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
Heater Fuel Tank continued:
Time for some test fittings of components.
Here's the view under the van with the correct fuel hose attached to the fuel inlet. This is the one with the 45 degree angle.
The hose must be raised to this angle to mate with the fuel tank inlet.
The hose will have to be cut to fit. To get it right I'll install the brackets first so I'll know just where the tank will be positioned. Use the rear most of the two underfloor supports as a mounting point for one of the brackets. This photo, like several others, was taken with me on my back looking straight up. Hopefully it's not too confusing.
Use the bracket as a guide and drill holes for two 5/16" bolts
Bolt up the bracket.
The second bracket will take some extra work. If you look at the above photos you can see there is a ridge that runs under the van at a right angle to the underfloor supports. It's about 1-1/8" high.
I was looking around the basement for something to make a bracket mount out of when I noticed some leftovers from the sofa-bed construction. These pieces of perforated square tube stock.
The underfloor support is around 2-3/4" high.
Since the tube stock is 1 inch square some cutting and trimming is in order. The short sections will be used to raise the longer section so it can straddle the underfloor ridge.
This is how it will be assembled. The bottom piece on each side was trimmed to be 3/4" high. The mount height now matches the height of the underfloor support the first bracket is attached to.
The holes on the tank bracket didn't match up with the holes in the square tube stock. Had to drill the stock to match the bracket.
Tape the sections together and use that to mark out the drill holes.
Drill the two new holes for the second bracket. Unbolt the first bracket and rustproof both sets of new holes.
Assemble the mounting pieces. Since I was working upside down I had to use the masking tape to hold the left hand pieces in place while I bolted on the other pieces.
Here's how the top of the bolts look from inside the van. Up to now I was finger tightening the nuts on the bolts but I'll need some help to really tighten them down.
Use the same Silicone II sealant I used before. Apply it under both the washer and bolt head to stop water infiltration from underneath.
For the next step I'll be under the van and someone needs to be in the van. When it comes to holding a wrench the cats are worthless. They always use the same lame excuse about not having an opposable thumbs. Luckily I have a friendly neighbor who's always ready to help out if needed. Problem is he's not the most mechanically inclined so a little extra prep work is in order. Before starting I labeled the two bolts "1" and "2". I told him I'd yell out a number then he'd put the wrench on that numbered bolt and yell the number back.
So after a shouted series of "1..1", "2...2", "1..1", "2...2", we got everything tightened down. By the way my aforementioned neighbor is a college professor who teaches philosophy. His smarts lie in a different direction.
A couple of notes. The two short sections of square tube stock that I trimmed down to 3/4" inch high should be placed so the cut edge is against the underside of the floor. If the cut edge was placed the other direction, against another piece of square stock, as the bolts were tightened the edges might spread and it would slip over the second piece.
Since the square stock had to be drilled to align with the bracket holes there is a spacing difference between it's left and right edge. Be sure to mark it so you know which is which and use accordingly. Found this one out the hard way.
Tested the new mounting by grabbing hold of it and seeing if I could get the van rocking without it feeling loose. I could and it didn't.
continued -
Time for some test fittings of components.
Here's the view under the van with the correct fuel hose attached to the fuel inlet. This is the one with the 45 degree angle.
The hose must be raised to this angle to mate with the fuel tank inlet.
The hose will have to be cut to fit. To get it right I'll install the brackets first so I'll know just where the tank will be positioned. Use the rear most of the two underfloor supports as a mounting point for one of the brackets. This photo, like several others, was taken with me on my back looking straight up. Hopefully it's not too confusing.
Use the bracket as a guide and drill holes for two 5/16" bolts
Bolt up the bracket.
The second bracket will take some extra work. If you look at the above photos you can see there is a ridge that runs under the van at a right angle to the underfloor supports. It's about 1-1/8" high.
I was looking around the basement for something to make a bracket mount out of when I noticed some leftovers from the sofa-bed construction. These pieces of perforated square tube stock.
The underfloor support is around 2-3/4" high.
Since the tube stock is 1 inch square some cutting and trimming is in order. The short sections will be used to raise the longer section so it can straddle the underfloor ridge.
This is how it will be assembled. The bottom piece on each side was trimmed to be 3/4" high. The mount height now matches the height of the underfloor support the first bracket is attached to.
The holes on the tank bracket didn't match up with the holes in the square tube stock. Had to drill the stock to match the bracket.
Tape the sections together and use that to mark out the drill holes.
Drill the two new holes for the second bracket. Unbolt the first bracket and rustproof both sets of new holes.
Assemble the mounting pieces. Since I was working upside down I had to use the masking tape to hold the left hand pieces in place while I bolted on the other pieces.
Here's how the top of the bolts look from inside the van. Up to now I was finger tightening the nuts on the bolts but I'll need some help to really tighten them down.
Use the same Silicone II sealant I used before. Apply it under both the washer and bolt head to stop water infiltration from underneath.
For the next step I'll be under the van and someone needs to be in the van. When it comes to holding a wrench the cats are worthless. They always use the same lame excuse about not having an opposable thumbs. Luckily I have a friendly neighbor who's always ready to help out if needed. Problem is he's not the most mechanically inclined so a little extra prep work is in order. Before starting I labeled the two bolts "1" and "2". I told him I'd yell out a number then he'd put the wrench on that numbered bolt and yell the number back.
So after a shouted series of "1..1", "2...2", "1..1", "2...2", we got everything tightened down. By the way my aforementioned neighbor is a college professor who teaches philosophy. His smarts lie in a different direction.
A couple of notes. The two short sections of square tube stock that I trimmed down to 3/4" inch high should be placed so the cut edge is against the underside of the floor. If the cut edge was placed the other direction, against another piece of square stock, as the bolts were tightened the edges might spread and it would slip over the second piece.
Since the square stock had to be drilled to align with the bracket holes there is a spacing difference between it's left and right edge. Be sure to mark it so you know which is which and use accordingly. Found this one out the hard way.
Tested the new mounting by grabbing hold of it and seeing if I could get the van rocking without it feeling loose. I could and it didn't.
continued -
