I love your videos! I feel like your build-style is a missing niche in this area. Too many videos are done by people that either have overly-advanced skills, over-reliance on turn-key products, or obsess over making every result look "perfect". It rocks that you are taking us through your whole process and thinking for everything. I call your build style the "good enough" style, which is so useful because most of us don't have the disposable income to go all-in on a more serious approach. And let's face it, our needs will change anyways.
Genius idea with that latch! I take it there’s no way for the rod to disappear down into the lower door if the rubber button came off the top? A bit of glue under it if that was the case would give me peace of mind! Thanks for the upload 👍🏻
Thanks for checking it out! Inside the top of the lower door it has a molded plastic bottom at the bottom of the "hole" to keep it from falling down in, so should be good! I glued the rubber 1/4" vacuum cap to the top of the rod though, so no way for it to fall through the freezer door. Cheers! -Tim
Anything in Arizona desert heat doesn't last too long especially plastic and rubber if you don't protect it will start drying and cracking...Anything rubber I replaced on my car already.. Suspension parts, which means total arm replacements upper and lower's on both sides,, Also replace both CV axels ..The boots didn't last too long... they're usually the first ones to dry out... All bushings ,,, you name it... and of course tires ,,,, I have custom rims on my car... google image search Lexani Chrome Twisters My car will actually pop up it's a 2013 Mazda 6 Polished slate colored car ,, not exactly black It's a black pearlish color.... The image will have graffiti in the background the wall behind the car had graffiti all over it...And the image should say elemental wheels. at the time I had no clue they were taking a picture, I would've atleast cleaned and waxed it....lol it was actually pretty dirty.... They're using it on their website and Lexani uses it to..I got 18 inches because I didn't want to go to big And it would mess up your stock suspension system.. Even though they didn't know at the time that actually the upper control arms need to be replaced because you have 18 inch wheels my original rims were only 16s But since I replace the upper control arms I know that they were the wrong size that were stock... They actually have stock ones for 18 inch wheels from the Mazda dealer...lol but the rubber on the old ones were shot anyway so I replaced with the new 18 inch correct arm length upper control arm... The rear ones don't make a difference what size wheel... I wanted to lower the car a little bit and beef up the rear suspension but I don't think I'm going to.... Once you mess around with geometry of the suspension the car will never ride the same..That's why I haven't got aftermarket coil overs yet...lol But I do need struts ,,,, one front one is leaky...lol But the car still rides all right... New adjustable coil overs are about 200 each... or I just go stock and replace the strut for about $80 each.. I don't know you see the picture of my car ... you be the judge I think it looks great without it lowered ,,, I mean yes it would be cool to be lower it might look better but your drivability becomes worse and a lot stiffer... See I keep talking myself out of it... few of the cars I've worked on in Arizona the wire harnesses get pretty brittle ... Honda was about the same my sister's Toyota was about the same... Previous Mazda was about the same...Only when I lived up in New Jersey was a different because it wasn't dry heat ,,,, there you have to worry about rust... well anyway all the rubber and plastic parts I spray with silicone and or uv protecting sealant...To prevent things from drying out... I do it every six months or so..Mind you we bought the car when it was at 30,000 miles... the person who own before me Was an older lady who didn't drive it much.. in North Scottsdale. I also inherited the car it didn't cost me anything... And that's another story being with my mother taking care of her As she was in hospice at home ,,,was with her every day till the end... And that's another story ,,,I will spare you graphic details. Car is fairly easy to work on pretty straightforward ,,no special knowledge is really needed not overly complicated Like some cars can be... I think the only thing holding me back from doing all the virus stuff is the heat right now and not having all the materials with me like New wire loom For high temperatures.. I already tried the other wire loom stuff and it got brittle within a few months...The stuff they sell at AutoZone or Walmart in a small roll...Good for the interior but not good for exterior especially not over an engine it just gets dried out real fast..And whatever high temp loom tape I need ...Which more than likely I'll have to order off Amazon or parts Xpress
Wow, just found the pictures! Looks really clean! I do love the look of lowered cars, but there's no way I could daily drive one. I'm only 29 but the harsh suspensions kill me! I dig the 18's on there. Anything bigger would lose practicability pretty fast. (Used to work around the Phoenix area. There were some wild potholes out there that would demolish the low profile wheels) Glad you're savvy on the vehicle. Sure it saves a ton of money, but there's also a big peace of mind that comes with really knowing your car.
@@VanwithTim Still haven't fixed the wire..lmao.. it did it again today.. lol I did a tire/wheel rotation sunday.. Wasn't too bad early early morning I'm talking like 5:30 in the morning
I am not saying you have dismantled a DC refrigerator as well, but now that you have dismantled an AC refrigerator, and you have put some miles on it (plenty of washboard roads I assume and hope?), Is there anything about the construction of an AC refrigerator that you would say is not as robust and up to the vibration challenges of a DC refrigerator in Van life?
