1964 Econoline camper in the UK.

The doghouse on Chevy's is the same way. Very nice job on the seat bracket and the seats look great

Sy ~ your van is looking great!. I also made the mistake of measuring the driver side and assuming the passenger side would be the same. Got lucky in that the auto parts recycler was nice enough to take them back. ~ Tim

It all looks really nice !!

SY I PM'd you about a month or so ago and havent gotten a reply. I need an address to send the clips to. Also need to know if you need the sway bar clamps or if you got new ones since they come with the bushings at a lot of shops.

Hi Tim, i think you are confusing me with someody else, as i haven't ordered anything off you. There is another guy on here called Snelly who has a van the same colour as mine in the UK. He has never posted on the forum, but i received a few PMs off him about his van. Perhaps it was him that asked for some parts.

Regards
Sy

Ok so Im a little cornfused, I'll agree. I'm actually trying to contract rhysaccess but I am getting no replys to my PM's I send him. If he reads this contact me direct at EconoUSAparts@fuse.net

Tim, I'm amazed that you can juggle so many van parts and customers so well.

I miss a few of course but I try

Managed to get some new shocks at last. The postage for new ones from the USA was ridiculous, so i have been putting up with the old spring shocks that look very old.

After a bit of research on Rockauto, i found out that the shocks on the Econolines are the same as the Toyota Landcruiser from the early 80s, except the rear ones on the Toyota fit the front ones on the Econoline and vice versa....
So i managed to get hold of a pair of new rear shocks for a Toyota Landcruiser and have just fitted them on the front of the Econoline...
Wow, what a difference that has made, the old ones must have been completely shot, as every time i went over a speed hump there was a lot of crashing and banging before. Now i can go over them at any speed and there is no banging....
Working on sealing all the windows in now, to make the van a bit more waterproof...

Sy

The van just passed its annual MOT test this morning...

Not sure what you guys have to do in the USA, but over here all vehicles are checked annually to make sure they are road worthy....
Everything was absolutely fine. The only 2 things that were mentioned was some play in the steering box, and a small leak on the rear axle.
I knew about both these faults already, so no nasty surprises.

I still haven't managed to find a source for a steering box that doesn't cost the earth, but i will keep trying....
Sy

Great work on Mr Bump!

Have you gotten any further with decisions on the ragtop roof? I recently purchased a 61 E100 with the camper top and have been tossing the idea around of going ragtop. I have found a company in California that makes a 40"x80" ragtop. The site is: http://www.slidingragtops.com and they have some pretty detailed pictures on how to install it.

I am planning on buying a ragtop from this firm over in the UK...

http://www.parisbeetles.co.uk/bus%20sunroofs.htm

They are designed for VWs but should easily fit an Econoline. The biggest they do is 49" by 96", which is big enough to cover the hole and allow me to trim the rusty edge that looks like it was never treated after being cut....!!!!

Won't be doing it until next year, as i am currently restoring an Austin Mini Van to fund the Econoline restoration.... I look forward to seeing how you get on with yours. Post plebty of piccies when you do it....
Sy

Ok,so i have finally got round to posting an update on my van. After a bit of a nightmare end to our holiday, when the engine mount failed (see other thread here)

engine mount failure

I placed an order for a new radiator, via ebay. I bought this one about a month ago

Ebay link

and it finally arrived last week.





I also received a big box of stuff from Macs which included 2 new engine mounts amongst other things. The new radiator looks awesome, it is a 4 core one which should hopefully help to cool things down properly. I have binned the mechanical fan, which was very bent, in favour of an electric one.


The electric fan is made by a company called Kenlowe, and it was very expensive, costing more than the radiator, but i went with this one because it has a very quiet 2 speed motor, along with an adjustable thermostat. The probe just slots inbetween the fins of the radiator, and you can set it to come on at whatever temperature you like. The fan kicks in low speed, and if the temperature gets 5 degrees hotter, it kicks up to full speed.
Also, the fittings that it comes with are very clever. You can see the adjustable feet in the piccy above, that allow the fan to be mounted in all different positions, with rubber bungs hopefully keeping the noise down a bit.

