Getting my first vintage van on thursday... Guidance Please

So i have had a distant love affair with these vans for a very long time. On thursday i'm picking up a 1966 chevrolet sportvan in good daily driver condition. Needless to say, I am very exited.
I have good mechanical skills and knowledge, and will not be bringing the van into an auto shop anytime soon. What i need to know is what to look out for. Common problems, parts failures, resources, modifications, etc. Also security, I live in Chicago by downtown.... CLUB? Ignition cut off switch? car alarm? Flame thrower? Let me know what you think. Won't have a garage for a month and a half. Seems like the 15 year old gangbangers would be all over this ride.
This van will be a daily driver (as well as my '91 toyota pickup). It will be hauling old furniture, building supplies and maybe even a small pop-up camper. Any knowledge or guidance would be greatly appriciated.

312

Hello 312 and welcome to the site.

I think the first mod any 64-66 should get would be a duel circuit master cylinder and all new lines, wheel cylinders and what ever other brake parts are needed. If your going to be hauling stuf you should probobly consider front disc brakes.

These vans are easy to steel so if your area is prone to that you should go with a "batery off" switch. But on the other hand, 15 year old gang bangers are probobly too dumb to figure out how to drive an early.
I personaly like the relay that turns off the engine when you hit the brake pedal unless you know what switch turns it off, (security device).

Lets see some pictures

M1D

Clean body is the real key to these, check roof gutters for bad rust and under the mat up front, around the gas cap seems to be a bad spot on some

I see. Standard brakes are just adequate from the factory. Add 45 years, and the extra weight of hauling..... I was reading some of your information about disk brakes in another posting. Unclear on wether or not there is a way to convert to disk without having the front wheels pushed out just a hair. It looks like i should go through the brake system and at least replace all maintnace items like you were saying. Just starting to learn about these vans(get to pick mine up tomorrow), they are lacking in the power assist department? This is why the duel circuit master is required to increase braking power?


Being that i live in the "Rust Belt", rust is my most feared maintnance concern. Have actualy been looking at pictures of rusty vans, trying to figure out where these common rust spots are. Thank you for saving me the time! The van i'm getting, recieved what appears to be an ameature paintjob within the last decade. So hopefully the previous owner has eliminated any body corroision. There is a bit of surface rust around the bottom of the machine. Pictures to be posted soon!

The other rust area is the bottoms of the door posts. Bad hinge gaskets let water into the door posts which had no drain. This includes the front door post and the squirly pocket you see when you open the front door and look forward. Oh ya and under the windshield gasket.



The rerason for duel circuit master cylinder has nothing to do with power assist or not. Right now if you get a leak in your brake hydraulic system you will loose all brakes. And contrary to the popular name, the E brake will do nothing for you in any energancy over one mile per hour. It is a parking brake.

The duel circuit master provides you with two seperate hydraulic systems. That way if you get a leak you only loose front or rear brakes but not both and still have some brakes to stop with.

The problem of wheel offset on disc brake conversion is seen as a problem by some and not a problem by others. There are many different reasons why somebody might call it a problem or not. I like to keep alignment angles as they were intended to be, therefor anything more then 3/16" offset "starts" to be outside my choice for my van.
The brake set ups I designed with the 11.16" Trans-Am rotor or the 12" Vet rotor both offset the whell by 3/16". Thats the best that could be achieved with store bought parts, keeping cost to a minnimum. The vans are soo, ? "early van" that most people couldn't tell the difference anyway, including me. I don't feel any problem with 3/16" offset on my van.
But! I sure like stoping straight and fast, especialy from any speed above 70mph, I can jamb the brakes , the van dips hard in front, you can feel the belt dig into your shoulder and the you look into the rear veiw miror to see if your going to get rammed because it noe stops better then many other vehicles on the road.

M1D

You'll find problems maybe in 40 plus years of people doing things to the van that sometimes weren't really improvments. All in all those things can be fixed. From the picture looks like a solid van.

These are the pics i have recieved from the seller.

Looks like you have a few rust issues, but nothing really bad from what I see. Guessing this is your first van. After you go to a few shows you will see vanners are more like a brotherhood. I told you about Taz Fest, but in July there the van National in OH. This is close enough to you to make maybe. Check out this thread
https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t20812-39th-nat-s-are-you-going

Now i see what you're talking about M1D. The dual circuit master cylinder will be the first upgrade. On a a basic saftey level it seems worth it. Disk brakes for the future. It's not a race car so front end alighnment perfection is not needed.
I wont have my welding setup for a couple months so i hope the body rust will be minimal. The guy who is selling it to me seems pretty honest, think he would have sent me a pic of any terrible rust issues.
Looking forward to hitting van events as the wether gets nicer. I work union/freelance event type jobs, so i have half the year to road trip and to work on my own projects. Deffinitely would like to go to nationals this year assuming im not on a job. Worked with a gal who's husband is a vanner(74 econline if i remember right) So i know there's a network of van people somewhere around me.
Thanks everyone for all the help and info!

I'm not seing rust issuse on your van. Maybe the other guys I confusing my van rust issuse pictures with your van.
That rust you have around the pop out window frame is commun and not nessesarily an indicator of the rest of your vans condition.

Thats a nice starter van you are buying, it looks like it was an all out sport van maybe a delux model as it has the very rare and coveted horn ring steering wheel. Also pop out windows, full front seats, to name a few things.

lets see more pictures
m1d

Great info M1D. The thing looks so stock i figured i was pretty lucky to find it unmolested. I will post a million pictures when i have the van in my hands. Had always pictured a no-window cargo van for my first. Think the windows will come in handy for negoitiateing(sp?) city traffic free of blind spots. The only bad rust(not surface, but actual cancer rust) is on the pop out window lip. Does anyone make a patch panel lip or am i just gonna have to weld some 18gauge strips in place? There is a lil bit of surface rust in some other pics i'm unable to post.

Here she is

Looks Great ! Bill

Looks like you got a deal!!!!

Do those rear seats meet DOT specs? Just kidding. Nice looking early you have there. toad

Hahahahaha! Thanks for the comments! I couldn't be happier with purchase. Got the original style trucker mirrors with the van. Just gotta put em back on.
Looking for a more permanent seat situation too.
Running a 250 six and a powerglide. HEI distrib installed. Averaged about 14mpg. Had to cut the muffler off and straight pipe it after an hour of driving. Muffler was plugged up and blown out. Horrible exhaust leaks in the cab. The exhaust manifold is cracked in half. Massive oil leak, appears to be coming from the valve cover. Transmission engages hard, flushed it but still pops hard when engaged.
Pop out and vent windows are all either frozen up or rusted out. Owner installed roof vent leaks like a siv. No door seals or window fuzz. No doghouse gasket either. Missing door catch on drivers door (nasty little dent on the front from the door).
Minor surface rust and ill applied body filler throughout. Looks like it been repainted at least twice.

On the list:
-new roof vent (probly a simple manual one with quality seal)
-valve cover gasket (maybe pushrod gasket too)
-exhaust manifold (manif. compatability 292??)
-All new door/doghouse/body/widow seals (not sure where to find them)
-pop out window and vent frames (aftermarket??)
-back seats (gotta to be easy to remove and install)
-haha! muffler (low priority)

Thanks guys!

sounds like most of your work to do is minor. For the gaskets Steel Rubber & Restoration Specialties (Doghouse gasket) On the Pop outs no one make these so you'll have to restore your or find different ones

Really got lucky with this one. Not going to need much money to get her roadworthy. The exhaust is the biggest drivability issue. Want to have it ready for the upcoming van show.