GMC Savana, Plus a Chevy Express Now Too

[gotyourgoat]

Being a southern VA rig it's whole life, it's super clean on the underside despite sitting in the grass for the last 4 years.

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At it's new resting place for the time being:

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Seeing as the excuse to not have an A-team van before was the the wife found the closest thing to a short bus, without being a short bus, acceptable but wouldn't allow excess modifications. Now that there are two vans there is no excuse to not make an A-team van...

 

[bucket]

Seeing as the excuse to not have an A-team van before was the the wife found the closest thing to a short bus, without being a short bus, acceptable but wouldn't allow excess modifications. Now that there are two vans there is no excuse to not make an A-team van...

I was already thinking along those lines. If I fix it rather than part it out, I was thinking something along the lines of: blow off the rest of the peeling clearcoat, hose it down in some kind of black sealer or semi-gloss black paint, do some kind of striping (maybe A-Team or possibly a #3 Goodwrench scheme) and add a set of D-window type steel wheels. And rumbly exhaust.

The van was owned by a local school and they overheated it 4 years ago. It still ran fine though. Coolant was added to it and the next day, it was hydro-locked. Likely a head/gasket is toasted, or possibly just a severely wasted intake gasket. I was worried about water in the oil after it sat so long, it could have had a bunch of internal rust. But I pulled the dipstick today and the oil looks great. I'm betting that the shortblock is ok.

 

[Catbox]

JAPANESE RACE VAN!!!!!!!!!!

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[Catbox]

Here is you black paint even....

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[bucket]

Here is you black paint even....

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I've read good stuff about that. This van would be a great test subject.

 

[bucket]

I loaded up the van last week and brought it home to Ohio.

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I wasn't able to fiddle with it until today. I drained the oil that looked clean on the stick (but overfull) and there was about a gallon of water in the crankcase. Topped it off with fresh oil. Replaced the battery. It cranked, but didn't want to run, even with a snort down the intake. Upon removing the dog house, I found where a rodent had chewed up some wires to the MAP, coil and evap purge solenoid. Also the coil wire was chewed right through.

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Once those were repaired, the engine fired right up and idled well. Under load, it stumbles and surges which feels like the usual Vortec issue with crappy old parts. They are very sensitive.

I'm pretty sure this thing just needs intake gaskets and a tune-up. I'm a happy camper.

 

[78C10BigTen]

I was already thinking along those lines. If I fix it rather than part it out, I was thinking something along the lines of: blow off the rest of the peeling clearcoat, hose it down in some kind of black sealer or semi-gloss black paint, do some kind of striping (maybe A-Team or possibly a #3 Goodwrench scheme) and add a set of D-window type steel wheels. And rumbly exhaust.

The van was owned by a local school and they overheated it 4 years ago. It still ran fine though. Coolant was added to it and the next day, it was hydro-locked. Likely a head/gasket is toasted, or possibly just a severely wasted intake gasket. I was worried about water in the oil after it sat so long, it could have had a bunch of internal rust. But I pulled the dipstick today and the oil looks great. I'm betting that the shortblock is ok.

I vote for the goodwrench and d window scheme!

 

[bucket]

I don't remember if I showed the passenger side before, but there was a bunch of funk built up on the paint and the clearcoat was coming off in sheets. Almost as if that side had been facing North for several years, lol. But I washed most of the scuz off today.

In progress:

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Much better now:

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[bucket]

When cleaning out the interior earlier, I found a bunch of peanut shells in the rear seat and deduced that the empty peanut bag in the van was in fact full at the time it was parked. Lol

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Some of the cargo doors had the interior panels loose in places, so I removed them all so I could clean out the door bottoms as preventative maintenance. Also, the pop out window latches on the side doors needed repaired.

This one, the factory rivets were just a little loose, so I added a 3rd rivet for much better support.

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But this one had come completely loose and the rivets had already been replaced before. The mounting holes were royally focked, so I just made new holes.

