Frankenstein
 

1986 International S1954 236 inch wheel base beverage truck 28,0000 GVW with DT466 engine Spicer 5 speed transmission with split rear axle bought for $750. Transmission was trashed beyond repair is reason for truck so cheap so I tossed it and put a Eaton 6 speed in it lengthened drive shaft made new drive line brackets. Tossed the bench seat and put in air seats from junk yard, chopped the shifter that came with transmission down. Next I chopped the beverage truck body in half taking the top half off, welded a pedestal in the bottom half to hold a camper. Replaced all the wiring from cab back to accept 7 wire trailer pin and for the new LED tail lights I put in. Took bumper off or whatever that was on rear and replaced it with a 3/4 inch plate bent to fit the frame and bolted in after drilling holes for it. Took the roll up doors out and welded in steel doors that open outward to access below the pedestal in the back.


Now for the camper that sits on top of all this is...


1968 Fiber-Top built by Lynnwood Fiberglass in Lynnwood Washington, only 3 were built and I have only one left as I far as I know. Technically I'm 3rd owner as the story goes, the first owner was going to chop it up and throw it away till his neighbor took possession of it before he could. They used it for few decades and decided to sell it after hitting old age, someone they knew bought it from them but never went and picked it up out of their yard. Fast forward 5 years later the city of Edmonds WA came in and said register it, sell it or dispose of it so the person who bought it was contacted and he posted it on Craigslist and is where I found it by accident cause by then I have gave up and was going to build my own truck camper. Bought it for $500 and is titled and registered which is rare for something so old. According to history one of the three that was built was destroyed when it flew off the back of a truck and shattered across the interstate.

So without further delay here is the pictures...

Pictures...
 

Priming it... This almost caused a few wrecks since I lived on a main street in the city at the time of this and sure caused people to stop and look too. Even the city code enforcer loved it so much he paid me a visit to tell me I need to move it.

Guess I need to up the ante in here, here is some more pictures...

Rain or shine or snow it go's...

Houston we have a landing...

Road trip...

The inside is not complete and still isn't as I type this, had to redesign the interior after I stripped it down to the shell. More pictures of interior in due time.

Sharp looking outfit there WM! I can appreciate the amount of work you've done. I really like the looks of those 1980s International nose's. It looks as though you hail from Washington? I'm just outside Spokane.

I think it's cool. Tons of work. Impossible for a guy like me with almost no skills. Do you flat tow the Subby?

Thanks! Yes it’s a 1986 International S1954
Actually I was passing through south of Spokane though I did live on Olympic Peninsula for few year. I’m originally from Texas and as of now I’m resident of Montana out in Miles City hence the MC. Funny you say hail, just went through hail storm yesterday, what joys.
Be passing through Spokane next month or at least outskirts...

Yep I do, it’s a 5 speed. To get skills just grab whatever you want to do and screw up a few times trying to do it and learn from your mistakes. I never went to trade schools or any college nor did anyone teach me, all self taught. I believe you can do it with time.

Awesome truck!

Thanks! Steady working at it.

Time for interior work... Wiping the slate clean and starting over.

Wall cavities are little thin for my taste of only one inch thick in depth so time to add more. While I'm at it time to replace the 4x4's that the camper tie downs were bolted to to be replaced. They were so rotted they crumbled in my hands.

The wood stringers in the floor were rotted to point of crumbling not to mention the million screws used since the previous owner put 5 sheets of plywood down just to make the floor piece alone.

Kool! Looks great

Added furring strips to increase wall cavity depth to increase R value of insulation in the walls

Thanks, one step at a time.

On wards to spraying insulation in which ran about $1200 to do myself, could of went polyurethane foam boards but the curvature of the walls don't allow it to be proper seal. Plus wanted to prevent thermal bridging so I'm going with hybrid system of spray in insulation and cellulose fiberglass insulation. The kind you spray in your attic but I am hand picking it apart and fluffing it up then placing it in.

All furring strips were riveted in then glued with PL construction adhesive along with any subflooring.

Wow, that's looking super tight! I've done this sort of work a million times, and I can appreciate your involvement. It'll be well worth it in the long run. Will you be living in there, or just RV'ing it?

Thanks, I’m actually living it in now after I gave the insulation a week to off gas as anything that didn’t cure can. Which spraying it at 90 degrees I’m pretty sure it did. It’s our home and we are RVing in it, just parked on my property living off grid while working on it.

Awesome! I kind of figured you must be further along than the images here beared out. I'm going to be spending a lot of time in mine as well (besides the hours laboring away on it!) despite owning the home I grew up in (52 years).

If you built it, might as well get much as you can use out of it. I get busy and I wait till I get progress done in a whole step then post the pictures and by time they get posted due to off grid takes a bit I'm already onto next step.

Being retired nothing else to do and can't go anywhere till this place is done so here I am. Come next couple days I need to take this camper off and get ready for CDL driving test already passed written part, I don't need it, but I like to use my semi/truck for other purposes than haul a camper around when I need something moved or get supplies.

