Found a van....a little insight(please)

[chasespeed]

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot, but, I dont know where its supposed to go... the only van section is labeled 4wd now....

Anyway, found a van, that the wife and I are going to look at today

http://westernmass.craigslist.org/cto/2169763095.html

There isnt much in the way of an interior, only a bench seat(blessing in disguise I told my wife).

I will eventually be converting this to 4wd....

The body appears to be solid... but, I wont know until I get there....

Anything I should look for on the top? Frame week points?

Something like this even a good start? Probably gonna be a daily driver, looking to get rid of the car(getting rid of payment)....

Chase

 

[loren85022]

You'd be a head of the game to run your plan by Chris at U-Joint about 4wd conversion. Make sure he's got the conversion kit for this yr.

 

[chasespeed]

His site says 92 and up, and its a 92......... So....

Chase

 

[RocKrawler]

Yes his kit will work on that year, perfect starting point IMO and already has the high top. For the price, if its solid and running well, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. And many of us in the van section are not 4WD yet, some may never be, but feel free to post in that section - the more the merrier and any interior mods done can benefit both 2 & 4wd owners

 

[chasespeed]

Well... went and looked....

Pros... 1st, wife approves(pending a little bit of research)..

Anyway, solid... was fleet van, garage kept, with all maint records, yes, it really does have 87302mi on it. 5.8 w/OD(pretty sure its a E4OD, havent checked yet). One spot of rust coming through.... , but, I can catch it before it becomes a problem. Front end rebuilt a month or so ago, still needs alignment. Interior is pretty much bare... blessing in disguise I think... 1 bench, in the forward position, and the 2 captains chairs.

Cons... sliding side door. Has plexiglass/lexan window. So, not sealing well at the bottom, need to find the glass(or, even better if I can find a conversion van glass w/ screens in that size?) Slider seems... tight on opening, but closes nice and easy. Guy was a tradesman(and is a farmer), did oil too... so... my wife will be scrubbing the snot out of it for a while.... needs 2 front tires...

All in all, runs like a top.. seems to shift pretty good..... a long way from any highway to get up to speed and stay there.... I am going to look for a glass, and see what that will cost me. I am NOT a fan of the sliding door, as that will also provide other limitations.....

NOW, with the HI top(I can actually stand up in this), its NOT an EB(which I am plenty okay with), how is that going on the highway? Am I going to need to pump everyone full of dramamine(figuratively of course)? I know good shocks go a long way, I am a HUGE fan of HI quality shocks...

If I go through with this, it will be in a week of so, as soon as some things clear. I know I will have to spend a LITTLE money up front, on tires, alignment, etc.

My MAIN concern is using something like this as a Daily Driver. I will passing our STS off to my mother(who will absorb the payment). The hit in mileage wont affect US much, as, we probably go through a tank, MAYBE 2 of gas in the car, each month.. and that is high end usage. BUT, I cant do all that I want in the car... If its just me and the wife, my truck is perfect, but, I have 2 wonderful daughters that are getting used to camping(well, my oldest went with me alot in 09)... so...

Toss some insight in here.... the more I try to talk myself OUT of this, the more i talk myself INTO it....

Anyway, could a mod please move this to the "VAN" section

Thanks,
Chase

 

[RocKrawler]

Based on the posted evaluation, and even with the sliding door, I'd toss a $1600 offer and see where it went - that said I personally would still pay $2K for it, anything else is gravy toward your build. While I prefer the barn doors myself, BajaBus and others have and deal wth the slider and as a daily driver it can actually be handier in tight parking situations (case in point a "rude person" pinned me in on the passenger side yesterday at Costco & had to pull back to load my groceries because my side doors didnt have the room to open where a slider would have been doable). If I wasnt in a rush when I was buying my van I would have loved to wait for a white one wiith a high top so 'd have been a step ahead in my build.