Chevy & GMC Vans

^ That's how I'm feeling!

I've long since removed the passenger-side center row seatbelt reel since my conversion van bed sits between where rows 2 & 3 normally sit. I still have the plastic housing and it helps to hold up the headliner, so I decided to make use of that space. This panel will let me monitor voltage from the solar panel and house battery.


Finally found a used aluminum version of the AT Jerry Can holder, so I swapped it onto the rear rack. Steel one will go on sale next.





Started looking at my factory bump stops to see how, and how much I might need to raise them up to compensate for using stock-length shocks on raised tabs with the 4" lift. I was surprised that with nominally 4" of lift, I was averaging around 4" of clearance from the stops to the frame (parked on a side slope in these photos, hence the difference). I must have been very close to being on the bumpstops on my OEM springs. Is that normal?

Hey Herbie , how long are your bump stops ? Mine are a bit different , made by Timbren. It's possible the PO changed them out. Any way mine are 4 inches long from the mounting surface to the end and I have three inches of clearance to the frame . I netted two inches of lift when I did my rear springs and if I recall there was around inch give or take of clearance at the bump stop when stock. There was definitely regular contact because the frame was nicely polished where the two items met.

Took my kids and the dog to the beach. What a great day !

Saw that Sears has the Diehard Platinum Marine Batteries on sale again, so I took the opportunity to upgrade my 4+ year old Group 34 (68AH) that's been getting a little tired with a new Group 31 (100AH). The original was a great battery, but I did a bad job of maintaining it for a year in the middle there, and was never able to get full performance after that...

Group 34M: $172.49
Group 31M: $217.49

This weekend I put my van up on car ramps, and crawled underneath it with a pressure sprayer, Pressure sprayed every nook and cranny removing all the built up mud, sand, and road grime from underneath the van, CC would be proud.

I was prompted to do this, because I took the van out to the Ocean the previous week and was driving and doing donuts all over the sandy beach and surf, so I wanted to get all the mud and sand and dead jellyfish off that would eventually corrode the undercarriage.

Monday
Ended up popping one of the welds on the handle for the tipper switch on my rear tire carrier, looks like when mike built it, he just tack welded it and forgot to come back to it and go all the way around the bar, so I went to a couple of collision shops, they all wanted 75$ minimum or they wouldn't even touch it. Went to an exhaust shop, guy came out looked at it, said no problem, asked him about how much as I didn't want to spend over 10 - 20$, he said I was in the ballpark, pulled the tire, and the screws that hold the tire carrier in the middle of the door, and swung the carrier out, his tech welded the bar back on, and put a few more welds on the back of the lugs that hold the tire on, took less then 5 minutes, went back in to pay, the guy was like your free to go, you can tip the tech if you like. Said that was no problem, handed the tech a 10$ bill and I was on my way.

My LEDs for my dome lights arrived, I picked up 3 for my van, but when I installed them, I decided to stick to panels up front so I would have 96 leds up front and a panel of 48 in the middle of the van, now I am going to pick up two more panels for the rear dome light... The LED's are like night and day... It is amazing how much brighter they are, and a crisp white, makes it easy to find things in the dark.
I'll snap some before and after pics here when I get the next set of LEDs....
http://goo.gl/uRJ0y7 Here is the link to the LED panels, they are 2.74$/ea, free shipping, I got mine in 7 days.
EDIT: Also wanted to note, no modification was needed to any of the panels or dome light areas to fit these large panels. I could easily fit 3 panels up front and 1 in the middle dome, and 2 in the rear.

SilverBullet1997 wrote:
My LEDs for my dome lights arrived, I picked up 3 for my van, but when I installed them, I decided to stick to panels up front so I would have 96 leds up front and a panel of 48 in the middle of the van, now I am going to pick up two more panels for the rear dome light... The LED's are like night and day... It is amazing how much brighter they are, and a crisp white, makes it easy to find things in the dark.
I'll snap some before and after pics here when I get the next set of LEDs....
http://goo.gl/uRJ0y7 Here is the link to the LED panels, they are 2.74$/ea, free shipping, I got mine in 7 days.
EDIT: Also wanted to note, no modification was needed to any of the panels or dome light areas to fit these large panels. I could easily fit 3 panels up front and 1 in the middle dome, and 2 in the rear.

