Classic '87 GMC Safari Explorer Conversion van story

[safarivan]

hey everybody!

this is a 1987 GMC Safari with 4.3 litre V6 and 700R4 automatic trans. that a lifelong friend of my Dad bought new and I bought it from him in '92 this is how it came to me:

 

[safarivan]

somewhat long background story:

this is a 1987 GMC Safari with 4.3 litre V6 and 700R4 automatic trans.that a lifelong friend of my Dad bought new and I bought it from him in '92

it had 127,000 miles on it when I got it. he had taken good care of it, always used Mobil-1 oil and garage kept.

Ive taken exceptional care of it, continued to use Mobil-1 oil, use mobil-1 ATF in the transmission and M1 in the differential aswell as the same brand for grease on everything routinely.

I kept it in the garage until around 2006 so after that the paint started fading pretty bad and now it really could use a paint job but no rust anywhere on it. it was my daily driver up till then also.

I cant believe its a classic now. it has served me very well over the years and now has over 300,000 miles, it still runs good but it puffs out some blue smoke for a minute after it sits over a few days.


it is a conversion van that was done by Explorer, the wood work is done by the Amish for them, its nice. Ive kept the carpet and seats covered since Ive had it so it still looks almost new. it came with a folding rear bed and two more matching captains chairs.

the drivers seat foam started crumbling and falling out from underneath a few years back so I just swapped it out with one of the extras I had removed and kept.

I pull car trailers and other stuff fairly regularly so the original trans went out around 220,000 miles, I had Amco transmissions rebuild it and it went out again just out of warranty so since it was a popular transmission that was also used in corvettes and other stuff I was able to get plenty of extra heavy duty parts and rebuilt it myself this time adding all the good stuff including a trans cooler with electric fan and a deeper alloy sump, also put an external filter adaptor and temperature gauge to go with it so I can keep a close look on how much heat its making when Im towing now (thats what kills them)

the only engine mods Ive done are a performance hypertech ECU chip and removed the cat converter. thats it! its the original engine and the air conditioner system is also all original except for the freon and oils changed every five years aprox.

still runs great but I can tell its starting to get tired now when I tow a car trailer so I plan to convert it over to a small block V8 before long. its a bolt in deal on these and many have done it, the ones who keep it low key report they get better gas mileage with the V8 than the V6 too! I think I will use a 307CID or maybe a 327.

early on, I removed the nice fiberglass running boards that came with it, put some GMC Truck factory alloy rims on, removed the rear folding benchseat/bed (it was pretty small for a bed) and the middle captains chairs. surprisingly, for such a nice van, it didnt come equipped with power windows or a tilt steering wheel so I upgraded both. the glass was factory bronze reflective except for the front windows so I tinted those to match and added a wider windshield sun strip.

also removed the aftermarket tiny roof rack and put yakima racks on it but these vans do not have a drip rail to mount them on so I got the optional yakima footers which I had to drill and bolt through the roof but other than having to remove the complete velour headliner, it wasnt too big of a deal. here is a shot with the footers on but without the racks:

 

[safarivan]

these are a few shot from about '95, I also went and got a factory OEM front rubber floormat out of a cargo van and covered up the original carpet so Im sure it still looks new under there.

these were really the best mid sized vans since they had plenty of power and you could fit full sheets of 4x8 plywood or sheet rock or whatever inside and shut the doors. even on these early short wheelbase versions.

 

[safarivan]

interior shot, sorry about the bikes in the way but this shows the interior better than any of the others and I would have to unload a ton of stuff to get anything better now. but you can see some of the real oak woodwork it came with.


here comes the real nitty gritty, the first auxiliary AGM battery. you can also see the trans cooler (that is an electric fan above it too) and remote spin-on external trans filter I installed which makes three since it came with the factory installed radiator heat exchanger and the optional towing package cooler up by the radiator. Ive also added an twin electric fans in front of the radiator and air conditioner coil.


another one of the 120AH AGM and the SureSine300 inverter with a marine grade battery switch to the left of it. no rust anywhere on this van either. Its lived down south all its life and I wash under it whenever it gets muddy or sandy (and it does sometimes)


I had to pull the whole interior side panel (its one piece) to route the wirring for the batterys and solar panels


when I removed it I noticed no insulation and alot of wasted space behind there so got some new matching carpet and glue it up. I could have added lots of insulation but then I would still have wasted space there so I opted for the carpet. youll see why coming up.

