Screwing around with a Eurovan!

[Cole]

The project continues!

Putting bikes on top of the van is a chore! So I've been hoping to find a rear swing out bike carrier. I figured eventually I'll be able to ride with my daughter. She turned 1/2 yesterday, so I wasn't in a big rush to find a different rack.

I stumbled on a brand new, in the box $500 Thule Apex for $30 at a garage sale! So I snapped it up, stripped off the Thule stickers and here it is.......test fit over! Think I'm going to make a table to mount on it when bikes aren't on there.

Then we took a trip tot he local fabric store, snatched a bunch of swatches.....they all suck! Will keep looking. Want either a GTI Interlagos style plaid or something seudo vintage VW van plaids. Want to use it on the curtains, seats, bed cushions, door cards, etc. Maybe even the Poptop if I can find the right fabrics!

Anyway, here was the failed lot!

Then I started to strategize with the carbo box! On the rack its just about 6" too tall. Kinda a pain to use and catches the wind quite a bit. So I figured I can make a custom mount to being it down flush and shorten the overall height and aerodynamics quite a bit.


Current

Plan! There is also enough room to mount two of these up there if I can find a deal on a second one.

Then, last week my Aussie ate a "small stuffed pig" that got caught in his intestines. To keep this short.....4 days of puking and diarea in the van, followed by surgery and now a recovering pup! It's been steam cleaned 4 times!!

Despite getting the van all clean and smelling fresh again I decided to get back on the wood look vinyl flooring project.

Through some of my trading I acquired a true "Weekender" floor. The big difference is that my GLS Carpet is carpet stuck to foam backing. The Weekender floor is carpet stuck to a weed subfloor. This subfloor is going to make it possible to put down the vinyl over it and make it all fit nice and factory like.

The wood subfloor has all sours of little tapers and raised portions under it. So having a factory piece will make all the difference. My plan is to put aftermarket sound deadening under it before the install.

Then I will have an easy to clean out cool looking floor.

Here is the center section with the carpet scraped off. I will fill in the two holes for the jump seat mounts.

 

[Cole]

Liking my factory fresh crate Eurovan more and more.

Check out what this one with 200k just sold for!!:Wow1:

http://www.gowesty.com/sale_details.php?id=1627

 

[bknudtsen]

Through some of my trading I acquired a true "Weekender" floor. The big difference is that my GLS Carpet is carpet stuck to foam backing. The Weekender floor is carpet stuck to a weed subfloor.

This is the reason hippies prefer the "Weekender" floor.

 

[Cole]

It's all a conspiracy man! The proof is in the ipad auto correct.

 

[The Swiss]

Then I started to strategize with the carbo box! On the rack its just about 6" too tall. Kinda a pain to use and catches the wind quite a bit. So I figured I can make a custom mount to being it down flush and shorten the overall height and aerodynamics quite a bit.

Current

Plan! There is also enough room to mount two of these up there if I can find a deal on a second one.

When I had my Maggiolina Adventure RTT on my Jeep, fuel mileage was actually better when there was a bigger gap and free airflow between roof and RTT. When I mounted it (almost) flush to the Jeep's roof, I ended up loosing about 1/2 mpg even though I moved it back so it would sit behind the wind stream.

 

[Cole]

I'll have to do some testing and see? On our last trip the wind blew the Eurovan around a LOT more with the box up there.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Probably depends on the vehicle? My Jeep Cherokee XJ with a Sportrack on it with lights and an awning is quieter than my lower profile Rola on my Jeep Grand Cherokee WK sans lights etc? Both mounted to the stock OEM rails and racks about the same height off the roofs. The Sportrack is a lot taller too.

The XK is a brick, or as aerodynamic as one, the WK is a lot slipperier and probably the airflow is hitting the rack more off of the more sloped windshield on the WK? Nice score on the Thule BTW... so jealous.

 

[Cole]

This van thing is awesome! Has been so handy the last few weeks with an injured dog, 6 mo old daughter, etc.


Continuing the build, and still stumped on exactly what I want to do for tires and wheels. Thought I scored a cool set of 18" Mercedes reps with 245/40/18 snows on them with 85% tread left. But....sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes both!!

Bought the wheels from the personal assistant to some rich family that just wanted the tires and wheels out of the garage. Thought it was a fairly decent deal at $400. Got them home and started to test fit and refinish them when I discovered they were seriously cracked!! Not sure how I missed it the first time....DOH!

I called the guy back and gave him an option. Take them back or bring me $200 and I'd still keep the tires! He took option two! So I got the set for $200 which is a good deal on the tires. Just need to find some wheels. Figured a nice set of 18s with snows will look nice and work well until I figure out the manual trans swap and 4wd thing. Might even lower it abit until I have time for that part of the project.

