What are you up to?

It followed me home, since the 67 A108 has been dealing me one bad hand after another the opportunity to obtain my mothers old 71 bug was to tempting, plus my brother had been ignoring it for over a decade, the Dakota is loaded, overloaded with parts, it was a long 672 mile trip back to OKC.



It gets the garage all to itself for the rebuild.

Cool looking bug. My Daughter has one...and she loves it. Have fun with the build.

Other than maintenance on my Chevy I have been redoing this . Almost ready to shake the bugs out.

Looks GOOD Digz!!!!!!

Nice Pair!

Did some "surface" rust remediation this weekend, had to cut the job short though and move it out onto the street.  So just one coat of primer so far.

Big improvement already! Good Work!

Oh yeah , Looks way better.

I know it's not a Early, but it's a Sweet 4 x 4 van. My friend Rob stopped by to show me his Back on the road(2nd time) Econo van. Rob's driving it back to CA,where he's been working for last year & 1/2.

,,,,,,thats what this section is for,,,,,,,,to show and share whatever you are up to,,,,,,,

That looks like it'll get him there or anywhere else, for that matter!!! Nice rig!

The engine I bought just never ran as well as I thought it should. I had a friend check it out and it was leaking water into the cylinders. We took it apart and found that the heads were not torqed down properly, the roller rocker arms were not locked down and the heads did not have hardened seats, the valve covers had 2 gaskets stacked I'm guessing to clear the rocker arms but were leaking. also the clutch plate I put in had been hitting the flywheel bolts and my carb linkage was only opening 2/3 of the way because it was hitting the back of the Doghouse.
When I get it back together I expect it should perform MUCH better.

not sure of your engine but looks like early chev van. a note to DIY engine builders out there. newer chev small blocks have a tendency to let coolant weep up the head bolts if not sealed with a good quality pipe sealant. NOT RTV SILICONE. any 305 350 from the 80's to the late 90's are subject to this situation. DIY guys mistake it for leaking head gaskets when in fact the coolant just runs up the bolt threads. more money but a better job is to use ARP stud kit and seal the threads well. just throwin this your way. hope it helps you out...

Thanks for reply, It is a 283 I bought about a year ago complete out of a running car. I needed everything to do the swap from the 6 cyl. I still think it was a good deal, it just wasn't built right. It has been running in the Van over a year without any major problems, it just didn't seem to have the power I thought it should. We found the problems and it will be better than before.
This is what I bought a year ago.

Did some door bottom's a few years (about 10)ago. Thought I try it again with all this lock down going on.  Starting with this pair from my Friend Able 70 GMC van. they were side doors. PO was a Carputer & use it for Many years. He had Stuffed doors with Fiberglass insulation . and the whole bottom of both doors were gone(along with door rod guides)



The rest of doors are Nice, with original paint

Few more pics of inside door bottoms I made(had to cut rod guides off tops of other Bad window doors


t pic is outside skin I starting to weld on 2 door skin(had to teach myself how to weld again on 1st door

1st one I did went Too fast & to hot(DA) warped it a little. Came out good after a lot of Extra work

Looking GOOD Tom!!!!

You like a challenge, don’t you? Awesome work that many wouldn’t even attempt...keep up the excellent work Tom! Two thumbs way up!!!

Thanks guy's I have missed messing with metal , and making parts .
Few pics of finished doors. Not perfect or like new , but useable again .
Painted inside of doors ,so Hopefully won't rust away again.

Nice piece of work!!! They look great Tom You took care of the rust and now they have a new life thanks to your efforts! That's Success in my eyes.

Thanks Vanny. I lost track of how many doors I have, most of them need some kind of repair.
You Can't go out & get new ones. So I thought I try & save as many as I can. And give me something to do. Already drug some more into garage to try more repair. Keeps me out of trouble(LOL)

Came across a deal on some 3rd gen Chevy Van parts
3 painted grills & 5 front bumpers
Last pic is with  of 1 camped over the 68 bumper
Think it would fit with some Slicing & Dicing.

Score!!!

Finally drug the 64 Custom (Goldin Oldie) home to start the rust repair. Been setting at Friends house for 7  years . Drag Van(hiding in 2nd pic) only been there a few years, since my Friends Wife drove it to car show

That’ll keep you out of trouble for a while!