The Re-Birthing of she who is SAHARA! Part TWO.

Phase TWO - Just touching the sides....

This bit could be a little bit more.... problematic.

I mean, I know what I want to do, and how I want it to look.... but do I possess the skills required to bring it all to fruition? 

Of course I bloody do! Do you think I'm a total fuckin' idiot?

Don't answer that....

Vans, even due to their immense internal carrying capacity, are normally void of any decent storage space. On the inside, it's just a big.... hole, really. So, the initial plan is to have storage boxes down either side. Nothing too flash, we're going for practicalities here. A bed length of ply going down both sides from the back end, to level with the side door, encompassing the wheel wells. With places to stash tools and basic camping gear/first aid kit atc both fore and aft of said wheel wells. The drivers side boxes, if all goes to plan, will also form a part of the bed base. Theoretically, that'll get the slat bench/bed over to the side of the van, both giving me more stability as well as more storage space when the bed's not in use.

I'm guessing it might make working out the correct lengths of the slats interesting, but I'll worry about that when I get there.

Luckily, the top section of ply from the original set-up is the perfect length for a double bed. And the 'wing' panels from each side are the perfect width to make the dividers for each box. Guess I lucked out there.

I also got lucky with the metal bed frame that was in her initially being the size it is. Saved me having to buy some saw horses to use as a workbench.

Rough fitting and guestimations

The darker timber in the pic above was from me getting a bit over excited with adding some extra bracing to support the bench/bed. The idea is to have a wing-nutted bolt set-up to attach the main section of the bench/bed to the drivers side of the box. That way, when it's in use, the beds nice and sturdy 😉. 

It also looked kinda fucked up.

But, it all worked out in the end though. Turned out to be the perfect opportunity to give Jess another lesson in drill usage. This time, removing screws and not drilling out pop rivets.

Jess removing the screws from my fuck up.

In all honesty, the next few steps weren't REALLY that difficult. I just had to make sure that all the measurements were spot on, and all was pretty sweet. Although, I DID try to simplify things as much as possible for myself. Height of the boxes, 30 cms. Width of the boxes, 23 cms, which was the width of the timber I was working with. It was also the width of the wheel wells.... kinda handy. 

The main issues I had, was how to bolt/attatch all the timber framing to the body of the van. I mean, I aint no panel beater or mechanic, so I really have no idea as to what's where and where all the wires and fuel lines run. I DO know that there's a big tank full of petrol under the back end, so drilling was to be kept at an absolute minimum. 

After a lot of umming and ahhing, I decided to brace the internal corners of the main timber sections and dividers with 20x20 square DAR, and use big assed, solid shelf brackets to bolt the main side peices to the floor. Good thing Sahara was originally a comuter van, as there were a multitude of bolt holes where the seats were originally attatched. This gave them a decent amount of strentgh, plus the added bonus of being to have the DAR counter-sunk a few Mil to allow for the lids to fit kinda flush(ish)

Drivers side storage box.
HUGE assed brackets for strength and stability

Passenger side storage box, pre bolting down.

The end product, all stained and bolted down.

As you can see by the above pic, the left hand/passenger side lids don't fit exactly flush, but meh.... I can fix that later. It's not a HUGE issue. It was more noticable after a few coats of Teak stain. The two front sections of each side have a removable lid. The front left, near the side door, is going to store a First Aid kit and anything we might need in a hurry. The front right is for.... not sure yet, as it'll be tucked under the mattress. The middle sections, above the wheel wells, are screwed down. There's not much space under them, so it's kinda useless as storage. As for the back sections? The one on the left I kept open. That's going to be storage for a tool bag, jack and whatever. The right hand side is kinda framed in for loose items. Maybe a hatchet, rubber mallet, spare tent pegs, that sort of thing.

After it was all fitted and stained and bolted in, she looked kind of.... plain. Oh, I was happy enough with what I'd done with my limited skills, but she needed something. Grey roof, grey walls, grey curtains, teak stain.... but she needed a bit of colour. So me and Jess decided to sticker bomb whatever we could.

NOW, she's all purty!

A little bit of stickerbombing for colour

The Question is....