Meet Jupiter- a Camper van Build

Then there was that ad on Craigslist. As soon as I saw it I called the guy.
"Hey wanna go look at a van?" She was in.
I met the guy by the Museum on Northern Arizona and took it for a ride. The four wheel drive works, but he couldn't identify the conversion company. The brakes were a little wonky, and it leaked fluids from every seal. He wanted $8500.
 "I dunno. It needs about three grand in repairs. Hows about $8000?"
"Hows about 8200?"
"Sold." She says. 
I wasn't done haggling, but whats a couple a hundred bucks, when I'll be spending all my discretionary income to a hapless project with out ever any hope of remuneration for years to come...... or eternity!

Here she was:

There we have it A 95 Ford Econoline E150, 4wd, Dana 60s from a 3/4 ton, 5.8l gas engine. 187k on the clock. It was a conversion van done by Waldoch. It has two Flexsteel captains chairs. No back seats, but a cheesy bed frame made by the previous, previous owner. Rear Pro Air AC/Heat. CD player with Aux input, groovy flashing LED lights that pulse with the music (first to go). Those standard CRLawrence windows with shades. The brakes and the AC were both weak. Oh, and some hippy funk. It lived up in Durango, and made someone a really nice ski van. The salt on the road there wreaked havoc with the body and they Rhino lined the rockers to cover it up.

I'm not afraid to roll up my sleeves, and am pretty handy with a paint gun. I kinda detest heavy mechanical work though. So the first stop for the van was the mechanic. The first order of business was to fix all the leaks. Radiator, hoses, belts, oil pan gaskets, valve cover gaskets, tune up, and distributor. The manifolds were both rusted out and the EGR tube. Those were replaced. There runs purrrfect now. ($2000) "Well I don't know about the tranny, the fluid looks clean but it shifts hard 1,2 and slips 3,4." "Yeah the previous owner just had the fluid changed." "I wish I knew if there were metal shavings in the pan." "Is it going to leave me stranded?" "Maybe." Well that's not what I wanted to hear. I didn't think it shifted all that bad, but true, there were no service records except the last oil and transmission fluid change and alignment. That was done within the last year. Hmm hem and haw hem and haw. "If it aint broke don't fix it." She says "Maybe." He says Then I think back... that time we got stuck in the sand in the Vw Bus at Lone Rock. She freaked out and almost needed a valium. At least there my cell phone worked and could call a tow truck.... (long story). "Okay put a tranny in it." "We only use Jasper Transmissions." Cha ching. $3600

Here we go.......

Old Vw

Here's a couple of shots of the bus before I painted it. Ha, looking back at some of these older photos...it's been ten years since I painted it. Almost can't remember it any other way. The camping shot was taken at the top of Jacks Canyon near Winslow. Dig the flower stencils on the cabinets.

VW Camper in Spring Snow in Sedona

Kristi and I wanted to play tourist here locally and visit destinations in Sedona and the Verde Valley for spring break. We had discovered this cool spot among the Red Rocks and Native ruins about nine miles down a dirt road. We knew that there was a storm front coming in, but weren't concerned thinking that it would just rain. We had no idea Sedona was expecting snow. Indeed the rain began about midnight and pounded us while we slept. We awoke to absolute silence. I flung the door open to discover about 5 inches of snow on top of the already muddy ground. Completely unprepared for these conditions, I promptly got the van stuck. Using the only tool I had in the arsenal, a small spade, I shoveled the campsite to the road in hopes that if I got there we'd have enough traction to continue driving. Backing the van like it was a front wheel drive car, I managed to avoid the ditch and get to the main dirt road. It was a little touch and go fish tailing and all, but eventually we got to the pavement. When we got to Sedona proper we discovered the highway back to Flagstaff was closed. With snow still falling in buckets, we decided to drive around and capture this rare event in such an iconic location.

VW Camper at the Snake River

Found a great little campground right on the Snake River.  Beware of the mosquitoes and bears though.  The droppings were as thick as the bugs!

The morning brought some really cool fog.

VW at Monument Valley

Here we are at the Monument Valley 'campground.' Dusk at the mittens. It was a very windy trip, and we ran over lots of tumbleweeds. But we had a great time with our dogs and the bus.

76 VW Van Not Ready for the Pasture

Ha! It seems as though I haven't updated this blog in a few years. I've been spending most of my blog time over at agassizimaging.blogspot.com posting and talking about landscape photography. I started this blog to chronicle some of my travel exploits and most of it includes campervanning in Kristi's (and mine by virtue of labor) 76 Type II Transporter Westfalia Campmobile. I've since purchased a newer van and am in the process of retro-fitting it to be the ultimate 4x4 Campmobile. Anyway the next few post will be a closer look at the Volkswagen, where it's been and what kind of modifications we made to keep it running and a viable as a camper van.


The image posted here was taken at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with some off camera lighting and high Iso.

The Shower is Done!

It took only seven months and $7k but the steam shower is done, and works great! Its always nice to see a vision come to fruition, even if it takes 5 years and countless hours of work, a little blood, and a lot of money (for me).
Building it took about 3 months, piece by piece, cut by cut. The shower glass guys took 4 months to finally get it right. Check it out!