Posted By: Anonymous
My Chevy Custom van project - 16/08/2010 17:32
Well I've just come to a milestone in creating my perfect van. I have a 79 Chevy G30 that was converted from new to a campervan by Cobra industries. I love the comfort and facilities the camper offers plus it saves me thousands of euros in insurance and tax as their is special rates for RVs/Campervans here in Ireland.
I don't like the boring looks/ugly top/ and poor performance, and if I was in the states or canada I'd have a tin top with only portholes in the sides. But you gotta rod what you got, and I do love Helga (my vans name) so my project is to make this the ultimate fusion between a campervan and a custom van. I've been adding a few bits and pieces over the years but at easter I bought a rebuilt camaro 350 smallblock and stripped and rebuilt the front end.
It was a bit of a nightmare as I had to rebuild the so called rebuilt engine.
See more here:- Rebuilt engine rebuild
It now has new fenders, new motor , new seat upholstery, new custom windowed engine cover and I stripped everything under the hood back to bare metal and painted with rust bullet.
Still to do.
To make the hi-top look better I fitted wooden slats on the roofrack to give it better lines, they will need to come off and get re-varnished. I'm also going mould in a visor to smooth out the look of the overcab section (the gap will be filled and rounded out into the visor).
I'm going install chrome tubular running boards, these have no steps just a chrome tube running from tyre to tyre.At the rear of these running boards and under them will be half length side pipes coming from the middle of the van to the rear tyres. A full mud flare kit + chinspoiler will also be moulded in. I'll be cutting holes in these and the tubular running boards will pierce them at their ends. This is because the running boards are just short of touching the tyres on either end, I'll probably mould/radius them into the mud flares. At the rear quarter panel I'm installing teardrop portholes. The paint job will be as below a stripe that turns into a flame and inside the flame will be the teardrop porthole. I also have a few mods in mind for the interior including converting the overcab bed into a drop down one like in A class motorhomes.
Here's some photos click on the small ones to embiggen them.
I don't like the boring looks/ugly top/ and poor performance, and if I was in the states or canada I'd have a tin top with only portholes in the sides. But you gotta rod what you got, and I do love Helga (my vans name) so my project is to make this the ultimate fusion between a campervan and a custom van. I've been adding a few bits and pieces over the years but at easter I bought a rebuilt camaro 350 smallblock and stripped and rebuilt the front end.
It was a bit of a nightmare as I had to rebuild the so called rebuilt engine.
See more here:- Rebuilt engine rebuild
It now has new fenders, new motor , new seat upholstery, new custom windowed engine cover and I stripped everything under the hood back to bare metal and painted with rust bullet.
Still to do.
To make the hi-top look better I fitted wooden slats on the roofrack to give it better lines, they will need to come off and get re-varnished. I'm also going mould in a visor to smooth out the look of the overcab section (the gap will be filled and rounded out into the visor).
I'm going install chrome tubular running boards, these have no steps just a chrome tube running from tyre to tyre.At the rear of these running boards and under them will be half length side pipes coming from the middle of the van to the rear tyres. A full mud flare kit + chinspoiler will also be moulded in. I'll be cutting holes in these and the tubular running boards will pierce them at their ends. This is because the running boards are just short of touching the tyres on either end, I'll probably mould/radius them into the mud flares. At the rear quarter panel I'm installing teardrop portholes. The paint job will be as below a stripe that turns into a flame and inside the flame will be the teardrop porthole. I also have a few mods in mind for the interior including converting the overcab bed into a drop down one like in A class motorhomes.
Here's some photos click on the small ones to embiggen them.
