bigger. and slower.

[magic carpet XLT]

so my buddy made me an offer the other day. trade our 230k mi piles of steel straight across. i had an old GMC that has been in the family too long, he had a sweet van. he's been looking for a first gen chevy IFS to develop a 4x4 long travel kit for, i've been looking for something roomy.

1991 Club Wagon 250 XLT, EFi 460, E4OD, D70? feels like 4.10s, might be 3.73s






my buddy never got around to correcting the caster when he made the lift, so its at 0 degrees right now. first project will be new radius arms to fix that, then redo the rear shock mounts. then drive it a lot. i've got a set of 33" mickey thompsons that i need to find a set of alloy wheels for, anybody got like the factory 8 lug 16" alcoas or something similar?

[johncharlesb]

That is sweet! We have an '82 Econoline 150 camper van that we love. We take ours all over the place. It is a rolling house really with stove, refrigerator, bed, toilet, sink, heat, etc. We use it when camping for two people and our dog. It is just about the right size. Maybe I should put up a thread and give you some interior ideas.

[philofab]

Be careful with rim selection when you put tires on it, as the passenger sliding door will hit the tire when open if it sticks out too far.

[magic carpet XLT]

Be careful with rim selection when you put tires on it, as the passenger sliding door will hit the tire when open if it sticks out too far.

duly noted philo, i'm just gonna stick with stock backspacing wheels. i really wanna find some 8 lug alcoas.

i rode with this guy one time who had a lifted tricked out 4x4 van with airbags and shit. it was hacked together and had a nice paintjob so it was 95% poser. if it was at low ride height the door hit the tire. so you basically parked it and lifted it up to open the slider, then lowered it back down so it drove halfway decent.

[ESHALLBETTER]

Sweet! Most of you have probably already seen this but I'll bite anyway!

[philofab]

My buddy has an old Robby Gordan baja van... I'll have to ask him to take pictures for you.

[04yfzkid]

Is that rob's old van?

[magic carpet XLT]

Is that rob's old van?

909 rob from poly p? yup.

traded him for my whale rider:


been doing some work on the van lately, been hard with the non stop rain i've been having up here in norcal. most of it has been limited to fixing some of the small stuff that needed work. got a job at a stereo and upholstery shop so i've been trying to learn as much as i can there and apply it to my new ride. heres the overdrive switch i got wired in, philo was spot on with the wiring help. THANKS!


backup/dust light so it is a legit pre-runner now



got some KMC wheels and reused the mickey thompsons that were on my pickup




stupid factory airbox arrangement. you can't even check trans fluid without pulling part of it.

another one of my ghetto fab cold air intake kits.

[magic carpet XLT]

had to track down a leak which meant taking all the interior trim off. i swear ford engineered this thing around the No. 2 philips screwdriver. seemed like as good of a time as any to dynamat the whole thing (minus the roof and floor). i did both sides of the front doors tho, made a huge difference, much quieter afterwards.



theres not a lot of room on the dash for all the accessories i wanted to end up with, so i decided to just make a switch box to hold everything and keep it all tidy. i've had a bunch of wire laying around with 4 14ga primary wires loomed into a nice thick rubber casing so i used up some of that. kept it very clean. i left one relay open so that i can add an electric fan down the road





added another set of lights to the front as well


my buddy went to the swap meet and scored me a set of like new king piggyback 2.5x8" for the rear so i'll actually have some decent dampers back there now. so stoked to take this thing out to pismo, even tho it will be slow as shit lol.

[convoy]

Is that rob's old van?

909 rob from poly p? yup.

traded him for my whale rider:

Tread lightly please

[damon1272]

You need to do a TTB 4x conversion on that thing like what Spirit did on a few vans. They work awsome.

[magic carpet XLT]

You need to do a TTB 4x conversion on that thing like what Spirit did on a few vans. They work awsome.

don't think i haven't thunk it. got anymore info on those you speak of?

[johncharlesb]

The van is looking good with the new wheels and tires. The interior work is looking nice too. Are your beams bent? Do your tires rub on bump and how is it in the dirt?

Quigley used to build TTB vans, but I think they use Superduty stuff now. Quad van and Pathfinder does and did build 4x vans, but I do not know if they did TTB.

The best collection of 4x4 van pics I know of is at: http://www.thundersgarage.com

Here is a good shot of a converted 4x beater TTB van that looks like he used the factory 2wd crossmember. (Note the intro pic with the missing lug, valve cap and mag lug washer where the lug shank is likely bottoming against the hub.)


Here is a Quigley van working in the rocks. I think Quigley does the most conversions and is the preferred factory outfit.

[johncharlesb]

I Just realized that the beater van had a truck frame sectioned (booger welded?) on the van frame, oops sorry. Explains the clean install on the crappy van.

[damon1272]

You need to do a TTB 4x conversion on that thing like what Spirit did on a few vans. They work awsome.

don't think i haven't thunk it. got anymore info on those you speak of?

The van got a little press back in 98. Can't really find much on it on the web. Worked on one. It was amazing how well they worked off road. Very expensice conversion to do. Call Spirit and they can probably give you the low down.
Spirit Racing
15855 Dell View Road
El Cajon, California 92021


(619) 561-2913 - Voice
(619) 204-3348 - Fax

[magic carpet XLT]

finally had a sunny day off so i got around to putting together my wifes x-mas present to me. probably the simplest "true dual" exhaust you can put together. noticeably more get up and go, and now it sounds like the big block it is. it sure was nice of ford to put a 4 bolt flange where the cat attaches...

[SteveG]

Looks good. All exhaust upgrades should be that easy!