the interior plastic and particleboard.
  3. KevinRollin
    Hi, Troy, I removed my driver seat so I could raise it up, and surveyed the passenger seat as well. It looks fairly easily removable. Four T50 Torx bolts in the seat rails, and the airbag and seatbelt warning wires (be gentle with the plugs for those). My 2018 Cargo has a fold-down front passenger seat. Is that no longer a feature in the 2020 models?
  4. KevinRollin
    Thanks! I hope some other forum users enjoy it and find it useful. Mine is definitely a metal tent! I did tons of research into van builds, including insulation. It’s a small space, and windows take up a lot of that. I now have a window in every panel, which makes it tough to insulate those portions. Below belt level, there is a lot of plastic trim, which provides some insulating value. I did order 36sq ft of Noico black butyl noise dampening that is going to go first in the ceiling in the back. Right now it’s bare steel. Leftovers from that will go on panels around the windows. I also have four panels of plastic-encased denim that I got free, and I’ll put those behind the plastic panels in the cargo area. If it starts to absorb moisture, I’ll toss it. I have some more photos that I’ll post soon.
  5. KevinRollin
    Would love to see photos of the setup when you have access to it again. Maybe a post detailing how you designed & built it. Good luck with the sale!
  6. KevinRollin
    Realized that if I didn’t offset the top, I could make it reversible in case I wanted to swap it to the passenger side. Got all all of my Kreg Jig holes drilled, holes for the tiedown bolts, corners quarter-rounded, and the ends installed on the bottom plywood. Later this week I’ll finish installing the screws.
  7. KevinRollin
    Finally got around to working on a sleeping platform. I’m doing a half-width bed, with about 12” of space underneath. Should hold four milk crates and three folding totes, or some combination of those. 75” long, but offset to allow for as much bed as possible behind the fully-rearward driver seat, but still use the forward tiedown bolt as an anchor. (Rear of van) (Front of van)
  8. KevinRollin
    Haha, make them work for it!
  9. KevinRollin
    Anyone do this? Something similar to the existing hatches to the rear of the wheel wells, but forward of the rear wheels. Seems like there is wasted space in there. Maybe for something like a small tool bag, tiedowns, etc. maybe paint one one of these self-adhesive access panels:
  10. KevinRollin
    1.25”: These bolts should leave the same thread engagement as OEM with a 1.25” spacer.
  11. KevinRollin
    I can see your point about 2” being too much. There’s a 1.25” option using similar hardware and spacers. I’ll post it later.
  12. KevinRollin
    Which bolt? The seat bolts? About an inch. A little over an inch. Threaded portion IIRC was slightly less than an inch. I could measure tomorrow maybe. Do you have something in mind for the stock bolts?
  13. KevinRollin
    Imade the mistake of trying to use a pair each of 2” diameter and 3” diameter blocks. I was thinking more surface area would be more structurally sound, but they don’t really fit. Don’t do that! A 3” block fits in the rear outboard position, but the floor underneath that one isn’t really contacting much more than 2” of it anyway. The front brackets need to be notched out for 3” to fit, and then they don’t sit flush on the body metal because of the vinyl flooring. 2” all around fit easily.
  14. KevinRollin
    Here’s how to do it: Lean your seat back forward so it centers the weight above the seat brackets. Remove all 4 bolts holding the seat in place using the Torx T50 bit. Miracle the seat into the air, or lean it forward/backward so that you can get the riser blocks under the seat brackets. Insert the new bolts through the seat bracket and risers, installing finger-tight for now. Once all bolts are in, tighten with the 15mm socket to the appropriate torque. Enjoy your new legroom and enhanced view of the road!
  15. KevinRollin
    It is possible to raise the front seats up 2” using easily-obtained parts with no drilling or machining. Is it safe? That’s up to you. I’m sure Internet Lawyers and Internet Engineers will be along shortly to debate it. I am neither of those. Here’s what you need: Zone Off Road 2” body lift blocks (4 per seat) M10x1.5 75mm class 10.9 steel screws/bolts Torx T50 bit (to remove OEM seat bolts) 15mm socket (to install new bolts)
  16. KevinRollin
    Got the bolts today. They’re the right pitch, and screw in easily to the tiedown anchor holes which are the same as the seats. Too late tonight, but hopefully Friday I’ll get to put the lift on my driver seat.
  17. KevinRollin
    I believe they are the right thread pitch. We’ll find out later this week! I ordered two each, 2” and 3”. I wanted as much surface area contact as possible, but I don’t think the 3” would fit under the rear “legs”. Depending on how they fit I’ll order some combination of 2” & 3” for the other seat.
  18. KevinRollin
    The issue isn’t so much the depth out from the skin, it’s that the rubber doesn’t go to the edges of the frame. The butyl rope as mentioned above might have helped, but I think the caulk was inevitable given the curvature. Butyl tape would still leave seams open to water from above.
  19. KevinRollin
    Ok, I did it. Ordered the spacer pucks above and these bolts:
  20. KevinRollin
    Vintage Technologies doesn’t provide much in the way of instructions. There is a soft rubber gasket around the window, where some other windows use butyl tape. I used caulk to seal the edge of the window to the body panel, outboard of the rubber seal. On the portions of the window that tough the radius of the panel it’s probably not necessary, but there are spots where it doesn’t contour. I was worried water would pool there and seep in.
  21. KevinRollin
    So I showed the above 5/8” deck blocks to a friend who’s into Jeeps. He told me that they looked similar to the “body lift” blocks used to raise a Jeep tub above the frame to allow bigger tires. Some googling and eBay searching and I found a guy selling custom Delrin blocks, and also mass-produced molded ones. These things are designed to hold a lot of weight (commercial ones advertised at 60,000lbs!) so shouldn’t crush under a car seat even under crash load. ZoneOffroad.com Anyone try something similar?
  22. KevinRollin
    I’ve been looking for more ways to raise my seat(s). Cutting metal tubing is out of my wheelhouse at the moment. Saw these at Home Depot a few weeks ago. Plastic spacers for building decks. Very dense plastic. 2.5” diameter, just shy of 5/8” thick, hole diameter just more than 5/8”. Back side has cutouts that might fit the locator pins. I need to measure the thread engagement on the stock OEM seat bolts to see if these would work without new hardware.
  23. KevinRollin
    PI got them both in! Second one on the other side went in infinitely easier. The second one I moved back about an inch and there was less interference with the body metal. Instead of tracing the trim ring, I used the template that I’d measured/made when I was trying to determine if the windows would fit. I fit it into the right spot on the inside then drilled two locating holes. Observing the correct orientation (make an arrow toward the front or something) transfer the template to the outside and use two screws to hold it in place. I did this cut same as me as the first, with a Dremel tool and spiral cut bit. Window went in fine. I realized that regardless of positioning, a 24x15 window is too large to fit flush with the curved side plastic panels. Just too big. A smaller window would fit more flush. So I caulked the outside edge.
  24. KevinRollin
    Interior view of the driver side window, and the interference due to mounting too far forward: I drilled and installed some extra extra screws to try to pull the window closer to the curve of the door panel.
  25. KevinRollin
    Well, after considerable difficulty, I got one of the windows in. A couple things: 1. It’s a two-person job. One inside, one outside. 2. The 15x24 window is so big, that it doesn’t work well with the curved plastic side panels. A smaller window would be easier. 3. The fore/aft positioning makes a considerable difference in fit. If I’d put it a half-inch back it would have been less hassle. I’ll write up more on the install later. I never was able to contact the Instagrammer I posted above, so I have no idea if they had the same issues.
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