1964 G10 Panel in Alabama

Going to start my build thread since the van was delivered yesterday.

Special Delivery


The truck driver was about to be at my work and we looked out the window and our gate to the shipping area was closed and locked. Apparently the Shipping department went home early. I had a guy grab the key and run out to unlock it. The driver got in and turned around and we had to unload a small tractor that was on the back, I was hoping we could load it in the van! I could really use it at the house! Lol



The van wouldnt start. The battery was pretty dead and it turned over but wouldnt fire. The carb is really loose, no air cleaner and I wasnt sure if it was choking or not since it is pretty cold out. I help my hand over the carb but it still wouldnt start so we had to push it off the truck.

I have to say this thing rolls SMOOTH, so easy to push. I was pleasantly surprised.

We got it off the trailer and I helped him reload the tractor and helped strap it down. He was a good ol' bird and we had a good talk and I wished him safe travels.

After he got the rig out of the way I got a couple guys from the Inspection Lab out to help me push it outside the shipping gate so I could lock it back up. This morning I will head up with my car dolly and pull it the 70 miles home.

I grabbed a couple quick pictures. The nose of this thing is HAILED. It has a lot of work to do there especially. You can see it in this picture but when you see it close up it is pretty staggering.



Rust turned out to be a small area behind the tire on the passenger side. I am sure there is a replacement panel for that little piece or I will just cut and form it out of a piece of 20 gauge.



Not exactly sure what happened there on the dash with that crease. Hopefully I can fix that.



So besides it looking like it has been through a biblical hail storm on the nose the rest looks pretty good. I will sure find out a lot more when I get it home and drop the motor/tranny and get it up on a rotary table. Hopefully I can pick up the tubing and cylinders to make it this coming week.

On a side note, after all the excitement of the van build has been stirring I decided to get back on my Fiat project as well. We got our Christmas bonus at work and it was enough to get the head rebuilt so shipping that off to
Texas to get redone. Will look nice with the 64 pulling my Spider to the next meet.

I wont keep a build on this since it isnt a van but just thought I would mention that I am working on 2 restores at one time.



I rebuilt the lower end with 10.5:1 compression custom pistons. The head will be from an 1800 CC which will allow for bigger performance valves than the 2000 CC head. High performance 80/40 Cams, Duel Carb intake with 50 mm Weber Carbs. I have a custom made Aluminum Flywheel, Crank Pully, Water Pump pully and Cam gears. Porche 911 Tranny with shortened drive shaft is sitting in the shop waiting to go in.

Incidentally for all those that have a daily driver other than a van and it has overhead cams you can thank this little car for that. Ferrari designed this car for Fiat back in the 70s with the first overhead cam motor.

Nothing scary about that ! Great score i think.

Nice van and nice Fiat Spider but the first overhead cam engines came way before the 1970s

nice project to work on . that should give you the christmas smile...

Don't see anything that can't be fixed there, can't wait for your updates

All in all,looks like ya got a pretty good body to work with.The pics you have posted before & after home,rust is minimal,and thats the killer.Those dents are just an annoying obstical inconvenience.Dont worry about that hard hit in the dash,ain't nothin a Sawzall cant fix.Ain't that right,Govenor?

Got her =HOME!! Nice xmas gift- fiat is now back in the usa with new cars.

Well it was ALMOST home.

This morning we went to Huntsville, about 70 miles from the house, to my work place. That is where we had unloaded the van yesterday.

After some fighting to get my receiver hitch out of the Jeep and into the Donor Van we were on our way. We thought it only right that the motor donor van pull the 64 home.



Matthew JR and I pushed it up onto the dolly while Tammy was steering and braking. Once we got it to the tire pads I hook up the come along and ratched it up. When it popped over and hit the front wheels hit the stops Tammy about messed herself.

I tell you what though, she was ALL grins and giggles once it was all strapped down and ready to go. She is in LOVE!

Plus I thought she looked PRETTY DAMN GOOD behind that wheel.



We got the van home with no problems what so ever. Got it in the yard and got it off the dolly. JR and I are starting to get the shop ready. I have so much stuff in there that is kind of scattered from building my CNC Plasma table.

It is going to be a tight fight but once we get it organized it will be real nice.

More later!

cl350rr wrote:Nice van and nice Fiat Spider but the first overhead cam engines came way before the 1970s

Yeah I simplified, my bad. Fiat was one of the first car companies to use belt-driven DOHC engines. It was used in their entire product line starting in the 60s. It started a long list of companies to use this system.

