This isn't part of the fuel tank project but it needs to be done before the tank is installed.
The battery bank will sit on the drivers side of the van but I'll need to run electrical wiring to the passenger side. I thought of different ways of doing this like running the wires above the rear doors or along the edge of the raised floor directly behind the front seats. Here's what I decided on.
This is 3/4" ID liquid tight flexible conduit. I got it at Lowe's. At $0.73 a foot it's not too expensive.
Here is a rough idea of the location where I'll run the conduit under the van. At each end of the conduit will be fittings that go through the van floor.
A more direct path would be to run it under this part of the van but as you can see it's already a little crowded. All these hoses and connections are to the van's gas tank.
This is how that same area looks viewed from the passenger side of the van. Directly in the front of the picture is the exhaust shield. Next is the gas tank and protruding from the top of the tank you can see fuel lines and electrical connections. The fuel pump is inside the tank below that point.
You can see in the pictures that the underfloor bracing on each side and the gas tank and exhaust shield on the bottom forms a kind of cable tray. Since it's too crowded here I'll move to the right, towards the front of the van, between the next set of floor braces.
It's less cluttered here. The gas tank has a raised section with a connector on the top. That's where the vent line attaches.
The conduit is flexible but very stiff so I fed it through from the passenger side since there is more room to work.
Looking from the drivers side, the raised section of the gas tank and the vent hose is front and left with the conduit above and to the right. By the way, this is the view the camera has since it will fit up in there but it's not like you could get you head into that space.
Here is where the conduit emerges from between the braces. It's in the space above the fuel tank inlet. This is why the conduit must be installed before the fuel tank. There wouldn't be room to work otherwise. You might notice the tape on the end of the fuel inlet. After finishing the fuel hose installation I sealed this end of the fuel inlet with tape since it would be awhile before the tank was installed.
This is the 90 degree fitting that will connect the conduit to and through the van floor. It is threaded on each end. The threads with the wide spacing is screwed into the conduit. The end closest to the hole saw will fit through the van floor. The hole saw size is 1-1/8".
The hole saw installed on it's arbor. To the upper right of the picture you can see the plastic nut and rubber o-ring for the conduit fitting.
Screw the fitting onto the conduit and figure out the best place to install it.
I want to check how this location looks from inside the van. To transfer the location from under the van to the inside take a measurement from one of the bolts on the fuel tank bracket.
Inside the van measure from the top of that same bolt then drill.
Screw the fitting into place. I'd have sealed around the hole with silicone but it was below freezing. I should be able to seal it when the weather improves.
Moving back to the passenger side of the van. Here is the approximate path for the conduit but it's obvious it's too low.
I made some measurements before buying the conduit. Decided on a 9 foot length knowing that it was longer than needed. Now is the time to start trimming. Use a hacksaw on the conduit to shorten it.
Then do a test fit. Checking both length and placement. This picture is looking straight up from under the van. This is the section of the van floor between the rear wheel, to the right, and the side step well. Notice the small cutout with plug on the floor to the right of the conduit end. This will be my measuring point when I transfer the conduit location to the inside of the van.
The pieces cut off the conduit get smaller as I zero in on the best length.
Measure and drill the hole for the fitting.
I'm using a straight fitting on this side of the van. Here's how it looks with the fitting screwed onto the conduit end. There's rubber washer that seals against the conduit.
Push the fitting through the floor and screw on the o-ring and plastic nut.
This doesn't complete the installation of the conduit since there are still a couple things to do beside using silicone to seal around the cut holes. As it is now the conduit is laying on the top of the exhaust shield. I will be adding a metal bracket that raises the conduit off the shield. I'm not doing it now because the conduit will have to share space with the intake and exhaust hosing from the Webasto heater since they will all be in the same general area. Until the heater is installed I'm not sure how it will all lay out. I've included enough slack in the conduit so it can be moved around within this space. The van won't be going on any trips until this is all done so the exhaust shielding melting the conduit won't be an issue.
Even though it was plenty cold on this day I did have some supervision but he spent most of his time perched on the steps.
From this location Tiger can watch all the critters (squirrels and birds) on the various bird feeders without being noticed.
Costs for this:
Lowe's
3/4โ Liquid Tight Flexible Conduit โ 9'@$0.73' - $6.57
3/4โ LTF Conduit 90Degree Fittings - $2.76
3/4โ Flex Conduit Straight Fit - $2.49
Lenox 8 Piece Hole Saw Set - $39.98
Open the pod bay doors Hal.
Once I exit Hal, this is what I do.
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