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The pop out window on the yellow van is kinda loose and wobbly, so it probably needs the same repair. Oddly, that van only has a pop out window on one of the side doors, not both like the white van.

 

[78C10BigTen]

When cleaning out the interior earlier, I found a bunch of peanut shells in the rear seat and deduced that the empty peanut bag in the van was in fact full at the time it was parked. Lol

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Some of the cargo doors had the interior panels loose in places, so I removed them all so I could clean out the door bottoms as preventative maintenance. Also, the pop out window latches on the side doors needed repaired.

This one, the factory rivets were just a little loose, so I added a 3rd rivet for much better support.

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But this one had come completely loose and the rivets had already been replaced before. The mounting holes were royally focked, so I just made new holes.

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The pop out window on the yellow van is kinda loose and wobbly, so it probably needs the same repair. Oddly, that van only has a pop out window on one of the side doors, not both like the white van.

Still need a rear seat.... lol

 

[bucket]

Still need a rear seat.... lol

If you've still got one or two, yes lol

 

[RecklessWOT]

I wouldn't go spring for composite headlights so fast. Yes to make it more modern and less school bus like I can understand the allure of fancier more modern lights, but seriously, a 2013 that still has sealed beams? Sign me up. My wife's 2013 Mazda has those steerring sensitive projector headlights, if a big rock gets kicked up and breaks one I'm out around a grand. How much is a square sealed beam headlight, 12 bucks? For a utilitarian vehicle it doesn't get much more "no bulls hit" than that, all it needs now is a manual trans and a TBI.

 

[bucket]

I wouldn't go spring for composite headlights so fast. Yes to make it more modern and less school bus like I can understand the allure of fancier more modern lights, but seriously, a 2013 that still has sealed beams? Sign me up. My wife's 2013 Mazda has those steerring sensitive projector headlights, if a big rock gets kicked up and breaks one I'm out around a grand. How much is a square sealed beam headlight, 12 bucks? For a utilitarian vehicle it doesn't get much more "no bulls hit" than that, all it needs now is a manual trans and a TBI.

Ideally, I'd fab up some brackets to run mini-quads with the uplevel chrome grille. I think that would look great! But, the factory composite lights basically bolt right in, so that's still my plan. I don't mind how they look at all, I just hate modern plastic lenses that turn yellow.

I have no gripes about the sealed beam lights themselves. It's just that gawdawful grille that goes along with them, lol. I still remember the first time I saw one of the new 03's with the new styling (it was a base model grille like mine) and I thought it was ugly as sin. It made the front of the van look like a big dumb brontosaurus dinosaur and that's how I still feel today.

The base model grille in the '96-'02 years isn't so bad, imho. But the uplevel grille with composite lights is a great looking setup (obviously styled after the gmt400 pickups) and I'll probably end up upgrading the white van too.

 

[RecklessWOT]

Ideally, I'd fab up some brackets to run mini-quads with the uplevel chrome grille. I think that would look great! But, the factory composite lights basically bolt right in, so that's still my plan. I don't mind how they look at all, I just hate modern plastic lenses that turn yellow.

I have no gripes about the sealed beam lights themselves. It's just that gawdawful grille that goes along with them, lol. I still remember the first time I saw one of the new 03's with the new styling (it was a base model grille like mine) and I thought it was ugly as sin. It made the front of the van look like a big dumb brontosaurus dinosaur and that's how I still feel today.

The base model grille in the '96-'02 years isn't so bad, imho. But the uplevel grille with composite lights is a great looking setup (obviously styled after the gmt400 pickups) and I'll probably end up upgrading the white van too.

Hah yeah it is pretty fugly I'll give you that. The mini quads would be sweet

 

[bucket]

The white van passed the basic combustion leak test today. Looks like I'll for sure take a chance and not replace the head gaskets when I tear into it. Just intake gaskets should do it.

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