Newbie Dan's New Van

I just bought myself a '64 Econoline 8-door and have a ton of questions about this awesome van.

I've been into vintage VWs forever so this is a bit different for me. It's got a 170ci in it and a three on the tree. What's weird is it seems to be set up from the factory to only have a driver.
When I got the Econo it wouldn't stay running and I found out the choke on the carb wasn't working/ hooked up. I ordered a kit from a place in AZ called Classic Inlines that lets you put a 2 bbl weber on to the inline six. Has anybody used this kit?
The next thing on my list after getting it running right, is to do the brakes and get it stopping right. Any pointers on how to get the wheel cyclinders out would be great.

I haven't used the 2bbl kit. For any questions about the motor you can ask the guys over at http://fordsix.com/forum/ .

Concerning the wheels cylinders I don't have any tips beyond getting your parts from Mac's. They have rebuild kits as well as new cylinders.

http://macsautoparts.com/search.asp?sb=0&ls=y&camid=ECO&year=0&make=&ss=wheel+cylinder&x=0&y=0

If it's in the budget, look into switching your master cylinder to a dual cylinder unit. I haven't done it yet, but it's high on the list.

D and D makes master cylinder kits as well as disc brake kits for our vans http://www.dddiscbrakes.com/kits.html

I've also seen units like this one put into early Econolines. You can save a few bucks and get brakes with a power booster if you're willing to do some minor fab work.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1947-1954-CHEVY-TRUCK-BRAKE-PEDAL-7-DUAL-POWER-BOOSTER-MASTER-CYLINDER-KIT-/300741759234?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Make%3AChevrolet|Model%3ATruck&hash=item46059b1102&vxp=mtr

Welcome to VV!!!!

Welcome to Vintage-Vans!!!

Yes. Seem to be a lot of 8-Doors starting to show up! Very nice and Welcome to Vintage-Vans!

welcome to VV,,,nice Econo

Welcome to VV! Hope you enjoy your 8 door. The Weber 2bbl makes a nice upgrade for the 170. The only thing to watch is your distributor is a low vacuum unit. The Weber carb is a high vacuum unit so you will need to replace it as well. The guys over at ford6.com can help you with too.

Duane in Tennessee

Welcome to VV. Glad to see the 8 door getting put back on the road. What are your plans for it? and keep the pics coming.

Wow,another 8 door.Congrats on your new ride,and welcome to Vintage Vans.

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody. I'm glad to see there are others as warped as I am that are into flat nosed vans. As for plans, I'm not sure yet. I spend most of my time at work thinking up ideas for it. Here are my top three:
I don't have much money, so after I get it going and stopping maybe a Rat Rod look. A flat red paint job with black solid wheels and wide white wall tires. Deffinitly a ton of pinstriping.
A fake business truck, or maybe a buget funeral home hearse(because it's an Econoline)with an old timey phone number like Klondike 505. I was thinking: paint it a split pea green with a brown top and brown mustache urder the FORD on the nose. Then for the business The Gentleman Toad Haberdashery. And the old timey phone number.
And, this one is inspired by a sticker I saw of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's, with Oregon State University down the road, paint it Beaver orange, gold leaf a sheriff's star on both sides with the words Beaver Patrol hand lettered. I don't know how much the ladies would like that on the side of a panel van.
I am open to sugesstions but like I said I don't have much money to spend on it. And the more I work on it the more it seems to need one more thing.

I read some where that Ford used to use Carter YF carbs on their straight sixes. So I pulled the very same carb off of my Willys and the Econoline started right up and actually ran smoothly. I cant keep it on there because it looks to tall to get the dog house lid back on. Oh and yeah, the Willys needs it back.
Are there any good repair books out there for these Econoline? I gotta pull the brake system apart and a picture always help to look at.
And if any one has a line on a set of stock seats and brakets, I'm looking.

If you are coming from a VW background, here are a few tips.
NO GLAND NUTS! Nothing requires more torque than the wheel nuts.
Lift and support it one end at a time. Pull both drums off and work on one side at a time. If you get confused, you can go look at the other side!
These have slef-energizing brakes that VW didn't. The shoes will come in axle sets (4). The one with the shorter lining goes toward the front! So always look at each set and match things up, then each side gets a long and short.
Wheel Cylinders - You will want a good quality line wrench to break the lines loose. It beats having to repair more stuff! Also soak the 1 or 2 small bolts that hold them to the backing plate, Especially in the front!
Check into hardware kits before you start, or just get them. It stinks to have to stop in the middle waiting on parts.
New brake fluid! You can soak up all the fluid out of the master, then fill it and open the RR bleeder to gravity bleed. Just leave it open until clean fluid flows out. Tighten, then move to LR, RF and LF.
This will dramatically shorten the amount of pumping needed to bleed all the air out.
There is only one adjuster per wheel.

