Enthusiast III
I know we have some westfalia and tintop members out there. I run a GMC Safari AWD (GMC version of the chevy astro van). Lets see see some cool Overlanding vans!
Do we have a Van registry?
- Thread starter Kao pii
- Start date
Enthusiast III
Actually the last year of production was 2005. My van is a 2001. The last three years 03, 04, and 05 had 4 wheel disc brake and the 6 lug bolt pattern. As far as being old well I feel that if you are a person who likes to build their own they are relatively cheap. They are a great platform to build on. I've seen every thing from LS engine swaps, straight axle builds, to westfalia top transfers. Just think about a Cummins 2.8 crate engine, straight axle, poptop roof build! You don't have to start with an AWD as RWD vans are much cheaper. These vans are famous for lasting 250,000 miles or more!
Wow ! I can't wait to see building overlanding vans become more popular. There was a guy at my Camp last summer. He had a late 90's E150, slight lift and bigger tires, a good locking rear diff but no 4x4. That van had been almost everywhere. Great road trip/camping rig. I think it was also his home.
Sounds like the 05' Astro is a good place to start. I'm watching this trend !!
Sounds like the 05' Astro is a good place to start. I'm watching this trend !!
Enthusiast III
FYI it took me 4 months to find Ironhide after an extensive search online. My criteria was relatively low miles (125,000 on Ironhide and great service records! I bought it from a Subaru dealership formerly a GMC dealer and they had done all the servicing on it so all they had to do is print it out.
A lot of info was found on astrosafari.com the forum where myscreen name is Ironhide as well. Happy hunting!
View attachment 83224 
View attachment 83203 Here is my rig 2000 Chevy Express.
350 Small Block
Hawk HD Brake System
Bosch HD alternator
Airlift
ACR Battery Link
2000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter, 2 group 31 AGMs, Blue Seas A/B switch
Xantrex 20A Dual Bank Marine Charger, all wiring and hardware Marine grade
120W Solar, Morningstar controller
Shore Power
Comms: Kenwood 2M. Yaesu 450 HF, Icom Marine VHF. Cobra CB
Nav: Garmin 51. Garmin 76CX. I-pad w/Gaia , Verizon Internet Hot Spot
Entertainment: 18” flat screen, DVD, Clarion 12 band Graphic EQ,
Kenwood 35Wx4 Amp, 2 Pioneer 6x9”, 2- 6” , Ipad
Cab: Sony w/ 2 6” Pioneer, Sirius XM,with option to link to rear system
Pressurized Water System
Galley: 400w microwave, fridge, Mr Coffee, 54qt Marine cooler
Custom Power Panel
Queen Size bed /w 10” memory foam
Porta Pottie w/ 5 gal holding tank
5000 BTU AC W custom cover
Smoke/carbon monoxide detector
Viper Alarm System
View attachment 83203 Here is my rig 2000 Chevy Express.350 Small Block
Hawk HD Brake System
Bosch HD alternator
Airlift
ACR Battery Link
2000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter, 2 group 31 AGMs, Blue Seas A/B switch
Xantrex 20A Dual Bank Marine Charger, all wiring and hardware Marine grade
120W Solar, Morningstar controller
Shore Power
Comms: Kenwood 2M. Yaesu 450 HF, Icom Marine VHF. Cobra CB
Nav: Garmin 51. Garmin 76CX. I-pad w/Gaia , Verizon Internet Hot Spot
Entertainment: 18” flat screen, DVD, Clarion 12 band Graphic EQ,
Kenwood 35Wx4 Amp, 2 Pioneer 6x9”, 2- 6” , IpadCab: Sony w/ 2 6” Pioneer, Sirius XM,with option to link to rear system
Pressurized Water System
Galley: 400w microwave, fridge, Mr Coffee, 54qt Marine cooler
Custom Power Panel
Queen Size bed /w 10” memory foam
Porta Pottie w/ 5 gal holding tank
5000 BTU AC W custom cover
Smoke/carbon monoxide detector
Viper Alarm System
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Once the snow is below chest level, I’ll be working on my 1979 VW bus and getting it ready for some travels this summer.
