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.
Black'95 wrote:
Hi Jay,
Here is the link for where I purchased my swivel seat. If you search the internet, I am sure there are several other places to get them also.
https://shop4seats.com/rv-furniture/rv-bases/class-c-rv-bases/gm-chevy-bases/96-gmc-chevy-aftermarke...
In answer to your next question about the wiring, I cut the wires and soldered in a new six wire connector after feeding the wires through the seat swivel hole in the center because no connector would fit through the center bolt hole on the seat swivel. I would suggest disconnecting the battery before you do the cutting and soldering. Here is a picture of the 6 wire connector I used. I had to buy them in a pack of five, so if you want one for the cost of mailing I will send you one. Send me your mailing address to me at Mike.Barondeau@gmail.com
I forgot to take pictures of the wiring before I mounted the seat and swivel, so here is a picture taken after the mount was installed. A is the connector wired in after the wires were cut and B is where the wires were threaded through the seat swivel hole before I soldered them to the 6-wire connector.
I will post more info on my GPS holder in my next update.
HI Mike,
thank you for the wright up and photos of your swivel seat setup as it looks great. It is nice of you to offer me the wired connector and yes I would like it and will e-mail you my address and I would be glad to pay you for the connector and the mailing. I take it that you have not had any problems the connector causing any problems with the air bag
system. Jay
After I got my swivel seat installed there was space under the seat for more storage. I made a box to fit this space and in it I store our campground directories and maps for the trip. I did have to cut a notch out of it so it would slide by the swivel seat nut sticking down. Now to get it repainted and we will be off on our next trip. Even though we have a GPS unit, we still like to see where we are going on paper maps and highlight the highways we travel.
Another update I made to my 2018 Express DIY camper conversion is in the mounting of my GPS. The dash on the newer Express vans has several storage pocket on it. I used the top pocket for my GPS mount. I cut a chunch of 2x4 pine to fit in the space by sanding it down until it fit well. Then I covered it with sticky-back felt and mounted one of my GPS mounting clips to it with screws. The felt made it fit snugly so it does not fall out when I drive. It works well for me.
Here is a side view:
Here is a view from the top:
Not one to leave things well enough alone, I had to make a mount for my Apple iPad too because there was a 2nd pocket on the dash. I did the same thing, making another chunk of 2x4 pine that fit into this pocket and covering it with sticky-back felt. The holder for the iPad was one I picked up on Amazon.
Front view:
Side view:
View of the dash pockets:
View of the dash with GPS and iPad mounted: (notice that the AC outlets are not obstructed)
Here is a side view:
Here is a view from the top:
Not one to leave things well enough alone, I had to make a mount for my Apple iPad too because there was a 2nd pocket on the dash. I did the same thing, making another chunk of 2x4 pine that fit into this pocket and covering it with sticky-back felt. The holder for the iPad was one I picked up on Amazon.
Front view:
Side view:
View of the dash pockets:
View of the dash with GPS and iPad mounted: (notice that the AC outlets are not obstructed)
Hi Jay,
Here is the link for where I purchased my swivel seat. If you search the internet, I am sure there are several other places to get them also.
https://shop4seats.com/rv-furniture/rv-bases/class-c-rv-bases/gm-chevy-bases/96-gmc-chevy-aftermarke...
In answer to your next question about the wiring, I cut the wires and soldered in a new six wire connector after feeding the wires through the seat swivel hole in the center because no connector would fit through the center bolt hole on the seat swivel. I would suggest disconnecting the battery before you do the cutting and soldering. Here is a picture of the 6 wire connector I used. I had to buy them in a pack of five, so if you want one for the cost of mailing I will send you one. Send me your mailing address to me at Mike.Barondeau@gmail.com
I forgot to take pictures of the wiring before I mounted the seat and swivel, so here is a picture taken after the mount was installed. A is the connector wired in after the wires were cut and B is where the wires were threaded through the seat swivel hole before I soldered them to the 6-wire connector.