Regardless of who it was that came up with it first or last or in between, THIS 2 liter motor was made by Ferrari for Fiat for this car, the Fiat 2000 Pinin Ferina edition. Wish it was the turbo version but they are kind of rare and expensive and plus I would rather not have to deal with that on this N/A build.

Now back to the VAN! LoL

A van for christmass and a nice looking one at that...kool. Can't waite to fallow along on your build. other then motor and trans, what other plans do you have for it?

Don't think you could get a better present on Christmas. Whats the first plans for it????

First is to drop motor and tranny and all the running gear and the the bottom side cleaned and under coated.

I am sure we plan on doing the typical things on the restore like disc brakes, going to try out the power steering option etc.

Somethings that will be interesting maybe out of the norm will be...

1. I will be retro-fitting headlights out of a 2002 Jeep Liberty. I can get the headlights themselves off ebay for about $60. Hopefully I can find one at a junk yard to see any housings I will need.


2. Since we have such a nice donar van that is fully operational we will be taking as much as we can. Want to try using the electric windows, cruise, air, etc.

To go along with all these things, I will be building the walls, floor and roof all out 1 inch. I will cut bow to follow the original curve of each. I am not sure if I will use tubing or strips yet. I will panel over the top of this and fill the space with Expanding Foam to insulate and sound proof. I will need to run all my electrical prior to foaming it in.

I had plans to build a box in the floor behind the dog house to allow for a 32 inch TV to fold into the floor but after getting the van I will not have enough room if I am going to have 3 rows of seating. I had already started designing the box and mounting for it but will now switch gears for it to come from the roof instead. It will be spring loaded and have hatchback shocks to keep it steady.

3. The more I look at the dash the more I think it might get completely redone. There isnt much room behind it and since I had planned on connecting the dash with the dog house, a tunnel, for a large screen for a back up camera and an auto PC to control music and lighting, and the shifter.

I am sure other things will come to mind once I get into it. The grill is going to be changed and thing of course the paint. She wants it a chocolate brown with a shimmer to it. We will be naming this van Sexy64.

I really wish I could have found another van for her, a window van. I guess I will have to start looking for another panel for my "Show Van" or one for just the two of us to take to go to like a van meet or whatever.

I found some 1000 lbs 4wheeler winches at JC Whittney for $50 and bought 6 of them, LoL. Once I get another van it will be my project to let my mind go wild. I know a lot of people drooled over that tilt front early that was posted.

My van will be named "Shaggin Wagon". Having a No Door would be perfect but since they are far and few I will just be welding doors together. The side doors will be eliminated to have the walls one piece. The back doors will be welded together and hinged from the bottom. My "Big Idea" is to cut the wall along the drip rail on the passenger side and then over the top of the van behind the front seats.

I want to make the bed in the back on rails, a set of winches to lower the now one piece back door to lay down and the bed to slide out the back onto that platform.

Mount a foldable loveseat on the passenger wall and a flat screen on the roof. Once the walls fold out the love seat will now be usable and the roof will now be directly across.

I know its a huge project but I have already started sketches on it and have the winches, tubing and bearings for the hinging mechanism.

I have been planning THIS van for 3 years since I started looking for a van.

Big plans, so many projects, so little time. Hopefully I will find products to make on my CNC Plasma that will help fund some of these ideas.

Glad ya got it home 'for real' and in the yard.You can now sit in it,look,think and plan all you want.
In the pic you have of the better half sittin in the van and what you wrote,I couldn't help but think of an old ZZ Top song they did......'She don't love you,she loves your automobile' Haaa! Enjoy your new toy.

Today I got her in the garage and got to work.

First thing I wanted to do was get the doors off. I checked the condition of each and I have to say they are in great shape, no rust under any of the doors.

The side and back doors dont line up in the centers at all. As I sat looking at the set up I think that it is going to become a 1 door on the side and a hatch back. Closing up one of the side doors gives me a lot more "Wall Space" to work with.

I was pleasantly surprised but how wide the ribs were on the walls. This will make it a lot easier for mounting speakers and paneling the inside.

Also, my thoughts on a rotary table might be out the window. As tall as the van is my shop with my work tables will not allow for that much clearance. Instead I will make a car lift. This will allow us to work under the van, even if it isnt as easy as rolling it, will be a lot better than creepers. I got the tubing I need for the front end and will work on the rear bumper area after I get the tank out.

Hopefully I can get the motor dropped this coming week and get it up on the stand so we can start cleaning 40 year old undercoating off. I dont want to go too crazy on the inside till I can get the underside done. I get side tracked real easy, ADHD maybe, and I need to stay on task, one step at a time.

