CoronaVan

We replaced the crusty old capret with some black.outdoor carpet from Home Depot. The carpet comes in 6 foot wide rolls and is sold by the linear foot. I bought 20 feet; it was about $80 delivered.

CoronaVan

Nevermind; all good now...

CoronaVan

Here are a few more pics of what was rotting away under the original carpet. It turns out that one of the big windows was leaking water into the van. It caused the underlayment and wood (between the front seats) to rot away but thankfully it didn't cause any rust.



One more shot of the new carpet installation. There was carpet to cover the dog house and to make a big one-piece "floor mat" that covers the middle and back seat area. I found a sweet one-piece rubber custom fit hexomat floor mat for the front area. Pics of that to come.

The middle row seats (and rear couch) are in very good shape and cleaned up nicely.


The front seats were not too bad. The bottom cushions were trashed, but the seatbacks were good. I bought some "bottom only" seat covers for them. I will also post a few pics of those covers soon.


We are currently finishing up a refresh of the audio/video system. The van had been retrofitted with a 22" LCD TV and had several pieces of audio equipment we were able to reuse, but was in need of some updating. We added a deep cycle 2nd battery in the back of the van, a battery isolator, and some other stuff. More to come on that...

Here we are testing out the revised A/V systems with awesome Govt Mule live on Blu-ray...

CoronaVan

Here is a pic of one of the front seats with a installed. It's not a great color match but is comfy and looks much better than the torn up seat bottoms, and doesn't cover the seatbacks..


We finished cleaning up the overhead TV and shelf space. We moved the inverter and other electronics out of those shelves and installed some old Infinity speakers that had been sitting for years in a box in my garage.


We made some speaker grilles from plywood and scraps of headliner material with the foam removed.


Here is the finished product; not a great pic but you get the idea...


We are currently finishing up installation of the 2nd battery in a storage compartment in the back of the van. Once complete the compartment will also hold various fuses, circuit breakers, etc. to keep everything safe and happy.

CoronaVan

Here are a few pics of the sweet Intro-Tech floor mat I mentioned in a previous post.




For the middle row and back seat, we used the leftover carpet to make a big one-piece wall to wall mat.

CoronaVan

In addition to cleaning up the interior, with the lockdown, we have had plenty of time to get the van roadworthy. It was in decent shape but needed a lot of mostly little things and routine maintenance to get it ready to put into service.

Here is a list of what we've done so far:
1) Engine oil/filter
2) Air filter
3) Fuel filter
4) Spark plugs, plug wires, ignition coil, distributor cap, and rotor

5) Transmission fluid and filter - This made a huge difference in shift quality and driveability. I am considering a second drain and fill some time in the future. Too bad the stock transmission pan doesn't have a drain plug. I do have a ; maybe I will suck out the trans fluid through the dipstick tube rather than dropping the pan again.

5) Rear brake shoes and hardware (front pads had been recently done by PO)

6) Dashboard gauge cluster refurb - Many dash gauges were not working properly so I sent it off for refurb. However, based on the other components I ended up replacing, not sure if the cluster needed refurb.

7) Transmission speed sensor - speedometer worked but was sometimes jumpy, and cruise control wouldn't always stay engaged. Replacing this component fixed both gripes.

8) Transmission range/neutral safety switch - dash did not indicate gear position (PRNDL) and we had no backup lights. Replacing this component fixed both gripes.

9) Heat/AC blower motor resistor - Fan only worked on high. Replacing this component fixed that.

10) Fuel pump - Van had intermittent no start and dash fuel gauge was inop. Replacing this pump fixed no start but fuel gauge still inop. Read more here.

11) Front and rear shocks

I still have the following stuff sitting in the garage and will get to them sometime in the near future:
1) Serpentine belt and pulleys
2) Waterpump
3) The two big hoses
4) Thermostat

Peter's comments below concern me and I am considering doing the lower intake manifold gasket when I do the cooling system. However, I am well aware of the level of effort required to do that gasket, and the possibility of screwing something up or snapping a fastener in the process. I don't believe the gasket is currently leaking, but doing the job preemptively would be better than waiting for it to fail. Will it definitely fail though? Peter certainly thinks so. I'm torn...

mountainmanjoe

If it aint broke then don't fix it. Just keep an eye on it.

MiragePilot

I concur with Mountainjoe’s comment above. Just monitor the coolant level in the reservoir, and when you start seeing the level getting lower, then you will know (more than likely) that the manifold gasket is beginning to fail. Until then, just enjoy your van.

CoronaVan

Thank you both for the feedback. Unless something changes between now and the time I do the cooling system, I am inclined to let it ride. When that gasket fails, can it exhibit symptoms of a blown head gasket in terms of coolant mixing with the oil? I had a 3.1L V6 a few years back and it had a bad lower intake gasket; the car would lose coolant but did not leave drips on the ground. Replacing that gasket in the 3.1 was no fun; doing it on a V8 in a van would surely be even less fun...

MiragePilot

Rick, in both of my Express vans, the lower intake manifold gasket failure resulted in coolant leaking overboard/externally, and was visible on the forward and aft face of the block-to-manifold mate line/joint. There have been other folks on the forums who had coolant leaking internally into the oil, and another guy had the coolant leak into a cylinder, which resulted in a bent rod and a totaled engine.
In my case, it was quite difficult to actually see the leak because it is obscured by all the accessories on the front of the engine, and you have to remove the engine cover to see the aft side of the engine block. I was able to see witness drips the bottom dead center of the timing chain cover. Those drips originated from the manifold-to-block joint and ran down to the bottom of the engine. Most of the coolant will evaporate during operation of the engine, and won’t leave much residual coolant as evidence. If you do a coolant system pressure test, you should see the coolant leak out but, again, you will need to remove the accessories on the front of the engine to be able to get a visual. If you have access to a borescope, that can help.

Peter