The brakes are not very good. They are adequate for the job, but I have to give the car in front of me plenty of distance to be safe. There are many remedies to this, such as rear disc-brake kits to get rid of the clunky drums. They kept making vans like this in South Africa until 2001, so there are updated front brake kits to make the van have some great stopping power. There are also a variety of motor swaps to make it even faster. BMW, Subaru (Including WRX STI), Porsche (Including 911 Turbo), larger Volkswagen units, and many others. Within the next few years, I plan on doing a restoration to this van to make it truly great. I just need to decide on a motor, gather the funds and get the experience I need at Lakes Region Community College starting next year.
On top of the performance upgrades, the van also has a very nice stereo system. Crappy generic CD player aside, it has a Pyramid 1600 watt amplifier, dual Pyle 500 watt subwoofers and dual Legacy 400 watt speakers. A nice sound, but not that all-bass crap most kids my age have in their cars.
The ride suffers horribly due to the lowered suspension, but it all works out in the end. These vans are very bad when it comes to road salt, and many Northeast Vanagons have already been destroyed by rust. My van spent its' early days in Florida, so it's pretty solid, I intend to keep it that way. I don't drive it during the winter, instead I just pick up a $300 beater to last me a few months. I am often able to sell that car for a profit later, and it keeps the van in good condition. Unfortunately, my van still didn't spend last winter in the best way. See the next page for how that turned out.
Installing the new rims a few years back
Interested to see how my van, unfortunately, spent last winter? Check the next page.
