Delulu the Jb470

Dreams of Van Life

Ever since I moved to Seattle, I have been passively in search of a van that I would be able to use for van life (which I would pursue at some indeterminate date…). I had my eyes on Ford Transits, Sprinters (ouch! expensive!), Delicas (for a more compact option). Before the Element got absolutely toasted by a semi truck on I-5 (RIP Elley), I even humored the idea of converting her into a compact+functional car camper setup. Alas, all the options I saw at the time were either too expensive, not what I wanted, or too old/rickity.

Then, one day, as I was at my computer doing something I can’t recall anymore, David Dilmore (Grape) walks into my room and shows me a really funny picture from Facebook marketplace (which he does all the time) (and here’s the really old original listing):

“Hey, this thing is so cool. It fits all of your wants.”

• Compact
• Has plumbing + stove
• Room for tons of stuff
• Manual (I’ve really wanted to own a manual and learn how to drive one 😅)

“Yeah haha this thing is funny. Would be crazy…. If…. I were to…”

And here we are on our first trip

For a test run, it went swimmingly! But there were certainly issues to address.

Fixes and Upgrades - Getting it Refurbished

• The sink had a small leak in the drain hose because of a horribly placed stable in the wood it ran up against (no idea why that staple was there anyways and I’ll likely never find out)
  • This thing is glued and screwed together so getting behind the wood panels is….. possible but hellish.
• Lots of the latches didn’t work
• It smelled like Japan in the 90s (I assume)
• There was a dead giant hornet in the window which contributed to the shade not moving very well
• The kitchen window had cracks all over the bottom of it (UV damage?)
• The toilet in the toilet room was HUGE (the room becomes useless for storage or anything else; I ripped it out 😀)
• Lots of people on the interwebs complain about the radiator not being sufficient for highway/uphill driving so an aluminum one is being installed now (thanks Grape!)
• The carpet and fabric all smell old and bad (very fixable; I actually like their look though so I think I’ll keep them. And its easier to just keep them 🫠)
• There was like 100 different locks to get into the exterior storage compartments (Grape replaced all the cores; thanks again!!!)
• The included batteries are kinda underpowered (can’t run the heater, fridge, lights, etc. all at once.).

What I Love About It

This thing has so many cool and practical features:

• Cab-over bed with enough space to sleep 4 (in OAR numbers; 2 for normal people)
  • Has a nice slide-away section to make more space in the rest of the cabin in case you have guests over
• 2 benches that can seat 4 with seatbelts; converts into a bed (although not a very comfortable one…)
• Mini kitchenette
• Washroom
  • Some people make these into toilet/shower combos. I desperately loved the idea of having an indoor shower in this thing but from the advice of Grape (he hates my silly ideas) and other people online, it seems to be more trouble than its worth. I’ll setup an outside one that will share the spray nozzle from the kitchen).
  • It feels like it’d be perfect to throw disgusting wet hiking gear into after a long day, keeping the main cabin nice and clean.
• FREE hot water that runs off the heater-core from the engine (can use the waste heat from the car running recently or you can just idle the engine)
• 4 cyl TURBO diesel (?!) RHD (?!?!?!?) MANUAL (!?!?@!#?@!?!@$#?)
  • These are all BRAND new to me and I love them all (except for the price of diesel……)
• A Webasto diesel heater that can run with the car off using the same fuel tank as the engine (this thing gets TOASTY)
• Cool but kinda grimy windows that have integrated bug screens and privacy screens
• TONS of storage
• Nice outside storage compartments (and a door that lets you get into the washroom from outside; nice!!)

I could go on but these are the features that really sold me on it when I first saw it.