Live on the scene

[martinfan5]

You are probably wondering what is up with that topic title, well its my next project, I am going to be doing a TV station live truck, or ENG van( electronic news gathering ) , now for a better part of 30 years, most of the live vans were based on the Ford Econoline 350 van, the extended length body, now what I am doing is not a period correct, but current. Now current, I mean based of current ENG technology , which is not unheard of, there are companys out there that will retro fit older vans with current technology.

this is a photo of semi retired live van from the 80's I could find, but this will give you an idea

and here is a more current version that I am going to try and build, built by Frontline Communication

Now the fun part is having to lengthen the van body, I have to extend the area between the side door to front of the wheel well, and also extend the body behind the wheel well , that is going to be the hardest part for me, trying to keep everything lined up and straight, I am not the best at cutting straight lines

So on to the pics

the green tape is were I am making the first cuts

and moving ahead, after cutting up both van bodies, this is what I have, a longer body, as you can see, I still have a lot of work to

[Edsel-Dan]

It might help to add some strip or sheet styrene to the Inside of the body to help

get it back into line.

I would make the strips or sheet long enough to go from the front body section

to the rear door piece.

One inside each side, and one inside the roof.

[martinfan5]

It might help to add some strip or sheet styrene to the Inside of the body to help

get it back into line.

I would make the strips or sheet long enough to go from the front body section

to the rear door piece.

One inside each side, and one inside the roof.

Thats my plan, It was a test fit mock up , I needed to see how off I was with my cuts, I still have alot of work to do before I can even think about putting putty on it lol

One of the problems that I am having is, the body tapers inwards after the rear wheel wells, I am using a section from the middle of he donor van for the extension on the rear, so its not matching up, I have and idea of what I can do, but still looking at it

[Edsel-Dan]

Yea. This is the type of work that is best to do SLOWLY!!

Like when I added the Malibu wagon roof to my 65 GTO Convertible body.

I did have to raise the rear of the rear fenders

[Tom Geiger]

Very cool project and you have a lot of fitting, putty and sanding in your future. A van looks square, but once you tear it apart, it's anything but square. When I did my shorty Dodge van pickup and attached the rear of the van to the cab, they were no where near meeting! I still need to do an extended length Dodge Maxivan to replicate a friends old van, but I keep putting it off just because of the issues you are facing!

Here's a photo of a Ford news van that I took back in 2006.

[hjracing]

cool project! I'll put an eye on this build!

[impcon]

This is most interesting! Vans are probably the most taken for granted, unnoticed and unappreciated vehicles on the road and so little tribute is paid to them. Your build is definitely one of a kind and an ambitious undertaking. I'll be watching your progress with great interest. It's looking pretty good so far - keep up the good work and hold to the faith brother!!

[martinfan5]

I redid the extension on the rear, and I think it looks a lot better now,

[hooknladderno1]

Nice project! I have an ambulance project that I am working on like this. One suggestion for future conversions where you need to make straight cuts is to use the old Dymo label tape,(the thick adhesive backed plastic kind) available at Walmart. I apply two layers to reduce the chance of the razor saw "jumping" the cut. Another thought to reduce the problems where the roof tapers is to seperate the roof sections from the sides. Once each is completed, join the roof to the sides. It works really well! I will be following this build for sure!

David

[martinfan5]

Nice project! I have an ambulance project that I am working on like this. One suggestion for future conversions where you need to make straight cuts is to use the old Dymo label tape,(the thick adhesive backed plastic kind) available at Walmart. I apply two layers to reduce the chance of the razor saw "jumping" the cut. Another thought to reduce the problems where the roof tapers is to seperate the roof sections from the sides. Once each is completed, join the roof to the sides. It works really well! I will be following this build for sure!

David

David, you are the second to mention the label tape, and I thought about your second tip, and I dont know why I didnt do it, but I should of, I might be able to go back and do cut and pull out the top part and get that area lined up, but as for everything, its all lined up

[Danno]

Wow. Quite the ambitious project, grasshopper! Gonna have it done by Friday?

[martinfan5]

Wow. Quite the ambitious project, grasshopper! Gonna have it done by Friday?

Oh no way by Friday , this is not the first time I have built these, but you dont want to see them, no one should see them

[Dominik]

cool project! I will take a eye of your built. would be interesting.

[martinfan5]

Starting working on extending the frame and interior, but for now, just pics of the frame

after some cutting

and after some gluing

and some filling and some paint

I did end up making the frame a little bit to long at the rear, I have since shorten it, no pics yet

Moving on to the body, after some filling and sanding, I am ready for some primer so I can see where I am at

I did take a pic of the right side, but it came out blurry, and I didnt check the pic tell after I had the body in primer

and speaking of primer, I still have some work to do, which I knew I did, but to me, other then the gutter rails, does not look to bad at this point

[the goon]

Lookin' good .

Mark

[Tom Geiger]

That body looks great already!

[martinfan5]

Thanks Tom

The work on the body continues, dont really have that much to show other then what I decided to do, and that is convert the sliding side door to swing out style, I shaved the rear door hinges off the second body and will use those for the conversion, and I started to scribe the door line down the middle and removed the door handle and started filling the recess area

[hooknladderno1]

Looks great Jonathan! You may want to only use the rear window tops, to reduce the amount of cutting, puttying, and sanding that you'll have to do for the side doors. Just a thought....

David

[martinfan5]

Looks great Jonathan! You may want to only use the rear window tops, to reduce the amount of cutting, puttying, and sanding that you'll have to do for the side doors. Just a thought....

David

If I think I know what you are saying, I am not going to put in the side windows, just scoring the lines for the swing out doors, I might, but I still need to fix the gutters and I need to add the ridge at the rear, so once I get those done, and see how I feel, I might

[TooOld]

Looking good ! Splicing large panels like that together is a tough job but it looks like you've got it figured out .

I'm interested in doing a similar project so I'll be watching .

[Danno]

Film at 11.

[martinfan5]

Decide to get the roof platform built

Starting with .60 sheet stock, and .15X.156 strips

and after some cutting, some cussing, some more cutting , some more cussing, it took several tries to get the legs to match, and well, it didnt turn that great

I am going to sand the bottom part of the legs to see if I can get them all level

[martinfan5]

I think I might of got the gutters fixed

I still have some more blending to do, but I think its a start

Edited March 8, 2013 by martinfan5

[hjracing]

A lot of work, but it came very nice! Great job!

[Platerpants]

looking good! how is the kit over all ive been looking at it as a potential mudder build. dont ask why i want it to be a mudder. id be doing it like the quigley econoline 4x4 conversion i saw one at the autoshow this year.