Date:         Fri, 29 Nov 1996 19:41:42 +0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Forhan <tforhan@pipeline.com>
Subject:      Propex Installation, Day Two 

This chapter will cover cutting the holes for the combustion inlet and
outlets, and running the gas line to the furnace. It probably represents
about two hours of work at my slow pace.

Note, for this discussion, the front compartment is the one in
front of the fridge, (Front is Front), the rear compartment is 
the one immediatly to the rear of the fridge, behind that, in my lexicon,
is the water tank compartment, and behind that the closet. OK?

First thing on the agenda was drilling the holes in the pan of the
bus for the combustion inlet and outlet. As mentioned before, there
is not a lot of room here, it fits, but you have to be careful. Measure
twice, cut once. Remeber also, I am installing my unit with the gas inlet
out on the right side of the bus, with the heat outlet toward the center.
I used some elbow connectors to make up a "U"shaped 1/4"line from the gas
inlet on the furnace, along the end of the unit, and toward the front, 
as I will run the gas line along the front of the under-seat compartment,
at the corner made by the compartment floor and the vertical kick plate.

The "U" adds almost three inches to the fixed length of the unit, and 
has to go right up against the wall of the combustion exhaust is to clear
the longitudinal frame member underneath. I put the factory supplied 
cutting template on the compartment floor, and stood the furnace, with
the "U" installed, over it to make sure I had clearance. I taped the 
template into the correct position, and then drilled a pilot hole
at the center mark for the exhaust outlet. I crawled underneath with
my 1 1/2" hole saw bit in hand, and fit it up against the pilot hole.
I could see that if a moved the pilot hole about 3/8" I could miss one 
to the strenghthening stampings in the floor, so I did. I drilled a 
second pilot hole, and crawled under again to check that out. Perfect.

I then drilled out both holes to 1 1/2", and trial fitted the furnace,
every thing was fine. I got some old Rustoleum paint that was
lying around and sealed the edges that were cut: both the wood and the
steel floor pan. I also drilled a small hole in the inboard flange
of the right hand jack fitting, and attached the exhaust mushroom.

(I would not advise installing the exhaust pipes, or screwing down the
furnace at this time, wait until you have the gas lines in and checked
for leaks.)

Next, I drilled a 5/8" hole between of the left side panel (at the front,
just above the lower bracket) of the under seat compartment to the hidden
compartment, aiming for a spot behind (to the rear of the bus) the other 
110V outlet and the 110 breaker box. This hole will service the both the
gas line and the four wire heater control cable that runs from the heater
to the thermostat.  

I then removed the panel dividing the outlet area from the rest of that
cabinet. You will see two brackets, pull the appropriate screws, but it
still will not come out. There is a small coutnersunk finishing nail 
that runs from the small shelf above the panel into the panel. Freed 
of its brackets, you can do a non-destructive removal by starting to
move the panel right and left, to loosen things up a bit; I literally 
pulled the panel off the nail. Then take it out. While you are at it, 
remove the two clamps  holding down the 110 line, it will help make 
things neater, later. 

Next up is running the gas line to the furnace. Look in the space
where the fridge sat, and you will see there are notches cut at the
bottom of each partition at the back, where the partitions meet the
floor and the side of the bus. The gas line is going to run through
those notches from the forward compartment,where the two existing 
lines come up from the tank, along the corner of the floor and the
side of the van, behind (and well below) the fridge, into the rear 
compartment, where it will make a 90 degree turn at the rear of the
rear compartment, head for that 5/8 hole you just drilled, and 
then make its way across the front of the seat compartment to the 
heater. Thats the plan, anyway.

At this point I took the 10' of copper tube and bent it into a gradual
curve. From the forward compartment, I started feeding line into the
fridge area, and from there into the rear compartment. Here I made a
gradual turn, using the entire floorspace, to the 5/8" hole. Run
the gas line under the 110V stuff (you did remove those clamps,
right), but don't force a neat 90 degree bend quite yet. It will
be easier if you can get a helper to push on the tube from the
forward compartment, while you work it through the rear compartment, 
the hole, and then to the furnace. Just get the tubing roughly in
place. 

If you have a spring tubing bender, this is a good time to use it to
clean up the piece of tube under the seat. The "U" to the inlet is
probably a little above the floor level, what would look really nice is
a smooth bend from the junction with the "U" down to the floor, and then
a similar bend at the other end of the seat compartment bending up to 
reach the 5/8" hole, which is slightly off the floor because of the
lower bracket. Take the tubing bender off, slip on a flare nut, 
and a make a flare. Connect up the gas line to the "U".  

The turkey is ready! That is it for today. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tom F.