Double DIN install into 1999 Express 1500 Van

[insanity213]

Brand new to this board, but I've been rolling around under GM cars and trucks for a long time now....

Anyway, I just picked up a 1999 Express Conversion van and want to do a double DIN install. I've seen plenty of kits and pictures posted of people doing this in C/K series trucks, but not much in the way of the van. In the van the climate controls are on top so I don't think any of the dash kits will do me any good. However, this may be a good thing - when compared to my 98 K1500 with the climate controls in the middle, they have to be relocated to the bottom. In this case my thought was to leave the climate controls on top, remove that little tray from the bottom and cut the plastic bar in the middle out. I'm sure I can come up with some way to mount the head unit itself into the dash with some metal straps or fab up a bracket or two out of angle iron or something. Then maybe a piece of black plastic behind the dash bezel to cover up any gaps around the new head unit if needed? I haven't purchased the new unit yet, but those flip down screen gimmicks seem kind of lame so I'm hellbent on putting a double din in there.

Anyone done this in a van before? Any words of wisdom? Or should I just buy the thing already and wing it?

[moogvo]

The express van actually uses a 1.5 din radio. You will either have to use a head unit with a motorized screen or cut the dash. In my express conversion, I used a single din Sony stereo and used an install kit with a small pocket under the radio. I trimmed the pocket and installed a 1/2 din DVD player under the stereo for the rear overhead tv. I installed a 3" LCD monitor up front so the passenger can see the screen to make menu selections without having to recline the seat to look up at the tv. I will post up some pics when I get on my computer. Or you can check out my van gallery at http://moogmedia.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=7

I got the DVD player on eBay for 100 bux and it has video input cables so I have my western digital media drive hooked up in the overhead compartment with 1.5TB of media storage. It also has a USB front panel input for a USB stick and an audio.video input jack to play video from a smartphone.

It is connected to the rear audio system so the passengers can watch videos with headphones while the front seaters can listen to the radio.