Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . • • •• _. •• • _ _._ After: Suspension, wheel, and tire changes dramatically improved the handling of the van . rer inch p lywood except that it's made of compressed wood chips instead of thin sheets of wood. It has the strength of plywood but it 's flexible enough to form fit agai nst the gradua l curve of the Dodge va n wall. O ne expla nation -- perha ps it's rea lly a . wa rn in g -- in in order. W it h six-i nch insul ation and the fai rly sti ll Asp enit e, i f s a J O B pushing th e panelling against th e wall a nd gelling th e screws sta rted . One can d o it but an extra strong sho ul der would mak e it a lot less of a hassle . The onl y pla ce th at required tri ck y panel trim ming was in the spare tir e area . There, severa l small pieces wer e fit between th e body braces so that we could ret a in th e standard method of carrying the spare tire. We procured several large cardboard boxes from our friendly local grocer a nd used the material to make templates of every section we installed . It was much easier and che a per, when we goo fed and cu t off too much , to maskin g tape another piece of cardboard over th e m istake than it would ha ve bee n to come up with a new piece of panelling. It does take lon ger, but t he n.so does running back to th e sto re to repl ac e a ru ined piece of panell in g . In t his operation , as in doi ng you r entire van , stress worksmanship and quality. a nd you won 't be disappointed wit h your j ob . We used 3/ 4 X 8" oval head Ph ilips sheet meta l scr ews with number eight co untersu nk finish in g washers to attach the Aspe ni te. Placing the scre ws four to six inches apart p roved to be su ffici ent. The automotive-type screw and washer combina tio n gives you r job that finished look . Be su re to mark screw location s on the plywood , arranging them in neat evenly sp aced rows if you plan to lea ve the panelling uncover ed . If you' re planning to cover th e walls wit h shag carpeting , forget th e a bo ve. Just · ja m th e panelling in a ny way. and attach it with the cheapest means possible, Shag will cover up a ny t hing. Floo ri ng was done wit h half inch plywood. Sin ce it'll probably be co vered , a n ine xpensive quality ca n be used to cu t cost. In th e sta nda rd len gth Dodge with the air condit ioning floor mats up front, two 4 X 8' sheets will do th e job . Install one full she et, startin g from the ba ck door, trimming to th e wall contour and th e re ar wheel well. Then spli t th e othe r piece, trimming likewise for contour and wheel well. The piece left over will fill th e space betw een the already installed pieces and th e floor mat right behind the front seats. Recently we left a bag of wet riding gear in th e back of the truck for a n unusually long time . The results?.The half in ch plywood warped , lifting off the floor a cou ple inches. Up until that point, and our really dumb mis take . th e half inch stu ff had been working fine, but now we'd recommend three quarter inc h flooring. Aft er lon g hours of pondering and ske tching , we decided that an L vshaped back sea t would best su it ou r nee ds . We wanted a sea t t hat wou ld fold ou t in to a bu nk, and the arra ngement you seein th e phot os ha s wor ked well. The firs t ste p invo lved loca ting the sea t so t hat th ere woul d be roo m beh ind it to carry two dirt bikes, After m easu rin g , a nd ac tually ro lling a bike up inside th e truck to doub le chec k t he measu re ments , we decided to pla ce th e wall at th e po int whe re the two sid e doors mee t. T he re's a wall brace exac tly op posi te that point on the d river's side wa ll. so attaching th e wa ll was relatively easy . T he sea t, as we've built it , has a design fla w that we were n' t able to overcome. It 's ha rd to get into from the side doo r. T he length of th e bikes forced . . . becomes a bunk on sliding su pp orts. A bike's eye view. r • • • • • • " .. us to place theseat so far forward that ther e's only a few inches be twee n th e end of the sea t a nd the wall. T rim mi ng the corner or shortening the entire seat would ha ve spoiled the bunk , either by m ak ing it too sho rt or by leav in g a three cornered ho le in the m id