I don’t have a van yet but I want to get one soon. I’m thinking about a extended express van with the 6.0. The smaller 4.8 v8 and the 4.3 v6 seems under powered for a full size extended van. Right now I have a suburban that gets around 10 to 12 mpg. And it’s got a 350 with a 3 speed transmission. I had a 2001 2500hd truck with a 6.0. And it had power. I’ve been looking at van builds and they are really cool I like what they can do to them. I all ready have solar and LiFep04 battery and a national luna fridge/freezer. As far as mileage I don’t want to get one with too many miles on it. Would I be ok with 100k they are harder to find. Is 150k ok or should I keep looking. And. I don’t want anything near 200k +.
Being a Chevy Van owner since 78, I’m on #3 now. Definitely go for the HD version because of the better suspension and brakes. I had 350 ci engines in all. The first 2 were 3/4 ton which were great. The present was a 1/2 ton conversion van, a lot of the van companies back then started cutting corners by using 1/2 instead of 3/4, having had both I could really tell the difference. The present van had air lift and HD Hawk Brakes and rotors upgrade which did the trick.
I am a big fan of the 350, every van and 2 in my previous boat which got 1.5 MPG, it was like driving and throwing $5 dollar bills out the window while cruising along. Great engines, workhorse of America the newer, smaller ones suck. I had to search months and months before I found a 350 which had been replaced with the new smaller one. My 1st Chevy I ordered new was $4500! Lasted 350k miles and never failed on the road and that was towing a 6000# boat, the engine was still strong the body went. IMO I would opt for the 6.0 and 2500HD chassis, nothing worse than a underpowered truck.
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Hi I am on my 2nd E350 ford econo van, extended, it has a 6.8 motor, I love these vans, both had about 185thousand KM on them my last one had 450thou on it when I retired it, at the moment I have 265 thou KM on it
I went this big for the room and I also pull a 6 x 12 ft trailer, I average 475km to the tank of gas, I am canadian as well, it costs me on average $120.00 USD to fill it. at about $3.60 per gallon.
I live full time in mine, now the trailer has hotwater on demand, a 32"x32" fold down shower base, shower curtain, the shower head can be taken outside for shower as well, I have a fold down dest for my office use, extra drawers for gear, shelves , I can also fit a 900cc motorcycle in it, so I have lots of gear I pack, I am spoiled, The van has an electric bar fridge, a sink , microwave, lots of storage, 650wts solarpower, 6 golfcart batteries, I can plug in anywhere if I need to, a 3500 wt generator, I live off grid most of the time, hope this helps