GMC Savana, Plus a Chevy Express Now Too

[bucket]

Very nice!

What yard did you find this stuff at?

I spent several hours walking around AJ's, for the first time in many years.

 

[bucket]

Seat and seatbelt installed. It's actually the incorrect seat, but oddly it doesn't bother me, it's much better than the Ford van seat that the seller had installed.

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The old seat:

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Here's the big lump in the floor mat for those modules GM decided to mount on the floor between the front seats. If you were to step in the area immediately surrounding the cover, I could see the floor mat possibly ripping.

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I kind of get a kick out of how utilitarian these vans are, especially considering this van is essentially identical to the current offering. If they built an SUV in the same way they build these vans, it probably wouldn't go over very well.

 

[bucket]

Did a little bit of trial and error testing on one of the wheels. I picked up a Mother's Power Cone and also a metal polish that I had not heard of before.

Gave it a whirl as it was, just out of curiosity.

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It didn't even touch the corrosion.

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So then, things got serious with 180 Grit on the 3" DA.

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I hit the rough spots with the DA, then gave that polish a try again. I'm not impressed with it at all. It probably works well for a final polish though.

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Tried some Mother's that is probably 10 years old and it worked much better in the sanded areas.

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[bucket]

Here's a close-up showing what is left of the 180 Grit scratches.

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I need to get a box of 320 grit discs and go at it again. First with Mother's and then a final once-over with Autosol. That should get it plenty nice enough for a daily driven family van. Then 3 more wheels to go.

 

[bucket]

Today the van got new brakes front and rear, along with a new set of 265/75/16's on the GM aluminum wheels. They are load range E, white letters out of course! I decided on the Mastercrafts because I like the looks of them and I wanted to give the local tire place more business, rather than just ordering tires from Summit and having them install them.

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Next up, buy a pair of composite headlights and install the chrome grille.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Lookin' good with the new tires! A little off topic on your Mother's products, at the shop we do headlight restorations, on the plastic lens units. We use Mother's compound after sanding and mirror glaze as a finisher. I'm hardly knowledgeable where it comes to waxes, compounds and polishes, but talk about easy to apply. I use the Mother's mirror glaze on the square when I want it to shine and I don't want to work to hard lol.

 

[bigcountry78]

Not sure how I missed this, but I like the progress so far. The wheels really set it off. I know the 4.8 wasn’t your first choice, but they’re great motors. My family has a 2001 Silverado we bought new, only options are ac, automatic transmission, and the 4.8. Absolutely bare bones everything else. But that little guy is pushing 300k, never missed a beat, and only seeps a bit of oil from the valve covers.

 

[bucket]

Not sure how I missed this, but I like the progress so far. The wheels really set it off. I know the 4.8 wasn’t your first choice, but they’re great motors. My family has a 2001 Silverado we bought new, only options are ac, automatic transmission, and the 4.8. Absolutely bare bones everything else. But that little guy is pushing 300k, never missed a beat, and only seeps a bit of oil from the valve covers.

The 4.8 is very adequate so far, it moves the van and passengers along just fine. I'm still very curious how it is going to do with pulling trailers around. I expect to be disappointed lol, but maybe the low gearing in the trans will save the day.

 

[bigcountry78]

The 4.8 is very adequate so far, it moves the van and passengers along just fine. I'm still very curious how it is going to do with pulling trailers around. I expect to be disappointed lol, but maybe the low gearing in the trans will save the day.

Yea I wouldn’t expect miracles. It’s pretty peppy in our farm truck still, but it’s a 2wd, single cab short bed. Big difference in weight between it and your junior school bus up there.

 

[bucket]

No pictures yet, but I bought another van, lol. This one is another extended wheelbase passenger van, it's a '00 with a 350/4L80e combo. No rust anywhere (it's down here in Blackstone) but it may or may not need an engine. If at least the short block ends up being ok, I'll fix it and drive it.

 

[animal]

No pictures yet, but I bought another van, lol. This one is another extended wheelbase passenger van, it's a '00 with a 350/4L80e combo. No rust anywhere (it's down here in Blackstone) but it may or may not need an engine. If at least the short block ends up being ok, I'll fix it and drive it.

Ya know. I think you need some additional toys. I am glad you bought another one

 

[Catbox]

Now is the time we start hoarding vans...

 

[bucket]

Well it all started like this:

I was driving past a friend's shop, when I remembered he had a passenger van sitting out back. So I stopped to see if it had seats in it. It did. So I texted my friend to see if he would be willing to sell the cloth seats. He responded with "Would you be interested in buying the entire van?" And the rest is history, lol.

 

[bucket]

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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[RoryH19]

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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Too funny.
The only thing that keeps me from having as many cars as you is the space.
Not sure if that's good or bad.