1. Underbody rebuild
2. Motor Tranny Rebuilt and install
3. Interior
4. Exterior

Over the years, "square" may not be square anymore. I found I had to use a ram to push the jamb back square at the hinge and get the doors to line up again. So you may want to measure your door openings, check your gaps, and then put some temporary cross-braces or gussets in until you are ready for reassembly. Mind you, this may be fine, and the doors may need tweaking. They may be stressed around the hinge mounting points as well.

Good luck, Matthew!

Oh, and yes, you are a lucky man... new van and lovely happy wife for Christmas? What more could a man need?

Only as a reminder...#5 BRAKES updated.Its you & 5 sets of eyes lookin at ya.
Your goin V-8,start lookin for a 2nd gen doghouse,unless your gonna fab your own.

Thanks for the advice guys! Will definitely keep all that in mind as we move forward. Right now it is just ideas but who knows how many times it will change before we get to that point.

On a side note, the wife and I went back out after lunch and got the motor and tranny ready to come out. All the linkage and wiring is off as well as the radiator and drive shaft. All we have left is to take loose the bell housing and the tranny mount to drop the tranny.

I was planning on letting the motor and tranny both out the bottom but I dont have the van high enough and I dont want to put it on the lift till I have the motor out, so I guess the motor will come out the doors with the cherry picker. I am going to have to get lifting points on the motor.

Is there a normal spot that people usually hook their chains on these to lift them?

I am also either going to have to buy another motor stand or get my 2 liter for my Fiat done before I can get my 350 out of the donor van and get it on the stand. I found a 350 rebuild kit on Summit for like $260. Going to get the bottom side of the van done then get that motor pulled and up to the race shop to see if it needs to bored or not.

Thought I would post a picture of me and my new grease monkey wife. She wouldnt let me take one of her with 40 year old grease on her face so... LoL!

Nightmoves wrote:Only as a reminder...#5 BRAKES updated.Its you & 5 sets of eyes lookin at ya.
Your goin V-8,start lookin for a 2nd gen doghouse,unless your gonna fab your own.

NM, I consider the brakes as part of the under carriage rebuild. So that is on the #1 section.

I do plan on building my own doghouse once I get the 350 ready to go in. I made a sketch of how I will extend the wheel well over to the dog house to brace for the new seats. I think one of the biggest expenses, besides paint, is going to be Dynamat for the whole van. I cant take the tin can rattle of old vehicles and will dyna the whole thing, then panel it and fill the gap with expandable foam. Hopefully this will insulate and noise reduction adequately.

Always great to have the wife on board with a project and sounds like you guys are really moving along with it. By the way tell your wife she is a beautiful lady.

So I went on Ebay and bought a set of those lights pictured above. They looked kind of similar but would give modern light power, lets face it, on dark nights with an old headlight it isnt that great. I found a seller and he had them for $59.95 with free shipping so I bought a set. Today I went to My Ebay to see if they had shipped and it was weird but it wasnt even in my purchases.

Well I just got off with Ebay and I guess the guy had a bunch of listing violations, copyright stuff or something, and they canceled all the transactions and didnt even tell me. It took the chick like 10 minutes to even find it!

Luckily I had my card statement and gave all the info for it and she was able to track it down and start a case on it. I dont know how dang long it will take to get the $60 back but I am not happy with the whole situation.

I am going to find another vendor with the lights for sale I guess. Just goes to show that someone with 100% positive feedback with over 5000 sales cant be trusted anymore than the guy with 5 sales. Geez!

User name was KOOLZAP so steer clear of them for anything on Ebay...

The work continues. Got the tranny out and valve cover off and handed it back over to Tammy to start taking the head off. She is good at head..........removal...

Since we are taking the motor out the side I wasnt going to have enough room in the shop to get the cherry picker pulled back because of my work tables in the shop.

We used my air hammer to make fast work of the dog house. The one rather tough one was getting the linkage for the throttle off the side of the dog house, but the Saws-All made quick work of that too.

We pushed the van out of the shop and had to use some plywood to roll the cherry picker on since we have had so much rain the last few days.

She had been complaining that getting in and out of the van was kind of a pain and I didnt understand why till we went in the house...

What do you think???



We are done for today. I am heading to town in a bit to pick up the jacks for my lift. I will lift it about a foot off the ground and drop the rear and front ends out then jack it up about 5 feet off the ground to start cleaning it up.