New A108 project

I've had a few early econolines but this is my first old mopar van.  I gotta say, I like it!  Been off the road since the early 80's, 58k on a 225 /6, it's a '67.  For now, I'm just doing the mechanical stuff and patching up the few holes it has to make a nice daily-type truck.  I've already replaced all the brake hydraulics and lines and pitched that rear view mirror as far as I could throw it.  I will eventually lower it a few inches...

Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to me, it spent some time in a few feet of floodwater recently...  about two gallons of water came out of the oil pan when I pulled the plug!  I dropped the pan and cleaned it out, the bearings look perfect and it rolls over nicely so I'm gonna regasket, replace the accessories, refill, and light it off after I replace a couple broken manifold studs.  No water in the trans or rear end.

Welcome and enjoy the adventure.

Reading that you pulled a couple gallons of water out of the pan would concern me. I ran into the same thing and found that mine had a cracked block, actually both sides above the lifters under the manifold had cracks. Another clue, to me at least, is there was no water in the trans or rear end. Just stating a concern that I would check out further. Scott...

Welcome!!!

Thanks guys, no cracks that I can see, my first thought was that they left the cooling system full of straight water and the block/head cracked... but the radiator and block are full of clean green coolant.  I fixed all the manifold studs.  Man, what a PAIN!  The two outer studs were REALLY stubborn and required redrilling and tapping.  Usually I have pretty good luck with welding a nut on the end and backing the broken ones out, but even though these had plenty of stickout, these two were just not having any part of it.

I did light if off today, it sounds good and has plenty of oil pressure!

Ok back at it... After fussing with this thing over a persistent intermittently firing cyl 6 for a few days, I gave it a compression test and found it low in that cyl...  pulled the head and it had a sunk exhaust valve.  

Soooo, I let it sit for a while... until I found a $50 "running" '68 /6 off clist. pulled the head and after a good cleaning, all looked well so I slapped it on the long block in the van.  Fixed all the usual crap an car needs that has been sitting this long... fuel pump, water pump, alternator, dropped the tank and cleaned it out, blew out the fuel lines, new points/condensor/cap/rotor/wires, replaced a bunch of ratty wire-nut repairs by an "electrical engineer", fixed a bunch of grounds and other ugly wiring crap, and installed my new gauge cluster that I picked up in the classifieds here.  Blew the doghouse apart and re-insulated it.  New exhaust and muffler.  New fluids, belt, and hoses.  And after some fiddling with the carb, I got it running and took it for the first drive yesterday.  Runs GREAT, shifts nice, stops OK, must have freeway gears... it wants to CRUISE!

I've got some west coast mirrors to install today... Gotta put some decent tires on the front, install some seat belts, replace a couple smashed shackle bushings, and we're going for a 800 mile road trip this weekend! Wish us luck, we may need it!

PS...I'm looking for a cheap glove box door and a horn button if anyone happens to have a spare...?

Good =$ U!!!!!!!!!!!!! another one down the road!! Happy vannin!!   

...and I just found out that it's actually a '69.

welcome to VV that's great we have another early on the road, send more pictures as you do your repairs.
john

Thanks! I'll snap a few as I'm doing the body repairs, exciting stuff, etc... pretty sure no one wanted to watch me nswap heads, change pumps, belts and hoses, and do a tune up, haha

1ST welcome to vintage vans, Hope the trip goes well, sounds like you know what your doing with the parts you replaced or cleaned up, is this a van or pickup ??? hope your round trip goes well, where are you headed ???

Thanks man, heading to PA/OH for a couple gigs my band has lined up.  Hope we make it, haha!  We have played Pittsburgh before but this trip we're heading from cenn-penn straight over to cleveland.  Yea, although this isn't my first auto project, and I have owned a few early econolines, it is my first early mopar van.  Actually, this is kind of a late model project for me.  I usually build 20's-30's ford hot rods so this tub's a breeze!

Be safe... there is a very good van club up your way. called Niagara vans.

Cool.......
Another fellow HotRodder into vintage tin.
I got a 30/31 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan i'm building alongside my Dodge A108.
  

really cool, they should keep you busy,,

cool tudor!

Seems to make a minor "wub wub wub" type "wheel-related" noise from out back at any speed,   I thought it might be a wheel bearing, so I pulled the axles.  The bearings look okay and rotate smoothly by hand, although they looked a little dry.  I packed some grease in them and greased the U joints along with the rest of the chassis while I was under there.  Haven't driven it yet to see if it made a difference as the front wheels are off to get new tires mounted.  I did notice that the rear wheel bearing play was about .035" so I tightened that up too.  We shall see...

This description of a noise = reminds me on a noise I had once.!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Same in description -I even replaced the 2 driveshaft ujoints trying to find it!! Finally -noticed a missing lugnut!! then found someone had tried to stear my alunimum wheels & had loosene  d all the lugs!!

YIKES! Lug nuts are tight over here, pretty sure it's not a u joint as it seems to be linked to wheel rotation speed... a carrier bearing maybe? The rear end was low on oil when I got it so I topped it off... but it isn't leaking anywhere... I can easily rotate the driveshaft by hand with no noticeable noise or rough spots of resistance. I don't really want to tear the whole rear end down if I don't have to... I'll keep yall posted.

Noise gone... musta been dry bearings or excess clearance. Nice and quiet now!

What's the best 1bbl carb for these engines? I've got a holley that runs awesome going down the road but won't idle for crap and a carter that idles great but bucks and snorts under load, ha! Gonna rebuild one but not both.... which one should it be?

Nice looking van ya got there! Reminds me of mine when I got it.

Thanks guys, been driving it a bunch to make sure everything is up to snuff.  Seems great except this idle issue is baffling the hell out of me!  I took the carb apart again and I found a chunk of crud in the idle passage so I thought I had it nailed.  Put it back together and it's doing the same thing...

It's a Holley 1920, runs great at high idle with the choke on when it's cold. Once it warms up, it stalls out.  Then occasionally, after driving a while, out of the blue it will start to idle just fine, then the next time I start it up it's back to stalling out if I don't constantly feather the pedal...  weirdness...

I've tried it with the PCV and vacuum advance plugged, checked for vacuum leaks around the carb/intake, it will run smoothly at a high idle if I hold the choke plate about 3/4 closed.

has all the symptoms of some piece of crud floating around in there so I guess I'll take it apart again and blow out all the passages and try again...  ugh...

Anyone who's familiar with these carbs have any advice?

The tank is cleaned and sealed with new lines and a new fuel filter... I'm reasonably sure no NEW crap is finding its way in there...