Chevy & GMC Vans

I thought I would share some pictures of my Astro camper I have been working on. The van is lifted with a 3.5" - 4" homemade lift. I'm also running Treadwright 225/75R16 PUMA A/T (E) (for the price you cant beat them).

I took the factory seats out and put in a conversion van base in between the 2nd and 3rd row location. I then added the Astro bench to it.

The conversion van base happened to be power so I had to add a switch

I then made a rear bed platform

Then I completely disassembled the other factory bench and scavenged the cloth to make the rear bed pad. My main goal was to make this look like something the factory would have done.. my sewing skills are not the greatest.




I still have a few things that I need to complete, like curtains and a cover for the hinges on the back of the bench seat.
Hope you enjoy.

Boring on the outside... well, maybe.

But pretty freakin' nifty on the inside. Love your bed set up!

I've got a conversion seat/bed in the back of my van and when it folds down, it matches up perfectly with a big plastic storage box I've got in the back. Your way is softer(!) and longer though.

Very cool!

Nice job on the interior, the lift is looking good as well

Looks great so far. Thanks for posting.

Looks great Rotor......yah, I think you need to brush up on your sewing skills however. (nice work)

I see you made an adjustment on the deck supports also.I have a similar setup for my work and use a couple of morter tubs to hold tools. They are light weight and work as well as any drawer setup.

I am glad I have the gray cladding on my 'plain white van'

Looks fantastic!! The sewing on my factory seats is bad enough that your sewing looks plenty "stock" to me.

How long is your bed overall? I'm just about to start drilling the holes for my conversion bed but I'm going back and forth on final bed length vs. cargo room, etc. I'm 5'6", so I figure ~72" will be comfortable. To much less and I'd have to start sleeping "bent".

Herbie wrote:Looks fantastic!! The sewing on my factory seats is bad enough that your sewing looks plenty "stock" to me.

How long is your bed overall? I'm just about to start drilling the holes for my conversion bed but I'm going back and forth on final bed length vs. cargo room, etc. I'm 5'6", so I figure ~72" will be comfortable. To much less and I'd have to start sleeping "bent".

The bed length is about 74" and there is plenty of room for 2 adults and 1 11month old. I am also 6'2", so 72" for you should be more then enough room.

these conversion van seats bases seem to all line up over the uni-body frame if you keep it centered. Hopefully yours is narrower since it came out of a mini van, because that was a real headache.

We actually took it out camping last weekend over night to Ocean City camp ground up here in Washington and it worked out great. The bed is a lot more comfortable then I expected, although the wife wants at least a 1"-2" memory foam topper to go with it. Keeping the family comfortable seems to make these trips a LOT better!

I still need to get some things done, as we are taking it out again this weekend for a 4 night trip.

Keep us posted on your progress Herbie!

dunedog wrote: I have a similar setup for my work and use a couple of morter tubs to hold tools. They are light weight and work as well as any drawer setup.

That's actually a great idea! Ill have to pick up a few before the weekend.

hey that van doesnt look so boring to me! nice ride.

mine came with curtains (Explorer conversion) but I removed them all except the rears and now I use that chrome bubble wrap insulation cut to fit the windows so I just remove them and roll them up when not in use. found at Lowes home improvement. they really keep the heat down but thats probably not nearly as bad in a white van.

I also cut out one for the windshield thats a perfect fit.

I really like the crisp, clean look yours has. nice handy work!

not that boring, looks good... (but, maybe some black ghost flames or some custom striping might help....) one question, how did you get it set up with 6 lugs... using blazer axles.....??? I like the look, and it has to give you a few different options as far as wheels go ....

Moreforles wrote:one question, how did you get it set up with 6 lugs... using blazer axles.....??? I like the look, and it has to give you a few different options as far as wheels go ....

It is stock. In the 2003 - 2005 vans the factory equipped them with 6 lug axles and disc brakes on all 4 corners. Other than that they are the same as the 1996 - 2002's basically.

Rotor wrote: these conversion van seats bases seem to all line up over the uni-body frame if you keep it centered. Hopefully yours is narrower since it came out of a mini van, because that was a real headache.

Well, you called it. On my first pass of the measurements, I thought I was in good shape, but when I went to drill holes yesterday (small pilot hole, thankfully), it seems I'm right on top of the uni-frame channels too.

How did you solve the problem?

I'm thinking of using a couple of pieces of 2" x 3/16" angle-iron, the length of the mounting base, and bolting them on to the mounting foot with a mess of bolts to basically create a "flipped" base plate that puts the mounting holes to the inside instead of the outside. This would move the holes over by like 3 inches and should clear the rails...

I Decided to use the holes I drilled into the frame area and fish bolts with washers threw the uni- frame(lots of access holes). I welded them from the top, like the front seat mounting. My thought was this was probably the strongest part of the floor. I believe Gabe's solution was similar to what you are talking about.

Hope that helps.

Rotor wrote:I Decided to use the holes I drilled into the frame area and fish bolts with washers threw the uni- frame(lots of access holes). I welded them from the top, like the front seat mounting. My thought was this was probably the strongest part of the floor. I believe Gabe's solution was similar to what you are talking about.

Hope that helps.

Wow, really? I can see why you said "real headache". Did you just drill the holes from above, then push the bolts into the tubes and pull 'em up with a magnet, or what?

Looking more at my "adapter" solution, I'm not sure if its much better. The fore/aft location where I want to put my bench is rearward enough that there's the reflective shield over the exhaust, etc., so even if I do move the holes inboard, I'd probably have to drop a bunch of stuff just to be able to fit the backing plates on without pinching the shield...

Ugh. I need to get this thing up on a lift again, that would be easier.

Herbie wrote: Wow, really? I can see why you said "real headache". Did you just drill the holes from above, then push the bolts into the tubes and pull 'em up with a magnet, or what?

I Marked out my seat location and drilled from above. Then used long magnets to get the bolts up to the holes.

Herbie wrote: Looking more at my "adapter" solution, I'm not sure if its much better. The fore/aft location where I want to put my bench is rearward enough that there's the reflective shield over the exhaust, etc., so even if I do move the holes inboard, I'd probably have to drop a bunch of stuff just to be able to fit the backing plates on without pinching the shield...

I ran into the same thing with the heat shield. My thinking was that it would probably be better to go outboard then inboard.

But now after the first camping season I decided that I want to add cabinets for cloth storage and such. I will need to move my seat over about 5" or 6". That would have made things A lot easier during the 2 weeks we spent in Yosemite.