I will post more info on my GPS holder in my next update.
Here is the link for where I purchased my swivel seat. If you search the internet, I am sure there are several other places to get them also.
https://shop4seats.com/rv-furniture/rv-bases/class-c-rv-bases/gm-chevy-bases/96-gmc-chevy-aftermarke...
In answer to your next question about the wiring, I cut the wires and soldered in a new six wire connector after feeding the wires through the seat swivel hole in the center because no connector would fit through the center bolt hole on the seat swivel. I would suggest disconnecting the battery before you do the cutting and soldering. Here is a picture of the 6 wire connector I used. I had to buy them in a pack of five, so if you want one for the cost of mailing I will send you one. Send me your mailing address to me at Mike.Barondeau@gmail.com
I forgot to take pictures of the wiring before I mounted the seat and swivel, so here is a picture taken after the mount was installed. A is the connector wired in after the wires were cut and B is where the wires were threaded through the seat swivel hole before I soldered them to the 6-wire connector.
I will post more info on my GPS holder in my next update.
Black'95 wrote:
It is about time for another upgrade to my van camper conversion. I have always wanted a swivel seat in the van, but my old 2001 van was an LT with dual electric seats and I could not find a swivel to fit those. The new 2018 van does not have electric seats so I bit the bullet and ordered a swivel seat adapter for it. It took a little modification because I had to drill some new holes as they did match up with my seat but the placement was too close to the door after swiveling it, so I could not swivel it a full 180. Now I can and it works beautifully. I am pleasantly surprised at the extra room it gives us in the van. Iam now thinking maybe I should get one for the drivers seat. I would not be able to swivel it 180 because of my kitchen unit, but I could still swivel it enough to make it usable.
HI Mike,
I'm Jay and I have a 2017 GMC Savana van that I converted and was wandering were did you get your swivel for the Rt.seat as that was what I have been looking for and how did you work the wiring for the seat air bag censer.
You have done a nice job on your van! looks great.
It is about time for another upgrade to my van camper conversion. I have always wanted a swivel seat in the van, but my old 2001 van was an LT with dual electric seats and I could not find a swivel to fit those. The new 2018 van does not have electric seats so I bit the bullet and ordered a swivel seat adapter for it. It took a little modification because I had to drill some new holes as they did match up with my seat but the placement was too close to the door after swiveling it, so I could not swivel it a full 180. Now I can and it works beautifully. I am pleasantly surprised at the extra room it gives us in the van. Iam now thinking maybe I should get one for the drivers seat. I would not be able to swivel it 180 because of my kitchen unit, but I could still swivel it enough to make it usable.
Another improvement I made to the bed area when I upgraded to a 2018 Chevy Express was the addition of a shelf on the right side of the bed. Previously this was, kind of, wasted space. I built a shelf to follow the contour of the side of the van and screwed it to the right side of the bed. All the edges that come in contact with the side molding of the van are covered with sticky-back felt.
I added a cut out in front of the wheel well bump and behind it also. I added hinges and holes to use for opening the little doors. This way I could utilize the space below the wooden shelf. I use this space for storing items I don't use very often and the back one for our dirty clothes hamper. You can see the edges of wood wall restrainer box I added for my folding picnic table mentioned in the last picture caption.
My wife found several cloth boxes that fit the shelf space to load in other item she wanted to store for handy retrieval.
The back section of my newly added wood shelf is much narrower because of the back door opening. It was big enough for me to add a wooden side wall and end piece so that I could store our small fold-up picnic table (wrapped in an extra purple colored blanket which you can see in the picture above with the red and blue cloth boxes). It also helps me so that I don't lose my book or glasses down the side when I fall asleep.
I made a much smaller and narrower version of this wooden shelf on the left side of the bed. It is not used for storage yet because I mainly wanted it there to stop things from falling down the side of the bed to the floor, a fairly unreachable location to retrieve it from.
