Frito's Bulkhead

glasseye

Well-known member
With the holidays over and Frito in the shop for his annual winter rest, I can finally turn to the bulkhead project. After a year or so of on-the-road layout testing, I've settled on a removable gaucho bed behind the driver's seat. This, combined with a LHS forward RV-style window, makes for a very nice place to spend the night. The bulkheads will provide sound insulation and shelf space. Everything except the bulkheads themselves will be easily removable for occasional large cargo hauling.




The single bunk provides for storage underneath in easily removable plastic tubs and leaves plenty of reserve space aft of the bunk for motorcycles, tripods and other camping gear.





For the occasional overnight guest, I'll take the "lower bunk" - the floor. :lol:

The two bulkhead sections will be 20" apart, leaving plenty of room to access the cab from the cargo area and vice versa. They'll be made of 3/4" oak plywood and supported by framing of fir material left over from a household flooring project. So far, the bulkheads consist of scraps of wood taped in place and the bed is a sheet of cardboard resting on plastic crates and water jugs. So far so good.:tongue:



Last year, Theo Kindermans sent me a full-sized template of an existing T1N cargo partition. You can imagine how valuable this is for matching the plywood to Frito's complex side curvatures. THANK YOU THEO! :cheers:



Punching through the template with a tiny screwdriver into the cardboard below to create an intermediate template for testing and fitting.




Check out the great job Theo did of ensuring a good matchup of the three sheets of tracing paper that he used to create the template.:thumbup:
 

maxextz

Rollin Rollin Rollin.....
omg:drool: what a workshop and the tools:hmmm:what fun to be had.:drool:
and indoors.....fantastic id love something like that.

dont forget more pictures needed.:popcorn:
subbed.:thumbup:
love your side window.
 

220629

Well-known member
,,,

For the occasional overnight guest, I'll take the "lower bunk" - the floor. :lol:

...

THANK YOU THEO! :cheers:

...
Not that you asked... If you're serious about the lower bunk, I know I would be, don't forget to leave yourself an access slot between the upper bunk and the door latch so you can reach up from below (or above depending upon bed platform hieght) and get out. I know this because I ended up cutting an opening in my loft bed so we could access the rear door latch to open it. The bed platform blocked us from it. In the case of our platform bed it actually had some safety reasons for escape if there was a fire in the front section. Your situation is probably similar.

As Max said, what a great looking shop. Looks real workable and cozy complete with fireplace. :thumbup: Have fun. vic
 

glasseye

Well-known member
Not sure what you mean by accessing the door, Vic. You mean the slider? The only doors I won't be able to easily reach will be the cab doors. Since my bulkhead has a door in it, I shouldn't have any problems getting out.

Now removing the big, single-piece front floor mat. Not easy! :idunno: I'm taking pix as I go so I might have a chance of getting it back in.

It is wonderful having a heated garage to work in. It's not shanemac weather out there, but it's sn*wing. :frown:
 

220629

Well-known member
Yep, the slider. Even if both your bulkheads have access doors the slider is a way out if there's a problem in the front (fire, heaven forbid) when your gear blocks a rear exit through the bulkhead. Maybe I should have waited for pictures to comment, but thought that maybe it would be easier to plan ahead for it.

It is wonderful having a heated garage to work in.
Sure, rub it in. :rolleyes: Have fun. vic
 

Gulf SV

Kevin Burns
Looks pretty nice, Glasseye. I'm envious as I sit here while the interior warms up enough to get back outside. A couple of questions for you.

Whose window is on the driver side? Looks like it fits nicely to the factory indents.
Why a bulkhead?
And is that a factory window in the slider?

I'm ready to pull my front mat. Planning on using the extra relay sockets to run accessories, and I'm looking for paths to the console area for wire.

Looking forward to your progress. :clapping:
 
Glasseye,

where did you get the window on the side? Did the van come with it? I would like to get a sliding window to put on my van, even two, one on each side. Anybody has any ideas? Thanks,

narcis
 

teamtexas

A Dad owner with a '03
Glasseye, run back up camera wiring NOW!!! How easy it would have been at that stage :doh:

Your shop is way too clean, can't wait to see the after pictures!

Happy Building
Dan
 

glasseye

Well-known member
It is a "Creation" window. Sourced directly from On High, I bought it from Doktor A on my visit to World Sprinter Headquarters.

