Logos: the Van
you’ve seen the Edge… now ride the van.
Logos, the adventure machine. As seen just after I bought it in June 2005.
Logos is my 2005 GMC Savana full size cargo van. It has a 4.8L Vortec V8 gasoline engine and rear wheel drive. I’ve taken it to beaches in Baja, through San Diego and up and down California, across dry lakebeds in rural Mexico, through the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada and the deserts of Nevada and Utah. And, thousands of miles of road trips besides. It’s come through quite a bit of rough stuff with a few scrapes, but it’s a tough machine. It’s my home away from home.
Completed Upgrades
Aside from cupholders, Logos came with no frills at all. Unlike modern shi-shi SUVs, it has manual locks, manual windows, manual everything. That makes it a blank slate for proper upgrades.
The upgraded side doors have tinted windows.
So far, Logos has been enhanced with:
- Class 3 hitch.
- Alpine CD player head unit w/iPod adapter.
- Replacement side doors w/windows.
- Tinted both rear windows, the driver and passenger windows and the side door windows. One of the side windows pops open.
- Internal wooden walls with insulation and covered with fake Persian carpet.
- Internal wooden ceiling with insulation.
- Lush, Moroccan-inspired interior decor: ceiling fabric, curtains, etc.
- Solar-powered ceiling vent/fan.
- Futon, fur blankets and pillows.
- Chrome grille assembly w/billet grille.
- Much brighter composite-beam headlights.
- New paint job, metal flake blue.
Planned Upgrades
I have extensive plans for Logos:
- Internal LED lighting. (In progress.)
- Step bars. Stainless steel/chrome w/molded step pads.
- A pair of decent 6″ speakers.
- Amp + subwoofer.
- Sunroof.
- Fender flares.
- Grill guard.
- Chrome fuel door.
- Roof rack (TracRac TracVan or equivalent, or alternatively, a safari rack).
- Oversized axles.
- Wider wheels.
- Tail light guards.
- Deep cycle battery.
- Solar panel.
- Performance intake kit (K&N).
- Aftermarket performance-boosting exhaust system w/stainless steel tips.
- Undercarriage lighting.
- Mod chip or tuning computer (Hypertech Power Programmer III)
- Forced induction/supercharger.
- (Unlikely but possible) Biodiesel hybrid conversion, a la Johnathan Goodwin, SAE Energy.
Concept for wheel and fender flare upgrades.
Safari rack concept, as seen on a Land Rover I spotted on the highway.
Possible upgrade: matte steel bumpers.