Hey Bryce, A few personal opinions here: 12V benefits: no need for a power inverter and may have active condenser cooling (fan cooling instead of radiant through the metal casing) The marketing departments say their 12v compressors are more robust yet offer no science / testing to back up their claim..? (It's all made in China where QC is... questionable) I was incredibly worried about the extreme vibration at first (We've hit some HUGE bumps that would have torn the suspension apart on a light duty van.) But even with many miles of compressor rattling, the lines all looked great and compressor as quiet as day one. The compressor is often running even while driving these roads I was also surprised with the extremes it continued to operate at. It would run with 160F+ interior temps without issue. It calls for 3" air space on all sides for condenser coil cooling (which obviously I didn't do) Fully expected issues at the higher temperatures but it never missed a beat. It also seemed unbothered by
@@VanwithTim I am contemplating a smaller inverter to run the refrigerator 24/7, then a big inverter to run the induction cooktop and air conditioning unit. Thinking there is no need to run a big, expensive, less efficient large inverter 24 hours a day. *Shrugs*
@@antigroundhogday I've heard of dual inverter setups like that! There are a couple folks who actually tied the inverter into the fridge thermostat, so it automatically turns the inverter on / off when it calls for the compressor. Cool idea for sure! I guess at that point, you've effectively made the fridge a 12v unit lol. I dig it.
It would take a little work to get everything perfectly aligned to know where to drill your holes (the first half of this video) but if it's open and accessible down below, you should be able to get long enough bolts and some large washers to go through the floor and into the bottom of the fridge!
Would you remove the seat rails if you were to do this build again? I haven't got to the point of pulling mine yet. Do you think the floor insulation is worth it?
I don't think I would bother removing the rails if I were to do it again. As for insulation, I wish I had chosen a better insulation to be honest. I went with a 1" foam board and ~3/4" plywood above that. But I didn't look at the R-Value of the board I purchased. (A measly 3.85 per inch) A little more expensive for poly-iso foam board but it bumps the R-Value up to 6.0 per inch. It's very surprising how much heat pours through the floor above the sliding door entrance (from the exhaust below). I would probably go with 1.5" poly-iso foam board (R-9.3) then top off with a hard-wood ~1/2" board to bring it level with the seat rails. Then cover the top with your floor finish of choice.
Definitely going to have to steal this!! Thanks
I love your videos! I feel like your build-style is a missing niche in this area. Too many videos are done by people that either have overly-advanced skills, over-reliance on turn-key products, or obsess over making every result look "perfect". It rocks that you are taking us through your whole process and thinking for everything. I call your build style the "good enough" style, which is so useful because most of us don't have the disposable income to go all-in on a more serious approach. And let's face it, our needs will change anyways.
Very clever 👍
That death head sound effect reminds me of that old game scorched earth.
I love the awesome awesome idea thank you so much
Very sweet! 😎
Genius idea with that latch! I take it there’s no way for the rod to disappear down into the lower door if the rubber button came off the top? A bit of glue under it if that was the case would give me peace of mind! Thanks for the upload 👍🏻
Thanks for checking it out!
Inside the top of the lower door it has a molded plastic bottom at the bottom of the "hole" to keep it from falling down in, so should be good!
I glued the rubber 1/4" vacuum cap to the top of the rod though, so no way for it to fall through the freezer door.
Cheers!
-Tim
Genius!
very good idea. I used baby locks for my fridge
Anything in Arizona desert heat doesn't last too long especially plastic and rubber if you don't protect it will start drying and cracking...Anything rubber I replaced on my car already.. Suspension parts, which means total arm replacements upper and lower's on both sides,, Also replace both CV axels ..The boots didn't last too long... they're usually the first ones to dry out... All bushings ,,, you name it... and of course tires ,,,, I have custom rims on my car... google image search Lexani Chrome Twisters My car will actually pop up it's a 2013 Mazda 6 Polished slate colored car ,, not exactly black It's a black pearlish color.... The image will have graffiti in the background the wall behind the car had graffiti all over it...And the image should say elemental wheels. at the time I had no clue they were taking a picture, I would've atleast cleaned and waxed it....lol it was actually pretty dirty.... They're using it on their website and Lexani uses it to..I got 18 inches because I didn't want to go to big And it would mess up your stock suspension system.. Even though they didn't know at the time that actually the upper control arms need to be replaced because you have 18 inch wheels my original rims were only 16s But since I replace the upper control arms I know that they were the wrong size that were stock... They actually have stock ones for 18 inch wheels from the Mazda dealer...lol but the rubber on the old ones were shot anyway so I replaced with the new 18 inch correct arm length upper control arm... The rear ones don't make a difference what size wheel... I wanted to lower the car a little bit and beef up the rear suspension but I don't think I'm going to.... Once you mess around with geometry of the suspension the car will never ride the same..That's why I haven't got aftermarket coil overs yet...lol But I do need struts ,,,, one front one is leaky...lol But the car still rides