Brent's Van (uante)

Thanks guys. More work this weekend coming up along with going to a breakfast and coffee on Saturday.

Wow, your van really looks nice! Can't wait to see what you do on the inside. In your side cargo door is that a piece of foam inside the door? Looking great!!

Nacho wrote:Wow, your van really looks nice! Can't wait to see what you do on the inside. In your side cargo door is that a piece of foam inside the door? Looking great!!

Thanks...
Yes it is foam. There is some foam in several places in the doors to keep the rattling down for now.

Another car show for the Van. I went with my girlfriend who took one of her bugs "Hubbard" and her sister who has the Mach 1 behind the bug. Nice little drive and meet on a Saturday morning...8 am to 10 am...There and Gone!

Got another show this week at work. Honeywell is having it's annual "Bring Your Drive to Work" day on Friday.  

Nice Family Event!!! Love the Mach 1's

Van looks great!

How much did the rhino lining cost you? And did you do any prep work for that price?

Glazz74 wrote:Van looks great!
How much did the rhino lining cost you?  And did you do any prep work for that price?

Thanks! The undercoating cost me about $650 for a shop with a good reputation to do it. There was a van for sale here in Phx that had it and I liked the way it looked, so I copied the way he had his, plus I figured if I painted the floor, it wouldn't be very durable.
Anyway, I just filled in the drilled holes in the floor that were left over from when it was a fire department vehicle and only did a little minor prep myself. Since there was no rust and the old original paint wasn't flaking...they did the rest.

I went to put my belly pan on this weekend along with the two associated side pieces and I couldn't find that there was any place to mount the side piece on the passenger side.

The Pan itself is awesome...seems to keep the engine cooler and work as designed, at least in 80 degree weather. We'll see what happens in the summer! lol

The side piece on the driver's side has a place to mount. It actually is the only original piece of the three that were on the van. But the right side piece that I bought with the belly pan doesn't seem to fit anywhere...no mounting holes. Is there even supposed to be a third side piece for a '63?

Here is a pic I posted earlier of the 3 parts.

Got some work done on "Clyde" today. Felt good. I installed the stabilizer bar and put the belly pan back on. The bar was a bit more work than I thought it was going to be, but it's in now. Glad to see it on the van instead of it sitting in my garage as it has the last 6 months! lol

Also adjusted the steering box screw. I turned it 90 degrees and tried it out. It made a world of difference! Eliminated almost all the play. I think there is still room to adjust it some more, but I'll take it on a longer drive at faster and see if there is play at those speeds before adjusting further.

Got the door rubber in on both front doors and hung my visors. The parts bench is getting more and more empty all the time! Next thing to work on is installing the side door step.



Stabilizer Bar



Belly Pan and Bar body mount



Another Belly Pan and Bar different angle



Door Rubber

Very nice Brent. Super clean

Beautiful work! Looks Fantastic!!!

Today was busy on the van again...taking it one "Step" at a time!



Finally getting around to installing the Powder-coated Step. Everything else cleaned up and ready to go



Looks like a good place for it!



Installed



Underneath



Side shot



Done!

After this project I drove the van up to Ace and the steering is much better after the adjustment, but I think I'm going to tighten it a little more. On the way home I wanted to get some speed to see how it handle and at about 55 it did fine. Such a difference driving this van now then when I first got it and when it was all taken apart.
Driving at higher speeds there was a lot of air noise coming from the vent boxes...I was like "Oh yeah, I forgot about those" and I opened one up and, "Damn, they sure let in a big flow of Air!" I'm glad I installed one on the passenger side as well for the warmer days.

Top Notch, Brent!!!

I was feeling a little low in the back, so I put in a 1.5" block lift. I think it was sitting level before, but often when I was walking up to the van it appeared to be lower in the back probably because of the 3/4 wheel well.
Anyway, it bugged me and I think this turned out pretty good. To me it gives the van a fresh more aggressive look, if that's possible! lol
Here's a before and after picture taken in front of my house and also a couple of links to real short video clips on youtube of it in motion.

What a beauty You've done good Brent

envy of the eye

Totally awesome.

Excellent work Brent.

Thanks Guys. It's fun getting towards the end of reassembly.

Went to a car show today. Pretty nice turnout and saw another Van there. The guy said it was originally a Bell Telephone van from California and ended up in Payson AZ before he got it.

Did you get a chance to talk to the owner? Is he/she aware of this website? Looks like another nice Econoline!

The owner is an English guy who wasn't there. The van was brought there by his friend and co-Dust Demon car club member. Fun group with a bunch of different vehicles. But I got an email address and will tell them again about this site.

Your van looks great. I know how much work is involved in doing that. That is an exceptional job. Very Nice!!

Duane.

econopoor wrote:Your van looks great. I know how much work is involved in doing that. That is an exceptional job. Very Nice!!

Duane.

Thanks Duane.

Funny thing happened when I went and talked with the guys that had the other van. I walked up and said to one of them "Ah, an old Econoline, is it yours?".
And he replied, "No, but I drove it here, it's belongs to a friend of mine. There's another one over there, but it's too nice" He noticed my reaction and after a quick thought said, "Oh, it that yours?"
I replied, "Yep"

lol! That was the first time my van has been considered "too nice" as far as I know. I still don't think so, there's plenty of flaws if you get looking close.

Take that as a Compliment to all of your hard work!!!
I'd be thrilled if mine turns out half as nice!

Just read thru your whole thread. Great job! Very nice looking van you have there.

Hip E van wrote:Just read thru your whole thread.  Great job!  Very nice looking van you have there.

Thanks Hip! It's been a long process and still have a ways to go!