My New-to-me Van... Chev Express High Top.

[One Awesome Inch]

I bought this a couple weeks ago. Its a 2001 Chev Express 3500 5.7 litre. It is night and day different from my Ford E150. The Express is MUCH heavier and feels like I am drivning a huge truck. I have to apply the brakes a good deal farther from where I intend to stop. I am a converted Chevy guy now. The fit and finish is so much nicer than my Ford. It is 2 years newer but the attention to detail of the chevy is way better. Just seems like a better built vehicle. I dont think I got a great deal on the purchase. He originally had the price at $9000 but dropped it to $8000 and I talked him down to $6800. It has 239000 kilometres which I am not happy about, but it seems well looked after. I am confident that I can live in it for 10 years, minimum, since I only drive about 5000km per year. 10 years is a long time so anything can happen by that point. The best selling point is the high top. It would have cost me $5000 to get one installed and I seriously considered that route, but that would have meant alot of my money would be spent. Much smarter to have a large chunk of money after everything is said and done.

A couple nice extras is that the van is what I would call partially converted as it has "some" insulation in it already as well as wood panelling etc. Also nice is that the sale included 2 6 volt deep cycle batteries that are wired to a solenoid with no switch required between starting battery and house batteries. Also has some 12v and 110v outlets and 450w inverter (which I probably would have not bought myself).

Overall, I am happy with the purchase and think I did the right thing buying this van. Its pretty much perfect for an urban stealth guy like me. I do wish it had barn doors instead of the side sliding door, but oh well.

I have started the build and am currently installing insulation and a vapor barrier up to my standards. I have a few van tour videos on my youtube channel if you are interested. See link in signature.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Perfect urban dweller. have you sold your old van? I wouldn't worry too much about the mileage if it was taken care of you should get 400,000 out of that sweetheart without any problems especially if it has been in the lower mainland all it's life, cars last a long time these days. Not too much to do to it other then a bit of furniture and a kitchen set up. If you think you paid too much for it let a year pass and let us know if you care.
Congratulations, I think you will enjoy being able to stand and walk around.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

don't be too much in a hurry to take that pannelling apart that kind of insulation has a vapor barrier on it. I think it has alluminium to reflect on one side and plastic on the other. If it is 1 1/2 inches thick you will have plenty of insulation in my opinion. good luck, that locker outside will be a great asset, your tools can go in there or a smaller propane bottle like maybe a five pounder, dirty stuff like extra oil or chemicals like brake fluid or stuff for the engine, jack, such a handy cabinet.

 

[Goshawk]

Highly recommend getting a compression check and sending the fluids (oil and transmission fluid) to a lab. Establish a base line for these readings. Then if you have issues later on you can determine what is happening. Such a nice van!!

This will be my new general advice. Get it checked first. Before a bad transmission or a leaky head gasket or bad valves leave you stranded on the road side.

 

[my_vantasy]

How wonderful for you! Enjoy!

 

[SoulRaven]

Nice, very nice. Enjoy! I rarely see high-tops here and we have quite a few dealers in used autos.

 

[ahh_me2]

Looks like a pretty good find!

Looking forward to your build.

 

[Gary68]

looks like a good deal,all wired up w/12v and everything

 

[Wanderer]

Very pretty and great negotiating...$9K to $6,800?

I's seriously consider flying you out to where I live to negotiate for me!!

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I've followed a lot of your posts over time and watched a few of your vids. Glad you found a rig you can turn into a nice home.
Congrats and good luck

 

[Patrick46]

Cool score!!

It's always good when you find just what you're looking for!

...let us know if you're gonna keep that bulkhead with the door or not.

 

[rvpopeye]

That looks real nice. I'm turning a little green.
Hope you find it equally nice mechanically.
Happy Trails...........

 

[cortttt]

Sweet looking van.  I know someone with a 1 ton 2001 chevy and he loves it. It's got 200k and he hasn't put any money into it. Good luck with it!

 

[masterplumber]

Nice, glad you finally found the right one for you. I know it's been a long road to get to this point, but it's all forward now.

 

[SaltySeaWitch]

Congrats on your new van!! I am so happy for you.

 

[accrete]

AWESOME!
Awesome : )

Best wishes on the build and living. We LUV our chevy high top!!
Thom

 

[ascii_man]

Regarding the vapor barrier, I think you only want that on one side, otherwise you'll just trap moisture and guarantee rust; also, many people consider the van's skin to be a vapor barrier.

Is that a short or long van? It's harder to tell with Chevys because they lengthen the wheelbase.

 

[accrete]

Is that a short or long van?  It's harder to tell with Chevys because they lengthen the wheelbase.

His is a long wheel base regular body... you can tell because of the length between the rear edge of side door frame and the front of wheel well.
You can see the difference (even with the camera angle) that on our short wheel base regular body van (a 2010) we have less than a hand's width in that area. That gives us 9ft from behind the cab seats to rear doors. I think his would have ~10.5ft on the floor??

 

[ascii_man]

His is a long wheel base regular body... you can tell because of the length between the rear edge of side door frame and the front of wheel well.
You can see the difference (even with the camera angle) that on our short wheel base regular body van (a 2010) we have less than a hand's width in that area. That gives us 9ft from behind the cab seats to rear doors. I think his would have ~10.5ft on the floor??

Thanks; that's a helpful hint. I think I measured about 10' from seat back to rear door in a regular-length Chevy, but perhaps your bulkhead is pretty far back. Either way, with the LWB (155" wheelbase) and such a high top, that's pretty much the maximum volume you can get in a traditional domestic van. Congratulations.

 

[Campor99]

Like your rig, have watched your U tube channel, enjoy following the build, I have AWD Astro van rigged for the road.

Best to you