Right on! I'm semi retired / work for myself. My wife is disabled and so I do in home care and work locally where I can get home in a bit if need be. So for me, the truck is a "Work into the night / early morning hours" type of deal. Just need to be sure I get it done before the cold hits. Shouldn't be an issue.

After insulating it now is time to put the bed area in to where it goes from front to back, not side to side where you have to crawl over each other getting out of bed.

I must put in 10 characters so here they are to post these pictures.

To compliment the new bed pedestal/frame or whatever you want to call it need some storage to maximize use of space not used. Plus needed a board to prevent the mattress from sliding off while going down the road. There wasn't one before and few times stopping for fuel it was on the floor among other things.

Looks like things are coming along nicely. I'm kind of anxious to see how you treat those interior curves. I used to own a 1968 airstream and it was interesting the way they addressed the interiors.

I’m cringing looking at them and don’t want to think about them curves yet though will overcome them in the end. That is a idea, look at the Airstreams and go from there on creativity. Right now building kitchen cabinets and countertops, I put a little customization that will be noticed for decades to come that this isn’t generic cabinets.

Lucky dog! I sure can't wait to start in on my cabinets. I've built so many cabinets for other people, and for the first time, this Winter, I'll be doing it for me!

On my airstream, the entire inside was aluminum except the ends, which were fiberglass. Might be a long shot, but you might consider using some sort of thermal set plastic and a heat gun with a radius form, for the inside corners. I've dabbled in that a bit. It'll be fun, whatever you do! :)

I noticed we have emoticons now! :D

Actually it was fiberglass that followed the contours and I’m trying to stay away from plastic, I want something that will absorb sound and is forgiving to vibrations on the road. Noticed with fiberglass it ripped the holes cause it was too stiff and popped rivets thus ended up with sagging ceiling, plus I could smell the fiberglass when it started getting warm. I can smell very well from having reactive airway disease from war so if it’s in this camper it’s going to have to pass stringent air quality test, hence the PL construction adhesive is certified by Greenhouse to be safe along with other products I use. Thought about 1/8 inch wood paneling or use a tongue and groove thin board to follow it up.
Or I could play with wood tambour
https://www.tapeease.com//solid.htm

Might even consider forming something out of natural fiber such as felt that could be glued to the foam or get a chunk of lead and some sheet copper and hammer out some pieces for those inside corners.

Trying to keep metal out of here though natural fiber as felt would be nice. Going with redwood lumber for the countertops unless other reasons I shouldn’t if not then it’s a butcher block countertop. Going with undermount drawer sliders and to prevent cabinets from coming open I scored some touch latches made by Tutch Latch from the 50’s or 60’s with Cadmium coating not zinc, Also to prevent drawers from opening inlay piece of metal on cabinet face and neodymium N50 magnets on drawer face inlayed.

Weldman, you could even build small in place speaker boxes that would allow you to take those inside corners and make them squared off.

That’s how the cabinets above the kitchen was done. I also notice playing with piece of AC 1/4” plywood it contours them too with little strength.
If I can get 1 x 2’s to bend to them with some kerfing I’m going to get something made of wood up there.
Last few nights of rain and hail storms makes one realize, I need something to absorb the sound.

Time for commercial break from our regular scheduled program. Besides just building my own truck conversion it also includes converting the truck too so...
When I tossed the transmission on this truck in the beginning it was cable driven speedometer on it and parking brake on the tail shaft, and when I put new one on none of it would swap over. New transmission FS6206A is electronic speedometer sensor and no parking brake and I wasn't going to rip truck wiring out just to fit electronic speedometer in and had no choice on parking brake since I have no air brakes. So spent a whole day installing this instead. In the middle of installing line lock brake the proportioning brake valve crumbled and had to replace it.
Now I can lock all 4 disc brakes and adjust my back brakes as needed.

As for the speedometer problem I bought one with GPS antennae to tell me how fast I am going and will eventually rip out all the gauges and customize a gauge pod for it though in time crunch so I got this one for now. Has odometer, trip odometer, time/date, GPS coordinates, heading info, compass,engine hours and peak speed recall. Took me half day to do it, easy peasy...

Nicely done WM! Eventually I'll be getting to my electricals.

Thanks, this is a temp fix till later on when I replace all the gauges and put in a different pod to hold them all that I will have to fabricate.
Not going to be much building or of anything really for next week or two, I'm headed back to Washington state to grab rest of my tools and my girlfriends stuff to get out here, though will be taking my time and taking a vacation on the way back. Take a slow drive hit Lewis and Clark National Forest then meander to Glacier National Park before a weekend to grab a spot and hike few trails.:D

Speaking of electricals, had to replace the motor on gear splitter while back and have yet to test it in real world scenarios, I can't wait. Wasn't bad crawling up few mountain ranges, but would of helped with less load on the engine.


Not going to post my life online but it has been hell past 8 months and we need this here.

Right on! Glad you got things where you can at least "run with it" and see how things go. I sure enjoy driving my truck, though lately it's only been around the yard the past two years! Should be road worthy next summer I sure hope.