Restoring my A -Team van

Atum

New member
Hey gang,

I just bought this biggun' 4 days ago for $600 with aims to fix it up for my next big road trip. Thing is, I have ZEEEEERO mechanical, carpentry, electrical know-how. I'd like to convert it into a reliable energy efficient green camper, though I'm not even sure where to begin.

I considered the obvious was taking it to an auto-mechanic then to a body shop for a whole new face lift. As you can see this van's been through it. Afterwards maybe replacing the chairs, blue printing for solar panel installation and wiring. After all that I guess I can start building the interior. That's just what makes sense to me, but I'm not sure. Any seasoned folks out there with some good advice or ideas of how much I can expect to shell out? I'd like to get him ready to rock withing a year.

Thanks for all of your help mates.

Atum
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bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Do you have a budget in mind?

The very first thing is to have the entire vehicle gone over from top-to-bottom, front-to-back and find out what all is wrong with it. I see about a thousand things wrong with it just from those pics and we haven't even talked about the engine, drive train, suspension, brakes, bearings, steering...

I'm just going by the pictures posted but you may be sending good money after bad trying to get this thing nice. IMHO, the body on this one is toast. If it has a good engine and tranny, I'd considering finding another like it with a good body but needing of a new engine and merging the 2 together.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Hi and welcome to Net Tractor Talk. That old van brings back memories. I had one of those, and a conversion Chevy Van years ago.
Like Brian said, you need to give us an idea of how much you can spend. I could enviosion 15 or 20k if you hire out all the work ...but if you had that kind of cash you would have bought a newer conversion van, so I'm guessing funds are limited. Hiring out mechanic work and body work will get very expensive real fast. You might consider a class at a local community college to learn some of the basics and save a lot of cash.
 
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