My wife and I bought a '97 Express conversion van to build our own camper and in this topic I will document the build process for later reference.

Until recent we owned a '98 Jeep and a foulding caravan that we used for holidays. Now our daughter almost left our house, future holidays will be with only the two of us, so both were sold and the idea popped up to build our own camper.
I own other American cars as well, so when my wife came up with a Chevy van I started to like this idea as well (-;

After some searching we found this '97 Express. It spent it's first life in Japan and we imported to Europe recently. It seems to have only 60.000 miles (which, based on the overall condition of the van, I tend to believe).

You will immediately note the non-original roof line. This is done to increase the internal height because of road tax reasons (In the Netherlands road tax for campers is only 25% of the normal tax amount for such cars, but to be registered as a camper, there are rules for minimal internal space).

The first thing we did was stripping the complete interior out to be able to check the internal condition of the van and start the build with an empty space. So out with the chairs, couch, TV, radio, unused wiring, floor etc.




Luckily no rust was found so we started with cleaning the floor, closing the holes in the floor and preserving the floor with a rust preventing layer of paint.
As insulation we used a layer of 10mm cork and a layer of 8mm plywood. We finished with a vinyl flooring.
Swivels for both the driver seat as well as for the passenger seat are installed.




While my wife is working on the inside, I can work on the underside. There is only some surface rust, but now everything can be reached (and I have the time), I thought it is wise to do some maintenance there as well.
I removed the gas tank to be able to clean and paint the chassis and replace the brake line.





I replaced the rear brakes with new parts and bent new brake lines.




The chassis and the axle were painted to protect better against rust. I serviced the rear diff with fresh oil an d a new cover.




The old (and dirty) front ceiling was replaced. New door seals will keep them in place.




My wife has been working in the (extendable) bed and we replaced the window covers with the same material as what I used for the front ceiling.




The old shocks didn't function anymore, so I replaced them. I also installed new bump stops.




I installed the new brake lines, filled the system with fresh DOT3 and bleeded the system.




The gas tank was cleaned and painted with rust preventing paint. After re-installation the van is driving again.

 

So, the van failed the technical inspection.....
- Front brakes too much difference in braking power
- Parking brake no function
- Front upper ball joints leaking
- Head lights no correct light pattern

This meant that work had to be done:
- Replaced calipers and pads in the front
- Adjusted the parking brake
- Replaced upper control arms (with new ball joints)
- Replaced head light units

After that the inspector was happy!

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