Gambler 500 camper van

I would have paid more than $20 for a nice anvil... Been looking for a while now.

Not much has happened lately. I spent waaaay to much time on this console. I made a wooden cup holder/shelf thing that is currently being painted an off color gray .

you may also have noticed a new stereo. My buddy Bottlecaps gave me this fine unit that has an aux cable hook up and also has Bluetooth capabilities. It sounds great and today at junk yard I got a replacement antenna,an aluminum sign for front skid plate and a 1/2" breaker bar for $7.00

When I was installing the radio, I found this. What the E36 M3 is going on?? Government tracking device? Russians? no wonder the battery was dead after a few weeks of sitting. This thing was wired hot all the time.

the tracker also explains the weird knob thing on dash under cig lighter.

The anvil didn't ring when hit with a hammer, no signs of cracks, just dull thud. I was told this is not what a good anvil sounds like.

I'm back. I've been by doing fiberglass which is about as fun as watching paint dry.

Between that and having fun this summer I have been working on the van.

I had an entire Sunday to myself and decided to build a bar cabinet ....

In reply to beanco :

I like the bar cabinet. Are you going to make it lockable so you don't get nailed with an open container?

In reply to bigfranks84 :

Everything will be stored in the back,it’s just for camping. I wouldn’t want to break the Playboy glasses i bought at a church sale,true story.

Saturday I decided to build a front bumper. The old one required the hot wrench for removal. Once it was off I noticed a rag stuffed inside the fender. Pulling it out was like smashing a pinata .

What a rusty piece of junk!

Next, I dug out some outer arms from another hitch and cut them to fit over the 3" tube. Welded the hitch tube too it. Once it was al welded to the van,I cut the old bumper ends to fit(almost).

here it is with winch installed.

Sunday I pushed the top up onto the van to help motivate myself into getting lift hinges built. It's not too heavy, just hard to handle by oneself.

The crappy looking gasket is a garden hose BTW.

Spent the rest of the day staining bar cabinet and making door cards.

beanco said:

Just sold anvil and milk can for $20

Pretty sure I saw that same anvil in NH at an antique shop for $270.00

Nothing new on top, spent what free time I have on smaller projects.

Reusing old wires to build jumper for winch. Blue tape is for fishing purposes.

Cut skid plate out of old road sign.

And after a few, I decided to paint a mural on the van

Time for an update..

I cut the roof off while the neighbors watched in horror from across the street.

spent the rest of the day building the hinges.

bolted the frame I made to van and added hinges to top. It went up with up with some force, but came down fast. EPIC FAILURE.. I wasns't happy with the results so I went to plan B.

Wooden frame fixed high top roof.

I'm much happier with this arrangment. Later that night I finished the "bar"

Top is all water tight and I've started on the interior build out. Like any project , time is running out.

I'm curious to see how it drives with the high roof, and whether it's still weather proof when moving forward at great speed. 

Yeah, I'm concerned about areo with that lifted top. Are you going to attempt any molding or smoothing to keep it stable? I wouldn't think it would be TOO hard to come up with a good shape, with all the aerodynamic programs available now...

Making progress man!  Out to be a fun trip

Photos from shakedown run 2 hours away, it's awesome.

My baby Buttercup had a great time. Van ran great, lots of room, comfortable sleeping.

Gamblers this weekend. 5 hour drive there. 500 miles of unknown shenanigans. 5 hours back home if it survives

I'll post pics upon my return.

Good luck! The van turned out awesome. I bet the additional vertical space is very nice.

I'm doing my 4th Gambler this weekend (Southern Utah) and am a huge fan of the Gambler events and community.

ABG!

All loaded and ready to go.

here's our entire group.

me and my BIL in van

Bottlecaps and butch in P71

Ernie riding solo in Blazer

Kenny, his wife and another couple in Jeep.this thing has been sitting behind his garage for nearly 4 years! the only test drive was to gas station the night before where he removed front driveshaft because of loud noises coming fron front diff.

Here is the condensed story of events.

Left Friday morning with 248 miles to our destination.

20 miles in my CEL comes on, I keep driving, more on this later.

Bottlecaps pulls over after 45 miles in to correct some rear tire rubbing issues. This consist of a floor jack, 2x4 and camp axe. A crowd gathered to witness the fine fender rolling that was taking place. After tires were back on we chatted to some of the crowd members and hit the road.

We entered Vincennes, Indiana and stopped for the worlds longest lunch. Luckily we were not on a schedule.

Shortly after that the roads turned into winding hills where the Jeep started to DEATH WOBBLE around 50mph. To correct this, Kenny would brake hard and then gun it back to higher speeds. All was good.

The rest of the way there was uneventful. 

DAY 2 = SATURDAY

We woke up to rain which lasted ALL DAY!!

Our group headed out once we received the GPS coordinates and headed for a creek bed to see the geodes.

We went on to the next three locations. It was close to lunch time and decided to head back to camp to eat under our canopy.

We were just passing through a small town when my van died. After a few no start attempts I listened for the fuel pump to kick on. NOTHING. The Blazer towed me off the road into a small gravel parking lot were we brainstormed a plan. Two cars were heading to the nearest auto parts store about 20 minutes away while one stayed behind to keep watch on the van. Found a pump at Autozone along with a few other items I thought would be needed. Went to McD's for a dry inside lunch, and then next door to Lowe's for a chisel. Why a chisel ??

Since it was  raining and I had 5/8 of a tank of fuel, I decided to go thru the top. I pulled the camp stuff out along with the bench seat exposing the 3/4 plywood subfloor. Out of pure luck the seams were right where they needed to be. Out came the chisel.

The pump went right in and after some Flex seal tape we were back in business.

By this time it was almost 4 in the afternoon so we headed back to camp to regroup.

I got stuck in campground.

Kenny's tent was flooded, they decided to go home.

We decided to hop in my van and head to Louisville, Kentucky on a whiskey run. Ate dinner while we were there and headed back to camp.

Returned to camp around 10 and started drinking and telling stories.

Stayed up late.

Went to sleep in nice and dry van

Woke up Sunday and packed up and left.

Drove back roads home in sunny weather

710 miles total

Only 110 of them were Gambler miles

12.5 MPG

Had a blast, would do it all over again.

Just wanted to thank all my friends for the good times and ball busting.

Ben

Nice robe.

Using a chisel to cut the floor gave me a good laugh.

Sounds like a good time was had!!!

Gambler number 2 for this van is over.

Tennessee Redemption Gambler 500, March 6,7,8 in Crossville,TN.

I went solo, drove 1228 round trip, check engine light came on 2 blocks from home, I kept going.ABG

Met up with a group from Michigan that we made friends with at last event. Weather was great,mid 50 and sunshine. Not much sun lately in central Illinois.

DIRTY SANTA.

crowd at nearest gas station getting ready to take off. Right before this photo was taken a local came flying over the hill in background and T-boned a lifted Mercury Marquise that was driving into station. Everyone was okay, but it wasn't a great start to the day. Cops were cool and the rest of the day was a blast.

Glamour shot.

I left late Saturday after 5 pm and drove 75-80 mph for seven straight hours averaging 12.3 mpg.

Who knows what's next? Maybe New Mexico on the 27th if work isn't crazy. It's only 18 hours one way......