Gothy's new 68 High top NOW WITH PICS! :)

millwright mine is a 69 , and i had no issue with the master c. and the wiring.?? I guess the factory changed something.

dix and gothboy, here's a picture of the area.
The wiring on the ones I took apart went thru the inner hole which is in the front doghouse.
The speedo (or was it the shifter?) cable went thru the outer hole as shown.
It could easily be routed thru the outer hole, but if anything goes thru that inner hole, it will have to be removed to remove the front doghouse.
You can see the end of one of the bolts that hold the ft. doghouse just above that inner hole.



Here's another (small) view of the area in question, in the 4th picture down...
http://jalopnik.com/5645620/out-with-the-bad-engine

rod that is the odometer cable in the photo above...

thanks dix. I had the pic labelled Speedo, but wasn't sure I had it right.
Anyway, it does show the brake lines go under.

I didn't have to cut the harness, I just eliminated the hole that it fed through when I made clearance for the master cylinder. Thus it released the harness so I could remove the front doghouse piece.

Tom

Good news and bad news!
Good news first! My chevy engine should be delivered today for the engine swap! yay! The van had its first real trip today too! yaay! (never heard such scary noises comin from a speedo before lol!) I even made it to my destination about 25 miles from home, with approx 50ish mph on the freeway most of the way there...
Now the bad news... Those last few miles...I knew the engine was done. I knew the timing cover repair had given out and water had joined the oil. MoparMilkshake! Yum! I made it to work, rolled into the parking lot, and the engine said DONE! I thanked it profusely for making it all the way to work, promised her a nice running engine, and a free ride home, then pushed her into a parking spot. So yea, the van completed its maiden voyage, but at the cost of its engine's last breath. Looks like that swap will need to be done faster than I thought! Thank goodness I get paid friday!

So...Uh...Anyone need a good running A100 trans?

WOW......bummer on the loss of the motor, but great you made it to your destination before it gave up the ghost. good luck!!!!

Can this be moved to the showcase section, since it's become a build thread?

You're a gas Rod. this isn't special enough to be showcase material.

So. Got the 318 out, and the 350 almost ready. Playing with connectivity bits like the accelerator linkage. Turns out (so far) that the linkage will virtually bolt right up to my 350 with q-jet with almost no mods! That's super helpful! When I pulled the dodge Trans I was extra careful ecsuse that's when things get broke. I carefully removed the shift cable and moved it out of the way. When I cleaned up the tranny fluid after the clevis of the cable way lying there lifeless and sad. I was sad too. Wtf happened. It just seems to have fell off! Ugh. Anyway...
Tomorrow will bring better results. First up generate motor mounts for the Chevy. Prep the Chevy and align the Trans. Lets see how far we get.
I'm taking lots of pics for you guys. Will post after I finish the conversion.

i have replacment cleves listed in the a100 links section . and no it's not my listing.

So should this be moved to the Chevy section?

^^^ ahahahaaa!!! Awesome man! I just realized today that my tag line at the bottom there will be more accurate than I thought. I've got a dodge with a Chevy in it and some ford parts too! FoMoParGm! Ha!

Today got the motor and Trans all hung in place. Motor mounts look janky but I'm in a time crunch and I KNOW they will be solid. Found out my Trans dipstick is wrong gotta buy another, along with a th350 drive shaft part that slides into tranny (forgot what they're called) output? Anyway. Will take driveshaft to be altered and radiator to be checked tomorrow. Turns out from the rearend center of ujoint cup to the tail seal on the trans is 39 1/2. the driveshaft fully extended from rearend center ujoint cup to flat mount plate on fromt is 38 1/2. Not too shabby! hopefully the th350 trans output thingy will make up that inch perfectly. Lord I hope the shops get the driveshaft and radiator back to me ASAP!!!! Then I can take it to muffler shop to have the pipes reattached. Minor wiring (starter on other side and alternator different) will be fixed tomorrow, still reattaching stuff like Trans lines, temp fuel system, and accelerator linkage. Going great!!!

Im in socal gothboy....still got that dodge a 100 tranny? would like to do a auto swap and eliminate the need to figure out how to rebuild my column shift linkage with no new parts for these things on the earth...

So. Here's the setup. Sometime in December, I had arranged for my buddy to bring over my 350/350 combo on jan second. I was going to build the motor all nice, and then swap it in when I had time. Also, on january second I took my A108 to work on its maiden voyage after making a (best I was able) hack repair to the timing cover due to unavailability of the part. The trip went fair as far as making it to work, but the repair failed and I got water in the oil. The engine is still rebuildable, but with no other transportation (other than my hearse, and they dont like me driving my hearse to work at the mortuary...but thats a story for another time) I was forced to tear the dodge down and fix it on the spot. I took some emergency time off work to get her done but I was still in a major time crunch.
January second evening, the dodge gets towed home and the 1978ish chevy 350/350 shows up. Supposedly ran good from a motor home. Also supposed to be a 4 bolt main.


Early the next morning I start tear down on the Van. The good news is the new motor will look better once installed. The 318 is a nasty looking rat covered motor. Yuk. Well, atleast I dont have to clean it!


Got the chevy all stripped and mounted on a stand and ready for some preventative work and clean up. Its points ugh. Well, Ill pickup an HEI at a junkyard somewhere. Cheap and easy...just not today.


Did some mockup work to fabricate the new motor mounts. Yes, I know the motor looks way off in the pic, but i swear its camera angle or something, because it lines up in the shroud wearing the dodge fan just perfectly!

Jankiest motor mount setup Ive ever done, but its gonna be strong as heck! Just looks really bad lol. I can re do them later...when I have more time.