I just have a trial fit of the radiator, and as always it didn't quite fit as well as i had hoped. The radiator is the same size as the old one, which is fine, but unfortunately the transmission cooler connections are only 3/8 unf, whilst the male connectors on the van are 1/2 unf. I have managed to locate a supplier of adaptors that will hopefully fit, but now i have to wait to receive these, which will probably take ages at this time of year.
Also, the top radiator hose fitting is 1 1/2 inches instead of 1 1/4 so i need a different hose for that as well.
Apart from that it has been a doddle to fit so far, i will take some more piccies tomorrow once i have wired the new fan in.

I am sure you spend the most of your time waiting for parts to arrive from the USofA. I think I watch a little to much Wheeler Dealers, been watching it for a few seasons now.

Id imagine it takes a ton of patience restoring a American classic in the UK, but you have made a lot more progress than some of us here. Nice Radiator by the way. A nice shiny rad sure helps spruce up the engine bay.

I give up trying to make these pictures fit the screen. Edited that last post 5 times with different sized pictures, and still it enlarges them and cuts the end off....!!

Sy,

great progress and great thread. If you are still looking for a steering box, check with Fred Carello (fmc56 on this forum) I know that he has come into several boxes that he is selling. Located in Rhode Island US.

Mike in Mass

Thanks for that, i have PMd fred about steering boxes. I did make some attempts to get one last year but nobody got back to me.

Great work Sy. And when you get a chance to come across the pond I'll let set my Econoline up like yours. LOL

Very nice work. By the way, what is the car in your picture?

have a Happy New Year!

Thom

The van in my avatar is my 1972 Austin Mini van. It is currently in my garage having some of the bodywork sorted out. Once that is done i will be getting on with the econoline properly.

You know, if I had studied that avatar photo a little closer I probably would have figured it out. From the overhead angle it looked like another vehicle that I had seen in Washington, D.C. while in the Air Force, some type of Holden I believe.

I have a friend who retired from the Air Force and much of the time he was stationed in England. His passion was the minis and he raced, chopped and cut these cars up to build into street cars and racers. The one he has now was well renowned in racing circles in England and is worth about $50,000. It is still set up in racing form and sits under a canvas cover in the back of his garage. I am in the process of building a new garage for him that will allow him to show his cars. He has an eclectic mix of British and American cars.

The Austins and the MG's have always been my favorites. But at 6'4" and 235 lbs it is a bit of a squeeze. Why is it the big guys always like the small cars? LOL. I have a 1979 MG roadster that belongs to a friend and I have been trying to sort out all types of problems with previous owner issues. Jury-rigged to be more specific.

I will share these photos with my friend Ron as he had a mini minivan while in England years ago.

Have a great New Year!

Thom

OK. So i haven't taken any more pictures yet, but Mr Bump is now up and running again....!!!!

The radiator is in and i have fitted a thermostat now, as there wasn't one before.
I also disovered the reason the transmission cooler lines didn't fit. I was moving the old radiator in the garage when i noticed that it had adaptors screwed into it still......!!!!! doh.....!!!!

So the van is now running well again. I changed the engine mounts as well, and the mechanical fan is now gone. I have an electric fan to hook up next week, but for now the van is running, as long as i don't sit in traffic for too long...!!
It seems to sit at 160 degrees now, although the thermostat i fitted is supposed to be 180 degrees. Not sure why that is, although it may be an inaccurate temperature gauge, but the gauge and sender are new and matched. Will have to see what its like in warmer weather.
I may also buy one of those digital thermometers to get a better idea of the water temperature.

The engine revs much easier and quieter now without the mechanical fan. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on fuel economy. I'm hoping it will help a bit.

Just picked up this today. These engines are rare in the UK, so when one came up 60 miles from my house i had to go and get it...!!!

Ebay engine


Its the same engine as i already have in mine, so will serve as a spare. It will also come in handy when i have to fabricate brackets for the air con that i will eventually be fitting.

Great find!!!! We are lucky here, even minor parts are hard for you to find

Nice score!

First time I have seen your thread and I just read all the way through, was a pleasure to read. I had started a thread about seats yesterday and then was happy to see you posted about your Porche seats.

How are they holding up? I might have to look into some like this. I was hoping a Cadilac CTS seats with the built in seatbelts would work but just dont think they will so looking at other options.