Project Man-Van
08-19-2012, 11:28 PM
#1
Project Man-Van
Yes...yes I did but a Van! 
I needed a new Daily Driver and no, I really didn't need a van. 
I was actually looking at a variety of things really prior to purchasing this, even test drove and put an offer on a used C6 Z06. In the end though...I went with Creeper status level 4 Alert Man-Van! 
Main reasons for buying a van were:
-Duramax Diesel
-Towing Capability
-Can haul my street/dirt bikes around easily
-Versatility with the cargo bay
-Fairly good on fuel efficiency
-It's different
-It's GM based so fairly familiar with it
-Modability
I think with a little work and creativity this can actually become a pretty sweet little rig. So onto what it looks like and then onto what I'm doing with it.
Here's what it looked like when I bought it...had to fly to Houston to get it. Diesel vans are not that common really so had to go out of town to get one. Its a 2006 Chevy Express 2500 Duramax Diesel. Was an ex Anheiser-Busch company van. Was assigned to one employee since it was bought so all in all it was really well taken care of.
First fill up! Averaging 18.5mph completely stock
I slept in the van on the drive back home...wasn't too bad but definitly plan on doing something about that in the near future...
Inside was stripped down and cleaned by the Used car lot, wasn't too pleased with that since they posted pictures of it as being fully paneled inside. Got him to knock some of the price down but still wasn't too thrilled about it.
Installed a class V tow hitch on it and bought myself a car hauler. She towed really well when I finally got to trailer load situated correctly. Averaged 14.5mpg's while towing +/- 10,000lbs.
So that's what I bought...here's what I'm doing and plan on doing...
First thing I did was install a double din 6.5" Kenwood touchscreen Stereo w/ Nav. two 10" subs. (forgot to take pics of them but here's a pic that shows the subs and through the cage you can see the double-din.)
Followed that by ripping out the stupid cage.
Next up was the interior walls...
Decided on Radiant Technology Double Sided Reflective Insulation - Rated R19 at 75 degrees inside. Should help keep the van at even temperature during hot days and not act as such a Heat absorbing Tin Can during the day and a freezer at night.
Ripped out the headliner and the door panels and wiped down all the interior walls...
Also ripped out the crappy POS rubber mat that was on the floor, underneath it was 6 years of spilled beer and nasty rotted out insulation!
Here's with the Insulation installed...
I needed a new Daily Driver and no, I really didn't need a van. I was actually looking at a variety of things really prior to purchasing this, even test drove and put an offer on a used C6 Z06. In the end though...I went with Creeper status level 4 Alert Man-Van! Main reasons for buying a van were:
-Duramax Diesel
-Towing Capability
-Can haul my street/dirt bikes around easily
-Versatility with the cargo bay
-Fairly good on fuel efficiency
-It's different
-It's GM based so fairly familiar with it
-Modability
I think with a little work and creativity this can actually become a pretty sweet little rig. So onto what it looks like and then onto what I'm doing with it.
Here's what it looked like when I bought it...had to fly to Houston to get it. Diesel vans are not that common really so had to go out of town to get one. Its a 2006 Chevy Express 2500 Duramax Diesel. Was an ex Anheiser-Busch company van. Was assigned to one employee since it was bought so all in all it was really well taken care of.
First fill up! Averaging 18.5mph completely stock
I slept in the van on the drive back home...wasn't too bad but definitly plan on doing something about that in the near future...
Inside was stripped down and cleaned by the Used car lot, wasn't too pleased with that since they posted pictures of it as being fully paneled inside. Got him to knock some of the price down but still wasn't too thrilled about it.
Installed a class V tow hitch on it and bought myself a car hauler. She towed really well when I finally got to trailer load situated correctly. Averaged 14.5mpg's while towing +/- 10,000lbs.
So that's what I bought...here's what I'm doing and plan on doing...
First thing I did was install a double din 6.5" Kenwood touchscreen Stereo w/ Nav. two 10" subs. (forgot to take pics of them but here's a pic that shows the subs and through the cage you can see the double-din.)
Followed that by ripping out the stupid cage.
Next up was the interior walls...
