2010 Chevrolet Express AWD

[CurlyFry]

Recently acquired a good condition 11 passenger AWD Express. The van was owned by a family of 9, and they put a 3rd row in the back to seat 11. Pretty much every option except for on star and a few I am sure I am not aware of.



I need to prep this vehicle for extreme cold (-30F for a couple days per year) and was wondering what people have had good experiences with in terms of an oversized main battery, looks like there is quite a bit of room to put a bigger battery in in the engine bay.


Also what is story with trailer tow packages? Was that an option and if so what did it involve? Oil Cooler?



My plans are relatively minor for the van, put in some sort of bed and add:

Mud Flaps (any recommendations here?)
Side window awnings
Swivel seat for front passenger
Insulated curtains for all windows
Curtain Partition
HID headlights (any recommendations here??)
2 inch lift (will need to determine if necessary after fully loaded with gear)

As you can probably tell I am not very car savvy, mostly just did routine maintenance myself and replaced a few things here and there on my Jeep (4.0L) I owned previously. Any advice is appreciated.

-CF

 

[UncleMac]

Very Dope CurlyFry. What a great blank canvas to work on! Rock On.

 

[Silverhorse]

nice van! wish I could help but don't know any answers to those questions... maybe the AWD folks can help... here is some seat info http://www.imageseating.com/

 

[86cj]

Welcome! I have covered alot of that ground and will help out...

A group 65 will fit but the hold down will be custom................

You only get a bigger trans cooler in the radiator and a oil cooler in the radiator, also the hitch and wiring......

I bought plastic mud flaps locally then cut and heated them, some rubber ones you can't trim it exposes and inner layer.......

I used the stick-on AVS window vents they let in a little more air than the in-channel kind.......

I use refletix on my windows and like the idea of gluing felt or Thinsulate to it, it would perform excellent..........

I use HIR1 and HIR2 halogen bulbs in those same lenses and it works great, super easy just swap the bulbs, they appear to be a legal upgrade for the 9005 and 9006 bulbs. No harness upgrade just really good normal colored lights, try it before other light upgrades.......

Right now one of the few lift methods for an AWD 1500 Van is : Torsion key lift in the front with longer shocks #24-186643, rear lift blocks or 2900lb 3/4 ton suburban rear springs and longer rear shocks #24-221948. It's a proven combo with Bilstein shocks that gives between 2 1/4" and 3" lift, a few people here including myself have had great results, not many other options out there. I added Z-71 front bumpstops and a rear sway bar, it seems like a very well sorted package to me.........

 

[CurlyFry]

Ok Group 65, got it. Does Optima or any premium manufacturer make one? This is one area where I do not want to spare any expense for a top of the line battery.

Already ordered an HID kit! Kensun HID 9005, figured id only blind people with the high beams! Hopefully It will prevent me from getting a light bar.

Would you mind posting a before and after shot of your lifted express? I assume with such a small lift the drivetrain does not need to be touched?

Thanks for your help! Any other tips for owning the AWD express?

 

[86scotty]

Welcome CurlyFry. Are you in Tennessee or is that the PO's tag? If you are PM me. In just south of Knoxville.

Looks like a lot of your questions were answered above except for the swivel seat. Try Van Specialties in Portlant, OR. The swivels in the newer Chevys are not just plug and play I've heard. Lots of airbags in those vans and Sportsmobile, for instance, won't even put one in a new Chevy passenger van. Cargo vans are different I think. Accrete (username) knows a LOT about these vans and will chime in soon I'm sure. You're in the right place for Chevy AWD builds though. Lots of folks here have done some pretty cool ones. Search and you'll find em.

If you're in the Knoxville or TriCities area try Taylor Battery Systems. They occasionally have AGM factory seconds (blemished batteries) for a great price and they are awesome batteries. I've used several. You can also get a pretty good battery these days from Batteries Plus (BatteriesNBulbs). Their Duracell Pro batteries are well made and they have good prices on AGMs too.

Cheers

 

[CurlyFry]

86scotty, I live in MA, these are the PO's tag.

I have heard all of the swivel seats are low quality. This van is equipped with power driver and passenger to further complicate things. Looks like Ill be doing it myself! Will be interesting to hear Accrete's thoughts.

I really know very little about batteries, but I talked to a couple people about this van, they were saying put in a YELLOWTOP® D34/78 and be done with it. However as I understand it that is still smaller than a G65 battery. Question is is it worth it to go up a size or should I just buy the highest quality current size battery?

 

[wjeeper]

I have heard all of the swivel seats are low quality. This van is equipped with power driver and passenger to further complicate things. Looks like Ill be doing it myself!

