Chevy & GMC Vans

First off, thanks and I am sooo glad I stumbled in. I too am in the process of 'Westifying" my new to me 94 awd ext. I had an 86 VW Westy and used it quite a bit for about 3 years until it popped it's last headgasket just shy of Yreka. Then it was towed to pdx, parked for 6 years and devoured by blackberries.
That was a couple of years ago and I was over it until a co-worker said he was selling his Astro, I found y'all, and the wheels started cranking. Then Tom and Herbie's GTRV conversions got me totally motivated and chomping at the bit.
But looking at Herbie's excellent pictures cutting that bigazz hole got me rethinking the standing room. During my westy's half-life while it was still functional, the top was actually not popped that often and a fair amount of cooking still went on. Then I stumbled (I seem to do that a lot) on to this site and got the idea of putting the Galley/shower/head out back.



a bit more lost time in the web turned up this tent picture and really got those damn noisy wheels turning.



I'd want a more substantial tent than the one pictured, but the idea has me completely rethinking the camping layout. I guess I'm thinking more like a weekender. That said, I still reeeally want the upstairs and a top-tent looks like an excellent (and simpler) installation. The only big downside is having to go outside to cook and climb upstairs.
But that's much less of an issue here as this is a "Southy" and not a (north) Westy.

So has anybody gone this route or have any suggestions?

PS: Theres a lot of wonderful camper eye-candy and inspiration at this link:
http://www.vwcampersales.com/sold-vw-campers.php

Welcome!

I think 9dawgs has one of the best low-cost and functional set-ups and seems to be similar to your thinking.



Looking forward to following your project/progress!

If you want to go the "camper" route without having to cut the top then I would use the setup like I have and set the vans interior up with the modified "Westy" camper goodies. I'd love to find an old style VW camper to cannibalize. Then I wouldn't need to set up the additional screen tent to be able to cook in the rain :>)

You can look at the SportZ tents at this link: http://www.sportzbynapier.com/

Hope this helps :>) Let us see some pictures of your "new" van!!

not trying to discourage you, as i love astro vans and would much rather have my van than any vw, but... if you want a pop top, which your vw already has, i think you may find it cheaper to replace the head gasket on the vw than to convert the astro. did you warp the heads or cause any serious damage to the engine? that and the astros dont have the floor space the vws have so its not gonna all quite fit in there the way id did in the vw. its about a horse a piece a guess, an awd drive astro is more reliable and versatile but not quite as roomy and the pop tops for them cost more than you probably paid for the van, and definitely more than a head gasket.

GnarliSafari wrote:... if you want a pop top, which your vw already has,

had
That ship has sailed. It would have been great to cannibalize it, but its my neighbor's son's headach,,ahh project now and I'm on the other side of the country (Jacksonville, FL). I left him in Portland with a new set of heads, gaskets, a radiator, and a Bentley manual. All the things needed to get it running that I'd collected over the years. I just never found one of those roundtuits.

We've been down here a couple of years and bought a beautiful garage with a detached 3bdr house a little better than a year ago. Then this lovely, reliable, running , low mileage, AWD vehicle fell into my lap.





I'd love to say money is no object, but like most folk, I'd be lying. What I do have is a varied set of mechanical skills and a garage to accommodate my toys/tools with a project vehicle at the same time!. I even think I saw a couple of those roundtuits on the floor in there. (somebody pinch me)

It would be great if this project eventually morphed into a perfect family micro rv (what a westy wants to be), but my first goal is to make it into a MTV ( Most Terrain Vehicle) yak hauling, fish camp (and I'm pretty much there). (somebody pinch me again)

fishesfromtupperware wrote:I just never found one of those roundtuits.

They are elusive. The best time to find them is warm, sunny weekends, and they are afraid of girlfriends.

Hey nice pics FFT! I'm a Florida native and I must say camping here is a wonderful experience...just don't venture into the woods to camp in the late Spring, early Summer months. Way too many mosquitos and very warm...not a pleasant experience to say the least. Your kayak fishing rigs look awesome! Your van looks great as well but I do believe you need a little lift on that puppy so you can put some good rubber under it You'll definately feel more confident on the beaches or in the muck where you'd normally want to launch your boats. Looking forward to the transformation of your van. Be sure to document with lots of picture cuz we just lov'em on this site

The "aft kitchen" is definitely quality idea, or at least it's similar to what I'm planning. I don't want to cook IN my van, for a host of reasons, but I do want to have the kitchen, etc. as "built in" as possible. In my case, I plan to mount drop-down shelves to the lower dutch doors (one for prep space, one to hold the stove), and my kitchen kit and food box will mount under the rear bed right there.

The idea is that for any camping or tailgating where there isn't a picnic table, etc. (which will hopefully be MOST of the time), I can simply open up the back, prep a simple or complex meal, do some cleanup, and pack everything into the back.

The only downside to my "westy" layout is that while the kitchen will be out back, I need to mount the fridge/freezer behind the driver's seat. This is almost entirely a concession to bed length and ingress/egress to the upper bunk while the lower bed is in sleeper mode, but not what I would have preferred. On the upside, the wifey will be able to grab me a cold soda while we're driving. ;)

Stay tuned to my build thread... Setting up the aft kitchen is next on the list after I get the rear bed platform and utility box built.

Looking forward to see how you proceed, the fridge has been an issue with me as well. I think I will be putting it in the same spot as you, but for convenience, how much of an issue do you think it would be if I were to put it in the very back passenger side of the van? Obviously the weight in the far back corner wouldn't be ideal, but I am also toying with the idea of putting it on a slide to slide it over to the center while driving, and back against the wall when camping. Weight would still be on that back end, but at least it would be a bit more centralized. Of course the slide would raise it even more, costing head room, which is why I am still thinking things through. Thanks.

Wiley wrote:Looking forward to see how you proceed, the fridge has been an issue with me as well. I think I will be putting it in the same spot as you, but for convenience, how much of an issue do you think it would be if I were to put it in the very back passenger side of the van? Obviously the weight in the far back corner wouldn't be ideal, but I am also toying with the idea of putting it on a slide to slide it over to the center while driving, and back against the wall when camping. Weight would still be on that back end, but at least it would be a bit more centralized. Of course the slide would raise it even more, costing head room, which is why I am still thinking things through. Thanks.

Honestly, I'm not worried about the weight at all. The fridge is far from the most "dense" item I will have, and everything will be fairly loaded up, so moving one component around trying to balance things just isn't worth it, since the whole van is going to be full of weight/stuff. The only piece of my build I'm likely to worry about weight/placement with is the water tank, since I don't want to unbalance/shift the weight as the tank is emptied or if things are sloshing.

For me, the thing that dictated the fridge up front is the revolving circle of requirements that is the sleeping system. :/ I need some room up front in order to move around and access the upper sleeper bunk, which basically means the lower bed has to be flush to the rear of the van. I also need enough headroom over the lower bed to be able to sort-of-sit-up, which means the bed platform can't be more than 16" high or so, but the fridge is 21" high, so it won't fit under the bed, etc. etc. etc.