AK Rover's Van

Update your progress on your various car projects.

Moderators: MostMint, wxo, Fred32v, Basement Paul, ttamrettus

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GMJohnny
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Location: Auburn Twp, Oh

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by GMJohnny »

Evel Knevel used one and did all of those!!
AKROVER
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Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:49 am
Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by AKROVER »

We have been living in the rig for over 100 days now. I have put 12K on the van, more than half of that while towing the trailer. The van holds almost everything we own; I doubt I will ever buy another pickup truck.

I have been reading about all the performance analysis everyone else is doing, so I did a little analysis of my own. My rig can accelerate from 0-60 in about 32 seconds. This was pretty easy to time with an ordinary watch while eating a sandwich. Driving such a rig is amusing, but it requires patience. I can stop quickly if I need to, but I still try to allow a large gap between me and the vehicle in front of me because if I have to hit the brake, the speed doesn’t come back quickly, especially on a hill. This requires extra patience when the driver in front of me that is inexplicably slowing down on an uphill is my wife, although she can’t hear me screaming at her unless I press the button on the radio.

Having so much reserve power gave me a unique driving experience in Canada. I held my foot on the floor for over 30 miles one day. Imagine doing that in one of your cars. My stress level kept building as I was expecting something to just let go from driving WOT for more than half an hour. The road climbed over 5000 feet. My speed varied between about 45 and maybe 65 as the slope changed slightly. I think the speed limit was 110 km/hr so I wasn’t keeping up with traffic at all.

We are now in Oregon where I had the pleasure of dirtying my hands and scraping my knuckles a bit. We spent a couple of days along the coast and the damp salty air must have done in my electrical system. It wouldn’t start on Sunday after sitting for a couple days. I wasn’t sure if it was spark or fuel, but the damp air had me thinking electrical. I checked for spark and it seemed to be working. I tried to get a tow, but my roadside assistance service couldn’t line anyone up for a heavy vehicle on a Sunday. It started on Monday so I drove into town to get a new cap, rotor, and wires. I skipped the plugs because with only 40K on the engine, I didn’t think my knuckles needed the abuse of changing plugs. It didn’t want to restart at the parts store. Finally it started but it was stumbling horribly. I was no longer confident in my diagnosis so I limped across the street to a repair shop. They checked the fuel pump and it was fine. They went ahead and put all my new parts on and they did the plugs as well, expensive but it beats working on the vehicle in a campground. They also found that the fuel filter was pretty bad, so that could have been the problem as well. It is hard to tell, but I went up some pretty steep hills yesterday and it seemed like I was holding better speeds. My 0-60 time didn’t change, though.
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wxo
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Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by wxo »

Inquiring minds want to know where all this is going. Are you just following your nose, or do you have some plan of things to see and do? Are you planning to settle back in the lower 48? If you come through North Carolina, be sure to look us up and stop.
AKROVER
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Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by AKROVER »

We are mostly just 'following our nose'. We are enjoying a vagabond lifestyle for an indefinite period.

We are pursuing careers with the State Department. My wife made it through to the last real hurdle in their recruiting process and has a full day of interviews, presentations, group exercises, and analysis scheduled for next week in San Francisco. If she gets in, we could be overseas sometime next year. If she doesn't, we are both back to square one with taking a written test in February. Their recruiting process takes about a year and a half to get through.

We are going to settle in Salt Lake City for winter to ski. We will probably do some volunteer work next summer. The National Parks and Forest Service both offer free campsites to volunteers. We could be working at visitor centers, leading tours, building trails, or managing campgrounds.

Eventually, if we don't get into the State Department, the money will run out and we will need to find paying jobs to finish our run to retirement. We have a few years before we need to get serious again.
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Fred32v
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Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by Fred32v »

On the off chance that someone may be interested in the exploits of AK Rover,
check this out, http://knapp.rinestock.com/
It's part of my daily reading. You won't be sorry. I'm a picture guy myself.
Tim, for what it's worth, I like your site's new format.

0 to 60 in 32 seconds, that is something. Driving 30 minutes at wide open throttle, wow!
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
markss327
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Location: Twinsburg, Ohio

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by markss327 »

Yieks, full throttle for 30ish miles....
I'm sure 'torque management' was working overtime.
-Mark
2012 Impala LT 3.6 VVTDI
300hp - a bit much for FWD!
AKROVER
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:49 am
Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Coolant leak

Post by AKROVER »