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Enthusiast III
I just bought a 2014 AWD Chevy Express passenger van. I'm turning it into an expedition van. I'm new here I found this thread looking for a van thread. Is there one?
Not that I've seen, though there are several build threads for a variety of vans.
Enthusiast III
Hey there! Welcome to OB forums! I have a little brother of the Express AWD. I am building my 2001 GMC Safari AWD Van. OK, I guess that would make it a little cousin of the express. Anyway props to you from another van guy.
Hey Cuz, we were in your territory a month ago. We bought the van in Coeur d'Alene and visited my wife's cousin on the Olympic Peninsula on the road trip back. You live in a beautiful area. We couldn't stay in the van since it was still stock and the weather was cold. We are going to head up that way when we get is sorted out. The drive down the coast was very nice.
Enthusiast III
Cool, don't forget to let us know when you are in the area. We'd love to meet up with you! Thank you for the compliment on our area. I was born and raised in Hawaii but I love it here. The freedom to drive across the continent is tremendous for me. #islandfever.
Advocate III
Long time off-grid van guy here. '08 long wheelbase GMC Savana Duramax, around 410,000 miles is my current ride.
I've had a mess of vans over the years: an old VW van, a Ford Econoline long wheelbase I cut the top out of and put on a high top and adventured in for years, a Chevy Express long wheelbase diesel I had all over the US, and now my GMC Savana.
I've had it around eight years and been all over North America with it; a ton of backcountry camping along the Mexican border, beaches, mountains, forests, desert, etc. Much of it towing my off-road trailer. She's a workhorse, rigged up to be sleeping quarters when I need it, hauls my bike and a ton of gear, can be emptied quickly so I can haul cargo or help someone move, load lumber and building materials for off-grid, etc. Has two eight-foot e-tracks in the floor under the removable carpet for strapping down pallets or other cargo.
Here are a few images from the last two years on the road.
Fueling up
Interior setup a year ago or so.
There are side boxes down the length of each side with sectioned, removable, tops. They hold a ton of storage, mostly stuff I don't need to get to all that often, like vehicle fluids, torque wrenches, seasonal gear, etc. The side boxes support the bed board in a variety of positions. The cargo space between the side boxes widens at the rear to full width, then narrows slightly to the wheel wells and parallels, while still allowing full width between the wheel wells, minus the 3/8" thickness of the birch ply on each side. I want full width at the rear to funnel and center pallets when carrying cargo, and so there is no cabinet end to get bunged up by careless fork lift drivers, etc. You can see the end of the driver's side sidebox screwed to the door frame by the fridge in the photo above.
Interior a couple months ago.
The bed you see in the back of this image can go cross-ways like in this image anywhere along the length of the van, or down the length of either side, or folded up and stowed the other side of the white half wall. I have another one for when my kid or someone else comes along so I have a bed down each side with full pass through to the front. I keep it sideways like this most of the time and have access through the side doors to about a three foot 'living area' between the bed and front seats. Can easily step from the driver's seat to the bed when at truck stops, rest areas, or urban stealth camping. If I want more room between bed and front seats, it's easily adjusted back as far as I want, though it would make hauling the bike a bit more cumbersome.
I've had vans in which I built out a full array of cabinets, pull out desk, counter with a sink, overhead storage with doors, etc. Over the years it's evolved to this kind of far more versatile and adaptable interior setup. Quite comfortable and cozy.
Getting ready to build a deep shelf or two on each side that will match the width of the side boxes below so I still have a full cargo area.
Loaded up and rolling.
This van has been on a ton of trails marked 4wd and high clearance only, and though I'm not a rock crawler kind of guy, I've had it on some fairly gnarly trails both with and without this trailer.
As you can see, I keep a fairly low profile as far as hanging stuff all over my rig or having stickers all over. It is often mistaken for a govt or other official vehicle, or university research rig, etc. and that's absolutely fine with me.
Beach camping for a week on the Gulf.