dl e of th e passenger side end of it . We've sid e ste p pe d the prob lem by asking gu ests to enter from th e front d oo r. It 's easy. Seat size was esta blishe d by measuring the front van sea ts, kitchen chairs and the living room couch . Three measurem ents should be esta b lished : seat height , back angle an d back height. We chose a sea t height th at felt comfortable . th en made a sketch that would all ow for a four -inch cushion. We ac tu all y only su bt rac ted three in ches from the height to esta b lish th e height of the pl ywood fram e, figu ri ng that foam cushions would com press more than the upholstered and sprung van seat used as our sta nda rd : The deluxe Dodge sea ts felt com fortable, so we copied th eir dimensions. A three inch pad is su fficient for the seat back. W e began seat construction by bu ilding an L sha ped frame of2X4s. Cheap(Hl cents) studs were used for th e part of th e frame that came in contac t with the floor and for the vertical su pport. Fifty cent wood, even if you pick it over as we di d , isn 't very st raigh t but since it would be bolted to the floor , we figured it wou ld work OK -- it d id . But we did go the extr a expe nse of choosing a straig ht, fini sh ed stu d for the top of the fra me. The bunk plan calls for hinges , and we kn ew th ey wouldn't work on a warped surfa ce . In addit ion , the cheap wood wou ld be pa nelled in nut of sight : the to p pieces would be on d isplay eve ry tim e the bunk was unfolded or the storage compartment was open ed . As the photographs show , th e bunk is contain ed in tile lon g leg of the L , and the shorter leg (behind the driver's sea t) serves as storage space. The partition which separates the passenger compartment from the bike hauling area was made using the same panelling as on the wall s (Aspe nite) . W e made it a double-wall construction using I X2 inc h strapping for frame work. Here. as in all th e woodwork . both screws and Elmer's Glu e was used . If screws alone were used , or worse yet -- nails , th e structure would be more likel y to dev elop rattles and squeaks. The glue/screw combo ensures a tight job. The sliding plexiglas window was used because we wanted to retain use of th e standard rearview mirror and to keep the through-ventilation from up-fr ont du cts to the pop- out rear door windows. A sma ll local ca m per bu ild ing busin ess had one for around $20-25 . Afte r t he partit ion te m p la tes were made and th e pie ces cu t out of th e pa nell ing . th e entire section was asse m bled ou tside , then insta lled in th e va n a nd attach ed to th e L -shaped seat frame. The slidi ng sea t/ bunk support (see photos) was const ruc ted fro m the 50 cent 2X4 studs , Pieces of wood screwed a nd gl ued to th e floor provide straight cha n ne ls fo r th e sma ll fr ame to slide in. In co mple ted form . th e passenge r ca n turn in his scat , reach ba ck and lift th e sea t . pull th e fold -u nder section ou t, slide th e suppo rt fram e ou t. a nd lowe r t he b unk. Takes a bo ut five seconds fro m scat to bunk. Det ai ls: T he hin ges used on th e seats were sta n dard single heavy du ty units . The hinge between th e two sea t secti ons that fold ou t to form t he full wid th bunk was a " pia no" hin ge . Piano hinges are availab le a t most building su pply sto res in va rious len gths. Noti ce how the bu nk su pport fr ame ends were cu t (as was t he sea t/ bu nk section of threequ arte r inc h plyw ood) so that the sea t / bunk rests level whethe r fold ed o r in the exte nded posit ion . T h ree -q u a rt er in ch plywood was used for th e sea t piece because of its weight. A lig hte r (t hin ne r) grade of pl ywood would have a tenden cy to bo u nce a nd rattle while on th e road . It 's also unquestionably strong . The seat/bunk un it was b uilt to last for the life of th e va n . Maybe even until it's paid for. T he sm alle r section of th e bunk / seat fo ld -out piece is held in p lace wit h an Amerock T · 972 6 d oub le ro lle r catch when it 's fold ed under for sea t usage. The sa me ca tc h was used to hold the sto rage com pa rt ment top d own and to keep th e sea t/ bu nk su p po rt from slid ing forwa rd . 9

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