Fid.awesome
New member
Lovingly named the ‘Grape Adventure’ by my 3 year old (at the time) daughter.
What started as a local camping rig and morphed into an incredible vehicle that in 5+ years has taken us across the country a handful of times, has hit most states in the country and has become both capable on road and off. It will easily do 75-80 MPH on the highway with ease and gets around 12-14MPG. It’s almost a 20yr old van and is by no means in perfect shape but it has been rock solid for the last 5 years, has made more memories than I could have imagined, and gets head turns everywhere it goes. I’ve continually maintained it and invested in improvements over the last 5 years.
Van is located in Northern Vermont, but spent the majority of its life in PA (garaged in the winter) and then California. A few weeks back I lost the #3 injector, and since I have been trying to find a new van that would better fit our family, I am putting this out here to see if anyone has interest as is before I repair the injectors. In the meantime I will be working to get the repair lined up. I may be able to use some of the parts so may be able to negotiate based on items needed.
Location: Northern Vermont
Price: $25K
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What started as a local camping rig and morphed into an incredible vehicle that in 5+ years has taken us across the country a handful of times, has hit most states in the country and has become both capable on road and off. It will easily do 75-80 MPH on the highway with ease and gets around 12-14MPG. It’s almost a 20yr old van and is by no means in perfect shape but it has been rock solid for the last 5 years, has made more memories than I could have imagined, and gets head turns everywhere it goes. I’ve continually maintained it and invested in improvements over the last 5 years.
Van is located in Northern Vermont, but spent the majority of its life in PA (garaged in the winter) and then California. A few weeks back I lost the #3 injector, and since I have been trying to find a new van that would better fit our family, I am putting this out here to see if anyone has interest as is before I repair the injectors. In the meantime I will be working to get the repair lined up. I may be able to use some of the parts so may be able to negotiate based on items needed.
Location: Northern Vermont
Price: $25K
- Suspension:
- Initially Quad van suspension but fully rebuilt to improve the ride and add travel. Cleaned frame and suspension components and coated in POR15 during updates.
- Front: Upgraded moog springs (CC880S) with New Bilstein Shocks. Went from around 1.5” to 4” of travel and improved the handling. (2022)
- Rear: Agile add a leafs, New Moog Hangers, cleaned and coated old springs, new U-Bolts, and new Fox 2.0 Shocks specifically valved for the Van’s weight by Agile. (2022)
- Front Diff: ARB Diff cover (5/2023), amsoil fluids
- Rear Diff: Amsoil Fluids
- BDS Dual Shock Steering stabilizer (12/2023)
- New Front Driveshaft, with new Ujoints (12/2024)
- Rebuilt Rear Driveshaft, new Ujoints (12/2024)
- New Front and rear Brakes. new hubs (4/2021), New Calipers in (2022), Drilled and slotted fronts, pads, rebuilt locking hubs, new rear discs and parking break pads (5/2023)
- Upgrades:
- 40 Gal Gas tank from Aero Tank (12/2023)
- 2Gallon Rotopax mounted to aluminess ladder.
- AGM Batteries (Jan 2024)
- Aluminess Rear Bumper with swing arm and bike ready rack. (2/2024)
- Aluminess Ladder, Driver Side rear (2/2024)
- Hitch is fully wired, has been cleaned and coated
- 20” Ford Tremor Wheels – F350 Take-off with less than 1500 miles
- Goodyear Durtrac Wheels – 35” – Approx 5-10K miles on them.
- Fender Flares (1/2024)
- New Jensen stereo, allows for Bluetooth and backup cam. Have additional front or side cam as well, just havent’ hooked it up yet.
- Smittybuilt seat cover on Passenger seat.
- Steering Wheel Re-wrapped
- WIFI OBD reader wired to Ipad to scan gauges
- Engine / Trans: Stock 6.0L, approx. 210K Miles. I purchased at 168K miles, was fleet maintained prior to that.
- New IPR valve
- Blue Spring Upgrade
- Upgraded cold air hoses
- New Fan clutch
- New Fuel filters, changed every 15K
- New Rotella T6 – changed every 4K miles, with oil and gas additives, motorcraft filters only.
- Transmission Pan gasket sealed and fluids flushed (2023)
- AC – New AC Compressor (2020). Front and rear AC works, full charge. Had to repair Rear lines but solid now.
- Living:
- Diesel Espar heater, routed to main tank (12/2022) Minimal Ducting, setup to heat cabin and dry gear.
- Bluetti 2000W solar generator (2022)
- LED Dome lights on house battery
- 12V Fridge
- Portable cassette Toilet
- Small table / storage / fridge built for center of the van. Nothing fancy but it worked for us.
- Swivel passenger seat
- Magnetic window screens (Homemade)
- Simple wooden platform in the rear to organize storage for long trips.
- Has cables for solar panels to Bluetti, needs replacement solar panels mounted.
- Sportsmobile Pop Top: This was installed during prior ownership in 2008. The top is in good shape, some scuffs and marks but all plastics and zippers work. Installed a fire alarm and CO detector, along with LED lights that can run off of house battery. This does not have the sportsmobile bed, the previous owner wanted a slimmer platform so they could keep bedding up there, this has worked just fine for us with a memory foam pad up there.
Known Issues:- Cracked Winshield
- Some peeling / cracking paint, most notably on the driver side door.
- Rear Door latch not working, literally as I went to take pics.
- Some offroading pinstripes
- ABS light remains on
- P0029 Underboost code, was told it is sticky Turbo Guide vanes
- Headliner is sagging
- Has some rust on the sheetmetal, larger hole in front of the driver side wheel well. Frame still solid and recoated about half of it while doing suspension work.
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. Sounds like an awesome rig! GLWS