Scotty's 1965 Chevy SportVan Deluxe Travel Cruiser

So, I spun the cruiser with the new motor around the block a couple times tonight. So far, so good. Seems to be running really smoothly.

Anything I should be especially keeping an eye on?

Maybe I will drive it to work on Friday.

Yup, that Schneider additive is what I used. Sorry I didn't post it here. I couldn't find it in my receipts. Good to know about that zinc additive. I'll have to get some.

Yeah, they always say you need to drive a new engine at all different speeds. The rings can wear a ridge in the cylinder wall if you always drive at the same RPM during break-in. So they say.

Hey, how about you drive it down I-8 to the car show in Pacific Beach tomorrow (8/19/12)? It's Charger Steve's Wild Rides show. West end of Garnet. Free admission. You just have to find a place to park. I'll be there. You, Don?

austinmodhouse wrote:I need a donivan65 in my neighborhood.

Me, too, brother.

so..... should we all just be runnin' that zinc additive with our normal oil regularly as a matter of course? (L6,250,'68)

So today, I installed the new intake/exhaust manifolds and Monojet carb that came with my rebuild motor just for fun. I spun it around the block and already I'm noticing improved acceleration and smoothness.

I might take this time to rebuild my Carter YF as a backup!

I had real trouble with my original carb on my new engine too, even after I rebuilt the carb. It was backfiring so bad I blew out two new mufflers! Don found me a good rebuilt carb on eBay and my engine ran like new with it! Carbeurators can be very mysterious.

In case you haven't finished lowering your sway bar, here are some good photos showing how Don did it. Very clever way to bolt on his blocks! I just used real long bolts.

https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t243p60-the-blue-no-door#5459

Thanks Rich, I got the sway bar all squared away. I am looking at upgrading my transmission soon though. I'm thinking about going with a 2004R, so I may need to advice on fabbing a crossmember and making some lowering blocks for the motor.

I think I wouldn't have had to lower my engine if I would have made more room for the new tranny. I couldn't raise up my 700R4 high enough because it hit against the van's crossmember. I wish I would have altered that frame there to make room. I could have heated it with a torch and caved it in a bit. Or cut some of it away. I'll dig up a photo of where it hit.

These photos show the part of the crossmember (frame?) where the tranny could have used more clearance. I had expected the problem to be up by the bellhousing but the 700R4 kind of bulks up just ahead of the tailshaft. Not sure if a 200R4 is the same.





You want the engine and tranny to be level. Maybe I should have just raised up the rear end of the van instead of lowering the engine!

To answer about the zinc additive -Yes-add it to any regular oils. If you dont use it -the cam & lifetre wear gets bad quick & you know what metal in the oil will do -new engine again.

Got a few goodies at the pick-your-part half off sale this weekend.

-A lap belt to replace the driver's side belt that was hanging on by a thread.

-A dome light to replace my brittle cracked one. A International Harvester Travelall uses the same dome lights as our vans.

-A Corvair glovebox door. Maybe sacrilegious, but I think the metal trim will look cool on my dash and it's pretty clean.

-A set of 14" stock steel rims from a 76 Nova with disc brakes. Im planning on upgrading to front discs, but want to keep the stock look. These cleared the discs on the Nova, so Im hoping they work!

Ill post up some pics of my treats in the next couple days.

I seen the commercial for the 1/2 at Pick A Part on TV but since the one here in Alabama sucks I decided to stay home instead. Last time I was down there they had nothing worth the 60 mile drive.

Glad you scored a few goodies!

Good going, Scott, taking advantage of the 1/2 price weekend! That's how I got my 15" rims. Did you look for a stock HEI distributor on that Nova?

I saw that a couple Corvairs came into that yard. I was thinking about checking for the chrome glovebox door! What about the instrument cluster to go with it? Was it gone? Right now I'm in the process of repainting the silver on mine. And while I've got the cluster apart, I want to polish the clear plastic. Anyone know the best way to do that? Some kind of plastic polishing compound? Is there a protective finish on it that might get screwed up?

I meant to tell you, there were about a dozen Corvairs a couple blocks down from us at the El Cajon cruise last Wednesday. Most of them had the shiny versions of our dash! It was fun to see so many instrument clusters like ours, with the few subtle differences (like chrome!).

The entire engine on the Nova had already been taken. I had a real hard time finding a 6 cylinder HEI dist… no luck on that. But Im excited to see if these rims will clear the disc setup Im going with...

I grabbed the glovebox door because someone had already removed it. There were two corvairs there and both had the glovebox doors and instrument panels still in them

I was going to grab one of the instrument panels, for the glass panel if nothing else, but I rad out of time. They were still there yesterday if anyone needs some parts for their dash...

VANagain wrote:These photos show the part of the crossmember (frame?) where the tranny could have used more clearance. I had expected the problem to be up by the bellhousing but the 700R4 kind of bulks up just ahead of the tailshaft. Not sure if a 200R4 is the same.





You want the engine and tranny to be level. Maybe I should have just raised up the rear end of the van instead of lowering the engine!

So you think I might be able to get away with cutting or bending a small section of the frame and not have to lower the motor?

For cleaning the plastic for the gauges, what about those headlight cleaning/polishing kits for plastic headlight lenses. Just need someone to hold on to it while you polish one side at a time??? go slow and that might work.

Yes, I think you can avoid lowering the engine by making this modification. If we use a torch to heat the metal and bend it, then you're not permanently altering the frame like if you cut out a chunk. In hindsight I wish would have done this on mine. But by the time I realized this problem I didn't want to pull the tranny again. And my custom-made tranny hanger is made for the drop now anyway.

And I think I just discovered why my driveshaft is a bit too long! It has pretty much no slop in length. I carefully measured to have the driveshaft shortened but now I'm wondering if I did that measurement before I lowered everything...

That would be great! Im still on the hunt for a decent priced transmission. I'm thinking I might take a look and see what I can find at the junk yard…if nothing else I can get a core to trade in or have it rebuilt.

There are a lot of Camaros and Firebirds in the junkyards and they came with 700R4s. Do your homework online. There is a ton of info on these trannies. One thing everyone recommends is to stick with 1988 and newer. Look up the shape of a 700R4 oil pan so you can spot them. I'm not sure what the 200R4s came in.

Been doing some research on that. Guess they came in some Chevy Caprice, Monte Carlo SS, some late 80s/early 90s Buick and Olds…I also got the shape of the oil pan…

I picked up a bench seat from a 75 Chevy Van on criagslist. Its not pretty, but it was dirt cheap. With as much as I will use it and a cover over the top, it'll be great. And it still retains sort of a classic look…gotta fab up some brackets as it doesnt quite line up with the stock seat mounts on the floor.

Hey........my old van lol! Nice to see it after all these years.

Cool! Got any good stories from when you had it??