Don't expect to sleep with the wife in it if your kids claustrophobic. I'm in the top with the little' n.
I passed on at least 2 vans with belly pans - because the pans had rust holes in them. My van has belly pans but they had been removed to do the welding underneath - still in red oxide primer - and shiny new screws were holding them on - so I had no hesitation in buying - and then took them off and painted and waxoiled everything underneath. . I would amend that to say "avoid anything with bellypans that look as though they have never been removed"
Ok I am not expert but find the starter motor, when your van doesn't start it could be the starter motor, little tap with a hammer while your partner or friend or random stranger turns the key and pumps the pedal, happened to me in France this summer in my other van and many years ago in my beetle.
Re the comments about the heater...I can testify to the efficiancy of the stock heater. Even with the heater cables disconnected and the flaps in the exchangers...err flapping...and the pre-heater collars on the silenser loose & leaking....it was way too hot in the cab!!! Will be interesting to see what its like when its all hooked up correctly P.
Dont ever throw away a heat exchanger unless you are certain it is a low-efficiency reproduction. (No insulation, few fins on the exhaust pipe running through inside.) In fact unless you remove a blob of rust that was once a bus part to replace it, it is always worth keeping the old part until you have learnt enough to be absolutely 100% certain that it is not still better made and working better than the replacement is six months later.
I just restored my dash lights thanks to this thread. I thought they'd been accidentally disconnected during a recent fitting of a klaxon button on the dash.
after my shenanigans earlier I'd like to add when changing your original wheels for new alloy wheels be sure to remove the locating bolts from the brake drum before putting the new wheel on. see 3:47 of this video after 2.5 years of research I somehow managed to never ever hear of this