- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
- Messages
- 17,864
- Location
- SWMO
- Car(s)
- Mustang SVO - Frontier Pro-4X - BRZ - D21 Hardbody
I refer you to my previous gif
I want one for family vacationing and bike trips, but it's too much expense to consider.
I refer you to my previous gif
Well, a proper van has a full frame! /s
Are they not offering the 3.2 Powerstroke in the Transit anymore?
Don't forget, we also get a Nissan full size van. It's more American looking than the Transit/Promaster/Sprinter. I mean, it's sort of ugly, in the way it looks like a van trying to push a truck out the front.
View attachment 3562773
The Express van isn’t body on frame?When was the last time a full size van had a full frame? GM vans have been uni-bodies for a very long time.
Are they not offering the 3.2 Powerstroke in the Transit anymore?
The Express van isn’t body on frame?
When was the last time a full size van had a full frame? GM vans have been uni-bodies for a very long time.
According to the Wikipedia, it is body on frame. I stand corrected.
I know the Astro was uni-body with a front sub frame (borrowing heavily from the S10/G-Body design is memory serves me right). And they hand fiberglass leaf springs in the rear (like a Corvette?).
I had a 70s era Chevy van and a 92 Chevy that were both uni-bodies. I just assumed that they would have stayed the course.
Looking into it, I may have assumed that all GM vans had full frames being that I have only been under a 1998 1-ton ambulance. Which would have been a cutaway model delivered to the ambulance body manufacturer.
Now I can't remember what that 1985ish Econoline I had that I pulled the 351W, C6 and 9" rear out of had...
I've actually test driven all the full size vans lately, and yeah, they're all body-on-frame - even the GM's. The G-series vans were also body-on-frame, and those go back to '64. The *ASTRO*, however, was unibody. Almost all the smaller vans were.
The Ford Econolines were, notoriously, semi-compatible with F-series parts, in fact. Quigley 4x4 operated for the longest time essentially just mashing off-the-rack F-series bits under Econolines. Now they have to do a bit more engineering.
Incidentally, in the 1-ton class, if you're buying anything but a Transit you're doing it wrong. Which is to say EVERYBODY is doing it wrong, because I almost never see them. Everyone buys Expresses and Promasters except Amazon.
(We're thinking about spinning up a mobile arm to the dog grooming empire. At present I am obstinately considering fitting out our own vans because for the pricetags the upfitters want I could literally build *a building*, as opposed to a van that can only house one revenue employee)
ChassisEdit
In line with the two previous generations, the third-generation G-series vans again used unibody construction, integrating the frame rails into the floorpan; the side panels were constructed of a single-piece stamping.[2] The model line was offered three wheelbase lengths: 110 inches, 125 inches, and 146 inches. From 1971 to 1989, the 146-inch wheelbase was used for cutaway chassis; for 1990, a single rear-wheel version was introduced for an extended-length van body.[3]
Interesting. I *SWEAR* I remember a giant hunk of C-channel.
Interesting. I *SWEAR* I remember a giant hunk of C-channel.
y'all