Vannin' Home Forums General Discussion Readers Rides 1989 E150 conversion camper build

Interior demo continues. Today we finished getting the seats out, got the carpet up, got two walls and one window frame down and realized we have some wood subfloor to repair but are looking ok.

Son was again happy to help and we made great progress.

Question about the holes in the floor. What is the best way to handle those? I'm thinking under the van we use small sheet metal plates and something like JB weld to cover the hole. Then rust prevention spray.

On the inside we are going to put laminate floors down. I guess I could just ignore the holes (there are 12 bolt holes and 1 table hole - maybe 2 inches? Maybe hit with expanding foam first?

We might redo the plywood anyway - would be moot then, I guess.

Help needed! Why won't my sliding door latch?

When I bought the van I knew this problem existed but now trying to tackle it, I'm hitting a roadblock.

First - the previous owner put on wide rear tires so he put on this extension for the door to clear them:



Also, since the for wouldn't latch, he decided this was the right fix:



Holy. Crap.

In the event of an accident, passengers are locked inside. But it's ok, it's only a bathroom quality latch not designed to withstand the rigors of driving.

When activated by hand, the front latch functions correctly but the rear latch was toast (locked up). So I found an NOS rear latch on eBay and installed it today.

Now when I close the door the rear latch can bite like you'd expect:



But it doesn't hold



Worse, the front latch isn't being engaged (this was true before) because it does not seem the door slides forward enough ... Or maybe the extended sliding bar causes an incompatible angle.

Does anyone have any advice?

I can put narrower wheels on the rear but don't have the smaller bar. I can find one at a junk yard, though.

But is that the problem?

And should the rear latch bite and hold? It just seems to latch down when the door is on position then the spring frees it off I stop pulling forward on the door.

I'm lost!

Thanks.

To go along with an extended door slider bar there is a different length door stop too. Perhaps that is wrong or adjusted incorrectly causing the door to stop forward travel before the latch locks down?

Will it lock in if you close the door the pull up on the handle ? That's what I need to do.

This seems possible. I'll look at this and the service manual to see if it has suggestions on improving forward travel.

Unfortunately that doesn't make a difference - I'll keep it in mind as I play with forward travel.

I was hopeful - but the stop is already adjusted all the way forward.

I did adjust the door rear up a little since the hinge was bumping the body but this thing is all kinds of cattywompus. I think my best bet might be to take it to a body shop and see if there is something they can do with it.

Years ago I bought a used sliding door extender for an 84 E150 I used to own. It came with a new plate and stop that stopped the sliding door's forward motion earlier than the stock piece. Using trial and error, I had to carefully adjust the point at which the door stopped sliding forward and began closing but I got it to work.

Can you get the slider to latch if you push it shut from the outside? If so, then your latch mechanism is OK. I might be wrong, but I believe there is supposed to be a plastic collar around the latching post on the jamb.

I think you can pretty easily make up a new latch stop plate with some flat metal stock. If I remember right the aftermarket stop was only one to three inches longer than the stock piece, nbut the longer extender arm amplified the effect.

I just installed a NOS rear latch and it will close around the rear latch striker when I hold the door shut but it doesn't lock in place - is it supposed to? There is a spring mechanism inside that retracts it.



I was looking at that as an option. I've never done any metal working but I think I could figure something out. I'm also considering adding 1-2 shims to the front striker plate since I think that would move it back enough for the front latch to grab in the primary position.