The Fun Hog Build Thread: 2007 Chevy Express AWD

On Belay

Observer
Briefly here's my story. I'm 27 years old. I currently work long hours in a job I hate. I don't totally know what I want out of life. My passion is climbing and mountaineering. My end goal is to simplify my life and live more fully. To spend more time pursuing what I really love. The road is calling to me and I want to build the perfect steed. After about a year and a half of actively searching for the perfect van, I finally made the plunge and purchased my rig this summer. A 2007 AWD Chevy Express Cargo.

My past vehicles have been a relatively stock 1997 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4x4 and a 2007 Toyota Tundra SR5 4x4 with a King Coilover Suspension and various other bits. Both vehicles were built out to camp out of and sleep in the back. They were great vehicles for week long trips, and had plenty of offroad capability for my needs, accessing climbing areas down secondary dirt and gravel roads vs. serious off road trails. But after seeing a few too many built out sprinters and sportmobiles I started to get some serious van envy. Especially as I start to eye some extended trips and potentially living on the road full time a van just made some much sense from a comfort perspective.

My requirements were:

1) Cheap: I've paid off my student loans and built a bit of savings. I was not looking to go back into debt buying a van. A Sportsmobile or other prebuilt rig wasn't in the cards, I'm also a DIY type person and want to customize the build to fit my specific needs.

2) (Somewhat) Later Model: Less wear and tear, easier parts availability. I wanted to start with a newer vehicle for the base and accepted the trade-off that this would likely mean more mileage.

3) Light Offroad Ability: I wanted the ability to drive on some rough roads.Basically stock pickup truck level capability. 4x4 or AWD were very high on my desireablity list, but difficult to find at an affordable price. I also considered 2-Wheel drive vans with available aftermarket lifts.

4) Easy Maintenance: I wanted a vehicle that could be worked on anywhere without tons of specialized tools. Advantage ford and Chevy over the Sprinter. I would like to do most of the build work including mechanicals myself. I'm not a master mechanic but have done most of the maintenance and work on my previous vehicles and hope with the help of internet I can figure most things out. The primary motivation is a desire to know my way around the vehicle in case something breaks down on the road. It's also a way to keep the build costs down.

5) Comfort: A high roof and the ability to stand up would be super nice, for obvious reasons. That said I plan to use the van more as a basecamp for outdoor adventure than a live in home. I do want the ability to cook and live in the van fairly comfortably.

Based on balancing these Criteria. I limited my choice to 3 main vans. The Dodge/Mercedes Benz Sprinter (High top is a huge plus; cost, offroad ability, and ease of maintenance were the downsides). Quigley 4x4 Ford E-Series (Great off road and easy to get worked on; price and comfort were the downsides). And Chevy Express AWD (good offroad, easy to get worked on, best price, downside was comfort). I then spent a year and half combing through Craigslist, local auto dealers, and other internet sites looking for the right van.

And then the right van serendipitously fell in my lap. One of my really good friends and climbing partners is an engineer and spends fair amount of time on construction sites. He saw a subcontractor driving and AWD Express one day last October (2015). He got to talking with the guy driving it and it turned out the van was going to be removed from the companies fleet in a couple months. He got the guys number and gave it to me. I gave them a call and was told the van would likely be taken out of service in February. I left my information and asked them to give me a call. I never heard anything back... Until out of the blue in June I get a call asking if I'm still interested. I made the trip down to Denver and on June 22nd brought the new van home. They ended up selling me the van for the same price the lease company had offered in trade. $3000. A steal here in Colorado.

The van is a pretty basic cargo model. With the 5.3L Vortec V.8 and automatic transmission. It comes with the All Wheel Drive Package and the Factory G80 Locker in the rear differential. It has 183,000 miles, but as a fleet vehicle received regular maintenance. It's been in Colorado it's whole life so there are no rust issues (a huge plus coming from midwest). It did have the classic GM peeling paint issue on the hood and roof but was otherwise very clean (for a former construction vehicle).

My basic build plan is to do a 2-3" torsion key lift in front and 2" lift block in the rear and larger 32" All Terrain tires. I'm also planning to put on a set of Boulder Offroad Skid Plates. This should provide enough clearance and protection and when coupled with the AWD and rear locker get me almost anywhere I need to go. I'd also like to replace a fair number of regular maintenance and commonly worn parts to get that knocked out up front. Not planning to do a high top at this time, but instead go with some racks, cargo boxes, and solar panels. Inside I want to do cedar paneling, cabinets with a small sink stove combo and a 12v fridge, and a bed/storage platform. I'm planning to onboard solar, water, and propane.

Build threads were a huge inspiration for me to take on this project, and helped keep me sane while searching for vans. I'll update here as the build progresses! This will also hopefully help me be more diligent about documenting progress, I tend to get absorbed in work and forget to take photos along the way.
 

