Going to look at a 1977 Chevy Step Van

[AlongTheBackroads]

Hello all,

Looking for any feedback/information on a step van I'm thinking about. Per CL: Chevy Aluminum Step Van, 350 8 cyl gas engine w/ auto trans, 135k mileage. The ad uses 3500 and 310 in the description of the van, but I've been hard-pressed to find any information on the internet. No dimensions were given but the owner said it's approximately 7'w x 6'h x 10-12'l (he didn't know exactly).

Rust free undercarriage (supposedly), title is clean and the only known issue is a carb adjustment/rebuild might be necessary. Other than it being hard to start (carburetor), he said it runs fine and has taken it on out-of-state hunting and fishing trips with no problems. He's asking $3k and it's a 4+ hour round trip to see it in person.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Thanks for any and all feedback!

Rick

 

[johnny b]

3500 usually indicates 1 ton chevy/gmc. I think P3500 would be step van.
If those are 'real' miles, 135k in 41 years (3300/yr) would say either it sat for a long time (bad) or lived its life doing very short route work.
It may have a tall rear gear, so may not be too comfy on the highway. (high rpm at 55, 60 mph) Most step vans are urban work vehicles.

Check wheel size...if 16.5 inch; tires will be tough to find...plan on replacing with 16 inch.

For $3k it needs to be in very good condition...

 

[AlongTheBackroads]

Here's the pic from CL (unfortunately it was the only one). It has 16" tires and after looking at the VIN report, the current owner bought it in 2001 for $400 and it had 35k miles on it. Not going to try and decipher that scenario.

 

[B and C]

Back in those years vehicles only had an odometer that went to 99,999.9 miles not the million mile odometers of late. At least the cars, vans and pickups did. IDK about the commercial trucks. I had a '77 Dodge van that I rolled the odometer over on twice in less than 20 years. It looked like it was on its' first time around though. I did replace the engine (hot rodding broke it) and a lot of other parts. The 360 gave way to a 440.

If it had 35K on it when he bought it (doubtful, probably 135K) and it now has 135K it is probably on its' second round or more too. If it has been taken care of, that shouldn't matter. Just my thoughts and yes, too much dinero.

Traveling to look at rigs is part of the price of buying one. I have flown from Texas to California before to look.

 

[AlongTheBackroads]

Good points. Thank you.

 

[John61CT]

Prolly miles since engine swap or overhaul.

Newer ones go for lots more, but likely easier to get model-specific parts.

But can't fault drivetrain there, basically immortal, everything easy to get to.

If your trusted mechanic signs off on everything else, get a price on the carb work, I'd say go for it.

Great living space without box-truck hassles

 

[_KJ_]

What I found out with my 1978 vintage class A rig is that if the motor goes thats it for her, it would cause too much damage to re/re the engine, at that point she will become a cottage lol.

 

[AlongTheBackroads]

That's one of the things I'm afraid of. Whatever I get is going to be my main vehicle for a while, so longevity is definitely a concern!

 

[highdesertranger]

KJ I know exactly what you are talking about with the old class A's but it's not as bad as you think I have done a couple of them.

jack it up and put it on jack stands.
remove the hood and bumper, grill and trim.
you must discharge the AC
remove the condenser and radiator. now take a sawz-all and cut the radiator core support off the fenders, leave enough at the fenders to attach a patch.
now you can remove the engine though the front. it's tight but comes out. then reassemble in the opposite order.
when you do the core support simply add some sheet metal patches and rivet them in. all that is hidden by the trim, grill, and bumper. so you can't see it once assembled.

highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

My 1983 has been a "lake front cottage" for 13 years with a few still to go. Barth Owners Association would shoot me if I got out the sawz-all as they been after me to "restore " my old Barth. Funny only one of them have wanted to come get it in the "middle of nowhere Utah" but I'm still using it!

 

[highdesertranger]

yeah the way I said is not the way the factory wants you to do it. they want you to pull the whole front steering and suspension and drop the engine out from the bottom. but why would you want to do that, that is a ton of extra work. if you just have a Winnebago cut the core support. highdesertranger

 

[_KJ_]

KJ I know exactly what you are talking about with the old class A's  but it's not as bad as you think I have done a couple of them.

jack it up and put it on jack stands.
remove the hood and bumper,  grill and trim.
you must discharge the AC
remove the condenser and radiator.  now take a sawz-all and cut the radiator core support off the fenders,  leave enough at the fenders to attach a patch.
now you can remove the engine though the front.  it's tight but comes out.  then reassemble in the opposite order.
when you do the core support simply add some sheet metal patches and rivet them in.  all that is hidden by the trim,  grill,  and bumper. so you can't see it once assembled.

Wow! And you’ve done a couple of those!?  Cool!

 

[Kimber]

I'm doing a rebuild/restore on a 1979 Grumman/Ford Step Van. The wiring has been the biggest hassle. Pulling the engine and transmission is hard work but is also pretty straight forward. The wiring harness starts out being a generic harness which will fit multiple vehicles so there are all kinds of circuits that don't apply to my truck and never did. Circuits that do apply may have 5 feet of wire when the physical location of the devices are 1 foot apart. In a truck that is almost 40 years old, there have been "failures". People have gone in and done "repairs" (An example; there were 5 butt splices on on wire leading to the headlights. There were at least 15 wires that were not connected on BOTH ends. Therefore there was a large mass of wire. I finally ripped it all out and started over. The thing is these trucks are fundamentally very simple. There aren't a lot of accessories. When I took the dash out looking for indicator wires, the plastic parts started crumbling to dust. Cascading failures.

 

[7wanders]

other issues you may consider are if it has a rollup door, translucent roof, and/or duel rear tires. I'd suggest looking for something with a Cummins diesel engine (rated for 500k to 1 million miles). metal roof is preferred. if it has the fiberglass you'll want to do a careful inspection and maybe run water over it to look for leaks (or look inside on the floor area and ceiling edges for water stains). roll up doors are a challenge to insulate and you'll loose head room on the rear. I'm a huge fan of swing doors which are less common. lastly, what was the vehicle used for from the first owner? there are categories of use in industrial vehicles. hard use is something like FedEx or UPS where they drive hard all day doing fast stops and mashing down the pedal to accelerate. this is very very hard on a vehicle. step vans over over built especially for use like this, but if you take the same vehicle and have it lightly used by a electrician or plumber, they are driving short distances, sitting in a location for hours, then driving to another repair location... well that is a much better scenario

for me, if I'm building a tiny house in a step van, I'd prefer a vehicle that has a long life left in it. I think it is worth it to search for a diesel cummins/allison step van used by a plumber or electrician. in this instance, the light use means if the vehicle is maintained and cared for, you can get 700 to a million miles on it. I'd prefer something like that for the effort to build a tiny house rather than buying a gas engine with 150-250k lifespan where I know I'd have to do an engine swap or rebuild on a regular basis.

I suppose it is all a matter of perspective and individual needs. I'm mostly trying to bring up some factors which you may or may not have considered

ps. there are 2 or 3 step van RV specific groups on facebook where you'll find a lot of experts on things like this. I recommend joining one specifically for questions like this

 

[John61CT]

There are Workhorse step vans with powerful gasser engines, like the 8.1L.

Very much preferred for lower maintenance costs, especially once past 150-200K mileage