Special K coming along

hi guys,
im sort of new here.... i lurked for a long time before jumping in before, but then got busy and wasnt around awhile.... i was something like oldvannut, lol, but i cant remember...

anyways, i have done a few things to the old kurby, and thought i would share...not exactly in the realm of A's, G's, and E's....but everyone seemed receptive last time, so i thought i would come back and show her off again, and since theres no dedicated forum for these old boxes on wheels, were kinda looking for a home so to say, lol

lets see if remember how to post pics....
if you remember, this is what i started off with....

oohh why does it do that???
i think this is a large photo from the seller actually when i bought the ol' girl...

first thing i did was put on a new carb and air filter..

i hated to put that shiny new holley on that old dirty motor but i needed a carb so i figured might as well go ahead and get what im going to use... its a holley 650 vacuum secondaries

up second was getting the old wore out rearend rebuilt, she came with 5.13's, i bumped her up to 4.56's just to ease up on the highway rpms, believe it or not, she is actually kind of "zippy" in city traffic


how many of you can pull your axles without taking the tires off ??? lol


out with the old...


in with the new

next came the fuel system.... i went through 2 filters in 2 weeks, the insides of the old tank were dissolving into this new gas we have these days...


pretty shiny new stuff, gotta love it....

can you count the number of rednecks ? lol

the heater core lasted the entire drive from east flat rock NC to fayetteville NC (usually a 3-4 hour drive) it took me 9 hours in the kurby....max speed was 35-40, two broken/leaking exhaust flanges, and dry rotted dog house gaskets made for an interesting trip.... i had to pull over about every 10 minutes to let the van air out and stopped and got some earplugs first truck stop i found, lol..
but anyway, the heater core lasted the whole trip, i went out next morning to crank her up and take to shop and the water came flowing, so in went a new one....

none of the old gauges worked so i am building a new custom dash.... its in now but this is from the first stages of that mini build....

the wiring was less then stellar so i got a new 24 circuit harness from hot rod wires.... i have really enjoyed doing this part of the build, the new harness made it very easy to get her back to proper working order again

as time goes by i do a little sanding here a little there...
i went through about 4 gallons of paint stripper to get the top 6 coats off.... then broke out the sand balls for the drill...

i have tossed around the idea of polishing the ol' girl out, thats a lot of work though, lol, it took me 2 months to get most all of the paint off..

couple of interior shots...
big open spaces, lol

heres one of the test fits on the dash, going to look good
i found a tilt column from a '74 winnebago that fit just right...

rebuilt the rear door hardware inside and out, all new hardware for door latches... and new LED "hybrid" brake lights, and all LED running lights...

and yes, you saw right....those are side pipes, lol

since there is no driver side door, there is a floor plate that fits over this foot well.... it was nasty down in there!!


and i do mean nasty !!.... thats about 10 pounds of muck that i scooped out...

well, thats about it for now..... all the new stuff will be coming back off for paint/polishing.....really just installed it so i could get the ol' girl around town to have work done here and there....lol, plus the fact i just love driving this van !!
i found a nice set of stainless steel headers i will be putting next week, and will tie them in temporarily with flex pipe to the side pipes.... im not 100% sold on the side pipes yet, lol...but im close, lol

i am having problems finding a proper NSS for the steering column.... the closest one i have found so far works in park, but allows starting in reverse, and activates reverse lights in drive..... if anyone has any idea where to look for one please chime in and let me know....

My first wife and i bought an old bread truck like this and redid it for camping and hauling the quads and bikes! We painted it Smurf blue and stenciled "Bass's Big Blue Bus" on the side (Bass for our last name Basaraba like the fish not the sound)

Loved that old van and really like yours! Can't wait to see it painted and furnished!

That's a huge project and super cool ! Looks like you are having alot of fun with it . Love those flamed marker lights. keep the pics coming !

ever consider doing an acidize on that alu body - when done its shiny like new!! can do it ur self .

That thing is awesome. I am a fan of polishing out. Would look sweet! Keep it coming!

I have had my eye on one of these vans for some time now and would love to buy it. but....one project at a time, and money is the only issue from not pursuing it. Yours is shaping up nicely, keep the pics coming...and that dash looks really nice. Oh yea...keep the pipes, gotta have pipes.