well I found yall thru expedionportal and figured Id pop up (pun) over here and post!!
the inital build was to make her a pop-top...then I decided that would take a back seat to just geting her out to camp...(then discovered that 09 may be the last year for an oilburner in the vans and the pop-top is back on for next winter...)
I bought the 85 3 years ago after struggling to find a nice slide-in camper for my then crewcab 4x4 that got lousy (7.5L gasser...12mpg was the BEST I ever got!) fuel mileage..so I figured Id get a vanbody..throw a cummins in it...put a 44/60 front axle in it and just enjoy it..
then came a phone call from a friend...
"dude (not real first name)...ya know how yer lookin fer a diesel van?...I think I found one for ya..its over on Blah blah blah..(not real address)...go check it out!"
so I show up...and paid for it on the spot!!...
it was ugly..and needed some updates...but the rust was VERY minimal for an ohio van...and I jumped headfirst into owning my first diesel...
so I get it home..and get a real good look...first thing...needs diffrent tires and rims...the 16.5's were in good shape...but they were 100% roadslicks and we lived on 5miles of gravel roads...so after some searchin...I settled on the american racing nitros and BFG commercial Traction/TA's that came recomended...
(yes..thats walmart..they had the tires..and a good friend worked there and did a perfect job of doin them right!!)
after
so after that it was time for seats...my buddy that called (and put the tires on) had scrapped a van a few weeks previous and saved the 4capt chairs and fold down bed..same color interior as mine!!...so they got installed..
I drove it for a while...doing kingpins/brakes/bodywork/window seals and vent window replacement (cant get the seals so I got the whole assemblys)...
towed a bit with her..and not really thrilled...(more like a straight6 power vs the big V8 I had becomed acustomed too.)...so I got busy lightening my load...worked on my woods truck..got a lighter trailer...and bought a turbo for the van...
turbo partialy installed..