I just wanted to add to this a little. I just did this with my '06 and wanted to point out the only two "critical" spots are the ones with the x's in the above pic. These are where the bottom of the new lights mount. All the rest of the stuff you cut out is just for clearance, so that isn't critical. Just hope this helps the next guy.


Brew

Thank you for this, i am getting the chrome grill and im gonna do the same lights, did you have to buy a harness kit to plug the new lights in with? on the yellow x's did you cut those out square with the yellow lines or drill holes?

I believe I bought harnesses off ebay. Ones specifically to convert from the square sealed lights, to the composite ones with the bulb. I don't recall exactly what the lights are, but you should be able to looks those up on any site like Autozone. It is something like, "H8 to 9115 harness" or something like that.

You will need to cut the X's out square, pretty much just how the picture looks. It was mentioned that if you look close at the radiator supports (part you cut out) there is a faint outline of where you need to cut. Mine was not like this, there was no indication of where I needed to cut. With the new lights in my hand, it was pretty obvious what to cut though. Easiest way to cut them is probably a dremel type tool with a thin disk type of bit.

As I mentioned above, the bigger parts that need to be cut out are not critical. I cut roughly what the picture showed, then nibbled away what I needed for the light to work. All in all, it was pretty easy.

thank you I will, i found bumpers grill and lights i got to find the harness then ill start buying it all.

The boneyard was the easy route. The harness, 2 headlights, the chrome grille, turn signals and side markers all came off of one van. Like the other poster I used a dremel tool to cut my radiator support wall to accept the composite headlights. I was done in less than an hour after gather the parts.

Note: changing the harness is easy. You will need to follow it up to the fenders and undo a small bolt on each side to pull the old harness out. Unplug the old harness and snap the new one into place and replace the bolts to the fenders. Easy, just a heads up and I believe they were 8mm. Long time ago.

Additionally, before placing the new chrome grille into place I put two coats of clear coat on it. Plastic with faux chrome isn't a longevity combo. The clear coat was worth the time to spray and let dry. Before spraying I used Mothers Car Wash solution on it to remove all residual road grime.

When you are finished you'll have a renewed sense of Pride of Ownership. Nothing like real bling without going overboard. ;)

I sold my van 2 years ago to the first "looker". He never asked if everything was original as it was clean. :D

Do you have cruise control? No??? That's fairly easy too but you will have to change the turn signal lever on the steering column. It's all plug and play. Just a couple of bolts and mounts then connect to the throttle. Boneyard again! :)

While you're at the boneyard you may want to look for a 9 passenger van and take the rear speaker header and plugs. Self tapping screws attach the plastic header into place and the connection to the stereo is already in place. Clean look and the sound is fabulous in that cavern.

Drove that 2002 van for 2 years and was able to near double my money with the few changes.

!!!!!!! Starcraft leather seats are a must have!!! If you see them, get them. They will not be there when you decide that you want to go back and get them!

Good luck with your upgrades. (damn, forgot to mention chrome bumpers .. $75 each and they make the difference!)

It may have been mentioned before (at least in a different thread), but I just realized there are aftermarket Cadillac conversions for these vans.
http://www.2040cars.com/_content/car...464967/002.jpg

Funny, our vans must have been twins. I added the nicer front end too, added cruise (mine was definitely not plug and play), added speakers, added starcraft seats, etc

Really, it was no trouble at all. Bolted the mount to the firewall, servo to the mount, cable to the throttle and plugged in the servo. The turn signal was a paid change as I didn't want to mess with the air bag nor did I have the right tools to disassemble the column.

Cruise worked fine. What more did you have to do?

Insulation: I used some surplus carpet pad that I got from a flooring store. Took 2 rolls of double sided tape but I did the ceiling and walls. Quite a difference in road noise, especially during rain storms. ;)

my van did not have the wiring for the cruise installed. So I had to start from a blank slate. I installed a new multiswitch on the column, grabbed the servo from the junk yard, and also grabbed a complete wiring harness from the junk yard. So it took me a few hours at the junk yard and about 6 more to get it installed in my van.

I didn't insulate, but I did add the peel'n'stick stuff to a bunch of areas.

Worth every penny on a long drive. The Starcraft seats & Cruise were must have items. Finding the speaker header for the rear was a bonus and eventually considered must have.

Adding the carpet padding as insulation on the roof was pretty straight forward and after installed the noise level in the van was reduced drastically. The cardboard headliners (3 pieces) came in handy as I was able to add an additional layer after taping the first layer into place. The headliners were rigid enough that I probably could have added a third if I wanted. 2 layers was nice, especially driving in rain. Keeping the temp level steady helped cut down on fan noise ... you already know how that goes. ;)

Wonder why yours didn't come prewired? Should I be asking wonder why mine did?