Howdy everyone!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently bought a 2001 Express 12 passenger van. I plan on doing some fixing up and making it a nice rolling billboard for my business. It's primary utility will be to park in front of stores that carry my product and do advertising. It will also serve a minor roll in deliveries when needed, although I do have a primary delivery vehicle for that purpose.

Physical issues:

-There are some dents in the body that I'll have fixed
-Drivers side wheel well, between the well and the door, there is a piece broken there that needs replaced.
-Both bumpers have dents in them, so they'll need to be replaced (are these compatible with the truck bumpers?)
-Altitude adjustment - going to lower it down probably 4" or so, what's the best method?

Speaking of compatibility with the trucks, will the billet grills from the trucks fit into the vans? I've got some 20" tires and wheels already for it that will go on this week. I'd love to find some inexpensive customization for the van to make it stand out just that much more, and I'm willing to hear from you folks.

 

look at getting a wrap for it

 

I was thinking about a wrap, but I can spray the whole thing for about $500 out of pocket. Hard to justify $500 against $3500 (average cost in my area). But the wrap would make it pop nicely.

I'm still gonna do the 20" tires (go on in the morning, I'll post pics!), and I want to lower it. I've been looking for what I need for a drop. I'm thinking 4"/6" should be about right.

Still need a bumper solution. Any word on anyone out there about bumper replacements? Trucks? Other vans? Covers?

 

Got the tires & wheels mounted. 4" drop done. New paint done. And finally got new vinyl on the windows!

 

I don't think much from the trucks will fit on the vans. My bumpers were in bad shape (paint wise) so I sandblasted them and sprayed bedliner over them. Looks nice,but doesn't pop at all. Maybe look for some fiberglass conversion van bumper covers. Those would look nice with the drop/color/theme you have going on.

Is your paint a flat paint, or is it something like Monstaliner?

BTW, I have been vaping for a little over 3 years and good luck with your store.

Brew

 

nice!
how did you do the drop?

 

Brew:

Thanks for the advise on the bumpers. I'm looking for some conversion van bumbers. If I can't find anything this year for cheap, I'll look into making my own with fiberglass. I've always wanted to experiment with making my own mods, and I'm a huge fan of what they are doing in Japan with their body work. Their's is way to extreme for my taste, but still, I enjoy seeing what they do.

The paint itself is plastidip, the rubber spray paint. Cost me less than $500 to do the entire van. And I plan peel the green off and do it orange by August (BSU is Orange and Blue). I bought the flat colors because I like them. There is a gloss available, and I may try that down the road.

Vape wise, I've been active in vaping since Nov of 2009. It's an amazing invention. I co-owened a convience store with my ex-inlaws and started selling them in there. When I got divorced, I sold back my share of the business, and started Volt Vapes. :-) You should try out our flavors! I've got well over 100! Volt Vapes. Put in the discount #vanporn for 10% savings. I built that for all my van loving friends.


SnlpeR:
I went real simple on the drop. Chopped the springs in the front, and flipped the rear. Got the whole thing done for the cost of a 12 pack of beer and two friends with strong mechanical knowledge, a torch, and the love of doing crazy things. Though, with the ride roughness, I'm going to have a local spring company make me some custom springs.

 

Looks like your prices are actually pretty reasonable. I haven't bought juice for a few years, but I might give them a try. I hated paying $15-30 for 30ml.

My favorite juice ever was called "bottle cap" or something like that named after the candy. I typically vape Mountain Dew or Cola Flavored.

I didn't know you could get plastidip in neon colors. I have a few cans of black here I was going to spray a bra on my wife's car since the front end is all beat up, but she won't let me.

 

Dipyourcar.com has quite a few neon colors. Unfortunately, the neon's tend to fade super bad. This is actually Electric Neon Green. It's a new color that doesn't have any of the neon elements in it, so it's guarenteed not to fade for 3 years (or something like that). It's almost the same green as the poster boards that people use for yard sales and car washes. It's... ah... noticeable in a parking lot.

As for the vape flavors, we have Mountain Soda (spot on like a Dew), and Rum & Coke. I'm playing with making a Vanilla Coke. The Cherry Coke I made was garbage. Got to re-work that one.

Try getting one of our sampler bags. Works out to being dirt cheap for a whole bunch of different flavors.

 

It stands out imo...great change. post some pics when you get the orange done.