New here with my "Beast" GTRV E350 V10

[BeastGTRV]

Hi All,

Thought I would introduce the Beast. While my GTRV is not as wild as a lot of the builds here, it was sure a beast compared to my previous wimpy 5 cylinder automatic VW Eurovan Westfalia!

It's a 2000 E350 GTRV "Westy" (kinda a blatant copy LOL) whose previous owner ordered it special with the V10, full floating rear axle with limited slip, and heavy duty towing package with transmission cooler so he could tow his fishing boat with it. We love the interior layout which is similar to our VW. The outside looked dorky with the GTRV stripes, hubcaps on steelies, and running boards. I had a body shop remove the running boards and stripes and color sand and buff the whole van, and black out the chrome bumpers. The original paint now looks like new!

My dream of course was to do a full 4x4 kit, but we are not serious off-roaders and just like to go on logging/fire roads to go yellow post camping here in SoCal.
The front springs were sagging so I installed new Moog CC880S front springs and Bilstein HD shocks all around. Those lifted the front a good 2" (and the rear some too!) so I got it fully aligned at a shop that does Twin I Beam alignments regularly. The steelies and hubcaps were ditched and I found a set of American Eagle 16x8 slot alloys on Craigslist. Some new street tires and Bushwacker flares finished it off.

The body shop also painted the grille white with a black accent but I don't think I like the result. Any aftermarket grille suggestions?

This forum is a great resource...happy to join the group.

[BeastGTRV]

Photos of the Beast

[rallypanam]

Looks like a nice ride!

I'd just black out the entire grill.. Will look much better.

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by rallypanam

Looks like a nice ride!

I'd just black out the entire grill.. Will look much better.

Rallypanam is smarrrttt.

Nice van! Welcome.

[marret]

Nice van. I say just black out the grill too.

[BVerhulst]

That is the stealthiest of stealth vans.

[BeastGTRV]

Thanks for the compliments! My paint guy offered to paint it all black for free...that's what I asked him to do but he thought this would look better.

I do love the super low top on the GTRV...the Sportsmobiles have a much blockier looking top.

[Jsweezy]

I like the van!

Don't worry, even though its not 4wd, v10 full float limited slip = Beast.

I like what you did with it so far!