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Bought a beautiful Express conversion van, but realized it has some rust underneath
Hey you all,
I've finally got a van a few days ago. It's a 2007 Express 1500 Magestic Conversion van. However after owning it a few days and really going over it, there's a little more rust underneath than I realized. I bought it here in Phoenix, AZ, but it was an Illinois van originally.
Let me back up a little. I'd been wanting a van for a long time, I love vans (just like my username). Originally I wanted a cargo van that I could customize into sweet daily driver for personal use, I'm not a tradesman. But to get one that wasn't trashed and full of dents, they're $10K minimum, and even then they weren't perfect. $15 to 20K get's you one that's a 10/10. I don't make much at my airport shuttle van job, so payments, interest, and the extra insurance coverage is just not feasible for me.
So while perusing craigslist, I came across this conversion van at a used car dealer in Phoenix. The body was near perfect, original paint and decals. The interior is clean, leather captains seats, fold out bed, the works. And it drives so nice. I drive E350 shuttle vans at work, and this van rides like a Cadillac in comparison. It has 149K miles on it.I gave it a look underneath, didn't seen any drips, and no major rust at the time, obviously I didn't look hard enough.
Anyway it was an "as is" sale, no returns, and spent all my savings on it. It was 7 grand by the time they tacked on their fees. All I could talk him down was $400. So I'm stuck with this van now. Maybe I'm making this rust out to be a bigger deal than it is. It's not deep rust, but it's at the leaf spring mounts, both front and rear mount where they are welded to the frame. The coil spring mounts look to be alright. I love this van but I need to know I'm riding on something structurally safe. Maybe all it needs its the rust brushed off, cleaned, and coated with an anti corrosive undercoating. I'd like to do that to the whole frame actually. It will be an Arizona van from here on. I keep it garaged when I'm not using it.
Here is a photo of my van, and those rusty areas of concern. That's a trailer hitch below the rear spring mount. What do you think just from those photos? Tomorrow I'm taking the van to my job where our main mechanic will have a look at the entire van. He's an awesome guy who services our fleet of E350's and Transits. In a worst case scenario could these leaf spring hangers be fixed, or reinforced, or new ones welded or bolted on? Hopefully the mechanic says this is nothing to worry about it, and I could just clean up the area and apply undercoat.
I would be more concerned about rust on the brake hard lines. My 02 express conversion van spent the first 15yrs of its life in PA, and all the brake hard lines failed/rusted through, and that is a VERY expensive repair (i.e. several thousand $). Check the brake lines and remove the rust/treat any sections that have visible rust on them.
"The Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today issued a Safety Advisory and consumer video encouraging owners of model year 2007 and older trucks, SUVs and passenger cars to inspect brake lines and thoroughly wash the underside of their vehicles to remove corrosive salt after the long winter in order to prevent brake-line failures that increase the risk of a crash." https://one.nhtsa.gov/About-NHTSA/Pr..._investigation
You guys are great, thanks for calming me down. Maybe in a few months I'll have the bottom completely cleaned up re-undercoated. But for now, quit obsessing over it and enjoy the van. Today I took my electric guitar inside the van to see if I could practice in there, it worked! Especially if I sit in the captain's seat behind the driver's seat. And since it has barn doors on that side also, there is room for the guitar neck to stick out and my left foot can rest in that dropdown area. That's great If I want to get out of the house and practice at the park.
Sure my dream van would be a new Chevy Express cargo van with the 2.8 Duramax. But I'd have to get another job, work 6 days a week, and make payments for 7+ years. Then I'd have no time to practice the guitar. I'm into that 80's metal...Cinderella, White Lion, Bulletboys. I just got a beautiful Jackson Superstrat in neon red, but I'm getting off topic now.
Bought a beautiful Express conversion van, but realized it has some rust underneath