Decided on Radiant Technology Double Sided Reflective Insulation - Rated R19 at 75 degrees inside. Should help keep the van at even temperature during hot days and not act as such a Heat absorbing Tin Can during the day and a freezer at night.
Ripped out the headliner and the door panels and wiped down all the interior walls...
Also ripped out the crappy POS rubber mat that was on the floor, underneath it was 6 years of spilled beer and nasty rotted out insulation!
Here's with the Insulation installed...
Last edited by Spoolin; 08-20-2012 at 12:11 AM.
08-19-2012, 11:28 PM
#2
Next up was to do the floors, had a bunch of different ideas but settled on Rhino-lining it... was more expensive than I thought it would be but I think it came out great! Notice that I had them go up the walls an inch so it fills all the cracks between the floor and the van walls. This way I can hose down the interior and the van has a bath-tub effect and that water can drain out.
Had them do the uprights as well so that they won't get too dinged up when I load gear and bikes in and out of it. The ones that are coated are the support ones, all the other ones I've learned are only there to keep the van sides from flexing in and out while the van is at speed, so essentially I cannot use them as tie-down supports or what not.
Don't mind the foot prints!
That's where I was at before I left for a little vacation. I dropped it off at a van customizing place and they are in charge of lining the walls, I'm having them line them with cut-to-fit FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Panels). The will cover the walls and the Ceiling of the van.
After that it's a 76" Folding bed. I can fold it up against the driver side wall and it should be practically flush, I think they said it'll stick out between 3-4 inches which is fine because that well inside the wheel well. When it folds down it's a couch and then folds down once more into a bed. Should work better than sleeping on the damn floor!
Last thing is they are installing two Aluminum Logistics Tracks (L-tracks). They anchored into the floor flush within the ribs in the floor. Each track is rated to hold down 4,000lbs of gear so with two of them they should be able to tie down a couple bikes when needed. They come with quick disconnect clasps which should make securing the bikes a cinch.
Also got the windows on the Van tinted, I've tinted about 10-11 vehicles so far and it always blows my mind how much cooler the inside of a vehicle is once you get dark tint! Score!!
That's all I can afford to do right now, I should be picking it up from the shop on Thursday so I'll post up more pics then.
What I have left on my to-do list (which is growing bigger by the day!
) is...
Cargo bay:
-Build shelves on drivers side by rear door to hold tools, straps, hitches, etc...
-Cut vent into ceiling for vent-fan.
-Relocate subs to behind front seats and add additional speakers in cargo area
-Install fridge between two front seats with power inverter to run 110/220V plugs.
-Install small water tank on passengerside by rear door for fresh drinking water
-Maybe install Flat-screen and DVD player behind drivers seat, (actually my Double-din plays DVD's so maybe just wire the TV as an external monitor)
-Tint the rear tails
-Disco Ball to keep the little kiddies entertainted...and Jake
Drivetrain and wiring:
-Wire up 7-pin towing harness
-Add Cruise control
-4" DP and full exhaust, delete DPF filter and any other restrictive crap
-Tune
-Intake and snorkel kit up out of the engine bay. (no reason other than I think it would look cool )
-Some kinda Bull bar with winch up front, haven't looked at any yet but should make this thing look and be a bit beefier and help get myself out of jams for when I take it to the desert.
-Ice cream truck music for the kiddies??
Wheels and Suspension:
-Lower van 4-6 all around.
-Add tow bags
-Fit off road suspension (not for offroading, just to stop this thing from acting like a van and absorb bumps rather than transmit them through out the frame.
-Saw these wheels on a van the other day so maybe get something similar...
And finally Paint/wrap...no idea what the hell I'm gonna do but open for suggestions. I've already thought about all the theme vans (A-team, mystery wagon, Dumb and Dumber, Inspector gadget, Teenage mutant ninja turtles) and I don't think I wanna go that route. So if you have some cool ideas/color combo's I'd be interested in hear them.
Anyways, that's where I am and where I plan to go, no time table or schedule but hopefully I can get this done in a reasonable amount of time.
Edit:
I weighed this fat bitch and came up with 6080 fully stripped!
