AdventuresWithAngus
New member
Howdy Van Fans-
I'm creating this thread to document the progress/updates that I make on my Chevy Conversion Van. If you're interested in following along, read on! (I can't really call it a build thread, because I'm mostly making mild upgrades, not doing a true build).
I just picked up my first van, a 2005 Chevy Express 1500 with an Explorer Van Conversion. I traded in my dream truck, which was a 2021 Ram 3500 Dually. I hated to sell the truck, but I have a 4th child arriving soon, so I needed more seatbelts for the kids.
Here's a picture of the truck that I traded in:
When I first started shopping for vans, I made a trip to Classic Vans in Hayward CA. This is a dealership that has been around for along time, and sells all kinds of new and used vans, including Class B's, conversion vans, etc. It was cool to be able to walk around the lot and sit in 10 different vans over the course of an hour. I was disappointed in the quality of their inventory however. All of their vans, (aside from the brand new ones) were very well worn, and in rough shape. Even the Explorer vans with only 40-50k miles on them were falling apart inside, the leather seats were flaking and peeling, etc.
I went there to look at one van in particular, because they had an AWD 1500 Explorer. Unfortunately, it was in rough shape inside, and had considerable rust underneath. They also wanted about $50k for it.
I stumbled across a 2005 Explorer van that was for sale at Vacaville GMC. I looked it up online, and saw that it was a one-owner van from Marin County, (Where I live), and it looked exceptionally clean. Here are the original listing photos from the dealership:
I drove out to the dealership to check it out, and it was in great shape. One owner, only 25k miles. It drove great, with the exception of a front-end shimmy at 65 mph. I told the dealer to fix it and I would be back, and they ended up re-balancing the tires. I came back the next day, and the vibration was gone. I traded in my truck to the dealer, and drove the van home.
The purpose of this van will be mostly for road trips and nearby trips with the kids, and possibly as a tow vehicle for a small travel trailer. Unfortunately this van is only RWD. I would have loved to find an AWD or 4WD to buy, but this one was too good of a deal to pass up. I figured that I'll dip my toes in the van world with this one, and if I like it, I'll trade up to a 4x4 van down the road. (Ideally, I would love to get a new 3500 Savanna Conversion Van with the 6.6 liter V8, and get a Quigley conversion, but it's not in my budget at the moment).
While researching these vans, I noticed that there aren't a lot of youtube videos on them, aside from some dealer videos from some of the larger van dealers, like Dave Arbogast and White Bear Lake superstore.
So, I am planning on making some YouTube videos to document what I do to the van, so that hopefully it will help others who are interested in doing the same thing.
Here's a link to the introduction video of the van, including an inside and out walk-around/tour:
More to come soon!
-Angus
I'm creating this thread to document the progress/updates that I make on my Chevy Conversion Van. If you're interested in following along, read on! (I can't really call it a build thread, because I'm mostly making mild upgrades, not doing a true build).
I just picked up my first van, a 2005 Chevy Express 1500 with an Explorer Van Conversion. I traded in my dream truck, which was a 2021 Ram 3500 Dually. I hated to sell the truck, but I have a 4th child arriving soon, so I needed more seatbelts for the kids.
Here's a picture of the truck that I traded in:
When I first started shopping for vans, I made a trip to Classic Vans in Hayward CA. This is a dealership that has been around for along time, and sells all kinds of new and used vans, including Class B's, conversion vans, etc. It was cool to be able to walk around the lot and sit in 10 different vans over the course of an hour. I was disappointed in the quality of their inventory however. All of their vans, (aside from the brand new ones) were very well worn, and in rough shape. Even the Explorer vans with only 40-50k miles on them were falling apart inside, the leather seats were flaking and peeling, etc.
I went there to look at one van in particular, because they had an AWD 1500 Explorer. Unfortunately, it was in rough shape inside, and had considerable rust underneath. They also wanted about $50k for it.
I stumbled across a 2005 Explorer van that was for sale at Vacaville GMC. I looked it up online, and saw that it was a one-owner van from Marin County, (Where I live), and it looked exceptionally clean. Here are the original listing photos from the dealership:
I drove out to the dealership to check it out, and it was in great shape. One owner, only 25k miles. It drove great, with the exception of a front-end shimmy at 65 mph. I told the dealer to fix it and I would be back, and they ended up re-balancing the tires. I came back the next day, and the vibration was gone. I traded in my truck to the dealer, and drove the van home.
The purpose of this van will be mostly for road trips and nearby trips with the kids, and possibly as a tow vehicle for a small travel trailer. Unfortunately this van is only RWD. I would have loved to find an AWD or 4WD to buy, but this one was too good of a deal to pass up. I figured that I'll dip my toes in the van world with this one, and if I like it, I'll trade up to a 4x4 van down the road. (Ideally, I would love to get a new 3500 Savanna Conversion Van with the 6.6 liter V8, and get a Quigley conversion, but it's not in my budget at the moment).
While researching these vans, I noticed that there aren't a lot of youtube videos on them, aside from some dealer videos from some of the larger van dealers, like Dave Arbogast and White Bear Lake superstore.
So, I am planning on making some YouTube videos to document what I do to the van, so that hopefully it will help others who are interested in doing the same thing.
Here's a link to the introduction video of the van, including an inside and out walk-around/tour:
More to come soon!
-Angus
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