 

[safarivan]

here is the full side panel and to the right you can see the oak wood shelf with cup holders, ashtray, and the oval pocket that I matched the size and cut out two matching holes the same size that are just big enough to stick you arm in and get to that previously dead space. the shelf also has to hinged storage pockets in the rear. it was basically made to sit above the rear fenders so that the other interior panel could attach and cover the rear inner fenders.


and any camper van has to have a roof vent. I didnt like the plastic ones because they dont seem to last long and are bubble shaped so I got this metal one at a trailer supplier


before installing it, I painted it with gloss black appliance epoxy paint. I also didnt want to just screw it into the roofs sheet metal so I made an inner frame and then marked all the holes then drilled and tapped all of them so that when I upgrade to a MaxxFan It should be easier. I used pan headed allen bolts on top with rubber washers under them.


and done. I had planned to paint the trim piece tan to match the side window trim but still havnt done that ten years later. one day I will get to it though.


view of the roof now with solar panels and vent

 

[safarivan]

I am a lifelong motorcyclist so Ive been outfitting the van mostly for primitive camping areas out in the middle of nowhere as a basecamp for moto expeditions and Im also a racer and camp at the racetracks alot too.

one of the things I haul around everywhere is the light weight blue bike lift/crate


so up till now I hauled around everything but the kitchen sink. I hated to throw away the piece of the roof I cut out and I had an old VW westy sink. so..


its amazing how something so simple can be so nice to have sometimes! this one just fills up and I dump the water out but Ive since bought a nice surflow pump and have it set up with a common kitchen sink nozzel and have added a removable drain tube and made a very inconspicuous hole that I route it through so the sink can drain itself outside when Im in the dirt somewhere.

 

[safarivan]

I picked up a little dometic 12vdc refrigerator, next to the smallest size but quickly found I didnt have enough juice for it to run without concern.  

almost forgot. the solar charge controller I decided on was the morningstar sun saver duo. it was specifically designed for the purpose of charging two separated batteries on RVs, boats, etc. but I would not recommend them! they are faulty and can kill your batteries in short order! the charge regulator on bank one goes into voltage spikes of upto 17 volts on days with variable could/sunshine.

I am sure others here have probably mentioned this and it took me forever to figure it out because I was still learning about solar PV I ended up having to buy a whole lot of other equipment to figure out exactly what was happening. I spoke to the morningstar devs and they kept sending me new replacements. I went though four of them and they all did this so I new it was a defective product at this point having set up all the equipment to monitor and log onto PC but they still denied their product was defective! will never buy another product from them because of that. I spent probably 100 hours learning everything I had to to be able to prove it was popping AGM batts with lasting  high voltage spikes (bank one only)

oh well, live and learn.

anyway... needed more power:



didnt want to put it inside so I put it where the mini spare tire was under the rear behind the axle but had to cut out the spare tire lift bracket to get it up in there and safely out of the way from possible offroad damage


a view looking back where its located. thats the receiver hitch below it. these are nice becasue you can slide a long reciver in and out. I planned to put a skid plate to protect it but havnt got around to that yet either.


and now the whole roof is utilized and I installed these 1/2" below the roof racks so I can still haul stuff on them.


that will have to be all for now, this took longer to post all this than I expected. hope others here find it helpful in some way.

 

[ratfink56]

Thanks for posting. I had a couple Astro vans back in the day. Daily drivers. Good tough vans. Only downside for me was the lack of foot space up front. A guy here in town had one with a 350 conversion. That thing could do amazing burnouts.

 

[safarivan]

hey ratfink56, yeah, Ive looked into the V8 swap. only one minor modification is needed and that is the engine mounts, they need to be extended a couple of inches, other than that, original CK truck exhaust manifolds are needed and they fit onto the original downpipes.  I plan to start this pretty soon and put a 4" lift kit on it while Im at it.

here is an idea that worked out so well I think alot of the campers here might like to try out. I use 1/2" electrical conduit for a pretty elaborate awning set up with tarps. more on this shortly.


I also modified an old receiver hitch adding on the proper bolting locations to it so that I could bolt on and remove it again if needed


turned out nicely. mainly for this cargo carrier but it is also very useful for lots of other things and maneuvering trailers around in tight spots is so much easier with it.

 

[safarivan]

got stuck in the mud one too many times so I fitted all terrain tires and a couple of mud flaps after I notice how much mud slinging they do. here it is ready to unload and set-up base camp



the curtains come in really handy for keeping the tarps and other soft stuff


and here Ive slid out my DIY awning from the yakima racks. this can be adjusted more or less in or out depending on how you want to set up and what size tarp you want to use. with a small tarp, this is good enough


for a longer stay I put these on vertically or angled. I made them adjustable length and with small feet that a stake can go through if needed.