My van has been sitting for two months while we were in Paris. Shortly after I left, my father informed me that it was leaking. I finally got a look at it today. Coolant was dripping off the back of the engine so I pulled the engine cover and traced it upward. Luckily the engine is still very clean so it was easy to trace the shiny liquid up the side of the head and into the valley between the valve cover and intake manifold. I suspect the intake manifold gasket is the source of the leak. It does not appear to be at the base of the head so I am pretty sure that it is not a head gasket problem. I put a wrench on the nearest intake manifold bolt and it moved with only a little effort with a short wrench. I checked a couple other bolts that I could get the wrench on and they moved with similar effort. Being an aluminum intake, I didn't want to get aggressive, but I tightened the two closest bolts to the source of the leak a little. I ran the engine for a short period of time and didn't see any leakage, but the leakage rate was pretty slow before my attempted repair so I am not really sure I got it. I will check it again tomorrow, but wouldn't mind a little input here. I am hoping not to have to pay someone to do an intake manifold gasket and I don't currently have a place to do much work myself. I might be able to tackle it in Colorado this winter as the house we are renting has a garage and I won't be driving the van, but I wouldn't want to drive 1500 miles if the gasket is about to completely fail. Any thoughts on my diagnosis or what to do about it?
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Fred32v
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Location: Munson, OH. retired

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by Fred32v »

Do you feel lucky kid? I would retorque the intake manfold before I did anything.
That fix worked on one of GMJohnny's cars, thought we were in for it, but never had a problem.
Head to Colorado through the Cleveland area
and we would be glad to provide you a garage and tools. :)
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
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MostMint
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Location: planning a race

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by MostMint »

They should all be tightened. Then I'd put it through a good heat cycle or two to make sure it holds before I went on a 1500 mile trek anywhere.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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GMJohnny
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Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by GMJohnny »

Fred32v was right. I had a Buick Century with a 3.1 in it and just snugged
it down to cure the issue. I had a buddy with a Venture van with the same
motor in it, and we did it to his too. Both never had an issue after the work
was done. We have never run into an intake gasket issue on any of the
trucks at work. For that matter, I have yet to see a Penske truck come in
with that problem. My guess is that you got it. If you're really concerned, go
to the local GM dealer and buy some stop leak pellets. Mechanics swear by
them, and they don't block up the heater core.

GM
AKROVER
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:49 am
Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by AKROVER »

So in January I pushed my luck and drove 1500 miles to Colorado for ski season. It was still leaking coolant on the trip, but at a mere nuisance rate. The van sat for three months in Colorado. A couple weeks ago, I added a gallon of coolant and drove it around a little. A couple days later, I started the 1500 mile trip to South Carolina. The coolant loss rate on the trip was averaging about a gallon every 500 miles so it was clearly getting worse and starting to be more than a nuisance. I think I barely made it to my parents' house because the next morning I found oil dripping at an alarming rate underneath. I took it to the Chevy dealer. $765 later, I have a new intake manifold gasket set. The mechanic showed me the old gaskets and they completely failed on two of the water passages. I never did figure out where the oil came out, but that is fixed as well. Apparently Chevy was using some cheap gaskets for a few years and this is a common problem. The van returns to towing the trailer tomorrow after a six month break so it is good to have no known problems again.
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GMJohnny
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Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by GMJohnny »

One truly bogus thing about more "current" motors is that they seem to be prone to
these intake manifold leaks. I've run into this numerous times both with work and on
my personal vehicles. I'm not 100% certain why it happens. Many times it's because the
plastic manifold comes loose, and many times it's just because the gasket corrodes. It's
wierd looking back that my old Oldsmobiles never had an intake manifold gasket failure.
They'd stay sealed up forever. Of course, it could be that the average life span of an intake
gasket on one of my cars was probably less than a year because they were always being
replaced due to perpetual intake manifold performance upgrades! Glad to hear you're up
and running, and that it didn't cost you any more than it did...

GM
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MostMint
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Location: planning a race

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by MostMint »

OE GM head and intake gaskets are problematic. They most always make it well past the warranty but you alomst need to replace one or the other if you want more than 100k out of the vehicle.
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Fred32v
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Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by Fred32v »

OK, Le sort définitif de votre fidèle Chevy Van? :)
Fred32v
GMC Canyon Crew Cab Short Box 4x4 V6!
AKROVER
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Sep 01, 2005 2:49 am
Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Re: AK Rover's Van

Post by AKROVER »

Désolé, monsieur. Je vais corriger ce fil.

I meant to provide an update, but I haven’t logged in for awhile. The van is gone. I sold it a couple weeks ago to the first person who called me, mere hours after posting on Craigslist (which means my price was way too low). The van worked out well. It finished with 64K miles from my starting point of 28K. I estimate that almost 30K of my miles were towing with a combined load very close to the limit. It is amazing how much stuff you can cram into one of these big square boxes. It only let me down twice; it decided it needed a tune-up in Oregon and then it had its failed intake manifold gasket in South Carolina. The van passed through 41 states in two years. It was quite an adventure mobile.
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