I have tried two different seat swivels with disappointing results, although both were salvage yard units. I am planning on making my own out of a spare Jeep unit bearing I have laying around the garage. Where the axle shaft was located is where I am planning on passing the seat wires through so they don't get tangled. Just an idea.

 

[straker101]

Nice van to work with!
I'm in northern Canada and it is regularly colder than -30 CELSIUS!! All you need is a battery blanket and you should be fine. May also want to consider a block heater for plugging in overnight if the temps dip down a lot.
You can check out my build thread to answer some of your questions re lift, tires, accessories, etc. I went with the Traxda key kit and got a full 3" in the front. It came with a 1" rear block, but I'm about to swap out for a 2".
Happy to answer any questions you may have re build.
Happy new year!

 

[CurlyFry]

Nice van to work with!
I'm in northern Canada and it is regularly colder than -30 CELSIUS!! All you need is a battery blanket and you should be fine. May also want to consider a block heater for plugging in overnight if the temps dip down a lot.
You can check out my build thread to answer some of your questions re lift, tires, accessories, etc. I went with the Traxda key kit and got a full 3" in the front. It came with a 1" rear block, but I'm about to swap out for a 2".
Happy to answer any questions you may have re build.
Happy new year!

I will be starting the car in places that do not have electricity hookups (trail heads) so no block heater for me.

As a general questions, with my current rims and the sliding door, what is the max size tires people have been able to fit? Thought about going up to 255 from the 245 width.

 

[TeleSteve]

Assuming you still have the stock Chevy alloys pictured in a earlier post you should have no problem running a 255. You could probably run a 285 (maybe larger) on stock offset wheels and clear the sliding door, clearance of the front tires is usually the limiting factor for tire size. If you go to a negative offset wheel you may have issue with a smaller width tire. I don't have a sliding door, so I don't know exactly how much clearance is there, but people are running 265s with sliders. How much clearance do have now?

 

[CurlyFry]

Assuming you still have the stock Chevy alloys pictured in a earlier post you should have no problem running a 255. You could probably run a 285 (maybe larger) on stock offset wheels and clear the sliding door, clearance of the front tires is usually the limiting factor for tire size. If you go to a negative offset wheel you may have issue with a smaller width tire. I don't have a sliding door, so I don't know exactly how much clearance is there, but people are running 265s with sliders. How much clearance do have now?

VERY little clearance currently. Cant imagine anyone using 285s without altering the door somehow. I will have to take a picture and post it. Any recommendations for a All-season or all-terrain tires that is good in the snow? Or maybe ill empty the bank account and get winter tires too!

So the maiden voyage of the van was not problem free... It got down to about -8F. Windshield washer stopped functioning (thinking its just TN washer fluid, should have drained the system and replaced with -40F washer fluid).

And the van is now stuck on defrost and "off" settings of climate control, the selector switch does not allow any other option to be used. All fan speeds work, and the rear climate control is functioning properly. From what ive read this could be an easy battery pull to reset the computer... Has anyone run into this before?

 

[On Belay]

In regard to seat swivels. I used the Express Swivel from DiscountVanTruck on mine. Install was smooth enough and I had no issues with poorly aligned mounting holes as I've seen in some reviews. I did have to cut and splice the airbag wiring to run it through the swivel as the factory connector would not fit through the hole in the swivel base. So far I've not had any issues.

 

[TeleSteve]

VERY little clearance currently. Cant imagine anyone using 285s without altering the door somehow. I will have to take a picture and post it. Any recommendations for a All-season or all-terrain tires that is good in the snow? Or maybe ill empty the bank account and get winter tires too!

So the maiden voyage of the van was not problem free... It got down to about -8F. Windshield washer stopped functioning (thinking its just TN washer fluid, should have drained the system and replaced with -40F washer fluid).

And the van is now stuck on defrost and "off" settings of climate control, the selector switch does not allow any other option to be used. All fan speeds work, and the rear climate control is functioning properly. From what ive read this could be an easy battery pull to reset the computer... Has anyone run into this before?

If you have 1 cm clearance a 265 would work.
I have been running the BFG AT KO2s on both my van and truck and they work really well in snow, they also have the snow flake designation. The set on my AWD van now have 17k miles and look brand new. They aren't as good as a studded snow tire, but are about as good as you can get in a all season all terrain tire for snow.

 

[CurlyFry]

On Belay: Thanks that is probably what Ill go with.

TeleSteve: Ill Look into the 265 BFGs you mentioned.

Van is still stuck on defrost. Will need to troubleshoot further.

Insulation paneling is in. They are backed with black felt to truly black out the van when looking from the exterior in.



Wheel clearance pictures shown.