greetings, this is my first post here. This looks like an excellent forum from what I've seen. I've just inherited this van and I was wondering if anybody can give me more info, heads up, or anything about owning this van. Here is the background story. Basically it's been sitting since 98 in my G/F grandmothers driveway. It was her grandfathers, but he died a while ago and now they just want it gone. so I went over there and checked it out. It was in good condition, relatively speaking, but it was dirty as hell. So we spend the weekend cleaning the inside and out. looks driveable now. It wont start so I took off the air filter and looked at the carb. it wasn't getting fuel. changed the fuel pump and filter, and voila. so now I have a running camper van thats been gutted and cleaned. gonna take it on a trip after I put new tires and change all the fluids. I just wanted info on what it's like to own these, how reliable they are, and any advice on owning it, maintenance, etc.... well thanks, I love the van so far, probably just gonna go on a few trips this summer with my g/f then sell it. btw it has 61,000 miles, I don't think it's flipped over.

 

That's nice.

Hey, what's the vitals on that van? Engine, rear axle, tranny?

 

it's the 5.9L engine but I dunno what the tranny or rear end is. it's an auto tranny though. if you tell me how I can find out I will look next time I'm over there. any idea how much this thing might be worth?

 

It's really hard to say what the vehicle is worth since it's sight unseen.

Knowing the era of the camper van, I would say that the fridge is shot since most RV fridges at that time have a life of 8yrs at most.

The vehicle AC and the AC if the camper has it is more than likely R12. So that's another bummer too. The propane tanks are not the latest OBD type, so they will need to be upgraded.

Other than those items, if the inside is in great shape after the cleaning and the body of the vehicle is in good shape, you might be able to fetch 2 to 4 grand for it. The color and trim of the vehicle will also rate the value too. Most of these units were blue trim or brown trim on white. Does yours look something like this??? Here's the url as a person restored it ... http://www.birdsongguitars.com/chinook2.htm



This one in the pictures was shown on the history channel's 2001 great race.



The 5.9L non-magnum ear engine is a plus for that vehicle. The 5.9L would be alright for fuel and power if maintained well enough.

The tranny might be a 727 type. It was very popular in those days for Chrysler. It's also a dependable tranny too. If you change out the cap-n-rotor, make sure it's those parts have copper/brass contacts. It may cost $2 or $5 more, but will pay itself back in the first tank of fuel! The cheap-o aluminum cap-n-rotor are just that. cheap-o.

Does the camper part of it run on 30amp or 50amp shore power hookup?

 

I'll get some pictures of it, but no it doesn't look like that, this one has more of the full van body all the way around and just has a fiberglass bubble top. the shore power is 30 amp.