im wanting to customize my van, on a VERY tight budget, ive already installed some nice carpet, id like to cover the windows somehow, im thinking househould miniblinds would work with self tapping screws into the plastic side panels, is this agood idea? will this work?? i dont wanna waste the money only to find out that it wont work. id appreciate any advice and tips.

 

I would think that they will make a lot of noise when you try to drive with the windows down. Softshades may work better.
Any custom van/truck or RV shops in your area? See what they sell. There are probably 'net sites as well.

 

spend the cash on weekend mini camping trips with the wife....lots o fun....Aero's are made for closenest and nesting...
a Coleman fuel 2 burner light stove, a 12v Coleman cooler...don't need a tent...back of van w air bed is great w two zip together sleeping bags for cozeness....
great snow camping rig but leaves yellow snow stains around the van if it's really cold
don't forget the Aero white wine...they must have Aero's downunder...some of the best Aero white comes from there

 

not so sure about blinds, I dont have any on mine. but one cool tip is to go to the local "you-pull-it" yard and get all the cool upgrades from an eddie bauer edition. like the swivel aircraft dome lights, and trip computer. I even got a set of new (to me) front seats with the air lumbar support.

Here in oregon there are no emission registration checks, so you can go hog-wild with do-it yourself exhaust and intake mods. do-it-yourself cause mechanics are legally bound to keep things original. on my 91 3.0 I split my exhaust at the "y" took out the two cats, and ran dual exhaust into twin glasspacks, out by the side door in front of the rear wheel. it was loud as hell and I wont do that again on my 95 4.0 that I have now. however removing the cat is seeming like a GREAT idea.

I then got a $30 K&N cone shaped filter and clamped it right to the throttle body intake, scrapped the rest of the intake stuff. that was awesome, mpg went through the roof! as if that wasnt enough, i wanted cold air, ram air intake, so I fabbed a scoop out of a subaru WRX scoop, I narowed it to 10" wide with some fiberglass long n strong. cut a rectangular hole, and molded the scoop into the hood on the drivers side above the new cone filter. I then took the old filter box, cut a hole in the back for the throttle body intake flange to fit through, then atatched the cone filter inside the box to the flange, fabbed up a couple straps to hold things secure. put some thick door jamb weatherstrip around the top lip of the old filterbox after cuting it to an angle to match the hood slope. MPG went to 28.

got a new distrubutor cap with brass points instead of the tin or aluminum ones. MPG to 31.

I took trips to washington every month, 260 miles each way, pretty flat trip, 70 mph on cruise control resulted in consistant 31 mpg trips. the most fuel savings were found on the freeway, when the ram-air intake was at its best. however over 70mph and fuel consumption skyrocketed, dunno why 70 mph is the cutoff, but it was. in wa the speed limit goes up to 70, and i tried going 75 for that half of the trip, mpg overall dropped back to 19 for the trip, that means that at 75 fuel consumption is like 10mpg!!

like i said, the duel exhaust is a bad idea, unless you wanna scare even ricer hondas away. but the fuel savings were imense!

 

sharp looking in the dark smoke and very functional....no wind sucking noise with side windows cracked

www.weathertech.com/

click on side window deflectors and select your make model

 

You know, DIYs are also legally bound to keep emissions regulation equipment in working order. Every once in a while, the EPA comes along, and makes an example of shops and private individuals who modify their vehicles emissions systems.

 

I have a K&N, what a waste of money. The intake system on our 3.0 is too large anyway. I have a K&N cone style filter on my truck, those things can plug up in about 6-12 thousand miles of normal driveing. Next time, I am getting high quality paper filters, they flow better longer, and don't ruin your MAF sensors.

Do you have any properly documented proof that your intake mods alone gave you any performance increase?

 

koalamazed, need to know about the trip minder....just went through the exact exercise you described. I installed all the stuff that is serviced by that one wiring harness that goes up to the center of the roof over the windshield. Lights, trip minder and lighted vanity mirrors. Got all the wires hooked up, except the fuel flow signal from the EEC. Where did you get that signal? Is it available in the C212 connector?

 

Check out JCWhitney.com for van accs. They won't be Aero specific but it will give you some ideas. I would also do some Junk yard diving and see what they have for vans. Anything can be customized to work.

As for window curtains, I always thought these were cool.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...wcurtains2.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...wcurtains1.jpg

And if you really want to go all out, do a custom paint job like this:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...star/Front.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...ostar/Side.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...tar/hoodab.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...erspective.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42...tar/Bumper.jpg

 

i had the van in the shop all week to get all the little bugs worked out, the van is even closer to NEW now, i LOVE it, had the tranny serviced, major tune up, combo switch replaced, brakes done. and 1 question, i like those curtians in the pics from the last post, how are they attached and held up?

 

I am not quite sure how they are held up. It was up on e-bay a couple months back and I liked the idea so I saved the pics.

I believe that they are held up with ordinary curtain rods screwed into the top trim.

If you really want to do something like that, my wife recomends using velcro and have the fuzzy side on the trim so it is less noticible when you have the curtains down. It also comes in many different colors so you can match your interior color pretty easily.

 

I perfer the term accessorizing . . . Customizing sounds to professional.

One of my favorite Homade accessories is a storage box I built that fits in the step well of the sliding door. Made of plywood, painted black and covered with one of the rear floormats that I cut to fit, no one ever notices that it's there. The best feature of this accessory is that it flattens out the floor in front of the door, so I can carry an ice chest, which incidentally, is as high as the seat-bed. The door box also gives me a convenient seat in the door, great place for an old man to put on his boots.

 

where is a good place to mount a CB radio? mine is too big to mount in the empty space below the radio and ashtray

 

Good Question.

I have been meaning to install my CB, but it is BIG compared to todays CB radios, but of coarse this one can do everything ($300 one, not the $40 cheapo ones.)

I have been thinking of getting one of those overhead storage compartments that have a space for a CB radio and other controlls that you find for other Vans/Trucks. There is room up there for it.

The only other idea is to put it on the dash on the passenger side or mount it to the floor between the two seats like the fuzz do.