I added a cut out in front of the wheel well bump and behind it also. I added hinges and holes to use for opening the little doors. This way I could utilize the space below the wooden shelf. I use this space for storing items I don't use very often and the back one for our dirty clothes hamper. You can see the edges of wood wall restrainer box I added for my folding picnic table mentioned in the last picture caption.
My wife found several cloth boxes that fit the shelf space to load in other item she wanted to store for handy retrieval.
The back section of my newly added wood shelf is much narrower because of the back door opening. It was big enough for me to add a wooden side wall and end piece so that I could store our small fold-up picnic table (wrapped in an extra purple colored blanket which you can see in the picture above with the red and blue cloth boxes). It also helps me so that I don't lose my book or glasses down the side when I fall asleep.
I made a much smaller and narrower version of this wooden shelf on the left side of the bed. It is not used for storage yet because I mainly wanted it there to stop things from falling down the side of the bed to the floor, a fairly unreachable location to retrieve it from.
Here is a shot of the side frame with the door open so you can see the frame a little better.
Here are two more views from the outside looking in.
I added sticky-back rubber molding to the right side of the frame to seal tightly with the door when it is closed to keep bugs out.
Here are two more views from the outside looking in.
I added sticky-back rubber molding to the right side of the frame to seal tightly with the door when it is closed to keep bugs out.
One of the major hurdles in the transfer from my old 2001 van to the newer 2018 van was the lack of a side door pocket. I used this for storing our small stools and my camera tripod.
I solved this problem by building one out of pine and painting it gray. I also added a frame around the second side door opening. This allowed me to mount my light on top, the smoke alarm on the side, and it gave me a place to mount the Velcro for the screen door, along with a place to mount several hooks for hanging things. It may be hard to see because the interior is gray and I painted the wood frame gray too. Another advantage to this wood frame is that I can open the second side door if needed. With the old van I could not open the second side door without removing all of the Velcro screen door on that side. I added some weatherstripping to seal the space between the 2nd side door and my wood frame so bugs could not get in there.
All is starting to shape up, now I need to move on to installing the seat swivel on the passenger side seat. I could not do that on the old van because it had electric seats, but the new van doesn't have electric seat so I will attempt to install the swivel. More later.
I solved this problem by building one out of pine and painting it gray. I also added a frame around the second side door opening. This allowed me to mount my light on top, the smoke alarm on the side, and it gave me a place to mount the Velcro for the screen door, along with a place to mount several hooks for hanging things. It may be hard to see because the interior is gray and I painted the wood frame gray too. Another advantage to this wood frame is that I can open the second side door if needed. With the old van I could not open the second side door without removing all of the Velcro screen door on that side. I added some weatherstripping to seal the space between the 2nd side door and my wood frame so bugs could not get in there.
All is starting to shape up, now I need to move on to installing the seat swivel on the passenger side seat. I could not do that on the old van because it had electric seats, but the new van doesn't have electric seat so I will attempt to install the swivel. More later.
Since we changed colors of van when we upgraded from the 2001 indigo blue van to the newer 2018 black van we felt a change of mascots was due too. Cookie Monster just didn't seem to fit the black one, so my wife found a new mascot. The name has not been finalized yet but my wife is leaning towards "Gizmo" because of all the little mods I have made to the van!
Deb and Ed M wrote:
Gorgeous van - glad the transfer was easy!! And yes, the newer vehicles have some nice options!
Thanks. I will miss the electric seats and the "Cadillac" ride of the old 2001 LT (1500), but I will have better towing and load capacities with the new 2500. Chevrolet doesn't even make the 1500 anymore. The old one had many features that I didn't need and did not use. For example: the dual monitors and VHS video system. We took the new one on its maiden camper voyage last Friday night. Everything went well and I found a few things that needed changing and upgrading. We sure enjoyed the van's hotspot because our game, fish & parks campgrounds here in SD do not have WiFi.