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On Belay

Observer
Sliding Door Swap Out

After scrubbing and cleaning out the van, and taking it out a few weekend trips. I took on my first real project: swapping out the sliding door.

I had originally wanted to find an AWD Express with barn doors as it allows more wheel/tire options without worrying about slider door clearence. A slider wasn't a deal breaker for me though and it will be advantageous in tight parking lots. However I really wanted a window rather than the blank panel my van came with. The slider won't be covered by any cabinentry and is the perfect place for a window to let in light and take in the scenery. It's also hugely helpful when backing the van up.

Swapping the door out was easy enough. I tracked down a salvage yard in Fort Collins that had a wrecked Express with the coveted window slider, pulled it off and took it home. I removed the trim panel and swapped out the door handle and lock hardwear from my old door to the new. I then used a silver sharpie to mark the location of all the mounting bolts and mounting brackets (they're adjustable) on my original door so that I could mount the new door in the same configuration. I then stacked some tubs under the slider to help support the weight and a friend and I unbolted and removed the old door. We transferred the mounting brackets to the new door and hung it in it's new configuration. With the sharpie as a guide the new door required only minimal adjustment to fit squarely and slide open and shut easily. Since the Express cargo has no electric locks the whole operation was relatively simple.
 

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On Belay

Observer
Touching Up The Paint

The Summit White Express vans have a fairly well-known issue with paint peeling on the hood and roof. My van was cerainly not as bad as some but was absolutely afflicted. I ended up come the rattle can route and with careful prep work and wet sanding the result is decent. It's clearly not a professional paint job but it's not bad. It certainly is far better than the patches of primer. My plan is to put a vinyl wrap on the hood anyway and the roof will be largely covered by the racks.

I first sprayed the hood and roof with a pressure washer to peel off any additional loose paint (a lot more came off than you would have initially thought). Then masked everything off with painters tape and platic sheets. I then sanded down the whole peeled aread and faded that back into the orignal paint. Using rattle cans I prayed a coat of filler primer, wet sanded, hit it with another couple coats of regular automotive primer, then 10 or so thin coats of color with wet sanding in between, and finally 3 coats of clear coat. I went with color matched duplicolor. So far it's held up well.
 

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wjeeper

Active member
AWD & a G80 diff for $3k? You got a great deal on that rig! I paid almost three times more than you did with almost the same miles.......

My van is getting white-chevy-paint-itis pretty bad in spots now. My rig use to have a wrap on it but the newfound exposure to the elements is weathering it quickly, I will be watching to see how your paint job goes!
 

4Fox

Observer
Killer deal! Welcome to van life!

I'm in Colorado also and use my van for getting into areas for climbing or just easy camping with my wife.
 

On Belay

Observer
AWD & a G80 diff for $3k? You got a great deal on that rig! I paid almost three times more than you did with almost the same miles.......

My van is getting white-chevy-paint-itis pretty bad in spots now. My rig use to have a wrap on it but the newfound exposure to the elements is weathering it quickly, I will be watching to see how your paint job goes!

Thanks! It was a great deal, the connection to the company selling it was key. To them it was just an outdated company truck. I was expecting to pay quite a bit more, especially here in Colorado, when they told me the price I jumped on it right away. Being patient paid off. It was definitely nice to open up some additional budget space for the interior build out.

The paint was actually done back in early July, I've just been really remiss about starting the build thread. With no enclosed work space and the Colorado winter my progress has slowed considerably so trying to get the thread started and up to date. The vans currently fully insulated and has a few other projects finished. Thus far the paints held up well. The prep was key I lightly wet sanded between every other coat and used grease and wax remover between each to remove any contaminants from spraying outside. I'm planning to do a vinyl wrap on the hood ala, Acrete's build. Down the road I may get the whole exterior sprayed in a bedliner. For now I'm happy enough with the result though.
 

On Belay

Observer
Swivel Seat Installation

My eventual plan is to have a living room area in the back of the van with seating for three. This will include a swiveling passenger seat and a 2 person couch integrated into the bed platform. I'm still bouncing around ideas for the bed platform. I'm designing the platform around a bouldering crash pad (an Organic Big Pad in my case). The crash pad is a very bulky item to store otherwise so integrating it into the bed makes sense for my needs. I'll likely make a supplementary matress topper with a few inches of memory foam since the boulder pad foam is very dense. The top of the built in bed platform will have a fold up access door (to the center storage) that can double as the back of a two person coach. The crash pad has a center hinge that will allow it to fold into a coach cushion.

I have finished installing the seat swivel. I will only be putting the swivel on the passenger seat. I used the Express swivel from DiscountVanTruck. They make one of the only Express specific swivels that I was able to find. Quality seems acceptable. All of the mounting bolts on mine matched the factory base and seat. It does raise the seat a noticible amount. The only dificult part of the instalation was the wirning for the air bag sensor. This must be run through a hole at the center of the swivel. The hole is too small to allow the end plug on the factory sensor wiring to pass through. I ended up cutting the wiring, running it through the swivel, and then splicing it back together. It's held up fine thus far. The swivel is wonderful it opens up a lot more useable living area. You do have to open the passenger door slightly to create clearence when turning the seat. Once in rear facing position the door can be closed.

