What are you up to?

Making some progress on pass side of 64. Also had to take All the interior out. All flat head screws & finish nailed  together



CA repair panel I got in the Vanataners from Mark(108Vanguy)

Tom, you're definitely not afraid of a challenge! Please keep the progress pics coming and thanks for giving these rough ones some much needed attention.

More progress pics on the 64 Custom van

cut part of floor & inner rocker off

New(Used) CA section my Friend Mark sent me in Vanatainers (in 07 Thanks Big time Mark)
Cutting & fitting it in, in this pic

New floor repair panel I made to fix Major rust out. (1st time I used bead roller I bought years ago) Still fitting in this pic .

Before I fit these panels

I haven't been on here much but still very much doing my van thing.
The 65 is pretty much turnkey and I drive it when ever the mood hits me. Which road conditions are usually the determining factor.
Not this sites usual diet but I have gotten this 74 on the road and after limping along on 7-1/2 cylinders have finally been giving it a transplant. bumped the 318 out for a 408.
This also was a salvage yard bound save and was originally purple! Old School Cool .
BTW the Chevy is much more fun to drive !

Looks like you’ve been busy! They both look Great Digz!!!

nice job Digz. a group of a100 gang are headed to the Detroit auto show. drop in and hang out,,,
Dix...

I bet the 74 will also be a lot of fun to drive with that 408, looking good!!!

Finally got the 74 on the road today. All I can say is Freaking Awsome !
The Chevy is going to need some severe attention to match this for power.

Congrats Digz!!!  Sounds like you’ve released the beast!      

Been a slow year and have mostly focused on health issues.

However did finish the 84 Jeep CJ7 restoration and put some new wheels and tires for the 65 Sportvan..

Hope all is well with everyone!

Best of Health to you Dan! Love both those vehicles...The Dynamic Duo!!!

More work on 64 (G O) pass side floor & new cooling tunnel / shifter mount




Getting there ???

Great work Savage!!! Looks so much better....love seeing progress on this. Please keep the pics coming because it's fun to see someone tackling rust issues! I wish I had your skills!!! It's going to look Awesome when you're done with it!

Done a lot of projects big and small on the van during the last year and a half, currently working on fixing the sideswipe dent from a previous owner. It was made worse by some PO who tried to pound out the dents from behind with what looks to me like a regular carpentry hammer - note all the little dents.  Here is what my son and I started with:





The fender was hit so hard it pushed in the wheel well which is spot welded to the outer skin, and also integrated into the unibody floor so I rigged up this plywood brace bolted to the factory seat bolt brackets.  I then inserted a bottle jack to push out the whole assembly.  I lost a lot of photos but I think you get the general idea.  Hard to explain but I also bolted a piece of steel to the top of the fender well so the jack was pushing equally on the lower portion of the wheel well and the top where the spot welds are.  It got everything out to normal position by about 99%.  It was a hack but I don’t have a frame straightener lying around.









I then proceeded to go after the high and low spots with hammer and dolly, and also had to do some torch heating to shrink one portion that was oil canning.  That last part wasn’t too pretty as I was learning as I went, but there will be no bondo filler greater than 1/8-1/4 inch and the thick parts will be small.  I’ll use the Bondo Glass with extra fibers for strength in those areas.  It’s not extreme enough to use the Bondo Glass.  Working on the door was a lot easier as I could remove it and stand it on its side.  I had to cut out a large access panel though which will be welded back in and hidden by the interior door panel.













Looks pretty good so far although rough.  I went ahead and hit it with some rattle can paint to cover the bare metal until I’m ready to put on the filler.  Next step is the large dent in the rocker.  I picked up a stud welder for that, and purchased a really cool vice grip for grabbing three studs at once.  I’m going to rig up my own hustler stick with my iron bar so I don’t have to buy one.  Any tips on using the stud welder method would be greatly appreciated!

NICE WORK!!!

If you will use the 640 px width option when posting pics they won't be chopped off

Real nice work & Cool DIY engineering

savage wrote:Real nice work & Cool DIY engineering

. Gotta work with what ya got

wideload wrote:NICE WORK!!!

If you will use the 640 px width option when posting pics they won't be chopped off

Oops yeah I forgot about that. On my iPad if you click on the image it will show you the whole thing.

Here is a couple the right way

That’s some fine MacGyver-like engineering to get the job done! I may use your ideas to try and straighten out some dents around the nose and headlight area on mine. Thanks for the inspiring work and keep the pics coming!!! Please and Thank You

I like these Vise Grips…would love to see a pic of them in action.

Sandyvan,

The stud welder is a good choice for your rocker crease if you can't get behind it. Just be careful to not stretch the metal by pulling too hard. If you're going to pull the nails with a slide hammer type device, go easy for the same reasons.
You can put a row of nails in the crease itself, the closer the nails the less stretching. Grab the nails uniformly with the clamp tool and work the metal while you're holding pulling pressure so the metal will "stay". Good luck!

vanny wrote:That’s some fine MacGyver-like engineering to get the job done! I may use your ideas to try and straighten out some dents around the nose and headlight area on mine. Thanks for the inspiring work and keep the pics coming!!! Please and Thank You

You might be able to get away with the Habor Freight hydraulic ram set with different pulling and pushing attachments.  I have a grapefruit sized dent under my passenger side headlight that is inaccessible  due to the inner sheet metal layer on the Chevys.  I think I’ll have to use the stud gun on that.

Thanks for the tip!

Tom(millwright 71) & I made trip to IL, to pick up what's left of 68 G-10 108


Got some new rims & tires for the 68 G20 (NOT   )
8.00-15  bias ply from Sears, on stock 15 inch 6 lug wheels. With WIDE white walls.