XJSuperman
OhIOWAn
Very cool. I can dig it.
Lucinda Build
- Thread starter chiliVANilli
- Start date
tequilasunset
Adventurer
Wicked cool rig... guaranteed not to see yourself coming in the other direction.
chiliVANilli
Adventurer
Because this is a budget build, and I want to keep everything as stock as possible, I originally planned on using the gas tank from the Suburban, but when I pulled it I noticed there was a crack in the top of it, and the filler kneck was also cracked where it goes into the tank. I may have done the filler when I was pulling it out. Turns out it wouldn't have fit anyway. After a bunch of searching, and figuring, finally I decided on a tank and sender/fuel pump from an 89-92 Chevy S-10 Chevy S10 Jimmy/ Blazer. It uses the same exact fuel pump and pretty much has the same Throttle body as the Suburban. Unfortunately, the only size that fit is only 16 gallons. I was able to shorten the straps from the burb, and re-use them and amazingly enough the straps were the same width on the van and the tank grooves for the straps. I put a simple bracket for the retainer adjuster bolts,and cleaned and painted the under carriage. I was able to use the Filler tube and gas cap from the Suburban. Sits a little low, but not terrible.
chiliVANilli
Adventurer
Since the van didn't have any interior, I had a clean slate to work with, which is good and bad. The space between the doghouse and door pillar is only 21", so there weren't a lot of options. After some ebay-ing I stumbled on Dodge Caravan stow-n-go seats. They were the right width and they fold flat and have a plastic tray on the back, plus armrests. They were also $180 with shipping. Also, the sliders were super easy to make brackets for. I also found 3rd row seats from a 2013 Suburban for $80 Leather, never sat in. They have the seat belts built in, which is perfect. I can put a child seat safely in them. They do need a frame built to get them off the floor, which will give me storage underneath. They also fold flat, so maybe I'll be able to incorporate that with a platform for the mattress. I got the "jump" seat off Craigslist as well for cheap. It's from a ford f550 center seat. Will need to build a frame to space it off the floor also. It also has built in seat belts. It folds flat, too, and opens up when flat with storage inside. It kinda reminds of the old V.W.'s.
Corneilius
Adventurer
I love everything about this build. Keep it up.
chiliVANilli
Adventurer
I took the whole wiring harness out of the Suburban from the headlights to the taillights. The van didn't really have much as far wiring, so adapting the new harness went decently fast, considering the giant ball of spaghetti I pulled out of the burb.
The engine part of the harness was left pretty much untouched.
chiliVANilli
Adventurer
Yuck! The engine in the van and the Suburban were in 2 different places essentially. The wires that went from the engine through the firewall now had to go to the front of the van, which is about 4 feet away. I didn't want to cut any of the wires going to the computer from the engine, so I had to keep that close, just because the harness is short. The fuse panel had the rest of the important wires like ignition and lights, so I figured it needed to be up front by the steering column. Plus there were only about 8 or so wires going from there to run the engine, so that was the "easiest" choice. I didn't want them running along the floorboard, so I ran them under van and back up to the fuse panel.
chiliVANilli
Adventurer
True that!
chiliVANilli
Adventurer
This is where the computer ended up, under the passenger seat, for now. I'd like to get it up a little higher and out of the way. I'll probably build a cover for it at the very least.
Abitibi
Explorer
Never realized there were so many wires in those oldies! I might have to work the wiring in mind at some point but so far so good.
What front seats are you using? It's nice they can fold down flat and serve as a table... Bonus the 3 point seat belt, that's the major grief I get from my wife, and I can understand why. I keep telling her we never had seatbelts as kids and I'm still alive but that just doesn't cut it for her... Lapbelt are amazing for freedom though
Keep on trucking!
What front seats are you using? It's nice they can fold down flat and serve as a table... Bonus the 3 point seat belt, that's the major grief I get from my wife, and I can understand why. I keep telling her we never had seatbelts as kids and I'm still alive but that just doesn't cut it for her... Lapbelt are amazing for freedom though
Keep on trucking!
Last edited:
chiliVANilli
Adventurer
Never realized there were so many wires in those oldies! I might have to work the wiring in mind at some point but so far so good.
What front seats are you using? It's nice they can fold down flat and serve as a table... Bonus the 3 point seat belt, that's the major grief I get from my wife, and I can understand why. I keep telling her we never had seatbelts as kids and I'm still alive but that just doesn't cut it for her... Lapbelt are amazing for freedom though
Keep on trucking!
The original van wiring was only a few wires, that mess is all from the Suburban.
The seats are from a Dodge Caravan that had Sto-n-go. They were pretty cheap brand new on ebay. They had the female end of the seat belt built in,too. I used the 3 point seat belts from the Suburban. Had to make brackets and grind down the male part, but now we are a little safer.
I lucked out and got to pull my harness from a later model G-van, so everything fell right in-place when I put it back in my van. It was nice to not have to pull an entire harness apart for once... On the flip-side, I had to build all my suspension mounts from scratch though, so THAT sucked... lol