Nice. Has anybody found an LED kit that works for the map lights yet? My wife insists on using those while getting the kiddo ready for bed at night, despite repeated reminding that the MUCH brighter overhead house lights use like 1/2 the power or less. I need to get the map lights switched over too, then I won't have to worry about it anymore.

EDIT: Found and ordered these. They will fit the wedge base, but more importantly, look like they might be small enough to fit into the reflector, avoiding the problem this guy ran into.

Herbie, I also ordered some for the map lights yesterday...

I am afraid to tell you that, I think your still going to run in to problems with those, because it looks like LED's are the same size as that outer lip, I think what you will end up having to do is take a dremel and sand/grind out a bit of the inner housing area.

after playing with the white flat socket(that came with the big led panels) that plugs in to that adapter I tried to push it in to the map light slot, but the white upper lip is still to wide for the lamp housing, I am estimating that I will have to do a little bit of dremeling in the inner lamp housing, or remove the lip on the led bulb housing...

These are the ones I bought, 10 for 5.00$ It looks like I could cut off a bit of that rim with out going in to the led panel.



When they get here from Hong Kong, I will see which way will work best, I got 4 extra's to play with so I am good.

I've been running led for house lights and reading lights for a couple of years.

I use the 24 diode flat plates in the dome lights and a 1 watt in the reading lamps. I find the dome lights great for tasks and finding stuff like the Silver Bullet said, but two harsh for me for general house light. We almost exclusively use the reading lamps. The 1 watts plug in w/out any trimming, though you have to push them through the reflector (the reflector won't fit over the wide part of the bulb).

The light is much brighter and whiter. this is a similar bulb, can't seem to find the ones I got http://www.ebay.com/itm/351065342865?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Spent the day cleaning up the van after a week of exploring Van Isle. Btw thanks to the Cowichan Van Man for the tip about J&V's , great burgers and cool atmosphere.

photo_van wrote:I've been running led for house lights and reading lights for a couple of years.

I use the 24 diode flat plates in the dome lights and a 1 watt in the reading lamps. I find the dome lights great for tasks and finding stuff like the Silver Bullet said, but two harsh for me for general house light. We almost exclusively use the reading lamps. The 1 watts plug in w/out any trimming, though you have to push them through the reflector (the reflector won't fit over the wide part of the bulb).

The light is much brighter and whiter.

Screen Shot 2014-08-25 at 8.46.47 PM.png

Screen Shot 2014-08-25 at 8.47.56 PM.png

Screen Shot 2014-08-25 at 8.48.23 PM.png

this is a similar bulb, can't seem to find the ones I got http://www.ebay.com/itm/351065342865?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

Thanks for the comparison photos.... The first time I ordered those 48led panels, they came out of New Jersey I guess and got there in a week, this time they are coming from hong kong and are taking a little longer :-\

This thread got me around to finally dealing with the rear reading lights which are completely different than the front four The front ones the lens separates from the reflector, not so on the rear. The bulb hole in the reflector miced out to ~1mm. I very carefully ran a 1/2 drill thru it so it no mics to 1.2mm. That should handle the directional type bulbs I'm using. For a couple of the lights I'm going to try these 7 watt backup lights http://www.ebay.com/itm/321376440584?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT ***EDIT*** Make that 1 CM and 1.2 CM!!!

Started in chopping the roof off with a skill saw with a metal blade and a 5" body grinder with a zip wheel. Eventually it will be a mini motorhome like the Tiger.

A good wash and wax never hurt, lookin good for a 20 year old.

couple weeks ago replaced the oil lines and radiator, oil lines started leaking at the fittings on the radiator, my mistake was using the fittings that came with the new radiator, went and picked up dorman fittings since it was dorman oil lines, problem solved for now, the dorman fittings were noticeably different than the fittings that came with the radiator