And she wanted a minivan

Hi I'm new and have been lurking here for the past couple of days, and love it here.About two months ago my wife suggested we get a minivan to haul around a three year old a 1 year old and a pug for family outings. So I came home with a 62 ford falcon station bus,She protested the purchase and was not pleased at all.then she took a spin around the block,grew a big smile and is now helping me strip the 49 year old coat of yellow paint off of the van! The guy I bought it from started doing some awesome work and parts gathering,he installed a built 200 with an aluminum head , triple webbers ,msd ignition,headers ,dual flow masters,a brand new c4 auto,coker white walls,mustang2 wheels powder coated,lockar c4 shifter,all stainless steel hardware everywhere,electronic fuel pump,the 9" rear end was sanded bondo and painted-the list goes on but ends at awesome!
Any how.i've been sanding and stripping the paint,remolving old bondo and welding small holes and fixing dings. Ihave a glove box door off of a 65 with hinges and latch ,was wondering if anyone could provide pictures on how to mount it? Also I wanted to keep the orig. am radio in the dash-does any one have pics of a clean modern stereo install? And Where or who sells the side moulding that runs from front to rear,,whatis it called? thanks,any help is appreciated!

sorry more questions.....is there a cheaper source for new window rubber other than c&g- does anybody know how many volts go to the tail lights?I have thousands of LED's ,but they require 12 volts. As for lowering the front end,instead of building a jig to "drop "the front axle,why couldnt i just send some 1/2" x 4" bar stock through a profile roller to match the arc of the front leafs and then weld onto the bottom of the axle and mount the springs under the front axle? it seems that would give me 2.5"inches of drop in the front,,,has this been done?would it work?

Welcome!!! Pretty sick little 6 cyl you have there. Keep us updated on your van

The lights on your van will be 12v. Awesome van by the way, that engine sounds like the PO spent some serious dosh. How does it fit in the doghouse though, looks awfully tall....!!!

the dog house lid was cut in half then extended about 8 inches,,so now when you're sitting in the drivers seat and your hands are on the steering wheel ,the top of the dog house is about 'elbow high.

Welcome and that motor is awesome.

The moulding you asked about isn't made anymore. It was on 65 Spring Special pickups and on some Falcon vans. I would watch ebay for some as they pop up there now and then.

Welcome! BTW, does your understanding wife know you are going by Stabbinwagon?

stabbinwagon wrote: does anybody know how many volts go to the tail lights?I have thousands of LED's ,but they require 12 volts.

the whole van is prety much 12V. Make sure your LEDs are rated for automotive use. it's a harsh environment; temp changes, vibration and water all are much more common than home use.

stabbinwagon wrote: As for lowering the front end,instead of building a jig to "drop "the front axle,why couldnt i just send some 1/2" x 4" bar stock through a profile roller to match the arc of the front leafs and then weld onto the bottom of the axle and mount the springs under the front axle? it seems that would give me 2.5"inches of drop in the front,,,has this been done?would it work?

This is often called an axle flip, because the axle ends up on top of the spring instead of under it. Lots of threads and posts on this. The main thing is that the wheels/tires won't have as much clearance, it also affects the steering linkage and you must take into account caster.
I'd suggest you read up on it and get all the other stuff dealt with and a few miles under your belt before making big changes.

I don't know anyone that has liked doing that to their Econos. Many have and everyone that I know has switched back because of handling and steering issues.

i cant seem to get the red leds to light up ,i'm going to go get a volt meter,,i'm thinking there are maybe 8 volts going to the tail lights and then a full 12 volts when the brake pedal is stomped on?

You need a resistor in line or get led flashers due to led's having little to no resistance. Some wire the dash lights to be the resistor bulb others just wire in a bulb out of sight somewhere. Me i would look for led flashers or wire in a resistor to make them light up and flash.

I have a set of those Pontiac Style LED tailights and knew about the resistance issue. But when I hooked them up they worked fine! I had, however, just finished rewiring the whole van, so that may have made a difference.

And I'm one who bought my van from a guy who HAD lowered it with a drop axle. Cool look, to be sure. But outright dangerous on the hwy and after I saw how jerry rigged the steering assembly was I never drove it again until I swapped it out for a stock front axle. Night and day.

I would like to drop it about 2 inches but think I will try getting the front springs dearched a little, or take a leaf out. But that's about it. Your money will be so much better spent elswhere, IMO. GREAT motor!

southern man is right.

a regular 1157 bulb has 2 filiments, one for the running light/tail light, the other for stop/turn.
There is no reason to drop the voltage to 8 volts!
On Dodges, they do have a voltage resistor for the gauges (fuel, temp and oil), I don't know if Fords do this. The only other place where the voltage is reduced is in the ignition system, to prolong point life. Again, Dodge uses the ballast resistor, Chevy uses a resistor wire in the harness. Don't remember what Ford uses.

Yes fords have that voltage resister as well. Gauges are 6 volt power running to them. If you hook 12 volts to the gauges you will/may need to buy new ones, and with that I mean find some old ones that still work, or update to a new style and some re-wiring to go with that. My advice to a new early van owner is to do a lot of reading on this site and explore, in your case... all things ford. there are so many threads in here that deal with problems with Lights,gauges,brakes,suspension,upholstery...you name it-it is in here. And if you can't find a thread on what you are looking for, someone in here will no something about it and will help you out. And from what I heard in a different thread those gauges are a hot item right now...literally.

stabbinwagon wrote:sorry more questions.....is there a cheaper source for new window rubber other than c&g- does anybody know how many volts go to the tail lights?I have thousands of LED's ,but they require 12 volts. As for lowering the front end,instead of building a jig to "drop "the front axle,why couldnt i just send some 1/2" x 4" bar stock through a profile roller to match the arc of the front leafs and then weld onto the bottom of the axle and mount the springs under the front axle? it seems that would give me 2.5"inches of drop in the front,,,has this been done?would it work?

The voltage in your van will be over 13 volts, so make sure the LED is rated for auto use and can withstand voltages over 12 volts.