Vanny Update

Carpeting going up to insulate and clean the look up a little

All of this came out! This is where the TV went. Good thing I HATE TV!

Tons of room in the back.. this board is 6'2"!

All... a semi blank canvas to work with. Now the fun starts

Look at all that room!

So a lot of work has been done to the van. I started ripping out the TV and all of that mess above the drivers area. There is a good amount of space that I freed up so Im pretty excited about that. I tried to hunt down a fabric that was the same type/color as the interior of my van and I quickly gave up. Its just incredibly hard for some reason to match this stuff! I optioned for the greyish outdoor carpet and now I have been laying it up on the roof of said storage area.

Ive also removed all the passenger seats and rear bench/bed so that I can build out what I want in the van. I was thinking hard about keeping the back bench so I wouldnt have to build a bed but after some long thought I decided building something I wanted vs. accepting what I had was a better option for me. The bed was just not long enough for me and I think it wasted a good deal of space in the van, especially underneath it with all of the metal bracketing involved.

I took a look at the suspension of the van and realized my rear leaf springs were a little flat and causing the rear of the van to sag. After looking around, I finally found a place on the net that sells new ones but they were $300 for a pair. I talked with some guys on the Yahoo VanDwellers group Im a member of and they turned me on to a long forgotten option... airbags! So I purchased a set of Firestone Riderites for $300 and they will arrive tomorrow at my house to be installed. They can support loads of up to 5000lbs and takea great deal of the load and weight off of the springs and place it back onto the axle. They also have the advantage of raising the ride height of the van!

I went ahead and bought a cd player for the van too as this tape deck was just killing me. I didnt go overboard and I only spent $100 bux, a number Im willing to accept as a loss when this unit gets stolen. I picked it for its ability to allow USB sticks to play through it, which is much easier than connecting a laptop to the AUX port on the front. Speakers will be coming too as mine are just too damn old.

Much work is about to be performed on the engine and brakes as well. Im looking to go ahead and flush the radiator and all the coolent, replace hoses (buy spares), replace all belts (buy spares), pick up a spare heavy duty water pump, resurface rotors and install new pads and replace the lower brake lines after a suggestion from my grandfather. Apparently Chevy/GMC trucks/vans from this year range have a bad habbit of their lower lines disolving in the brake fluid and eventually this will lock the piston down, possibly causing a bad situation if driving.

Work still to be done....

1) front air bags to stiffen and support the worn springs. Keep her from hitting the bump stops on the suspension of this beast so much!

2) design and build interior layout!

3) cut hole in roof for air/ventalation

4) work on cabin lighting! This is a huge one.

5) get battery banks worked out and isolators ordered and installed

6) get different rims if possible, and new tires.

7) get good used tires for dual spares, paint rims to match.

8) sand rust spots and paint

there is more im sure :)