christi
Top Post Dawg
I haven't been on here for years and years, but I hope that you folks will forgive me because I am after some help.
The situation is that I have been interested in getting an Econoline with a V8 diesel for about 18 years. Back then I forgot about it and bought a Peugeot 806 instead.
When our kids were small we did a lot of camping (I towed a caravan/trailer with our 806 HDI) but as they got older they got into more and more activities and it just became impossible to ever use it. In the end after paying storage fees for a whole year and not using it even once I sold the caravan. Living in London I have no where to keep it.
Now fast forward fifteen years. My kids are now all adults (or very nearly so) and my work situation has changed dramatically. Basically I can now work from anywhere in the world with a mobile phone signal (and I was able to long before Covid) and I get 30 days paid holiday every year. My wife and I are really free to just do whatever we want.
I would like to have a go at building a van, and my wife wants to have a holiday driving one about USA. I think that the obvious solution is for me to get something in USA and fly out a few weeks before. I would need to get the van just useable enough for the one trip. Then my wife could join me. We could do the trip and then at the end of the trip I put the van on a boat back to the UK and we fly home.
Why an Econoline? Basically I need something short but wide. I want a diesel because of the cost of fuel in mainland Europe. I want an automatic transmission because of my knee. I want something that can drive at highway speeds on European motorways. Also limited budget. One vehicle that would fit would be the current Peugeot Boxer (sold as the Ram Promaster in USA) but they only recently got a diesel automatic and they're really expensive. The best van is probably the Chevy Express Duramax but they are twice the price of an Econoline. I can get a standard length Econoline in my off road parking space (so no storage fees) but it is just about wide enough to get a bed sideways across the back. This is important because my wife absolutely insists on a proper mattress to sleep on. A think that a pair of 190cm x 75cm mattresses will fit and can fold into a sofa bench as well. There just is no reasonably priced van in the UK that is wide enough.
I was going to wait until nearer the time (Covid) but the thing is that a van in the exact spec I want is not easy to find in the budget that we want to spend, and I may have just found one. When you find these things you have to jump.
Basically I have found a southern state stolen recovered one with a missing catalytic converter with the status of "waiting for title". This could be perfect because there is no requirement to have a cat in the UK on a diesel, and I don't need it in a hurry (probably not until September or October).
So I have some questions.
What is the situation with "inspections" in the USA and what would happen if I put some straight pipe, or a silencer, where the cat is supposed to be. Are inspections annual in the USA or when you buy a vehicle or something? Are there states where a cat straight piped would be a problem and others not?
What is the situation with titles, insurance and road tax (do you have road tax in USA?). Can I as a Brit buy something and use it for a month and then not pay any more? What will it cost me? Do I have to pay for a whole year of whatever? What is minimum legal requirement to buy and drive a vehicle in USA?
Anyone paid for a vehicle inspection and bought a vehicle unseen? Is an inspection worth the paper it's written on or is it better to just risk it?
The problem is that the 6.0 is a tricky engine. If it has oil or fuel in the coolant, or smokes badly I would probably leave it. If it has a minor issue like a partially blocked oil cooler (common), sticky turbo vains, or slightly below par injection pressure, as long as it can be nursed around for a month it would be fine. I could baby it for the holiday and then tear it apart once it gets back to the UK. If I am going to pay for an inspection that I would want it to be done properly by someone who understands these engines.
My plan back in the UK would be to replace the oil cooler, fit a coolant filter and get rid of the EGR (totally legal here). If there is any evidence of low injection pressure I would fit new stand pipes and dummy plugs, and probably the loom that's inside the rocker cover as well. These vans look hard to work on but I could do it.
The situation is that I have been interested in getting an Econoline with a V8 diesel for about 18 years. Back then I forgot about it and bought a Peugeot 806 instead.
When our kids were small we did a lot of camping (I towed a caravan/trailer with our 806 HDI) but as they got older they got into more and more activities and it just became impossible to ever use it. In the end after paying storage fees for a whole year and not using it even once I sold the caravan. Living in London I have no where to keep it.
Now fast forward fifteen years. My kids are now all adults (or very nearly so) and my work situation has changed dramatically. Basically I can now work from anywhere in the world with a mobile phone signal (and I was able to long before Covid) and I get 30 days paid holiday every year. My wife and I are really free to just do whatever we want.
I would like to have a go at building a van, and my wife wants to have a holiday driving one about USA. I think that the obvious solution is for me to get something in USA and fly out a few weeks before. I would need to get the van just useable enough for the one trip. Then my wife could join me. We could do the trip and then at the end of the trip I put the van on a boat back to the UK and we fly home.
Why an Econoline? Basically I need something short but wide. I want a diesel because of the cost of fuel in mainland Europe. I want an automatic transmission because of my knee. I want something that can drive at highway speeds on European motorways. Also limited budget. One vehicle that would fit would be the current Peugeot Boxer (sold as the Ram Promaster in USA) but they only recently got a diesel automatic and they're really expensive. The best van is probably the Chevy Express Duramax but they are twice the price of an Econoline. I can get a standard length Econoline in my off road parking space (so no storage fees) but it is just about wide enough to get a bed sideways across the back. This is important because my wife absolutely insists on a proper mattress to sleep on. A think that a pair of 190cm x 75cm mattresses will fit and can fold into a sofa bench as well. There just is no reasonably priced van in the UK that is wide enough.
I was going to wait until nearer the time (Covid) but the thing is that a van in the exact spec I want is not easy to find in the budget that we want to spend, and I may have just found one. When you find these things you have to jump.
Basically I have found a southern state stolen recovered one with a missing catalytic converter with the status of "waiting for title". This could be perfect because there is no requirement to have a cat in the UK on a diesel, and I don't need it in a hurry (probably not until September or October).
So I have some questions.
What is the situation with "inspections" in the USA and what would happen if I put some straight pipe, or a silencer, where the cat is supposed to be. Are inspections annual in the USA or when you buy a vehicle or something? Are there states where a cat straight piped would be a problem and others not?
What is the situation with titles, insurance and road tax (do you have road tax in USA?). Can I as a Brit buy something and use it for a month and then not pay any more? What will it cost me? Do I have to pay for a whole year of whatever? What is minimum legal requirement to buy and drive a vehicle in USA?
Anyone paid for a vehicle inspection and bought a vehicle unseen? Is an inspection worth the paper it's written on or is it better to just risk it?
The problem is that the 6.0 is a tricky engine. If it has oil or fuel in the coolant, or smokes badly I would probably leave it. If it has a minor issue like a partially blocked oil cooler (common), sticky turbo vains, or slightly below par injection pressure, as long as it can be nursed around for a month it would be fine. I could baby it for the holiday and then tear it apart once it gets back to the UK. If I am going to pay for an inspection that I would want it to be done properly by someone who understands these engines.
My plan back in the UK would be to replace the oil cooler, fit a coolant filter and get rid of the EGR (totally legal here). If there is any evidence of low injection pressure I would fit new stand pipes and dummy plugs, and probably the loom that's inside the rocker cover as well. These vans look hard to work on but I could do it.