Deal on a one ton

[Clod_King]

Okay so the place next to my work has this 2004 Chevy 3500 cargo van they are getting rid of because it is a write off.

I think what happened is that the guy driving the van rear ended somebody.

It has a 6.0L Vortec engine, and I am not too sure about the tranny, but the rear axle would be the AMM 11.5 (correct me if I'm wrong).

It says on the sticker in the engine bay that the truck can carry 100 gallons of fuel, so would that be dual tanks or one giant one. (I hope it is one giant one because then I could swap that one in for my burb tank)

The damage to the truck is serious if I were to rebuild the truck, but not if I am going to part it out. The frame rails are a little bent on the first 8" (of what I could see), and the hood and outer fenders are wrinkled. The rad is not destroyed, but rebuildable either... It's intact, but concaved now, hahaha.

My boss said they wanted 500 bucks for the truck, but when I went over there to ask they said they are waiting to see how much the insurance company would give them...

I figured if I just took the heads, and the rear axle and tranny, it would be well worth it!! But if I take the engine too, and the rear springs, and the tank(or tanks...) and maybe the captain chairs it would be WELL worth the money.

What about the steering box?? would that be worth taking. And what about the MC??

OH! and it has new(ish) tires on 8 lug wheels, so I could take those and swap the aggresive meats off for long trips, and save on gas, and tread life of the good tires.


Anything thing else I should nab if I get this van??

Should I even go for it?? I have to be able to take anything/everything I want in one weekend, and then scrap the rest.... My house is small, so I can't take alot, because there is no storage.

But I geuss if I take the engine then I will have to rent out a storage space somewhere....

How much of the body would have to be removed to remove an engine from a van?? the whole front clip??



OH, and last question. If they want 1200 bucks, or anything from 1000 dollars up, I won't buy the truck. But would 500 dollars for the heads be a good price?? what if I offered 200 or 300 dollars??

Sorry for the long winded post brothers. I am really excited about having more things to screw around with...

 

[slyguy_22]

they'll probly sell it to you for whatever the buy back from the insurance company is. usually 10% of the value so if the truck was valued at $15000.00 it would be 1500.00. which if the 6.0 liter is in good shape would be well worth it. not to mention all the extras you can get. my advice would be get it as cheap as possible and unbolt everything possible and ebay/craigs list it. dash, tail lights everything. take lots of pics of each item and list them up. good luck

 

[original balzer]

Vans make a good shed.......................
Lots of good parts If its a 4l80e thats worth a little changeand can be converted to 4wd OR divoced x-case.

Balzer

 

[redneckdude]

Vans make a good shed.......................
Lots of good parts If its a 4l80e thats worth a little changeand can be converted to 4wd OR divoced x-case.

Balzer

it CAN be converted...but that usually requires the correct output shaft (4x4 outputs are damn near IMPOSSIBLE to find by themselves) which requires full tear down to replace the output shaft or you get lucky and its a fully splined output...then it needs to be cut to length and correct adaptor added...

but yes, the motor and trans themselves are worth 1500$ EASY. you could probably get 2500$ for that combo. the rear axle COULD be the 10.5...i know the 3/4 tons used 10.5s behind the 6.0, but not sure on 1 tons and/or vans.

 

[lectric80]

As far as removing the engine on a van, they are a bit of a pain. Basically you remove the grille, AC condensor, radiator, all the accessories, and there is a section in the center of the radiator support that will either unbolt or need to be cut out. Then you can unbolt the motor mounts, tranny, connect your cherry picker and pull it. Depending on the room above the engine, you may have to pull the intake to clear everything.

 

[slyguy_22]

No dont go threw all of that. if the front end is smashed and the grill and such are bent up i would get my hands on a torch and sawzaw and cut the front clip off. no sense messing around with parts that are damaged and trying to unbolt. pretend ur at a junkyard and hack her apart! of course don't mess up the parts that you wana sell!

 

[Clod_King]

One big problem is I cannot drop that much dough on it...

Even if I CAN get it for 500 bucks, I have to hide the van from my pops... So I cannot spend 1500 if they ask it. I know it is worth it, but the 500 bucks would be coming out of my line of credit...

But say I can get my hands on the heads. Would they swap right onto a TBI 350?? or do I need any thing else??

 

[sweetk30]

totaly diffrent motor system. no swaping.

and lots of insurance comp wont sell back anymore thay take them.

and the rear might be a dana 70 as thay have swaped back to them a bit for vans again.

 

[Clod_King]

SO the chances of me getting this van is slim then??

And, what type of vortec heads CAN you use on a 350??

I read some threads on using the vortec heads, and I figured this was the engine size to steal from??

or is there there a 5.7L vortec??

 

[slyguy_22]

insurance companies (in our area) are required by law to sell you the vehicle back if you want it. must be the original owner though. but usually if you talk to the owner and ask him to see what the buy back would be and c if he would be interested in selling it to you for whatever it was. most times they will let you do that.