Thanks for the tips Rod. You don't make it sound all the hard to figure out.
So after I put that carter carb on I decided to take the van on a small ride to feel out the tranny and everything else in general.
I got right out in the middle of the yard and for some reason it just died on me. Thinking it was the battery gone flat I charged it up. When I went to turn it over, nothing. Got to looking at the battery cables and I think they are the factory set, corsion and all. Replaced them and crossed my fingers that was the problem. Nope. So I bypassed the key switch and shorted across the slinoid. It fired right up and I moved it out of the yard and back into its spot. That was an adventure with out any brakes. I'll take your advise Rod and get to those brakes soon.
I stupidly thought I could do this van on a budget. It's deffinitly been used and abused. I spotted water leaking out of some where and I'm guessing it's the water pump seal (of course). But it does run. It'll just need a few more parts than I was expecting.

welcome to v.v. looks like a good project van you got there

Very Nice

After crusing ebay for a while I found a auto yard east of Eugene, Or that had a set of nose letters for sale. So after work I ran, and I do mean ran, down there. Thankfully he still had them. After popping for them the guy running the place told me I was welcome to go walk the yard and see what's out there. Almost right off the bat I see a really nice Dodge A-100 window van. I did post the yard's contact info in the junkyard A parts fourm. So I walked around looking at all of the really neat cars and trucks they had there, wishing I had more money in my pocket, and avoiding all of the wasps, I happened upon a huge bunch of doors. Right up front I find a pair of doors for an Econoline . The guy was really cool and let me have them for a good price. I also found a pair of really nice doors for an A-100. Didn't have enuogh for those though. When I finally got home I just couldn't wait and put the nose letters on.

On an orignal set was the inside of the letters painted black?
Here's the doors after a bit of tear down:

They didn't have the door panels but just about everthing else is there. I checked the door tag on econolineid.com and it came up as a '67 set that started life out in Salt Lake City of all places or at least that was the district covering it.
Anybody know of a good place to get a good igntion switch? I think that's what bailed out on me the other day. And for some odd reason it rains a ton here . So does anybody have any tips on how to replace the windshield seal? Thanks for the help, Dan

Hi Dan,

Good find on the letters and doors. That little ford emblem on the inside of the passenger door brings big bucks on ebay for some unknown reason. I've seen them go for over $100.00. Speaking of ebay, I've seen ignition switches sell on there pretty cheap. I think I gave $12.00 for the one I bought. The letters and outside door emblems were just chrome from the factory. No paint in the recesses.

Decodeing can be done using the factory shop manuals. There are some errors in them though. The 65 manual seems to be the worse. I'm not familar with the site you posted. I have mine done by Jay Long over at the Econosrus yahoo group. He's been keeping detailed records of all things econoline forever. He keeps a registry of the vin numbers in his files. I'm sure he would like to add your numbers as well. They may already be there. He keeps all numbers. Even parts and junked Econolines.

I'm looking forward to seeing your 8 door's progress. I haven't worked on my 67 8 door since 2010 but it's working it's way back into my thoughts. It may just come back out of the barn again.



Econosrus Group.



Duane in Tennessee

That's a great looking project you have there Duane. I know about having projects take forever, my daily driver Bug is one of them.

Walking the boneyards is one of lifes great pleasures, man I miss doing that. You see some cool stuff, oddball vehicles sometimes, great parts finds...I once found a stack of old albums in a trunk of a car! Rare 1st pressings of the Soft Machine, Traffic, and Janis Joplins first albums among others..bagged them for free, and still have them!!

rustybug13 wrote:After crusing ebay for a while I found a auto yard east of Eugene, Or that had a set of nose letters for sale. So after work I ran, and I do mean ran, down there. Thankfully he still had them. After popping for them the guy running the place told me I was welcome to go walk the yard and see what's out there. Almost right off the bat I see a really nice Dodge A-100 window van. I did post the yard's contact info in the junkyard A parts fourm. So I walked around looking at all of the really neat cars and trucks they had there, wishing I had more money in my pocket, and avoiding all of the wasps, I happened upon a huge bunch of doors. Right up front I find a pair of doors for an Econoline . The guy was really cool and let me have them for a good price. I also found a pair of really nice doors for an A-100. Didn't have enuogh for those though. When I finally got home I just couldn't wait and put the nose letters on.

On an orignal set was the inside of the letters painted black?
Here's the doors after a bit of tear down:

They didn't have the door panels but just about everthing else is there. I checked the door tag on econolineid.com and it came up as a '67 set that started life out in Salt Lake City of all places or at least that was the district covering it.
Anybody know of a good place to get a good igntion switch? I think that's what bailed out on me the other day. And for some odd reason it rains a ton here . So does anybody have any tips on how to replace the windshield seal? Thanks for the help, Dan

As I sit here letting my battery charge up for the millionth time, a thought I had at work a few nights ago crept back in (I know as dangerous as it may seem). If my motor goes belly up could I repalce it with a Volkswagen air-cooled motor? I've seen Pinto engines stuffed onto VW transaxels why not the other way around? I know I'd have to rework the way air gets moved into the dog house but... Any thoughs?
All this is going on while I try to figure out why the key switch wont turn over the engine, why it is that even with the key off I'm still getting power to the blinkers, and if I should just rewire the van over the top of the factory harness. Any suggestions with any of these problems would be really cool. Thanks, Dan

ok 1st rewire the van 2nd its a unforgivable sin to defile a ford with a vw power plant

haha do it!

I don't know Andrew, I all was thought the same thing when I saw a Furd pokeing out of the back of a Baja Bug.

I do believe putting a VW engine in any van - other than a VW van- should transport the builder straight to Hell when its even thought of.

I just don't see any benefit to a VW motor