OFFICIAL NC FOOD TRUCK BUILD W/PICS

OK, i think i can finally start putting some pics up so im starting this official page w/pics thread to help keep track of things and get it all in one spot....
 
here is the "ugly duckling" in all her 34 y/o glory....
 



 
and here are a couple of different ideas i have tossed around for a "theme"
 
the "BACK ALLEY BURGERS" idea....
 

 
uummm yea.....not sure what happened there, i might have been drinking when i did this one, lol, and there is a B/M with with website locked up as well
 
the "GO BURGER" idea.....
 

 
this is my favorite one, but found out there is a "go burger" already operating up in NYC, and they have all the facebook and twitter AND dot coms pretty much locked up.....i see those as big assets so the search goes on...
 
and here is "BURGER BOX".....im not quiet sure how i like this one, but as i tweak it and play around with different ideas i think i might be on to something here, and i did create my own version of the "food pyramid-fire triangle" last night, lol, i really like that....
 

 
here is my version of the food pyramid, lol.....
 

 
and here are a couple of ideas i have for interior space...... im at a total loose here as to ergonomics, and im sure these will change 100 times before i actually start to shoe horn stuff in the back of the van, so if anyone wants to chime in and give me some advice on that, it would be greatly appreciated......
 



 
anyway, these are the directions im leaning in right now
 
sanding started today on the van, nothing spectacular there so i didnt see the need for a pic of that, will be about a weeks worth of sanding(taking it down to bare aluminum) and prep.....then its back over to my fabricators to get started on the roof....
 
 
 
 
 
 

waste water will be mounted under the van, directly below the fresh water

What did you do the mock up with? Looks good!
 
Just a thought- Charbroiler right in the service window?  I see bags with burger going up in flames.  ;<).
 
Maybe swap the wet area with the cooking area?  I would think that would look better to customers as well.
 
YMMV.
 
Cheers!
 
G
 
 

I like the program for mock up and like your van too. It will be a great biuld to show here and hope it goes excellent for you.

Yes, definitely like the mock up design program ur using.  Best of success to you!

i used MS PAINT,(under accessories in the start menu), pretty basic program, but a lot can be done with it if ya play around a bit and figure it all out...... and its on every single PC sold since 1990ish 
 
lol, yea, i still haven't figured out where i want the window yet....anyone serving out the back door?? good call on the charbroiler right next to window though

the "tinted" colors on the back alley van were done with photobucket software

I will be serving out the back, simply because of the roll up door i have on my grumman.  Instead of cutting a hole out of the side of the van, I decided that since I have to trash the roll up door anyway(its deteriorated), why not close in the roll up, and make a serving window.  This will save me a few pennies.  I plan on making a storage box beneath the interior serving window counter for my battery bank, Generator, and tools.  Thats the plan anyway........

yea, i like the idea of serving out the back as well, when i hit a crowded car show, it will be nice to pull into a spot and not be in anyones way....
 
my van is a p20, so it basically has the same dimensions as a chevy 3/4 ton long bed pick up truck, fits just perfect into a parking space....
 
and i like the idea of the back doors opening up until they rest against the propane tanks..... will make a nice "funnel" up to the serving window to help coral the masses and the insides of the doors will make perfect spots for menu boards for them to order off of......
i too hate the idea of cutting a serving window into the side

Here is mine, I tried to sell it last week but no takers, so Im going to install a kitchen in it.
 

found out today that i need to tinker with the brakes a bit more so then sanding, and being the person i am, i cant just fix something, ive got to go all Tim the tool man Taylor on it and make it better (ie: keep myself in the poor house) so i spent the day tracking down disc brake spindles for the front so i can convert the front brakes over to rotors and get rid of the front drums.... not a bad idea in all actuality, much better stopping power that way, and a safer braking system all in all.
finding parts for this thing...the drive train anyway, has been a lot easier, and a whole lot cheaper then i expected. I reckon the "dime a dozen" chevy parts syndrome is playing into my favor at the moment 
i didnt feel like sanding all day today anyway to be honest about it, lol

spent a few minutes drawing up a "schematic" of my proposed wall construction
 
this makes sense to me, and i think it will make for a rock solid wall, and a nice comfy van when its done, good insulation and hopefully some great sound deadening qualities !
 
if anyone sees any detrimental flaw in my idea, please chime in and speak up, im pretty much going off of what my brain tells me makes good sense, but have no real training in any of this.........
 

