TO ANYONE BUYING A VAN:
Be very careful when you buy something old, especially if you don't have any experience.
Two months ago I bought a 30 year old van against everyone's advice.
Almost the whole floor and many parts of the chassis needed to be cut out and replaced due to rust.
The van looked like an A-Team montage.
All four wheel arches, a front wing, both door steps, a rear channel, the door sills, the windscreen and some other bits.
At this point, my mechanic (who has to be a truck specialist) suggested I do a straight trade in for a more modern van with a high roof, and people here agreed as well but I was too stupid to listen and wanted to be like the cool cats on the youtube. Instead I listened to some other idiot who told my my van was very sought after for festivals because it has four wheels at the rear so its good in mud.
I couldn't even drive it because I only have a car and van license, and this van was on a 5ton heavy van/truck license, so I parked it in a field, where the front beam axle sank into the ground due to rain and its own weight, got the whole van
stuck.So much for being good in muck.
I called in a tow truck, but it couldn't pull the van out so we tried with a 4x4 and a tractor until finally a boat tow truck on solid ground with a 50 foot length of chain and a winch managed to pull it out, bulldozing half the field with the front axle in the process.
Then came time for inspection, which required replacing several balljoints, all the rubber bushes for the suspension and springs, two rear shock absorbers, both brake drums and two brake disks because of warpage, a brake cylinder and several brake lines, a gasket for the valve cover, a leak in the fuel pump, and two engine mounts.
