Operation BREADBOX

Keep crackin away! Just got mine mobile and to the glass shop for a windshield!

AWESOME!!!!!!!!

All the work is amazing, subtle and not so subtle. It all over the map and I'm drooling over it

I'm looking to do the same, but It doesn't need to be laying frame. With that being said, do I need to switch out the chassis etc just to lower it? Or can I put bags on it and see how low it gets?

Thanks guys!

Mothradeath, it looks absolutely killer!!

theogbigd, you can do a C-Notch and 4link setup for the rear. A couple of guys here have done it very successfully, and is somewhat easy to do, if you have some fabrication skills.

Up front is more complicated with air bags. Choices are an IFS swap (Click here), mono leaf spring with air bag assist, or some funky hybrid 4 link / tuning fork setup which is extremely complicated and not recommended.

Projects worth looking at:

Heinz57 Project

66e100pu Project

Homebrew Project

Suicide King Project

Mothradeath is doing a wicked slammed E100 too, but I can't seem to find his post.

Have some reads, do some planning and feel free to bounce ideas off the guys here, there are some great resources available!

WP

Appreciate the advice! Where would you buy an ifs setup?

I bought the Universal kit from Full Tilt IFS.  They provide a high quality product for a real good price.  I did lots of shopping around and spoke to the guys directly.  They would be my recommendation.

WP

Thank you!

I fabricated a bracket for the steering column heim joint.  It hides nicely under the existing column support.  I'll post a pic of it once I have it off and fully tacked down.



Next I had to figure where a good location for the steering box would be.  Right about here looks good.



Then I tacked the steering shafts to the UJoints and bolted it together.  Yup, I'm Canadian...that's black hockey stick tape holding it all together!



Here you can kind of see the hidden heim joint



And roughly in place, minus the steering box support brackets.  It will move up above the lowest level of the body and towards the front cowl.



Next I had to fabricate a filler panel where the existing steering equipment was located.





And here it is all tacked into place.



I need to finish weld the filler panel, fabricate a bracket to hold the lower heim joint for the R&P shaft and design secure mounting brackets for the steering box.  Also need to source out a vendor that splines steel shafts so I can mount my steering wheel to the steering shaft.


I sourced out some rigid type L 1/2" copper tubing for my air lines.  I have a line on a stainless steel tubing bender, so my bends should be tight.  I am undecided if I want to bury them below the floorboards, or run them along the sidewall ribs of the van to show them off.  If I go exposed, I plan to patina the fittings and fasteners and polish up the tubing.  Below is the exposed plan.  Keep in mind the back will have floorboards right across where the IRS is, so I can run the passenger side air line under the rear seats, if I put some  in.  Up front, I'll run it behind the front wheel tubs and maybe fasten to the doghouse for the passenger side...Not sure yet.




WP

Looking real nice wirepuller. Awesome build

Some very Talented builders on this site!!!

My idea for a WWII Bomb gas tank has taken one step closer to realization.  I've seen a few rat rods with them, and since I changed the name of my van to YEG'R Bomb, I thought it would be fitting to have a bomb gas tank.  Something like this:



Here is my design



With ALOT of hesitation, I decided it was time to cut open the propane tank.  Since I didn't have a wrap around tool, I had to create my own.  Enter Christmas wrapping paper, it's thin, straight edged, and kind of waxy, so it can be painted without going all soft and mushy.  I wrapped a piece around the tank, lined up the edges and taped it off.  Next I applied some yellow marking paint to create my nice straight line.  Note that I wrapped the paper so the overspray would be on the piece I am cutting out, so the tank retains it's old, crusty and rusty appearance.





Then it was do or die time, instead of cutting it with the zip disc, I took a safer approach and used a sawzall.  Overall, I cut 10" out of it so it will hold roughly 80l of fuel.



Ready to be welded back together, once I fabricate some baffles.




Oh, and apparently kids dab these days, so my kids insisted I post a picture of me dabbing in front on the van, to which they had a good laugh.




WP

Amazing project

But I'm clueless as to what a "dab" is lol

It's a dance move like the nay-nay, the whip, the bop, the macarena.....basically line dancing for the younger generation.

WP

wirepuller wrote:My idea for a WWII Bomb gas tank has taken one step closer to realization.  I've seen a few rat rods with them, and since I changed the name of my van to YEG'R Bomb, I thought it would be fitting to have a bomb gas tank.  Something like this:



Here is my design



With ALOT of hesitation, I decided it was time to cut open the propane tank.  Since I didn't have a wrap around tool, I had to create my own.  Enter Christmas wrapping paper, it's thin, straight edged, and kind of waxy, so it can be painted without going all soft and mushy.  I wrapped a piece around the tank, lined up the edges and taped it off.  Next I applied some yellow marking paint to create my nice straight line.  Note that I wrapped the paper so the overspray would be on the piece I am cutting out, so the tank retains it's old, crusty and rusty appearance.





Then it was do or die time, instead of cutting it with the zip disc, I took a safer approach and used a sawzall.  Overall, I cut 10" out of it so it will hold roughly 80l of fuel.



Ready to be welded back together, once I fabricate some baffles.




Oh, and apparently kids dab these days, so my kids insisted I post a picture of me dabbing in front on the van, to which they had a good laugh.



WP

My Grandson was doing that in the living room tonight and I said what the heck was that? He responded, " That's dabbing!" Too funny....

Where is that tank going to get mounted on the van?

I was "blissfully ignorant" myself.

Picked up some sheet steel for the tank baffles.  I placed one sheet under the cut out portion of the tank and scribed the corners so it would fit.



And then I cut two pieces.  Sorry for the blurry pic.  These will be the vertical pieces to slow the sloshing from side to side.



