hilld's slow roll build

hilld

Well-known member
Before moving onto the plumbing, I had also route the coolant lines under the van into the engine compartment. I needed about 2 runs of 30' each and I called around to a couple of auto parts stores and they told me $2/foot. I found 50' boxes on Amazon for $49, so times 2 that was still less than what the autoparts stores wanted. Now I either have spare hose or I can sell it to the next van builder. I digress.

More hose leaking out of the bottom of the van. :rolleyes:

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Routed along the passenger side floorboard

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and out of the hood

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Still to be done, tie into the heater core outlet. But since I am currently having some issues with lack of heat, I am not doing anything where the dealer till tell me you don't have heat due to x, y or z. Van is going to the shop tomorrow for that and a boatload of recalls.

But of course the hose installation is not complete until I made some more custom brackets. I think instead of rating the complexity of a job with a number of wrenches, I will it by the number of brackets I had to fabricate. More ornaments for the tree.
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gltrimble

2017 170 4x4
I still remember those incredible donuts from Roche Harbor. June of 1983, our honeymoon. Stayed in the Presidential Suite. The bed had large blocks under one end of the bed because the floor was so old and not level.
 

gltrimble

2017 170 4x4
It appears your Espar D2 is drawing the unheated air from the outside via your filter? You will be unable to heat the interior significantly with this arrangement. Another forum member made the same mistake. Claimed he could only heat the interior to 40F when it was 20F outside. Your Espar adds heat, perhaps10-20 degrees, on each pass through the heater so eventually you reach your desired temperature by recycling the heated air. If you always start with 20F air from the outside the interior will never exceed 40F.
 

hilld

Well-known member
It appears your Espar D2 is drawing the unheated air from the outside via your filter? You will be unable to heat the interior significantly with this arrangement. Another forum member made the same mistake. Claimed he could only heat the interior to 40F when it was 20F outside. Your Espar adds heat, perhaps10-20 degrees, on each pass through the heater so eventually you reach your desired temperature by recycling the heated air. If you always start with 20F air from the outside the interior will never exceed 40F.
Thanks for the heads up. I will see what I can do to draw in inside air into the Espar.
 

hilld

Well-known member

hilld

Well-known member
So now the heater hoses are hooked up to the hot water heater. I had the vehicle at the dealer for some warranty work and recalls and had them hook up the hoses as I wanted the water to go through the heatercore first, then the Isotemp. Here is how they hooked it up. They pressure tested my connections and fittings at the water heater and then vacuum filled the cooling system. They charged me for an hour labor.

At the firewall, it is the heater core hose to the left if looking at the firewall. The hose normally connects to the aluminum tube in the background, that tube is completely bypassed now.

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The return from the IsoTemp now hooks up to the H-valve along the passenger side frame rail behind the radiator. If you look just below the heater hose connected to the H-valve, you will see the other end of the aluminum tubing that has been disconnected.

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dust999

Member
If you are talking about the heater hose, I bought 2 boxes of this.
I also bought 2 of these fittings to attach to the water heater, along with the required loctite.

You will still need some fittings to splice into the heater hoses in the engine compartment as well as clamps to support the hoses under the van.
Thx. I have the aux heater under the driver side and will tap into those hoses.
 

Airtime

Well-known member
If you are talking about the heater hose, I bought 2 boxes of this.
I also bought 2 of these fittings to attach to the water heater, along with the required loctite.

You will still need some fittings to splice into the heater hoses in the engine compartment as well as clamps to support the hoses under the van.
Looking good, thanks for posting. Where did you get the hose support clamps you used to run along the frame rail?
 

hilld

Well-known member
Here are the clamps I used. For the heater hose, it is the 7/8" clamp. https://www.talleycom.com/viewProduct?rlProdNum=ANDBHD-78
For the insulated water lines, I ended up with the 1-1/4" clamps. https://www.talleycom.com/viewProduct?rlProdNum=ANDBHD-114 -- You will just have to add your own center bolt, self drilling screw, etc to hold it all together. Hope that helps. NOTE: It took a few days to get the account created, so I would suggest if you need them you start the process sooner rather than last minute.
 

hilld

Well-known member
I mentioned in the list of items in post #204 that I made an entry pole and here are some of the pics. The 3500XD 4x4 does have quite a bit of ground clearance made even worse by larger tires. When I say worse, that is only in terms of getting into the van. Since I didn't have the grab bar for the sliding door and have not been able to find a reliable source of correct part numbers, I decided, what the hell, let me make a pole that has infinite places for a person to grab onto, be it my wife, my brothers 7 year old daughter, etc. There has to be an easier way for them to get in the van.

So here is what I ended up with, just like my other build requirements, I want everything to be modular, so it attaches to the smart floor on the bottom and to the L-track at the top.

Final installed pic:
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Top Bracket, didn't have much success bending the Aluminum so I just cut it and welded it.

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The tubing used, 1-1/4 diameter x 1/8" wall - I had originally purchased some 1" tubing, but it bent too easily, so the upgrade to 1-1/4"

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For the bottom piece, I had some leftover rectangular tubing from the table build, so I used that. Drilled a hole all the way through (ended up quite a bit larger than the hole saw size) so I had quite a bit of gap to fill while welding, hence welds that are not the prettiest, but they are still strong.

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Welded around the tube, top and bottom. It was a bit awkward as I could not flip the piece around easily with a 6' pole extending from the bottom tubing and a bracket attached, all sitting on my small welding table. Had to move the torch quite a bit and doing that while using a foot pedal, lets say not ideal.