all right... New adjustable coil overs are about 200 each... or I just go stock and replace the strut for about $80 each.. I don't know you see the picture of my car ... you be the judge I think it looks great without it lowered ,,, I mean yes it would be cool to be lower it might look better but your drivability becomes worse and a lot stiffer... See I keep talking myself out of it... few of the cars I've worked on in Arizona the wire harnesses get pretty brittle ... Honda was about the same my sister's Toyota was about the same... Previous Mazda was about the same...Only when I lived up in New Jersey was a different because it wasn't dry heat ,,,, there you have to worry about rust... well anyway all the rubber and plastic parts I spray with silicone and or uv protecting sealant...To prevent things from drying out... I do it every six months or so..Mind you we bought the car when it was at 30,000 miles... the person who own before me Was an older lady who didn't drive it much.. in North Scottsdale. I also inherited the car it didn't cost me anything... And that's another story being with my mother taking care of her As she was in hospice at home ,,,was with her every day till the end... And that's another story ,,,I will spare you graphic details. Car is fairly easy to work on pretty straightforward ,,no special knowledge is really needed not overly complicated Like some cars can be... I think the only thing holding me back from doing all the virus stuff is the heat right now and not having all the materials with me like New wire loom For high temperatures.. I already tried the other wire loom stuff and it got brittle within a few months...The stuff they sell at AutoZone or Walmart in a small roll...Good for the interior but not good for exterior especially not over an engine it just gets dried out real fast..And whatever high temp loom tape I need ...Which more than likely I'll have to order off Amazon or parts Xpress
Wow, just found the pictures! Looks really clean! I do love the look of lowered cars, but there's no way I could daily drive one. I'm only 29 but the harsh suspensions kill me!
I dig the 18's on there. Anything bigger would lose practicability pretty fast. (Used to work around the Phoenix area. There were some wild potholes out there that would demolish the low profile wheels)
Glad you're savvy on the vehicle. Sure it saves a ton of money, but there's also a big peace of mind that comes with really knowing your car.
@@VanwithTim Still haven't fixed the wire..lmao.. it did it again today.. lol I did a tire/wheel rotation sunday.. Wasn't too bad early early morning I'm talking like 5:30 in the morning
I am not saying you have dismantled a DC refrigerator as well, but now that you have dismantled an AC refrigerator, and you have put some miles on it (plenty of washboard roads I assume and hope?), Is there anything about the construction of an AC refrigerator that you would say is not as robust and up to the vibration challenges of a DC refrigerator in Van life?
Hey Bryce,
A few personal opinions here:
12V benefits: no need for a power inverter and may have active condenser cooling (fan cooling instead of radiant through the metal casing)
The marketing departments say their 12v compressors are more robust yet offer no science / testing to back up their claim..? (It's all made in China where QC is... questionable)
I was incredibly worried about the extreme vibration at first (We've hit some HUGE bumps that would have torn the suspension apart on a light duty van.) But even with many miles of compressor rattling, the lines all looked great and compressor as quiet as day one.
The compressor is often running even while driving these roads
I was also surprised with the extremes it continued to operate at. It would run with 160F+ interior temps without issue.
It calls for 3" air space on all sides for condenser coil cooling (which obviously I didn't do) Fully expected issues at the higher temperatures but it never missed a beat.
It also seemed unbothered by
@@VanwithTim I am contemplating a smaller inverter to run the refrigerator 24/7, then a big inverter to run the induction cooktop and air conditioning unit. Thinking there is no need to run a big, expensive, less efficient large inverter 24 hours a day. *Shrugs*
@@antigroundhogday I've heard of dual inverter setups like that! There are a couple folks who actually tied the inverter into the fridge thermostat, so it automatically turns the inverter on / off when it calls for the compressor. Cool idea for sure!
I guess at that point, you've effectively made the fridge a 12v unit lol.
I dig it.
@@VanwithTim That would be pretty cool!
How can I moubr my fridge to my truck floor ?
I have wooden floors. Do you think I can drill into it ??
It would take a little work to get everything perfectly aligned to know where to drill your holes (the first half of this video) but if it's open and accessible down below, you should be able to get long enough bolts and some large washers to go through the floor and into the bottom of the fridge!
Would you remove the seat rails if you were to do this build again? I haven't got to the point of pulling mine yet. Do you think the floor insulation is worth it?
I don't think I would bother removing the rails if I were to do it again.
As for insulation, I wish I had chosen a better insulation to be honest.
I went with a 1" foam board and ~3/4" plywood above that. But I didn't look at the R-Value of the board I purchased. (A measly 3.85 per inch)
A little more expensive for poly-iso foam board but it bumps the R-Value up to 6.0 per inch.
It's very surprising how much heat pours through the floor above the sliding door entrance (from the exhaust below).
I would probably go with 1.5" poly-iso foam board (R-9.3) then top off with a hard-wood ~1/2" board to bring it level with the seat rails. Then cover the top with your floor finish of choice.
@@VanwithTim Thanks for taking the time to tell me all of that. I am grateful for your advice.