I drilled and tapped a threaded hole in each rack bar end and use thumb screws to tighten it into position.


its a perfect set up that can be configured to suit in many ways and I also have some corrugated metal siding like what metal garages are made of that I cut to fit the length of the roof without over hang that I can put on the top when lots of rain is in the forecast so I dont have to keep dumping it out of the top tarps. I use aluminum truck camper clamps to secure the roof panels.

its a solid set up and Ive been through some big storms with it and it all stayed put.

 

[safarivan]

the fittings to make it work I tried to find premade and could only find a bigger size made for those tarp awnings for temporary shelters and carports. ended up using standard electrical conduit clamps, cutting each one in half, made a couple of jigs and from those I mig welded up a bunch of these fittings how I needed them


close up of the right rear corner


all set up

 

[John61CT]

Doesn't that box impede cooling airflow to the radiator?

 

[safarivan]

a few set ups from some of my favorite campgrounds.

most from a grass landing strip up in the blue ridge area
 

 

[safarivan]

Doesn't that box impede cooling airflow to the radiator?

hi John61CT, certainly some but with the electric fans it has never run hot with it attached or even warmer than usual. it was a concern at first for sure.

 

[safarivan]

some interior shots. I mostly sleep in the hammock but keep it so I can move stuff around and sleep on the floor too sometimes.




 

 

[safarivan]

one of the good things about having rear cargo doors with pop open windows is the windows are easily removed.

I made a reinforced sheet metal panel frame for a small 5000btu A/C that I run from a Honda 2000 genset. it bolts into the door frame in a way that is not noticeable when removed. Ive pretty much kept the van to where I can unload everything and use the full cargo space whenever I need to.



and here Ive set it up for extra space private space on back for showers.


I can also extend the awning on both sides or make one side  extend out far enough to park a small car under.

thats about all I have now. I'll get some more recent pics next time I set up. Ive evolved it a little more each time as I go and thinking on ways to make the solar panels slide out and tilt without too much trouble but one of the main reasons I posted alot of these is to show how versatile the roof racks can become with some creativity.

several friends have copied the idea on other vans and trucks. it works extremely well and the best part is that the roof racks are still 100% useable to haul just about anything still.

 

[safarivan]

I forgot to mention that this section stays assembled and I just slide it back into the racks then tighten the thumbscrews when on the move.



Ive also added a second 2000w inverter in the side compartment behind the drivers seat so now I have the SS300 for the delicate electronics and the 2000 MSW inverter for the bigger stuff.

Im still using the SSduo charge controller but only use the bank two output. dont buy one, they are all defective. the fuse panel for the big battery and its associates is in the same place. dont have pics of this but can take some next time Im set up or any other stuff if anyone has more interest.

other stuff I find really useful is those bungy cord cargo nets. I have them inside on both of rear and rear side windows but also completely covering the interior ceiling upto the rear interior light which comes in very handy for keeping light stuff up there and hanging other stuff off of it. and I put a removable table about the width of the front seat and extending back to the where the middle side window ends.


Ive also added a nice air compressor and an air tank I made out of a patio support pole to fit underneath in the area of the side siding door step.

I keep 4" and shorter conduit for the awning in the rear bumper. it was wasted space there too so I used it.

the rear doors came with a wine rack on one side and just a table that folds out on the other. I keeps tools and stuff in the wine rack and on the right rear table one was more wasted space in the door itself so opened that up so I could use the space there aswell.

I hope all this gives others some ideas and now I will spend some time looking at others rigs for other good ideas that I might can incorporate into this old GMC but next is the V8 swap and a new paint job after that.

I have never cared much for the tan stripes on this van but other than removing the thin pinstripes around the windows they have stayed. the lower ones are painted on. should I replace them exactly the same after the new paint job? I'd really like to get some input here.

do others here think they make it look better or would just the solid burgundy metallic look better?

thanks

 

[safarivan]

last ones for now while I have the all the photos all in one place

on the way to a campground in the mountains somewhere


this one came with a small fuel tank so when I noticed one that was the same year that had a larger tank I got a good used one and installed it. I guess it was optional?




and the early Astros and Safaris cam with fiberglass mono leaf springs in the rear. I had added air shocks long ago the keep it from sagging so much when loaded and that helped but since the later ones came with traditional metal springs which were stronger, I upgraded to these.

steel on the left, fiber glass original on the right.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Nice setup with lots of good ideas. 
I see some similarities 
What's that saying? great minds think alike...

You've obviously spent  lots of time and effort on this and it shows.
Nice write up, well done fellow rider.

 

[safarivan]

hey Minivanmotoman,  Im starting to see several motovan members here now that Ive looked around me. cool! wish everyone could experience these kinds of adventures.

so how about the striping, replace them after repaint or not?

thanks