I did take these wheels in for a repair estimate. They wanted $100 to fix the crack, about $100 each to straighted the others and then even more for paint! Lunacy when you can buy a nice set of decent wheels as low as $300. (Notice I didn't say awesome or great wheels....this is still a van that will see dirt) The guy at the wheel shop also turned me off! He quoted me to straighten the wheels then asked about refinishing. I said I'd do that myself and he turned his nose up, rolled his eyes and said "you are going to refinish them????" In such a snotty tone I didn't even bother to reply. I just turned, got in the van and drove off!

Test fit before I discovered the crack.

I did sneak away for a few days to sleep on the ground and ride my motorcycle! Went to Westfest. Rode over many passes and to the top of Mt. Princeton(well, as far as can be ridden at 12k' not the actual top at over 14k')

St. Elmo.

Mt. Princeton.

 

[JPutnam]

cool. I want to motorbike.

 

[Cole]

Well, its been a few weeks since I have had any updates. I will try to keep to the automotive fun stuff first and then the sad stuff at the bottom for those that care to keep reading.

I have been torn on what to do with the tire/wheel situation for quite a while. The "standard method" of lifting these things includes running a 215/70/16 tire, usually on the stock 16" wheels. Unfortunately, the 215/70/16 BFG AT is a bit of a hard tire to find. Most often it seems it needs special ordered. Which is not the idea situation to be in for an offroad tire. That and my stock 16" wheels have a bunch of corrosion bubbling the paint. So at the very least I want to take them off and refinish them.

Then there is the issue of the gearing. Even the stock 225/60/16s seem to make this van struggle to get off the line. Some of the steep places we have been in Telluride and other mountain towns have really made the van struggle to climb even in first gear. It's also a bit sluggish already on the steep passes up around 10K feet. Until I figure out the 4x4 and manual swap options here in the USA it might be best to stay with a stock, or even slightly smaller diameter tire.

Then I looked at running a hybrid set up of larger 17 or 18" wheels with a tire size equal to the larger tire set up on the 16s. I have spent days and days looking and there simply doesn't seem to be an ideal size tire like this in anything other than a "highway" tire.

So I figured I'd try a bit of an experiment and run some 18s in a larger "winter" tire set up. The aggressive winter tread will at least give better traction on dirt and soft roads than the highway tires. Long story short, I ended up with a hybrid set up between craigslist finds and buying new. It also happens to be staggered and slightly larger in the rear. We will run these for the winter while the 16s get refurbished and see what we think by next summer.

I found some cheap, beat up, 18s in offset 42 to play with. Here they are as a test fit with the spent tires that came with the wheels.

...and with the 255/45/18 rears and 255/40/18 fronts.

.....and of the car stuff for the moment if you want to quit reading here.



I bought this Eurovan to screw around with so that I could continue to explore and camp with my new daughter, wife and pups. Now, unfortunately we have a little extra space in the Eurovan as my almost 10 year old Aussie "Guinness" unexpectedly passed away in his sleep a few weeks ago. On a Friday night he ate normally, played ball fetch with my daughter (okay, I helped), he ran, jumped, played as energetic and happy as usual. Went to be and laid at my feet just like he has every night for the last 10 years. Totally normal. We planned to take the whole family to the dog park in the morning to let the dogs run off a bit of energy. I was actually dreaming about how much fun it was going to be. The Aussie is always so enthusiastic that he makes every trip to the park an adventure. I woke up at 5am to find my Aussie had passed away in his sleep without a single peep. Laying there peacefully.

Over the last 10 years my wife and I have had very flexible schedules and work at home often and simply take the dogs with us EVERYWHERE!! You will notice in the tire/wheel picture above there is only one dog. Most of my pictures have two.

These were taken just a few weeks ago.

 

[hobietony]

Probably couldn't pick a better way for him to go, but that sucks sucks sucks. They just don't live long enough, deepest condolences.

 

[bknudtsen]

Very sorry for your loss.

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Wow, really sorry for your loss.

 

[Cole]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words! I've had to put a dog down in the past and it was hard. Surprisingly, this seems harder because it was so sudden and unexpected. My other dog had been getting old for years and I kinda knew it was coming. So I guess I had been preparing for years. I also felt like I got to say goodbye. The way this happened makes you feel a bit robbed and lost to say the least. Especially when they are so involved in every movement of your daily life.

We can get back to car talk now. I figured eventually some of the more observant people might start to notice the absence of Guinness in future pictures of the project.

The Eurovan is surprisingly more roomy without the giant personality of an Australian Shepard in it.

 

[Kole]

Cole, sorry for your loss. Your pictures actually got me thinking about an Aussie for my next pup. They sure seam like great dogs.

Your pictures also got me thinking about a van... I found a white one down here for $750 and would have bought it were I not saving for a honeymoon...

Anyway I'm enjoying your thread and can't wait to see what happens next.

P.S. You have an awesome name.... even if it is spelled funny :ylsmoke: