Here are some more pics from today... I put down the 3M non-skid tape. My wife put in some carpeting up front and on the wheel wells and some of the beams so when we loaded the ramp it wouldn't rattle around.

 

Great job! It was cheaper than a decent utility trailer you can pick up. A 5.7 liter is a 350, my dad has a '93 raised roof conversion van that uses that same engine, has over 150k miles on it and is not the type of guy to do preventive maintence. The best it ever got was 16 around in town and 19 on the freeway. After pulling enclosed car trailer a few thousand miles, the mileage has dropped to maybe 14 in town and at the most 15 on the freeway. BTW, I bought an '81 El camino (Bike hauler, with a low bed!) and put in a fuel injected 350 from an '88 Trans am with OD transmission, it's gotten as high as 17 in town, but I used it to pull a utility trailer with a 4 wheeler on it plus one in the bed and it only got 14 on the freeway. Your mileage sounds about right, not much increases MPG on heavy vehicle with a 350, basic things like clean air filter, fresh oil, make sure all plugs are good and check cap/rotor/wires. If you take decent care of that van, it should last you a long time!

 

Thanks for the info.

We leave early Thursday morning. I'll take plenty of pics @ Deals Gap and will post back on how the van holds up.

 

Nicely done Old! Have fun at the gap and definitely get some pix.

 

We're back and we made it in one peice. I posted in the Rides section if you care to see pics and a brief write-up on our trip.

https://cbrforum.com/m_170816/mpage_.../tm.htm#170816

 

You should change the spelling of your handle to: Old Phat Guy. That is a very cool van, and I love the pictures you posted. Is that a Rebel your wife is on? Looks a little bigger that a Rebel, though. Looking into getting my wife something like that.

 

...just looked at your signature three seconds after I posted and realized I just asked a stupid question!

 

I like that. Wish I had thought of OldPhatGuy when I signed up.

Yeah, it's a 600 Shadow. We were going to get a Rebel but thought she wouldn't like it for long. She thinks it's powerful [sm=smiley29.gif] and I guess it is compared to the only other bike she rode which was the Rebel in the MSF course.

It will go highway speeds, but I don't like to ride it on the interstate or for her to ride it on the interstate, just not enough power to get you out of bad situations.

Fortunately, she's not interested in that type of riding and prefers the back roads anyway.

 

wow ur smart.

 

I have an even better, cheaper way.

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