As my old friend from Oz Bob Rose would say: "Fits like a finger in a bum". It is SO nice to have an open, screened window about six inches from my face on hot summer nights.:thumbup:

GulfSV, the bulkhead is for noise abatement, shelving and a place to anchor the bunk. Mainly noise, though.

Bulkhead templates cut and taped in place and vinyl front mat removed. Pix tomorrow.
 
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glasseye

Well-known member


Cardboard intermediate templates cut and installed. A perfect fit first time, Theo. :thumbup:



Vinyl Floor removed. Some rust under there. Weird for a vehicle that was stored in Las Vegas for five years. Current plans are to coat the cab floor with several coats of "Quietcar" paint-on noise reduction goo, followed by a 1/8" layer of closed cell foam and then a 1/8" layer of 1 lb per square foot of mass loaded vinyl and then the original mat. If that doesn't quiet down Frito's cab noise, I dunno what will.:idunno:

I'm considering re-locating the jack to gain more passenger foot room. The bulkhead on the passenger side restricts rearward seat positioning significantly.






These three torx screws are located right behind the driver's seat base. I can't figure out what they're for because they terminate under the fuel tank. Anybody know what they do? My bulkhead install will interfere with access to these.
 

220629

Well-known member
...
Anybody know what they do? My bulkhead install will interfere with access to these.
I shouldn't answer this because as I was out in my cold garage today I thought of your toasty warm shop a few times. :smilewink:

Those fasteners are for a fire extinguisher bracket which has evidently been removed by someone previous to you. I think all the NAFTA cargo models had one there? Anyway, you can cover the screws.

Your bulkhead layout looks great! :thumbup:
vic
 
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hkpierce

'02 140 Hi BlueBlk Pass
Vinyl Floor removed. Some rust under there. Weird for a vehicle that was stored in Las Vegas for five years. Current plans are to coat the cab floor with several coats of "Quietcar" paint-on noise reduction goo, followed by a 1/8" layer of closed cell foam and then a 1/8" layer of 1 lb per square foot of mass loaded vinyl and then the original mat. If that doesn't quiet down Frito's cab noise, I dunno what will.:idunno:.
If it is goo, remember the passenger side floor gets quite warm from the exhaust system.



These three torx screws are located right behind the driver's seat base. I can't figure out what they're for because they terminate under the fuel tank. Anybody know what they do? My bulkhead install will interfere with access to these.
Those are the bolts that hold the bracket for the optional emergency sign kit.
 

220629

Well-known member
Those are the bolts that hold the bracket for the optional emergency sign kit.
Oops... again for me. Mr. Pierce is correct as would be expected. I stuck my fire extinguisher in that bracket with a strap so I put that in the mix. I'm not conceding optional though, didn't most cargo models have them? :rolleyes: vic
 

glasseye

Well-known member
Mine had another bracket installed in the driver's footwell. It interfered with removing the plastic footwell insert, so off it came, too. I could see the other side of those bolts in the electrical bay under the seat, so I knew that whatever it was, it wasn't necessary. I thought that bracket was for the emergency triangle. Whatever was there is long gone. :idunno:
 

glasseye

Well-known member
I drilled out the steel rivets holding the jack mount to the floor and regained about 12 inches more "foot" room for the passenger.






I also cut out the relatively useless insulation that was hanging loosely against the firewall. I can do better than this.






A small drill dispatched the heads on the aluminum rivets and the flooring lifted right up.




Under the plywood flooring is a layer of what amounts to asphalt shingles. Approximately zero sound and thermal insulation value. Out it came.



So much for the "undo" part of the job. Now, the "do" part starts. :bash:

Here's DB's finish flooring material. What appears at the slider to be three-quarters thick Micarta is actually quarter inch plywood. No wonder these vehicles are so noisy when stock.



Some forensics. When delivered, Frito had an aftermarket rear bench seat. I removed it and plugged its mounting holes right through the flooring with silicone. When I pulled the floor, my plugs were still there, along with the drill chips from the original seat install. Check out the rust. And this from a desert vehicle.



Frito's a Canadian immigrant. When I pulled the floor, I found this dime, sole surviving evidence of his former life as an American. Look at that cruddy flooring. Anything I put down is going to be quieter than that.:idunno:



Insulation materials arrive later this week. :rolleyes:
 

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