PrincessFalafal
Well-known member
Late last year I posted a thread asking for advice on building out a cargo van to be a trackday hauler/camper. I got a lot of good ideas from the community, plenty of advice and insight from people who'd done it before and suggested different types of vehicles that might be easier to live with.
All of which I ignored, in favor of buying this monstrosity.
Last weekend I rode down to LA to pick up my new 2008 E-350, with the 6.8L V-10 engine and 121k miles. It was more than double what I'd initially planned on spending when I started looking into vans, but after four months of searching it was the first one I'd found that was clean and had everything that I wanted. (weirdly the hardest feature to find on these vans was cruise control, but as much as I could compromise on many other things I knew this was something that I HAD to have)
The Ricon lift in the back is rated for 800lbs, and is the fancy split-folding type that allows you to still see out the back of the van when it's stowed. With a small extension fabricated from an aluminum harbor freight ramp, it should handle lifting track bikes in and out with no issues.
Being a former mobility transport van, it already has a good solid floor with rows of O-Track embedded which will make anchoring down bikes fast and easy.
The fold-away seats, while baller, will likely be removed and thrown away (or put onto ebay/craigslist, but I feel like they're too specialty to sell) to make room for more stuff. As it is you can easily fit two bikes in there, but with all the rear seats out three and probably four could be squeezed in.
While I initially had grand visions of gutting the whole thing and building it out into my dream camper, I blew my entire budget on the vehicle purchase and now have to be very careful about what I spend money on for the build. Aside from pulling out the seats and putting an extension on the ramp, my plan for this season is to go as minimalist as possible for the first few trackdays so I can figure out what it is that I actually need, vs what I just think I need.
Pretty high on the list is a backup camera; try to reverse this thing is like maneuvering a building. After that I'll do some electrical work to add in a house battery or two and a battery isolator, and wire the passenger lights into them and put a switch in the system somewhere so I'm not draining it when I have the doors propped open all day. While a fold-down cot of some kind is in the plans eventually, for now I'll stick with a camping pad and a sleeping bag.
I also have grand visions of a roll-out awning, but given how expensive they are (and how they send a loud signal of HAY THERE'S COOL STUFF IN HERE TO STEAL) I might stick with an EZup like everyone else for now.
Until then, I've also got my work cut out for me getting my track bike back into spec. Hopefully I'll see you guys at Thill or BW late next month once this corollavirus lockdown is lifted.
All of which I ignored, in favor of buying this monstrosity.
Last weekend I rode down to LA to pick up my new 2008 E-350, with the 6.8L V-10 engine and 121k miles. It was more than double what I'd initially planned on spending when I started looking into vans, but after four months of searching it was the first one I'd found that was clean and had everything that I wanted. (weirdly the hardest feature to find on these vans was cruise control, but as much as I could compromise on many other things I knew this was something that I HAD to have)
The Ricon lift in the back is rated for 800lbs, and is the fancy split-folding type that allows you to still see out the back of the van when it's stowed. With a small extension fabricated from an aluminum harbor freight ramp, it should handle lifting track bikes in and out with no issues.
Being a former mobility transport van, it already has a good solid floor with rows of O-Track embedded which will make anchoring down bikes fast and easy.
The fold-away seats, while baller, will likely be removed and thrown away (or put onto ebay/craigslist, but I feel like they're too specialty to sell) to make room for more stuff. As it is you can easily fit two bikes in there, but with all the rear seats out three and probably four could be squeezed in.
While I initially had grand visions of gutting the whole thing and building it out into my dream camper, I blew my entire budget on the vehicle purchase and now have to be very careful about what I spend money on for the build. Aside from pulling out the seats and putting an extension on the ramp, my plan for this season is to go as minimalist as possible for the first few trackdays so I can figure out what it is that I actually need, vs what I just think I need.
Pretty high on the list is a backup camera; try to reverse this thing is like maneuvering a building. After that I'll do some electrical work to add in a house battery or two and a battery isolator, and wire the passenger lights into them and put a switch in the system somewhere so I'm not draining it when I have the doors propped open all day. While a fold-down cot of some kind is in the plans eventually, for now I'll stick with a camping pad and a sleeping bag.
I also have grand visions of a roll-out awning, but given how expensive they are (and how they send a loud signal of HAY THERE'S COOL STUFF IN HERE TO STEAL) I might stick with an EZup like everyone else for now.
Until then, I've also got my work cut out for me getting my track bike back into spec. Hopefully I'll see you guys at Thill or BW late next month once this corollavirus lockdown is lifted.
