a new project..... 65 Chevy

Finally home!

Here's a vid of how you unload a VCV from a trailer by yourself:

Part one




Part two



The bed winch is one of the best ideas I've ever had.

Harbor Freight duct tape is awesome! I used it to keep the strap from buzzing on the freeway, held on in 30 degree weather. Took some paint when I removed it.





Relatively unscrewed with dash....




Headliner still intact



Glamour shot...



3rd gen seats- they fit and clear the cover easily.



Easy peasy mounting bracket- just slice of one side of the 3rd gen pedestal!




I want to thank Digz for letting me get this van at a great price, some west coasters might think it's a bit rusty but it's nothing I haven't dealt with before.

Well as my Mother used to say.."if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all". Glad it all ended well, and all are home safely. Van looks nice.

look forward seeing that Pontiac 6 in there

Life is an adventure. You can either be angry and curse the skies, or accept what you cannot control and get on with life.

Mechanically, the OHC is going to drop right in, and with a TH200 4R I should not have to modify the driveshaft. Throttle linkage looks like it will hook righ up.

I plan to use a floor shift form a car that had a 4 speed OD, and modify as necessary to make it work. Haven't decided, but may be either the gated shifter from a 90's Benz, or maybe a shifter from a Fiero as it would already have a long cable.

Craigslist score!



Just gathering parts....

Snagged these on ebay

Congrats, you're on your way pretty quick!

OK, just for gits n shiggles, I decided to see if the unknown quantity in the doghouse had any value beyond scrap.....




You are about to see something that I cannot stress enough- is extremely dangerous, or at least stupid- but that's how I roll,



Click on pic




Mountain Dew will get ANYTHING going, ANY-THING!


Really, I just poke a very small hole in the cap, put a couple ounces of gas in the bottle and stuck it in the manifold (carb was already loose)

Stuck in a battery, turned the key and the magic happened....

Sounds good, no knocks....


I do not plan to use this engine, I believe it is a 230, it's all stock.... but after I have this van going with the OHC motor I will put the Chevy motor up for sale- I may just go ahead and put the carb on so I can run it a little longer...

Going to try something I've never done before- fab and install new door skins.





Before I can make a skin, I need to get the old skin off the door. So today, I 'skinned' my early...

All you need is a small pry bay, a hammer, chisel, and a short piece of steel to protect the inner door...

Pick a spot and start prying.....



Continue prying around the door, this goes pretty fast....




I dinged up the inner door a bit before I got smart and did this:




There are a few spot welds, most will pop, for the stubborn ones use the hammer and chisel. Once the edge is peeled back, you can separate the skin from the inner frame












Here's the sheetmetal I will be using to make the new skin





I put the inner frame back on to make adjustments to center the door. The skin was actually off center on the frame, making a tight fit at the front and leaving a huge gap at the rear.



Here's a short video showing what causes 'droopy handle syndrome'

[video=youtube;XvSMJXF4V8c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvSMJXF4V8c[/video]

Wow .. never seen that before !!!!! Cool ...

That's cool. I've never seen that before.

What is the thickness of the replacement sheet metal and is it treated with anything or are you going to coat it before attaching it?

Are you going to post pics of the reattachment process?

The original door skin is approx .035" thick, the steel I have is .030". (It was free, so I won't quibble over .005")

The sheet has mill oil on it to protect it from rust, but that is really meant only for storage. I will be painting the backside with rustoleum before mounting.

This weekend I'll be forming the skin, using a cheap harbor freight sheetmetal brake. I have the option of not making the holes for the door handle, so I may go with the shaved look. Can always drill it out later.

The inners need some work before I reskin them, the are heavily dented, and the one has major rust.

A little sidetrack....

Dual master cylinder for disc/disc on c-list for $50!



Grab the deals when you spot em!

Thanks for all the info, that was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM

Chrome M/C ???? really.....come on it's under the floorboard.. LOL

LOL, I know- but for $50 it's hard to beat!

I need to see if I can duplicate the bodylines on the doors, so a test sample was required.....

A little work with the brake and bead roller, and a half hour later I got a little door!

I cant wait to see the finished product.. Nice

Looks like you're getting the hang of those new tools!

Hope to get some more done soon, been in Mexico the last two weeks, and July is looking to be super busy....

Stopped at the junkyard and got a set of rear discs off of an 81 Riviera...





Going to mount them up on the 10 bolt rear, popped the cover to remove the c-clips...



3.36:1 gears, guess I don't really need overdrive after all...

Then-



The retaining bolt is broken! #12 in the diagram...



Bought a kit online for removing the broken retainer.... looks like axles will remain until next weekend....

OK, so onward and upward....

Got the kit, $25+ shipping and well worth it.

Here's what you get:



A ridiculously long drill bit, a square and spiral extractor, and two 'special' bolts...



The bolts serve to keep the bit on center. There's a long and short bolt, depending on how deep you need to go. You hand thread the bolt in until it bottoms out.

Then you drill.



I tapped the square extractor into the broken bolt, and used a small crescent wrench to turn it- after a couple turns it spun out by hand



I used a right angle air drill, it's pretty tight quarters. A regular air drill would work too, but an electric will be too bulky.



It probably took you longer to read this post than it took me to get the broken bolt out. As far as I'm concerned, this is the only way to do this!

After pulling the axle, I find this:







About .015" wear and pitting.

This is why it's a good idea to inspect this stuff, a seized axle bearing on the road is no fun.

Long overdue for an update.


It's been resting comfortably in my garage for the last 2 years, and since I could not make the Nats this year I used my vacation time to get some work done on this van.



Yes, that is a picture of a Pontiac OHC 6 being lowered into place.

I did make a mistake though. Been so long since I had the crossmember in the van I installed it backwards and made myself a lot of extra work.

Note how the TH200 will not align



I cut some floor out to make room...



Then realized I had the crossmember backwards. Using some questionable methods, I suspended the engine (I had already put my hoist back in storage) unbolted the crossmember and reinstalled the correct way. Probably didn't need to cut the floor. Oh,well, that's why I have a welder.

Take another stab at installing the trans...BTW, the Harbor Freight scissor lift trans jack is great!




Speedway trans crossmember makes this part easy. 8" drop.




A little tight around the fuel pump and lower radiator hose, may need to bump out the doghouse a touch.



Got all this done and blew out my knee tripping over a rake. Sucks getting old. Next thing is to replace rear axle bearings and button up rear end, the rest from here out is pretty much standard engine/trans swap stuff.

Good to see you getting some Vantime for you Early van project

Yeah, I really had to get it together, one disassembled van easily takes up the room of two in the garage!

Replaced rear axle bearings and seals, buttoned up rear end and put some rotted but functional cargo doors on until I can re-skin my old ones.



Tomorrow going to replace the single pot master cylinder with a dual and start the front disc conversion