I couldn't ask for a better workhorse and travel van. I chose to keep it and invest in the trailer and basecamp gear instead of trading the van for a Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Tundry, Land Rover, or Jeep, etc, all of which I looked at and seriously considered. Already had the van, knew how to work on it, and had it rigged up the way I like. Made no sense to start over with a different vehicle that I couldnt sleep in and still carry what I want for photography and seasonal gear. This van consistently gets over 17mpg towing the trailer and closer to 20mpg without. The way I like to basecamp and stay out for months at a time (my last adventure was eight months straight), I'd be nuts to go for something that only gets 10-12mpg and have no trailer.
It's about as self-sufficient as one can be with a mobile lifestyle. I can go off-grid for months at a time and not plug into shore power.
I've had a mess of vans over the years: an old VW van, a Ford Econoline long wheelbase I cut the top out of and put on a high top and adventured in for years, a Chevy Express long wheelbase diesel I had all over the US, and now my GMC Savana.
I've had it around eight years and been all over North America with it; a ton of backcountry camping along the Mexican border, beaches, mountains, forests, desert, etc. Much of it towing my off-road trailer. She's a workhorse, rigged up to be sleeping quarters when I need it, hauls my bike and a ton of gear, can be emptied quickly so I can haul cargo or help someone move, load lumber and building materials for off-grid, etc. Has two eight-foot e-tracks in the floor under the removable carpet for strapping down pallets or other cargo.
Here are a few images from the last two years on the road.
Fueling up
Interior setup a year ago or so.
There are side boxes down the length of each side with sectioned, removable, tops. They hold a ton of storage, mostly stuff I don't need to get to all that often, like vehicle fluids, torque wrenches, seasonal gear, etc. The side boxes support the bed board in a variety of positions. The cargo space between the side boxes widens at the rear to full width, then narrows slightly to the wheel wells and parallels, while still allowing full width between the wheel wells, minus the 3/8" thickness of the birch ply on each side. I want full width at the rear to funnel and center pallets when carrying cargo, and so there is no cabinet end to get bunged up by careless fork lift drivers, etc. You can see the end of the driver's side sidebox screwed to the door frame by the fridge in the photo above.
Interior a couple months ago.
The bed you see in the back of this image can go cross-ways like in this image anywhere along the length of the van, or down the length of either side, or folded up and stowed the other side of the white half wall. I have another one for when my kid or someone else comes along so I have a bed down each side with full pass through to the front. I keep it sideways like this most of the time and have access through the side doors to about a three foot 'living area' between the bed and front seats. Can easily step from the driver's seat to the bed when at truck stops, rest areas, or urban stealth camping. If I want more room between bed and front seats, it's easily adjusted back as far as I want, though it would make hauling the bike a bit more cumbersome.
I've had vans in which I built out a full array of cabinets, pull out desk, counter with a sink, overhead storage with doors, etc. Over the years it's evolved to this kind of far more versatile and adaptable interior setup. Quite comfortable and cozy.
Getting ready to build a deep shelf or two on each side that will match the width of the side boxes below so I still have a full cargo area.
Loaded up and rolling.
This van has been on a ton of trails marked 4wd and high clearance only, and though I'm not a rock crawler kind of guy, I've had it on some fairly gnarly trails both with and without this trailer.
As you can see, I keep a fairly low profile as far as hanging stuff all over my rig or having stickers all over. It is often mistaken for a govt or other official vehicle, or university research rig, etc. and that's absolutely fine with me.
Beach camping for a week on the Gulf.
I couldn't ask for a better workhorse and travel van. I chose to keep it and invest in the trailer and basecamp gear instead of trading the van for a Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Tundry, Land Rover, or Jeep, etc, all of which I looked at and seriously considered. Already had the van, knew how to work on it, and had it rigged up the way I like. Made no sense to start over with a different vehicle that I couldnt sleep in and still carry what I want for photography and seasonal gear. This van consistently gets over 17mpg towing the trailer and closer to 20mpg without. The way I like to basecamp and stay out for months at a time (my last adventure was eight months straight), I'd be nuts to go for something that only gets 10-12mpg and have no trailer.
It's about as self-sufficient as one can be with a mobile lifestyle. I can go off-grid for months at a time and not plug into shore power.
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It's a work in process but here is a picture of our 2014 AWD Chevy Express.
