I have officially made the transition. After owning an 07 Jeep Wrangler for about 5 years, I wanted a change. I’m really not that big into rock crawling anyway and even I built up the Jeep nicely, I wanted something a little more utilitarian. I wanted something to haul me and some friends into the mountains for climbing, mountain biking, or snowboarding. I wanted something that would be easy to camp in also, so I naturally looked at trucks. I originally starting looking at Tacomas as they are THE mid-size pick up to have. After some research and deep thinking, I realized a full size would be needed. I wanted room for two separate sleeping pads and a Tacoma was just too small for that. So I was off looking at various full size pickups when it hit me; I needed a van!! It made so much sense to me, but others thought I was absolutely crazy. I knew the plan made sense for my needs and went searching.
After a few months of searching the nation, I was able to find locally a 2008 Chevy Express AWD in Mid-February. I missed out on a similar van a few weeks prior with only 36k on it but settled on this guy with 83k. The van seems to have been well maintained and after a month of daily driving, I’ve no issues come up. The van did come with a strange, file cabinet type center console that I’ll be removing. The previous owner even took time to have a matching pad built onto it. I’ll miss the massive arm rest, but it needs to go! Another odd addition from the previous owner is the red and silver striping and AWD labels on the rear quarters. I’m not too sure how I feel about them, so they’ll stay for now.
Other interior plans include leaving one of the rear passenger seats in place most of the time but will be removed for longer trips. In its plans, I’m thinking some sort or cabinet/ shelf thing for additional storage, maybe a countertop for winter time meal prep. The back will have benches built on each side to accommodate two people sleeping. When it’s my wife and I, I’ll have a panel to drop in for one, large bed. Before all of that starts, I plan on pulling the paneling out to deaden and insulate.
Externally, I want a roof rack to hold an awning and road shower. I’m still not sure if I want a basket or box on top but something for addition storage. I’m leaning towards box as it’s protected from the elements and secured. Eventually, I’d like to upgrade the headlights to Trucklite LEDs. I was sure to find a van with square headlights so I could make this swap. I’ll probably also add a LED light bar behind the grill to add some extra lighting for the mountain roads here. Of course I’m also looking at a lift and will probably to 2” with torsion keys up front and 2500 leafs in the rear.
Oh, so why Uli? Well, it goes something like this…
I decided owning a van is “the ultimate expression of not caring what others think! It’s funny how judgy people get when tell them you drive a van. You get the typical “creeper’ or “pedophile” jokes. At any rate, I just didn’t care and have been laughing about it. Do you know who else doesn’t care? Nihilists. So I named the van after The Dude’s key nihilist foe, Uli Kunkel. A little contrived, yes, but I think it’s kinda funny. My wife? notsomuch.
There’s been a ton of great information found here and some awesome builds where I found inspiration. I hope to do the same with this build!
Over the past month some changes made to the van include:
Oil change (still need to do the rest of the fluids)
New wiper blades
AEM dry air filter
Ventshades installed on front doors.
Tomorrow, I plan on working on insulating the doors (starting small)
After a few months of searching the nation, I was able to find locally a 2008 Chevy Express AWD in Mid-February. I missed out on a similar van a few weeks prior with only 36k on it but settled on this guy with 83k. The van seems to have been well maintained and after a month of daily driving, I’ve no issues come up. The van did come with a strange, file cabinet type center console that I’ll be removing. The previous owner even took time to have a matching pad built onto it. I’ll miss the massive arm rest, but it needs to go! Another odd addition from the previous owner is the red and silver striping and AWD labels on the rear quarters. I’m not too sure how I feel about them, so they’ll stay for now.
Other interior plans include leaving one of the rear passenger seats in place most of the time but will be removed for longer trips. In its plans, I’m thinking some sort or cabinet/ shelf thing for additional storage, maybe a countertop for winter time meal prep. The back will have benches built on each side to accommodate two people sleeping. When it’s my wife and I, I’ll have a panel to drop in for one, large bed. Before all of that starts, I plan on pulling the paneling out to deaden and insulate.
Externally, I want a roof rack to hold an awning and road shower. I’m still not sure if I want a basket or box on top but something for addition storage. I’m leaning towards box as it’s protected from the elements and secured. Eventually, I’d like to upgrade the headlights to Trucklite LEDs. I was sure to find a van with square headlights so I could make this swap. I’ll probably also add a LED light bar behind the grill to add some extra lighting for the mountain roads here. Of course I’m also looking at a lift and will probably to 2” with torsion keys up front and 2500 leafs in the rear.
Oh, so why Uli? Well, it goes something like this…
I decided owning a van is “the ultimate expression of not caring what others think! It’s funny how judgy people get when tell them you drive a van. You get the typical “creeper’ or “pedophile” jokes. At any rate, I just didn’t care and have been laughing about it. Do you know who else doesn’t care? Nihilists. So I named the van after The Dude’s key nihilist foe, Uli Kunkel. A little contrived, yes, but I think it’s kinda funny. My wife? notsomuch.
There’s been a ton of great information found here and some awesome builds where I found inspiration. I hope to do the same with this build!
Over the past month some changes made to the van include:
Oil change (still need to do the rest of the fluids)
New wiper blades
AEM dry air filter
Ventshades installed on front doors.
Tomorrow, I plan on working on insulating the doors (starting small)