Mine gets about 4 miles a gallon. I ran out of gas twice moving it. I really like the room, I found a three hole sink cheap, and I have a propane water heater for it too. I have a 40 gallon water tank to put in it and I can get 50 gallon plastic barrels cheap for the grey water. The only thing I really want is a quiet generator. Its hard at the minute cos I work a regular job on second shift and go to college full time in the mornings.

wow, my gas guage is broke so i have no idea on my mileage right now...i am estimating 10-12
i put total of 115 bucks in from charlotte back to fayetteville, about 300 miles with a couple of short detours, 115 bucks/3.20 average a gallon got me around 30 gallons i figure, thats why i say 10-12mpg...... not sure how much was left, but had enough to warm it up and get to the gas station next day........ lol, i drive it until i worry, then throw 20 bucks in it, i havent really gone far in it since home, and i dont want to have a full tank and then it break down on me(still not 100% confident with it) so im keeping it low on gas

well, after spending a couple hours too many crunching names and checking for duplicates all over the place i finally ended up with these....
 
www.EatTheAlley.com 
and
www.twitter.com/BackAlleyBurger
 
these were the two best names i could create that would be usable without being intrusive to others or causing confusion...
 
also, i couldnt help myself so i registered this .com as well...
 
www.SayNoToTofu.com
lol, this one is going to be a trash page for my least favorite food product
 
the .coms are just temp pages right now, but if ya want go check them out, i played around with 'em a little bit...
crap, its 5am, im going to bed.....

In front of the syrup pumps where you have ??? how about a Slurpee type machine, if you use Pepsi products they will give you one for free and install it.

yes... Pepsi is my choice, they will also provide the entire fountain system for me with no minimum syrup purchases !
i never thought about a slurpee machine, i'll have to check into that !
 
coke didnt even want to talk to me after i told them it was a mobile unit, thats fine, they can KMA
 
pepsi gives me mt dew, and cheerwine !

ok....i got the website somewhat started, and the twitter all figured out, i even changed my name on here (HEY MODS, DISREGARD THE EMAIL, I FIGURED IT OUT)
i have a couple of temp pages up right now, and am playing around with a 5 page website i got from godaddy....
 
lol, i think the website building might end up being the hardest part of this whole process!
 
here are the temp pages if anyone is interested in taking a look.....
www.EatTheAlley.com
and
www.saynototofu.com
 
right now my 5 pager is under a temp address that you cant go to from a link at the moment
 
lol, im playing around in the templates right now trying to figure it all out..... if there is someone who has these skills, i wouldnt be against dropping a 20 in the mail if you want to help me out a bit
 
 
lol, almost forgot the twitter.....  http://twitter.com/BackAlleyBurger
 
lol, wow....it must have been a long day, i forgot i posted all this 2 days ago......lol, i think bed will come early tonight, and on a sat even!!

Hey BAB,
 
I am a web developer, but I have a secret for ya, these days you really can do it your self, maybe with a little free help.
 
The secret to a sucess full website is content and keywords.
 
KIS- Keep it Simple 
 
Couple of images of the truck and your food, menu, catering menu and services, contact information and a feed from your Twitter account to create current content.  All this stuff can be done from templates and code snipets.
 
Don't do ANYTHING in flash.  Totally unnecessary and the search engines can't read it, and whats worse if you would have to pay someone to do it and get no real value in return.
 
Even fancy restaurants are starting to get wise to this.  See this article- 
 
boston.com/ae/food/restaurants/articles/2011/03/02/when_bad_websites_happen_to_good_restaurants/
 
Facebook and Twitter are what rules these days, followed by things like Four Square and Yelp.  They are much more important than your webpage.  That is today, who knows what will be it next week.
 
If you have a specific question let me know.
 
Cheers,
 
G 

looks like a good setup . i will be using 2 grills setup on either side of a 4' service window with the window extended to a total of 130" in order for the guest to see their meat cooking. I will be using heat resistant glass on either side of the service window. when i am allowed ill upload picks of my schematics. my brother does 3d rendering so i have some really detailed and cool looking pics but i have to wait until i can upload pics i guess.

hey man....email them to me and i will post them for you...lol, always a way around the system...im curious to see
your brother want to make a couple bucks doing something up for me??

Nice truck. I always like the older ones that have some character to them.
 
One thing that you should note and take into consideration about serving out of the back is that you lose all of your horizontal signage.  Vehicle wraps now run into the thousands of dollars, and sure it's great driving down the street - but you absolutely lose all that real-estate when you serve out of the back.  If you do fairs and festivals, you're going to reduce your visible footprint substantially.
 
Also, I only see 1 area designated as prep area.  In my county you need a minimum of 2 prep areas (one for vegetables cutting etc/ and one for raw meat etc) for cross contamination reasons. If your county is OK with just your prep refrig - then great.
 
Placing your burners next to your refrigerator, and having your freezer underneath your griddle should be re-evaluated. Doing so is going to create a great amount of heat in direct correlation with your cooling equipment.  Your condensers are going to have to work harder to cool and as such it's going to be reflected in how long they last. Having your char-broiler directly next to your prep refrigerator is going to really tax it as well. Ideally, your cooling/refrigeration equipment should be as far away as possible to equipment that generates heat. 
 
Also be aware of any requirements your HD may have about the proximity of your waste and fresh water. Many counties require the two to have a physical distance of separation between the two.
 
Look forward to seeing your work in progress.

thought i would give an update.......
bum ankle kept me from doing too much the last week or so to the body, so i concentrated on wiring and the dash(LOL, i could sit most of the time, lol) pulled i cant tell ya how much old wiring out that was just hanging loose from previous owners.....
 
im having a new dash cut so i can put some modern gauges in, and have gone through and checked all the various components to see if they actually worked or not, and the only thing i have yet to fix is the horn..... i think its actually bad so i will replace anyway.....
 
the wipers, heater motor, and running lights are up and working now, i even got the 34 y/o dash fan to working, that thing really pumps out some airflow!
 
i rewired the headlights and got rid of my dimming and blacking out issues.....lol i have one halogen, and one standard light..... kind of pisses me off because some things were just meant to be replaced in matching pairs.....
 
got the ceiling pulled out today..... i never want to see another plastic nail rivet thing as long as i live ! and you cant imagine the difference the 11/2" of insulation between the ceiling and roof made...... by the time i go tthe second piece down, the first area was too hot to touch !!  and it was only 80 and partly cloudy today...... so 4" of pink board is going up in there when it goes back together !
 
if i could only have one thing i say in this post make a difference in what someone is doing i hope its this.......
 
NEVER NEVER NEVER........ EVER......NEVER use floating grounds in an aluminum vehicle!!!!!!!!!........................NEVER EVER !!!!
I caught a lot of possible danger zones before they turned into real problems, as it is, i have a little "chalk" (aluminum rust) to brush away and treat, and guess where each of the "problem" areas was ??????
 
....... you guessed it, in between a floating ground and the device that was powered..... right in a seam most of the time.......
those little micro currents, that WILL manifest over time will eat aluminum up with the quikness, and is worse when you add a little moisture to it....
 
i caught it in time though, maybe a 1 on a scale of 1-10 as far as damage goes, i got lucky.
 
lets see.... other then that, i got all the brakes serviced, wheels balanced, and am putting on a new master cylinder nest week to top them off.....
 
i do have three loose wheel studs that will need to be taken care of next time the wheels come off....
 
almost forgot, if anyone has a line on a stepvan graveyard please chime in, i need a new "passenger" door.... i have tracked down all the peices parts, but havent been able to find the door itself.....
 
i think thats about it, i didnt take any pics of this stuff, figured i would save the bandwidth for the site until i get closer to the actual "food truck" related stuff
 
but i will post pics of the roof raising and walls going in.... those are going to be huge hurdles out of the way....... until next time......
 
JUST SAY NO TO TOFU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW...lol, that was a novel in internet terms, lol
 
heres a little something for those of you looking at getting a step van to work out of....
these things are totally different animals from your garden variety automobiles...
 
heres a couple of examples of stuff to keep in mind......
 

 
heres the only two area with damage on my van.... the blue area is pretty strait forward and is an easy fix with a little heat and some body hammers....
 
the red area right beside the headlight looked like a simple strait forward fix as well..... well, when i dug into it i soon discovered that although it too is a simple fix....... getting to it is going to be major surgery........ notice the rivets on either side, there is a box for the headlight assembly that is riveted in and its dented just like the fender, so to fix the red area we need to ......
 
take out running and headlight, drill out 6 rivets, remove the box, beat box back into proper shape, reshape the fender, possibly remove battery and tray for some more room, install the fixed box, replace everything that you had to remove, prep for paint...... lol, not a huge deal, but just keep in mind, part of what makes these things indestructible (rivets) is going to be a pain at some point in time, lol........ my first thought of removing the fender was soon over ruled when i realized that it would mean drilling out about 40 rivets !!! 
 
second thing to remember is the rear end, its not your usual truck rear end, its a big heavy duty, emphasis on heavy, unit that will most likely make it a million miles before needing any serious attending to ...... when that time comes, look at your local 4x4 shops first, the 4x4 crowd loves these 1 ton rear ends for their rock crawler trucks, same with the brakes, might be a good idea to have the 4x4 guys service them as well, they have all the right tools, and the experience to back it up with these heavy duty rear ends  
 
 
 

How's the build coming along and body work. You have got a good starting platform to start with. good job Mike

its been raining around here for the past week, and cold again on top of it...
 
off to the fabricator fri to get started welding...... it seems to be moving slower then cold molasses right now

well, the rain stopped......FINALLY !!!!
got out and did some running around, saw a couple of guys working out in front of an old run down use to be bar&grill, and decided to stop on a whim and see if they might have anything i could use (hood really) ..... so i got the nickle tour of the joint....
hood was galvanized, the place has been closed for a long time apparently...no griddle or anything under the hood
 
as we were walking back out i caught something in the corner of my eye.... from under a couple of shirts (place had been used by the owners as a thrift store last couple years) i spotted a fry basket handle
 
i looked back at the guy and said "hey man, what are ya doing hiding the good stuff", lol, he didnt have a clue (owners son)
we went over and uncovered a nearly new condition silverking skr27bkd  counter height NSF refridgerator(!!!!!!!!!!!) and sitting on top of it was a star 208/240 volt counter top deep fryer(!!!!!!!!!!!!)
 
he called his parents back (had called them to ask about the hood previously) and asked about these..... i could tell there was some hemming and hawing going on over the phone.......
and i dont know what in the world came over me, but i blurted out "tell her i'll give her 100 bucks right now for the both"
he relayed the message...... lol, i loaded up both into the truck and hauled butt before someone came to their senses !!!!
im still in shock over this..... i priced out both on ebay and craigslist the fridge comes in around 900 average for used, and the fryer, i couldnt find used, but new is averaging 850.......
the fridge is out on the porch right now, took it about 20-30 minutes to start coming down in temp (thermo in door) and has been running at 40* for the past 6 hours.......temp knob is at about half way
i think i got a killer deal
i havent tried out the fryer yet, need to run a temp 240 line  to plug it up, but will have report and pics tomorrow afternoon sometime.....
 
this was a nice little slice of cake at the end of the week 

Sweet deal, and great find. It always pays to keep a eye out of the last spot on earth. awsome....

early AM report........ still holding rock solid at 40*
im going to crank it down to below freezing as soon as it warms up today and see how that goes......
my sis-n-law said dont waste oil to check out the fryer, but to just fill it with some water and check it that way....sound right to you guys ??
 
 
0* and holding for two hours now.....i think i got a good deal 

a little cleaning up and i think were in business !
 

 
pretty clean over all, cant wait to put some food in it !
 

 
this sort of kills the under the counter aspect of it, but im seeing condiment pans on the top shelf with easy access :)
 

 
a little cleaning here also, but for the price i cant complain a bit.....