Then I measured for the horizontal piece to go between the two vertical pieces, cut, test fit and welded them together.  These will slow the sloshing from front to back.









then I put the piece into the one half of the tank



and thought...gee, the vertical piece isn't doing much good at the end of the tank, so I decided to invert my design and press on. In order to secure the two pieces together, I drilled a small hole in the center of the flat piece and tack welded the two pieces together so they don't rattle.





From here I had to massage, grind and bang it into alignment so the tank would go back together.  Pretty much as I was crossing the finish line welding the tank together, I ran out of welding gas, so I put it in the van to see how it would look.  It may shimmy left or right so it looks centered, and I have to finish with the bomb "fins" on the end of the tank.  I also cut the foot off the bottom of the tank so it is more rounded and I need to remove that guard looking thingy where the valve usually is on those tanks.



WP

Not too much progress on the project lately, as another project took over my life for the last 6 weeks.  We decided to gut/reno the kitchen and I'm just about done.

Before:



After:




But I did manage to squeeze in some garage time this week and finished up the steering.  The steering wheel is from a 60s Fiat, couldn't tell you what model, sorry, it was wiggle room only under the van, so pics aren't the greatest.









WP

Gotta squeeze those home projects in for a "Happy Life"... HGTV has nothing on you, nice work! Steering looks great too!

happy wife, happy life!!!

Thanks Vanny!


WP

Mind officially blown. This is amazing. I've been researching how to drop my Econoline for years and just read through your thread.
My own goals are a bit more modest than yours. As I read through your thread and realize how much work lies ahead of me, I'm going to force myself to keep my goals on a somewhat smaller scale. Thanks for the inspiration and here's the mock-up of mine.



Thanks for posting pics on my Vinvanco FB page, by the way. Your thread rules.

Thanks Poochie. I have to say, I found a pic of your van 3-4 yrs ago and it was one of a few that made me venture down this road. I can't wait to see your build!!

WP

I'm just at the part procurement point and am going back and forth in my head about the drivetrain. I'm obsessed with the idea of setting the engine back far enough to have a bench seat up front, like a Corvair or VW Van. There was a guy named Jimmy Shadow who built a Ford Econline like that but it seems to have disappeared before it was finished. I also have to be very careful about the 5" body drop I'm planning, as I'm 6'5". I want the bench seat to mount towards the backside of the relocated front wheel wells. The options I'm weighing are an LS/AOD or an Ecotec 4cyl with a five speed auto (Pontiac Soltices and Saturn Skys came with these in a RWD configuration). They put out 175 hp in stock normal aspirated form and the cars they came in were significantly heavier than my Econoline. My feeling is the Ecotec would be more compact and likely give me engine setback, allowing for the bench seat. I'm prepared to trade the entire lower half of the cargo area for front cab comfort. Anyway, the goal would be to mount the drivetrain as low and far back as possible and run a shortened driveshaft/CV to the 9" rear I have for it. I'm going to pattern my frame build off of Steve Luckett's 5" body drop with his guidance and the help of my friend who happens to be a solid fabricator. Going Mustang II and planning RideTech shock Waves on all four corners. Not feeling the need to lay rocker but would like to get the ride height as I have it in my mock up. I'm wanting the van to look a bit roachy, leaving the original paint (yes the paint is original) and hand lettering, also done when it was new). I'd like rear cargo floor to be raised, covering engine trans and all mechanicals, leaving me a functional cargo height of 2-3 feet, like a VW Transporter, only fully enclosed. As for the front cab, I'd like to keep the floors as flat an low possible. I'd like to ditch the doghouse altogether, if possible and perhaps duct to a large radiator directly behind the bench seat. Of course, I'd need to solve for a cooling system. This probably sounds nuts, but that's what I hope to accomplish. I figure talking to as many guys who have done it or are doing it makes sense. And advice or insight is most appreciated.

I gave pause to an ecotec too, great little engines!  A body drop is certainly going to eat up cabin space, are you sure you need to body drop it?  Mine is not and I can lay rockers.  I think you would just need to set the IFS in the right spot for ride height up front and then put in a big CNotch for the rear.  Since you want to deck the back like the V-dubs, this will provide a good base for the platform.  Something to think about.  I don't think you can ditch the doghouse altogether, but you may be able to incorporate the bench seat up front to be part of the engine cover, and then have a smaller access panel that lifts behind the bench seat to gain access to the engine.  Something like Hibmacronen did, but without the fancy breaks and bends....and the bench part would be flush across....make sense?





I am planning to set my engine(hopefully a 2JZGTE!!) as far forward as possible to gain space for 4 seats in the back, in case I want to take the whole famn damily cruisin someday.

You've got some great ideas brewing there, keep planning and thinking it through but start a build thread so we can comment on your progress/problems!

Keep going!


WP

Been researching how to make bomber seats.  I plan to put four bucket seats in the van and one bench seat over the IRS.  I've got the mock-up complete.  I plan to bead roll the pinstripe into the seat and the straight lines are just stiffener beads.  I'm going to dimple the holes I have drawn in and I am going to make simple padded seats covered in Mexican blankets.







I also started collecting more parts, and I've deviated from my air ride plans.  I've been talking to a local guy who's big into the air ride and I've decided to use a Slam Specialties 3/8" manifold, and I won't be running copper now, but the flexi-hose.  I'm not sure how I feel about this yet, but he has assured me the new style connectors hold air.  I couldn't entirely toss the copper lines in the trash, so I think I may sleeve the flexi-lines in the copper pipe, just for looks.  Here's the manifold.




WP

This thing looks awesome. Good job. Did you finish the bomb tank?