Had them do the uprights as well so that they won't get too dinged up when I load gear and bikes in and out of it. The ones that are coated are the support ones, all the other ones I've learned are only there to keep the van sides from flexing in and out while the van is at speed, so essentially I cannot use them as tie-down supports or what not.
Don't mind the foot prints!
That's where I was at before I left for a little vacation. I dropped it off at a van customizing place and they are in charge of lining the walls, I'm having them line them with cut-to-fit FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Panels). The will cover the walls and the Ceiling of the van.
After that it's a 76" Folding bed. I can fold it up against the driver side wall and it should be practically flush, I think they said it'll stick out between 3-4 inches which is fine because that well inside the wheel well. When it folds down it's a couch and then folds down once more into a bed. Should work better than sleeping on the damn floor!
Last thing is they are installing two Aluminum Logistics Tracks (L-tracks). They anchored into the floor flush within the ribs in the floor. Each track is rated to hold down 4,000lbs of gear so with two of them they should be able to tie down a couple bikes when needed. They come with quick disconnect clasps which should make securing the bikes a cinch.
Also got the windows on the Van tinted, I've tinted about 10-11 vehicles so far and it always blows my mind how much cooler the inside of a vehicle is once you get dark tint! Score!!
That's all I can afford to do right now, I should be picking it up from the shop on Thursday so I'll post up more pics then.
What I have left on my to-do list (which is growing bigger by the day!
) is...Cargo bay:
-Build shelves on drivers side by rear door to hold tools, straps, hitches, etc...
-Cut vent into ceiling for vent-fan.
-Relocate subs to behind front seats and add additional speakers in cargo area
-Install fridge between two front seats with power inverter to run 110/220V plugs.
-Install small water tank on passengerside by rear door for fresh drinking water
-Maybe install Flat-screen and DVD player behind drivers seat, (actually my Double-din plays DVD's so maybe just wire the TV as an external monitor)
-Tint the rear tails
-Disco Ball to keep the little kiddies entertainted...and Jake
Drivetrain and wiring:
-Wire up 7-pin towing harness
-Add Cruise control
-4" DP and full exhaust, delete DPF filter and any other restrictive crap
-Tune
-Intake and snorkel kit up out of the engine bay. (no reason other than I think it would look cool
)-Some kinda Bull bar with winch up front, haven't looked at any yet but should make this thing look and be a bit beefier and help get myself out of jams for when I take it to the desert.
-Ice cream truck music for the kiddies??
Wheels and Suspension:
-Lower van 4-6 all around.
-Add tow bags
-Fit off road suspension (not for offroading, just to stop this thing from acting like a van and absorb bumps rather than transmit them through out the frame.
-Saw these wheels on a van the other day so maybe get something similar...
And finally Paint/wrap...no idea what the hell I'm gonna do but open for suggestions. I've already thought about all the theme vans (A-team, mystery wagon, Dumb and Dumber, Inspector gadget, Teenage mutant ninja turtles) and I don't think I wanna go that route. So if you have some cool ideas/color combo's I'd be interested in hear them.
Anyways, that's where I am and where I plan to go, no time table or schedule but hopefully I can get this done in a reasonable amount of time.
Edit:
I weighed this fat bitch and came up with 6080 fully stripped!
Last edited by Spoolin; 08-20-2012 at 12:23 AM.
08-19-2012, 11:32 PM
#3
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sweet when does the **** carpet and felt headliner go in
Lookin good man, you'v got quite a list for this dam thing... Should be awesome when its all said and done..
Lookin good man, you'v got quite a list for this dam thing... Should be awesome when its all said and done..
Last edited by pewterliftedz; 08-19-2012 at 11:37 PM.
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08-20-2012, 12:21 AM
#9
I thought about alot of different vehicles and realized of all the vehicles I really liked, I would of end up just following other people's trends and instead I wanted to do something that not many people have done. Trying to set the trend, not follow it. We'll see how that works out for me!
Edited for your sweet-cheeks!
I found some Peanut butter so he's...occupied!
I drive alot and everywhere so the more comfortable I can make this thing for long trips the better. And also for camping in the desert, tents get old!
