Almost ready for the road !!!

Well after 3 or 4 weeks of working hard to get the Econo going she crawled out of the garage under her own power,

I rebuilt the carb, new exhaust manifold gasket, new flange gasket, rebuilt the master cylinder, went over all the brakes, replaced the rear rubber brake hose, replaced brake line from proportioning valve to rear and rewired all the lights so it has turn signals and brake lights again .....  

here she is basking in the sunlight after who knows how long..
that ugly ass roof vent is coming off today..
was at the Canfeild swap meet yesterday and found a brand new in the box 15 x 30 sunroof to fill that ugly hole upfront ... got it for $60 so I am happy...
So the work goes on....but its getting closer...

Damn that looks nice and clean. Great job on getting her ready. Looking forward to seeing the roof vent installed.

Nice looking van once you ditch the vent. Congratulations!

Looks awesome. Nice job.

Looking great, sure feels good to make progress and drive it around!

Take some pictures of the sunroof install

been working on the old van some more... have yet to decide the sunroof install,
started making a new gauge cluster for it since none of the gauges work anyways.



some of the new gauges,



ordered new Fuel gauge for ford with the 73 - 10 ohm rating same as the van so original sending unit should work fine.



and new speedo



so we shall see...  I can't wait.

Ive been wanting to make a new gauge cluster as well. Looking forward to seeing how yours turns out. What are you planning on using to cut out the gauge holes?

Just finished a full-fleet of 'Equus' gauges too. Liked the neat mounting system. Since your not using an ammeter, try wiring all your instruments up through a 12 pin radio connector. Then you can simply 'unplug' the entire instrument pod in a few seconds for behind-the-dash access. Of course, you still need to uncouple the speedometer cable, unless that's an electronic speedo....I used the original instrument panel, since I wanted to keep the old speedo (nostalgia). Your method is better.
I used a 2" hole saw for the gauges, but backed it up with a piece of scrap plywood so it
didn't rocket off into my shop wall.
If you want some pix of the wiring, email me: 'melaqueoscar(at)gmail.com'
Haven't figured out the pic-post complexities with this site.

There is a machine shop around the corner from me that will cut it all out and clean the edges for about $10.

I have a 2" hole saw but I would rather the shop do it..., they will check and make sure everything is centered before they cut it.

Hey Oscarm I would like to see the finished product if you figure out how to post pics..

Nice van!!! I wanna change all my gauges too. What are the best ones to go with?

I went wit the Equus 8000 series , will let you know how they work when I get them installed,
still waiting for my fuel Gauge to show up, have to make sure you order the ford one with 73 - 10 ohm so the stock sender should work fine.

Also order a nice shiny piece of 1/4" thick Black acrylic , thicker than the aluminum I got and I wont have to paint it.

I've been looking at those equus gauges to. So it will be good to hear they work out for you guys

UPDATE... finally got my acrylic Plexiglas,
here is 67 instrument cluster and the 2015 cluster..

looks great.

Great work on the gauge cluster!!

Gauges look awesome!

WP

Looks Great---I'm getting ready to do the same thing. Do the Equus gauges use the stock sending units?. Do they have metal frame rings?. Still trying to decide what brand to use.Thanks Mike

If you get the fuel Gauge for Ford / Chrysler you can use the stock sending unit, (73 - 10 ohms)

rings are plastic.

Well spent all day installing, wiring.. so on.. got it installed, everything is working except the fuel gauge..

going to run new wire from sender to Gauge and make sure sender is grounded good before I yank the sender out..

also started to build a console in front of dog house for cup holders and stuff, plus it made it easy to run the temp sensor and oil pressure Gauge line.

That turned out real nice!

I read somewhere that aftermarket fuel guages don't work with the ford sender. The one I installed only works about 10% of the time.

Drove it for the first time today, everything worked Great..
fuel Gauge still not working going to order a new sending unit and be done with it I hope..

installed the new roof vents and sealed them,(Double Bubbles), ... guess I'm going to have to start planning the interior next..

Nothing like that first ride, Congrats. Enjoy your van my friend.

Your vans looks real sharp. Happy to here your first ride went well.

Glad it went well for you Cruger!!! Enjoy the fruits of your labor! Love those Gauges!!!