I brainstormed this for several months before buying my xB in November 2005. This is my third locksmith service van and I was tired of driving a tank (Ford E150 @ 9-12 MPG). My xB gets 26-33 MPG and is way more fun to drive (and park).

I carefully evaluated and weighed everything I need to carry. The whole deal, including myself, weighs in at 650 lbs. and with the xB rated to carry 825 lbs. she carries the weight with absolutely no problem. In fact I still fly around corners and generally cowboy around at will. Although, with a stick shift, she is no drag racer, I haven't found the hill yet that I can't climb in 5th gear.

The rear workbench seating is quite adequate in spite of the fact that I'm 6' 2'. I work back there from 10 to 60 minutes at a time on a daily basis. I can easily close and open the hatch from inside and enjoy the heat or a/c as needed.

After removing everything from the rear floor, I made a welded armature out of 1 inch steel tubing. It bolts, via welded sleeves, to the seatbelt fastenings in the floor. Another square tube runs crossways where the front of the rear seat used to be. I drilled no holes in the floor (they rust) but bolted everything down very securely to existing fastenings. The drawer units are machine screwed down to the armature.

I couldn't be more pleased by the way the conversion worked out and the way the (car?) drives and handles.

 

looks good and very practical. It looks like you could spend a lot of time working in there. lots of forethought and planning are obvious.
ABH

 

A "Toolbox" Box!

Nice fabrication and layout. Looks clean and very functional.

 

kool,it that a good business to be in?

 

sounds interesting....

 

Professional car break-er-in-er-er. J/K

 

i prefer the "lock box"

 

Glad it's working for you werewolf. I'm concerned about why you were only getting 9-12 mpg with a E-150? My E-350 loaded with 3K lbs still gets like 14 mpgs. Averages 15 mpgs regularly with 350K miles.

 

My E150 had the larger engine, a 350 I think.
Most of my driving was around town, taxicab style.
It had about 120000 hard, stop and go miles and was using some oil.

 

yup....stop and go is murder on the mileage.....my F-150 would get 18-20 on the highyway, in town? 10-12...THAT is why I am a proud xB owner now...lol

 

Yeah, mine also has the 5.4 mod motor but doesn't burn more than a quart every 2-3 K miles. Mine are 80% hwy miles tho so that would make a huge difference.

 

I *LOVE* your "LOCK BOX"!! (It's a good thing you're not any bigger ;^)

 

that is a great idea...and some really nice handy work...Great Job

 

That's rather cool.

 

now you can make the car un-stealable.

 

lol it looks little small, but sweet! and made me laugh. good stuff and smart! GJ!

 

that's awesome werewolf.

my stepdad used to be a locksmith, and when i was young i remember going out on jobs with him in his old ugly brown ford (i think) van. it was hella cool though, bunch of keys jingling around, couple of those key cutting motors on a little work bench he made, tons of key shavings all over the place, and locks and all sorts of that stuff. we used that van a bunch, took it on snowboarding trips and stuff. it was cool,.

anyways, let me get to my point. his van was already kinda cool, but it woulda been so much radder to do everything we did in a xB.

thanks for bringing back some good memories.

 

Its been done, let me find the pics...