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Overall happy with the result, but if I ever build a next gen, I will make sure the hole in the bottom bracket is the correct size and that I have a helper holding parts. I did all of this solo and could have used an extra pair of hands for some of this.
 

hilld

Well-known member
Also I finished off the floor around the entry step by using some 1-1/4" aluminum angle, cutting the miters and then welding it. Installed with some stainless pan head screws. If you look at the last pic from the previous post, you will see I had to put in some 1" scrap material pieces to prevent the top from bending (floor is hollow). Before putting on the edge trim, I did place a few pieces of the 1" square hemlock in the gap to stiffen the whole thing up.

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Airtime

Well-known member
Here are the clamps I used. For the heater hose, it is the 7/8" clamp. https://www.talleycom.com/viewProduct?rlProdNum=ANDBHD-78
For the insulated water lines, I ended up with the 1-1/4" clamps. https://www.talleycom.com/viewProduct?rlProdNum=ANDBHD-114 -- You will just have to add your own center bolt, self drilling screw, etc to hold it all together. Hope that helps. NOTE: It took a few days to get the account created, so I would suggest if you need them you start the process sooner rather than last minute.
Thanks, got them ordered. I'm going with 3/4" hose as you did--only incrementally more cost than 5/8 and since there's room why not minimize losses in a longer run? Especially when I'm planning to put the water heater in front of and in series with the cab heater.

Following your build now, looks like we're doing some similar things and I like what you're posting, thanks for doing it!
 

hilld

Well-known member
Thanks, got them ordered. I'm going with 3/4" hose as you did--only incrementally more cost than 5/8 and since there's room why not minimize losses in a longer run? Especially when I'm planning to put the water heater in front of and in series with the cab heater.

Following your build now, looks like we're doing some similar things and I like what you're posting, thanks for doing it!
Make sure you don't copy the mistakes. ;)
 

johnplyler

2020 4x4
I haven't heard any comments from your trips (or didn't see them), so guess all your electrical system went as planned. We have basically the same setup except I did a DIY battery. I didn't see a pre-charge controler in your build. Did you use one? From what I have gathered, some builds have them and others don't??

Also, did you use contactors? I didn't see any info. with my Wakespeed controller except the Quick Start Guide. Did you get anything else? Maybe it is online?
Thanks
 

hilld

Well-known member
The last few trips with the van were basically just hauling shit. I tried to work on the van over the Xmas break, but it was 14*F outside and we got almost 14" of snow, so not much progress was made. I did have a problem with the wakespeed regulator not turning on (not showing up on the CAN-bus and not charging the batteries). I called WS and talked to Neil and Al and basically, I need a firmware upgrade as the older one I had won't charge if below 5*C. Took out the reg, drove over to Al's (icy roads and all) and he updated the firmware for me and tested it to make sure all is well. Put it back in and it is working again.

The only updates I have is that I wired up the Isotemp to the AC side, installed a couple more outlets, installed some of the factory lower panels II bought from another member here, and had some diamond plate cut at the local metal shop (ouch $900 for 4 pieces). I plan on installing that in the next week or so, when I go back to the island (van is there right now). Still have to cut some ventilation holes and weld in some expanded aluminum metal for the holes.

I did hook up the shore power cable and put a 1500W space heater in there to make it tolerable to work in the van.

Here are some pics of the test fitting.

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johnplyler

2020 4x4
The last few trips with the van were basically just hauling shit. I tried to work on the van over the Xmas break, but it was 14*F outside and we got almost 14" of snow, so not much progress was made. I did have a problem with the wakespeed regulator not turning on (not showing up on the CAN-bus and not charging the batteries). I called WS and talked to Neil and Al and basically, I need a firmware upgrade as the older one I had won't charge if below 5*C. Took out the reg, drove over to Al's (icy roads and all) and he updated the firmware for me and tested it to make sure all is well. Put it back in and it is working again.

The only updates I have is that I wired up the Isotemp to the AC side, installed a couple more outlets, installed some of the factory lower panels II bought from another member here, and had some diamond plate cut at the local metal shop (ouch $900 for 4 pieces). I plan on installing that in the next week or so, when I go back to the island (van is there right now). Still have to cut some ventilation holes and weld in some expanded aluminum metal for the holes.

I did hook up the shore power cable and put a 1500W space heater in there to make it tolerable to work in the van.

Here are some pics of the test fitting.

View attachment 205477

View attachment 205478
Wow! Guess I need my firmware updated as well since I will be in below 0 weather as well, but I cannot run by Al's house! Wouldn't this be online? I know you got your Wakespeed Controler after me.
So, guess you didn't use the two contactors or the precharge controler? You know Nate Yarbrough does not use them as far as I can well in his YouTubes on Explorist Life.
 

hilld

Well-known member
It appears your Espar D2 is drawing the unheated air from the outside via your filter? You will be unable to heat the interior significantly with this arrangement. Another forum member made the same mistake. Claimed he could only heat the interior to 40F when it was 20F outside. Your Espar adds heat, perhaps10-20 degrees, on each pass through the heater so eventually you reach your desired temperature by recycling the heated air. If you always start with 20F air from the outside the interior will never exceed 40F.
I got to try this out in 14*F weather and the discharge temp was around 100*F so it will heat. Granted it would be more efficient drawing inside air. I will see if I want to put a valve in to be able to change back and forth.
 

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