Russell's '66 Sportvan Deluxe

Yesterday while pulling into my driveway my sleeve caught the ear of what was left of my horn ring and broke it off.

Although the ring was missing when I got the Van, I liked the ears coming off of the side. I cut off the other side and ground them down evenly. Looks OK.

I think it looks Great just the way it is now!!! That turned out beautifully!

Thanks Vanny, as much as I like the look of the Deluxe horn ring, I don't think I would want one on my Van. I'm sure the reason they are so hard to find is they get broken during use. They seem to take up a lot of room in the turning area of the wheel and are not built very strong.

They do look nice though.

Russell wrote:Yesterday while pulling into my driveway my sleeve caught the ear of what was left of my horn ring and broke it off.

Well I guess that explains why mine is now a one armed bandit. When I sold the van it had both ends like you first photo, the ring long gone. When I repurchased the van the passenger side was broken off. I liked being able to tap the ends with my thumb to honk the horn. I've been reluctant to cut off the other end but I think yours looks really clean now.

When I painted the Van I wanted to have the roof blasted, it is so big, was rusty in spots and everything needs to be done on a ladder so it didn't get done.
Recent rain and morning dew have been showing more rust and when parked at certain times I could see the roof needed paint.
Last weekend I started stripping it, I put a rust treatment paint on first then sealer, primer and painted it yesterday.


It took more time to tape off the Van than to paint it.


It would have been easier to paint the roof when I painted the Van but doing it afterwards wasn't as overwhelming as doing everything at once.

Before
I'm glad I got it done.

That looks amazing!!

I found some window rubber for the rear doors on Amazon, much cheaper than the Steele rubber one's. I was looking for something without the lock strip but these have the lock strip attached. I put one in yesterday with time and patience it was pretty easy and fits well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NL48TFK/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nice work and thanks for sharing!

Your corners came out nice. I might do away with the pop outs on my back doors so I might give this a try.

trying to remove mine to get my steering wheel off and I barely touched it and my right arm on my horn ring broke off. ;-(

I was driving home in the rain tonight and my Idiot light came on, I looked at my gauges for oil pressure and temp both were normal, a couple minutes later the temp was going up and kept climbing, I turned the engine off and coasted watching the temp climb, I had to re-start it to get off the freeway a short distance again coasting with the engine off. Broke a fan belt.

This is exactly why I bought 2 the first time I broke one. I had the new one on and out of there within 10 minutes. I barely got wet getting the belt and tools. (I love my van)
The first time it took me an hour to walk to a parts store and buy a belt and wrench to replace it.
Tomorrow I will probably buy 2 more. (just in case)

Is there a reason it's breaking belts? Is there something not quite aligned properly? Glad to hear you're prepared and didn't have to make the hike to find a parts store but I would be curious as to the cause of the break in the belt...

I've probablly said this before bur I love your paint scheme on your van!

The first one broke about a year ago, I think the main problem is the fan doesn't have a clutch and is creating a lot of drag, it's a 7 blade fan and it is noisy especially when revving the engine quickly. (wind noise) Last night I had the rear end sideways a couple of times playing in the rain. (I needed to see if my posi was working properly, Haha.)
Autozone said there is a lifetime guarantee on their belts but it is laying on the freeway somewhere.
It only has the 1 belt which turns the alternator and water pump, makes it easy to change.
I was glad I could change it from inside since it was raining outside.
I'm going to find out about a clutch fan for it today also.

That’s good, glad you have a plan. Guess you don’t feel like playing Frogger on the freeway trying to pick up your fan belt...What’s the matter McFly? Are you chicken?

Russell wrote:
Autozone said there is a lifetime guarantee on their belts but it is laying on the freeway somewhere.

I bet they will give you a replacement anyway if you ask, you can probably have it mailed via online support chat. Or just mention it the next time you go in. Most retailers are very customer satisfaction focused.

I know many of you think it's always sunny here in San Diego but we have our problems with rain and cold weather also.
Today we have heavy fog along the coast, all of this moisture in the air runs off the roof and puddle's under the front, we also have the salt air which is not good for the metal.

It's not snow and I feel for you guys who deal with that during the winter.
I thought you guys should know it's not all rainbows and pixie dust here either.

You call that a puddle??

"Rust never sleeps"

I bought a clutch fan a couple months ago, my radiator was too close for it too fit so yesterday I made new brackets to make room. A little wider and facing the other way.

My fan belt would slip on start up and high revving of the engine, I think the 7 blade fan I had on it before was creating too much drag.
Before

After

The belt quit making noise and it is much quieter inside when the van is running, the fan created a lot of noise while driving before.

Nice Work Russell! Is that an automatic fan on the front to push air through the radiator?

vanny wrote:Nice Work Russell! Is that an automatic fan on the front to push air through the radiator?

It's electric, I have it hooked to a timer switch. I can turn it on when I park or if I want more air in traffic or ?.

Great!!! Thanks for including the pic so I could get a better look at the setup!

Russell are the aluminum angles bolted through the sides of the 2nd gen doghouse?

Never mind, I found some of your earlier pics that answered my question. NICE WORK!!!

wideload wrote:Russell are the aluminum angles bolted through the sides of the 2nd gen doghouse?

Never mind, I found some of your earlier pics that answered my question. NICE WORK!!!

They are bolted to the frame where the original radiator support was bolted on. I have nothing attached to the doghouse so it can be removed with everything working.

When I painted my Van I didn't take the windows out, I taped around the rubber. I bought new rubber awhile ago but have been putting off installing it because I knew I would have to re-paint the brown around the windows.




The windshield rubber was too long and had to be cut down to fit.



It's all back together now, took all week but I'm happy to have it all sealed up properly.