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On Belay

Observer
Insulating the Van.

My goal in insulating the van was two-fold. I wanted to achieve a decently high r-value in the walls and also incorporate a sound deadener to cut down on road noise.

I started by installing a sound deadener. I used a Noico product available on Amazon. This is a butyl rubber (not asphalt) based product. It got very high marks for heat resistance on Sound Deadener Showdown and was fairly inexpensive. I used a tiling method rather than 100% coverage. The big issue with the vans seems to be resonance in the panels. You really just need to add mass to the panels but not necessarily achieve 100% coverage. Gains in deadening are most pronounced up to around 25% coverage and then returns diminish. 100% coverage is ultimately the best way to totally deaden sound. I would estimate I had around 70% coverage on most panels. I unfortunately either forgot to take pictures of this or deleted them by mistake. I included some of the passenger door to show the basic approach.

For thermal insulation I settled on 1" Poly-Iso foam board. This board is readily available and foil backed on both sides. It seems pretty popular in the Sprinter and Cargomaster realm. I measured each cavity and cut pieces to fit between the factory support bracing in the van. The 1" foam sits flush with the braces. I then used Great Stuff Pro spray foam the glue the Poly Iso Panels in place, seal the outside seams and fill any voids. I then taped all of the seams with foil tape.

Eventually, I will be using either cedar or locally sourced beetle-kill pine tongue and groove boards for my wall and ceiling paneling. I can still access the factory support bracing to install rivnuts or screws for the panels.

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boardrider247

Weekend warrior anarchist
Cool name for your rig :elkgrin:

Insulation is looking good. Might I suggest that you install a complete vapor barrier before your paneling. The idea is to keep the warm moisture from occupants breathing away from the cold sheet metal. A layer of poly sheet held on with 3m spray adhesive will help much. They also sell a poly tape for the seems, it is normally red but can be white or yellow as well. Obviously the fasteners for the paneling will be a weak spot but 98% barrier is far better then none
 

On Belay

Observer
Cool name for your rig :elkgrin:

Insulation is looking good. Might I suggest that you install a complete vapor barrier before your paneling. The idea is to keep the warm moisture from occupants breathing away from the cold sheet metal. A layer of poly sheet held on with 3m spray adhesive will help much. They also sell a poly tape for the seems, it is normally red but can be white or yellow as well. Obviously the fasteners for the paneling will be a weak spot but 98% barrier is far better then none

I've done a lot of research on vapor barriers and opinions on their effectiveness in vans seem to be pretty mixed. Sounds like in many cases water is able to find a way behind the barrier and then becomes trapped, then the van isn't able to dry normally actually making condensation issues worse.

My current plan is not to install a full plastic vapor barrier. I will of course be covering any exposed sheet metal with insulation. For the ribs I'm leaning towards using sheets of self adhesive foil backed duct insulation. It should be low profile enough to install paneling over while still providing some insulation over the cold sheet metal. For areas where the sheet metal will be exposed I'm thinking of painting with a bedliner product with ceramic beads added. For paneling I'm leaing towards cedar for it's natural antimicrobials and mold resistance, it seems like the best option for a wood with the ability to absord and release any condensation moisture. I figure if it works in Saunas, the van should be fine.
 

On Belay

Observer
Cool name for your rig :elkgrin:

As for the name, it's inspired of course by the epic trip by Yvon Chouinard, Doug Thompkins and the rest of the Fun Hogs took by van from Southern California to Argentine Patagonia to complete the first ascent of Cerro Fitzroy in 1968. It's a pretty quintessential part of climbing history and one of my inspirations for the project.

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philos

Explorer
Harbor freight puzzle-mat flooring works awesome to insulate and also helps deaden road noise.
I stole that one from one of the "Paul...Sprinter builds" stick it down with 3M Spray90, sticks in crazy heat/cold.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

boardrider247

Weekend warrior anarchist

fire_strom

Adventurer
Great stuff, thanks. Love the nod to the grampas of the vertical. Can you be more specific regarding what a "raise the seat a noticible amount" means in inches (or cm's if you prefer).
Thanks,
-G
 

On Belay

Observer
Great stuff, thanks. Love the nod to the grampas of the vertical. Can you be more specific regarding what a "raise the seat a noticible amount" means in inches (or cm's if you prefer).
Thanks,
-G

For the swivel? The Swivel is about 2" tall. I can go measure it if you would like. It's not uncomfortable, or anything, but is noticeable the first time you sit in it. It's well worth the upgrade and the additonal height is certainly not a deal breaker.
 

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