I have been camping in my 1990 Chevrolet Silverado Blazer 2-door for the last 20 years. When I removed the back seat there was just enough room for a 3/4 sized (Hollywood, as some people called them) mattress to fit between the wheel wells and from the back of the console to the tailgate.
After all those years with my wife and I getting older, she decided we needed a little more room so she found me a 2001 Chevrolet Express van with low mileage on the internet. After checking it out and taking it for a test drive we bought it on the spot. It was a nice passenger conversion LT model with all the bells and whistles available in 2001. I will chronicle the changes I made to transform it into my Class B- motorhome in the next few postings. I call it my Class B- (B minus) motorhome because it is just a regular van without the raised roof.
Camping at Custer State Park, SD in February, 2015.
Camping and visiting Scott's Bluff National Monument, NE in October, 2014.
After all those years with my wife and I getting older, she decided we needed a little more room so she found me a 2001 Chevrolet Express van with low mileage on the internet. After checking it out and taking it for a test drive we bought it on the spot. It was a nice passenger conversion LT model with all the bells and whistles available in 2001. I will chronicle the changes I made to transform it into my Class B- motorhome in the next few postings. I call it my Class B- (B minus) motorhome because it is just a regular van without the raised roof.
Camping at Custer State Park, SD in February, 2015.
Camping and visiting Scott's Bluff National Monument, NE in October, 2014.
I took a picture of my already mounted seat swivel. It came with two mounting bolts welded in place. I mounted the side with the welded in bolts to the bottom seat rails still bolted to the floor. The top side of the seat swivel was where I drilled the new holes for mounting the seat. The new holes were almost over the top of the bottom holes and I had no problem with the top bolts hitting the bottom bolts when I swiveled the seat. The top part of the seat swivel had a large part sticking out on the side to the center of the van, so I cut that off so my seat trim would fit over the top of it. You can see in the upper left corner of the seat swivel in the picture below that the corner is shiny where I cut it and ground off the corner as I did not repaint it yet. I hope this info helps in your project. You can also see the 6-wire connector I added so I could thread the seat wires through the center hole. I soldered all wire connections to make sure they did not come loose as the van got older. Because of the close clearance I had to lift the seat up to start the nuts on the seat bolts and only tightened them when all the nuts were on and started.
FunTwoDrv wrote:
Mike,
Curious about the passenger seat position and rotation. Did the position of the seat, while facing forward, change at all? Could you elaborate a bit on how you modified it to clear the door arm rest?
When I mounted the swivel on the passenger seat side, the seat mounting holes on the swivel were offset about an inch to the inside. I am not sure why they did that unless they were concerned with clearance problems with the mounting bolts. This moved the passenger seat about an inch closer to the center of the van. When I swiveled the seat to face backwards in the van, it then was about an inch closer to the door and it prevented me from swiveling the seat a complete 180 degrees. I took it off again and drilled some new holes for the seat about an inch to the right of the current holes in the swivel mount. The clearance was closer for the mounting bolts but I could still get the seat mounted and swiveled. I was prepared to grind the bolt heads down if needed, but I found I didn't have to do that. Now I could swivel the seat a full 180 degrees without hitting the door. I do have to open the door to swivel it. The other position of the seat that was affected was the height. With the swivel mounted, the seat sits about an inch and a half higher. I made a 1.5 inch high foot platform for my wife, who is shorter than I am and the higher seat position bothered her as her feet would not sit flat on the floor putting pressure on the bottom of her thighs.
Top view
bottom view showing the carpet cover
the foot platform in place in the van
I am sorry I did not take pictures of the new holes I drilled in the swivel seat platform to show the new position to the old.
I had one final install to convert everything from my old 2001 van to my newer 2018 van. It was the air compressor that I had removed from my old camper. I mounted it underneath on the frame behind the auxiliary battery like I had it in my 2001 van.
Then again like in my old 2001 van, I ran one air hose up under the hood with a quick coupler on it and the switch to control the compressor located just to the right of my relay for camper options. All of my wires have labels for what they control in case I forget in my old age.
Finally I ran a second air hose with quick coupler to the rear which was mounted below my bumper with another switch to control it from this location.
I now have an air supply for toys (balls) that need air, tires, and air for my extra water tank.
Then again like in my old 2001 van, I ran one air hose up under the hood with a quick coupler on it and the switch to control the compressor located just to the right of my relay for camper options. All of my wires have labels for what they control in case I forget in my old age.
Finally I ran a second air hose with quick coupler to the rear which was mounted below my bumper with another switch to control it from this location.
I now have an air supply for toys (balls) that need air, tires, and air for my extra water tank.
Things are finally coming to completion on the transfer of everything from my old 2001 van to the newer 2018 van. This last week I transferred the ladder. This time instead of drilling holes in the van's door, I fabricated a couple of bottom brackets that clip over the bottom edge. When I tightened everything up, they fit very solidly.
After the ladder was installed, I then went to work on the underhood trouble light I got from my sister's wrecked Suburban. I had to fabricate a couple of mounting brackets for that also. I guess that is why I have been putting off these two jobs. The only thing I have not transferred from the old van to the new is the tachometer. But in my defense, the new van does have a digital tachometer function on the dash display of trip, odometer, and mileage functions.
Now I just keep my eyes open for new ideas from the postings of others on this forum. The modifications never stop.
After the ladder was installed, I then went to work on the underhood trouble light I got from my sister's wrecked Suburban. I had to fabricate a couple of mounting brackets for that also. I guess that is why I have been putting off these two jobs. The only thing I have not transferred from the old van to the new is the tachometer. But in my defense, the new van does have a digital tachometer function on the dash display of trip, odometer, and mileage functions.
Now I just keep my eyes open for new ideas from the postings of others on this forum. The modifications never stop.
My wife surprised me with a new 4'x4' gray rug for our van today. She was tired of the two 2'x4' tan carpet floor mats I had been using from our old van. You can see them in my previous posting on my folding side door table. It fits very nicely after I loosened the kitchen unit connection so I could slide it under it. All is well in our household again!
Cleaning out some boxes in my basement and I came across this old pocket pad that had bungie type strings on it to hang on the side of your car seat. It never worked real great which was probably why it was in the box in the basement. With winter days upon us and me never wanting to leave well enough alone, I decided to find a place in my van to hang it. The frame on my side door looked about right, so another little storage place became real in the van. For the finishing touch, a few days later I added the grey fold-up cup holder which comes in handy when my wife is eating on her side of my fold up door table.
Black'95 wrote:drsolo wrote:
Well... woman, but I am also a retired science teacher. LOL.
Sorry, my mistake. I shouldn't assume! Now I am even more impressed! Not only can she work on vans, she can cook too! Or did a man make the cake for you? It looks delicious!
I will not lie. I have a full time lodger who is a carpenter/ plumber/ electrician and a husband who is pretty handy and they just work off my designs. My building days are pretty well over.
The latest iteration of the inside of my RVan
I will not lie. I didnt make the cake. Bought it for my birthday. Praga: Chocolate cake, ganache and raspberry filling in between the layers and iced with chocolate butter cream; cherry filling on the top with chocolate shavings. It was delicious but over the top in richness.
Black'95 wrote:drsolo wrote:
The latest addition to my RVan is a safety bar on the side door. Took the wimpy handle off and replaced it with a bathroom safety bar that has a textured grip. It is wonderful.
You are my kind of man. I like your ideas about the multi-use table and the safety bar. From my old science teaching days, my motto was always "bigger is better." The students didn't think so when it was a quiz or a test!
Well... woman, but I am also a retired science teacher. LOL.