I ALWAYS take a look in the pan. Its just smart on a used motor. Turns out it wasnt a 4bolt main. Oh well, I dont have time to complain. And my buddy HONESTLY thought it was, so ni big deal. My oil pan was smashed on the bottom a little bit anyway so off it goes!


And Over to Team C I go to get a special 7 quart oil pan pickup for my moroso pan I just had laying around. Whatever. I need a pan, and I have a pan. It gets used. Done and Done.


Moroso 7 quart pan looks kinda funky on there. Too bad. It stays...Besides, I kinda like the idea of extra oil available to flow thru the system.


If you're workin on your vehicle, no matter what kind...Get a dry erase marker. The best idea ever. Just wipe off what you finish.

Would you believe on the way to clarks auto parts I end up at the light behind this guy? Ironic no? Dont know who he is, but obviously he lives around me somewhere.


You'll like this. The dodge van throttle linkage ALMOST bolts right up to the chevy with a qjet! Crazy! Just make the upper bolt hole a little bigger and fab up a linkage arm to hook to the carb. Pretso! Easy peasy! (Note: the motor mount part is hardened, so good luck drilling it!)


A little cleaning, a little spray paint, a couple new valve coversw, and presto! Its a new motor! Almost... The freeze plugs, water pump, and timing chain are new JUST for good measure! You can see the different exhaust manifolds I had laying around too. Lucky I have a selection at my disposal! Must be a car parts hoarder, lol.


Here's the motor all done. Nice and pretty and runs decent. The coil was bad so I used my spare accel coil. The air cleaner is made of lame tho. Thats gotta change soon. It interferes with the accellerator pump linkage on the qjet.

Here she is after the horrendously loud trip (open manifolds no exhaust) over to my buddy Johns place, Aladdin Muffler. He's done like 7 of my cars over the years. Fantastic guy who does great work the old school way. I mean really the old school way. He's a RAD DUDE!


Here she is the next morning with her shiny new exhaust, good motor and running and driving great!


So far everythings been going real good with how she runs and all. I had a clunk in the suspension, so I looked around. My spring hangers were a joke, so I had to use my shackle extenders I had for the front. Gave it a little steering wander, but I was ready for thet ahead of time. Still on the list to fix, no big deal. Ironically it dsidnt fix the clunk. Turns out it was a missing leaf spring bushing. :O Gotta fix that too.

And the best news? This morning I come out to the van and someone had busted out my passenger vent wing, climbed in and ransacked the van looking for stuff to steal. When it gets lighter I'll go inventory. Not cool dude! They must have thought i was carrying around 6 tons of gold or something. Idiots. Looks like I need another vent wing glass first! ugh!

Do you guys think it'd be best to take down the curtains? (on behalf of the break in) I put them up so nobody would look in and they wouldnt be tempted to take the junk parts i have in there....But apparently maybe the curtains make them think im hiding something?
What do you think? It doesnt look like they took anything I'll miss so far.

Making great progress Gothboy, as for the curtains you can't fix stupid. If it is not welded they will do what they have to for their FIX. I say keep them, it's your call however. Nice work

Thanks Space. They were hideous anyway, so I took them down for now. I'll put up others in the near future. I definitely want to keep them. I locked down my pop open windows, and "repaired" my wing window. I already had those "wing window locks" on there. Hopefully they wont break anything else for now. Ive got enough other things on "the list" to be going backwards lol.

Been driving it daily for like a week and a half now. Its got its quarks, but what early doesnt? Trans leaks some, but thats what you get when you get "good used" lol. Goes like a flying brick strapped to a rocket. MAN I love this thing! I drove down to El Cajon yesterday to pick up some doors. My side door is trash. Turns out this guy down there who was advertising the doors on craigs is an early fan too! He's got an old A100 PU, an L600 early, and an A100 van! Nice! Real cool guy named Steve. I told him about our site. Hopefully he'll visit. After that I bought some material for the new curtains. It was a good day! My girl cant wait to start helping me do the interior lol.

This week plans are to replace doors, swap out a window, drop the gas tank and clean it, do a front section headliner, and pull out the Travco walls. It runs reliable enough for me to start on the interior.

What a feeling, to know you can get in it and go without having to call AAA to get you back. Very nice.

Dropped the gas tank last night. With how nice everything else was I was surprised to see that my gas tank was made of "lace" on top. Nothing but little holes under the mat. Oh well. I gotta lose sometime. I pulled the sender and it was a hunk of rust. I found that one on Ebay, and Ive checked our site for "feedback" on it. Sounds useable. I'll swing by my local tank shop today and see what they say. Man what a dirty job that was. I'll start on swapping out my side cargo door today. It gets irritating that anything I need in back I gotta go over the engine. Got the rear cargo working good again tho. Wish me luck on the tank haha!

the tanks are a tuff find if your guy comes up with something that will fit let us know...

Yea no dice. :/ He said he could fix it for $400-500, and tomorrow only cause their tank shop closes next week. I'll check a few other places. On a positive note I did get the pass cargo door swapped, and the pop out transferered to the new door. YAY! I have one of those deluxe cars wherew all the doors and locks work! Crazy! I still dont have one of those fancy "under the car" gas tanks tho lol. Im running a boat tank right now and 12 gallons is kinda sucky. Started pulling the travco walls out last night. They're gonna go. Want to do my own interior, it's just not "MY" van without my work in it.

Gonna be a black and red type design. My girlfriend named the van too, "Doomsday Express" LOL!!! I think its funny as heck! Its gonna stay. She says it looks kinda post apocalyptic right now with the cracked out paint, the BFG tires and the front bumper from hell.