Resurrection!

glad to see you getting to that windshield frame, still have that windshield I gave you 8 yrs ago???

yep, hopefully it will be in that frame soon!

Normally, I would do a butt weld like on the dash, but in order to be able to clamp the roof to prevent warpage I went with a lap joint...

ok, maybee im not only one with a jacked up windshield frame. how did you determine what would fit as a replacement. becuase i cant find any 67 frames for mine.

Im amazed -Talent- greta job -saving that -keep it up - ive met some great metal men in past -just a lost art with most -Nice job there !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey greg stop by sometime, I took some parts to the scrap that you might have used.

Is that a 70s Triumph with a BSA seat?

Sweet van by the way!

Jacob

don't scrap that sweet retro bicycle

But first a little fun.....


I tell everyone that the engine in the van is my 'temp' 350- I pulled it out of a 50,000 mile 74 Chevelle I used to have.

Not the highest power year for the SBC, but it works.


Oh, and-

I can haz pozi?



Yes, if you look close you can see a gas tank strap hanging. I was pulling holeshots in my driveway with no cab doors, and only one gas tank strap.

My first interior. Good thing I have no emotional attachment to it, it's nasty.







If you look above the rear doors, you'll see an overhead console, it has the tuners and controls for a 9" b&w TV that I built into a console behind the driver's seat. I could sit in the bed and reach up and change channels and adjust the volume..... way back in 1980.

Say goodbye....





Allllll goooone.....





Pretty scaly by the back doors, they always leaked. Only a coupls small holes though.

The 'optional equipment' tag....



By the way, never leave a cardboard box full of parts sit on your floor for 13 years. This used to be solid.



Some minor rot...



and the piece I made to replace it.

Dan- I will stop in soon. I got called to southern Ohio shortly after my phone died..... charged it up to find a message from the shop....

Latest update:

Home for the weekend, weather's not too cold (45*) so I'm attacking the smaller holes in the windshield frame.

There's a whole bunch of these rust holes all over the frame, and I don't want to use fiberglass or bondo- I want metal so I can cover it with POR-15 and be done with it.



So, I fire up the trusty mig and start putting some blobs and beads (depending on how bad the base metal burns)



















Weld up a long crack in the donor frame



And now to grind it down...



I've said it before, stitch function is the best thing ever for this kind of repair. I set a weld on time, a stitch pause time, and just squeeze the trigger and it puts a tack, pauses until it cools, puts the next tack... and so on. I love it!

I've had to scale back my plans somewhat, I was hoping to be in final paint by the nats, but most likely I'll have some sort of 'temp' paint on it. Goal now is 'driveable', which really means "assembled (mostly)".

Looking at the pics from last year, it's scary still how rotted the windshield frame was.

All you new members- take a close look at your windshield. If you see any bubbling or rust stains, pull the glass NOW and fix it before it looks like mine.

I'm not a bodyman, but I have worked with sheetmetal most of my adult life. This is not an easy repair. The sheetmetal for this area is not reproduced- you need to either find a good frame or form it yourself.

To be honest, if I didn't have such a long history with this van I would not be doing this repair, I would be looking for another van. But being able to say (at 52 years old) that I still have the van I bought at 18 means a lot to me.

Here's an area where it seems they all rust, right in the bottom corner. If you look at the area, you see it forms a trough that holds water with no way for it to escape.

I had a very large hole here, and several smaller holes. I welded in a strip last year to fill the large hole, but one of the smaller holes went so far as to be 'outside' the frame, into a visible area. If you see bubbling here, you know you have holes under the gasket.




Just kept putting tack welds in to fill it up.



Ground down the tacks, and this hole appeared. Nertz.



Fill it again.



Grind it again. Yes, I'm using a 4 1/2" grinder upside down.





A little better



And shoot a little primer to see how it looks





Next- this mess...

More roof repairs.....

Time for the floor...

LOOKING good moving right along I always like to see another Early being saved. I wish theses Early van's were made out of aluminium or stainless so no one would have to deal with any rust Issues. I have had my 1975 Chevy van since I was 16 and have had the windshield out twice and have dealt with rust issues more than once so I Hear you on sentimental value!!! Keep up the good work and keep us posted. .......JOE.....

Swap meet wheels...



And a teaser shot of the progress...

Looks good!!! do you have a custom grill for it

Was just a plastic grate.
I have stock grills that I am modifying to be removable.

Wow, what a difference! Nice piece of work so far and keep the pics coming...

This van is going to have a late 60's early 70's look, so a modern stereo isn't going to look quite right.

So, I did a little garage archaeology.....



and found this Motorola in dash AM/FM 8 track...

And it even works, tape player and all!

To go with it, I will be installing this vintage Lafayette 23 channel CB....



My garage is a wondrous place...

That's a Big 10-4, Good Buddy!!!

greg did you find some tapes

Got lots of tapes. Not all have great music, but I do have a few goodies.

Rust removal....









Trying out the newish wheels.....

Looking pretty good Gregg !! I like the looks of the wheels.

There are some looks that just never go out of style.

When you have 6 lug axles, your choices are pretty limited. I got lucky finding these 15x8 steelies.