sdski
Observer
I have been looking for the right van since early spring. My plan was to buy one by the start of summer, start the interior and 4x4 conversions and have it ready for skiing this winter. Unfortunately it took a lot longer than expected to make up my mind as to what I wanted and to find the right van.
Yesterday I drove down to pick this gem up south of Portland, OR. It has 130k miles on a 5.4 and the previous owner used it to drive back and forth between Oregon and California for work. I haven't found a spec of rust on it and it drives a lot better than I was expecting. I picked up a friend in Astoria on the way back and took rte. 101 back to 5 and got an average of 15mpg on the curvy mountain roads doing 60 the whole time.
This will be a good project. Hopefully I can get a front axle under it and have the conversion done to enjoy some ski trips this winter, but its really dependent on time and finding the right parts at the right price. For now I might try to give my bank account a break while I figure out what to do first.
This forum has been a wealth of information for me so far and I hope to start being more able to contribute. I have been stalking around for a few months but I don't think I ever formally introduced myself. I have been living in northern Seattle since May. I moved here in November for work, but barely spent 2 weeks before I was on a plane to northern Wales for 6 months for work. Prior to that I lived in Wyoming, Vermont and grew up in Massachusetts. I have a lot of gear to haul around for skiing and biking mainly and I think a van is the perfect vehicle. I look forward to getting to know you all and hopefully I can get this build going sooner rather than later.
The rear bumper of my DD comes to the rear tire of the van. Awesome!
Yesterday I drove down to pick this gem up south of Portland, OR. It has 130k miles on a 5.4 and the previous owner used it to drive back and forth between Oregon and California for work. I haven't found a spec of rust on it and it drives a lot better than I was expecting. I picked up a friend in Astoria on the way back and took rte. 101 back to 5 and got an average of 15mpg on the curvy mountain roads doing 60 the whole time.
This will be a good project. Hopefully I can get a front axle under it and have the conversion done to enjoy some ski trips this winter, but its really dependent on time and finding the right parts at the right price. For now I might try to give my bank account a break while I figure out what to do first.
This forum has been a wealth of information for me so far and I hope to start being more able to contribute. I have been stalking around for a few months but I don't think I ever formally introduced myself. I have been living in northern Seattle since May. I moved here in November for work, but barely spent 2 weeks before I was on a plane to northern Wales for 6 months for work. Prior to that I lived in Wyoming, Vermont and grew up in Massachusetts. I have a lot of gear to haul around for skiing and biking mainly and I think a van is the perfect vehicle. I look forward to getting to know you all and hopefully I can get this build going sooner rather than later.
The rear bumper of my DD comes to the rear tire of the van. Awesome!
Last edited: