Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
Forum Discussion
Gas Tank Pick-up Pipe installation continued:
Before moving forward I'm going to take some measurements in case someone else needs to use this info. Placed a drywall T-square tight against one of the floor ridges. I'm using the T-square to keep the ruler I'll be using perpendicular to the side of the van.
Here's the ruler pushed up against both the inside wall and the lower right edge of the formed metal "hump" piece. I'll be measuring along the left edge of the ruler. Notice there is a small recess where the hump meets the wall that the top of the ruler bridges. My measurement ignores that small recess.
Move down 27" from the wall and measure over to each edge of the hanger plate. The tape measure was moved to the left edge of the ruler after this picture was taken.
2-3/4" one side
8-1/2" the other.
Due to parallax these measurements aren't exact but I think close enough.
Before removing the fuel hanger I decide to make the cover plate for the hole I just put in the van floor. Took the piece I hand hack sawed from the floor and measured it's thickness with a slightly out-of-zero micrometer.
Looks to be around 0.040" thick which according to a chart I used is closest to 19 gauge sheet steel.
I have a steel sheet laying around the garage with similar thickness. Next need the dimensions. 10" x 10" looks about right.
To get a good fit with the cover plate I'm going to have to replicate the floor ridges. I need to find a way to get their angle. Use the same piece of cut flooring that I previously measured with the micrometer. Put it up against my sliding T-bevel tool to replicate the angle. The floor piece is edge-on in this picture.
Measuring the angle gets 47 degrees or 133 degrees depending how you look at it.
Cut out a 10"x10" square of sheet metal. Take some more measurements from the van floor then put the sheet metal in my home made bending "rig".
Start bending and measuring.
Repeat.
Done. Not a bad fit.
Prime and paint the cover plate.
continued -
Before moving forward I'm going to take some measurements in case someone else needs to use this info. Placed a drywall T-square tight against one of the floor ridges. I'm using the T-square to keep the ruler I'll be using perpendicular to the side of the van.
Here's the ruler pushed up against both the inside wall and the lower right edge of the formed metal "hump" piece. I'll be measuring along the left edge of the ruler. Notice there is a small recess where the hump meets the wall that the top of the ruler bridges. My measurement ignores that small recess.
Move down 27" from the wall and measure over to each edge of the hanger plate. The tape measure was moved to the left edge of the ruler after this picture was taken.
2-3/4" one side
8-1/2" the other.
Due to parallax these measurements aren't exact but I think close enough.
Before removing the fuel hanger I decide to make the cover plate for the hole I just put in the van floor. Took the piece I hand hack sawed from the floor and measured it's thickness with a slightly out-of-zero micrometer.
Looks to be around 0.040" thick which according to a chart I used is closest to 19 gauge sheet steel.
I have a steel sheet laying around the garage with similar thickness. Next need the dimensions. 10" x 10" looks about right.
To get a good fit with the cover plate I'm going to have to replicate the floor ridges. I need to find a way to get their angle. Use the same piece of cut flooring that I previously measured with the micrometer. Put it up against my sliding T-bevel tool to replicate the angle. The floor piece is edge-on in this picture.
Measuring the angle gets 47 degrees or 133 degrees depending how you look at it.
Cut out a 10"x10" square of sheet metal. Take some more measurements from the van floor then put the sheet metal in my home made bending "rig".
Start bending and measuring.
Repeat.
Done. Not a bad fit.
Prime and paint the cover plate.
continued -
