by veefre Fri May 09, 2014 3:16 pmNot saying it's perfect now, but I thought it would be nice to have a list of stuff I've had to do with it.
Oh, and it's a 67 ChevyVan108 with 283 V8 and three on tree manual transmission.
1) Brakes - a lot of drama there where you don't want it. Although previous owner had redone nearly all the brakes, there was one part that failed - the backing plate for the right front wheel. It cracked right at the upper pivot bolt that the shoes center on... the result is that the shoes got out of whack. I heard it as a sharp thwap! as I was doing a test drive on freeway. Luckily I was in slow lane and close to an exit. Limped the thing home, found the problem, located some replacement backing plates, all well now. Wound up putting in new shoes as a precaution, and bleeding the entire system. I try not to over use the brakes, coasting to stops whenever possible. This also saves on gas.
2) Rear Axle bearings. What I was testing when the brakes went was new rear axle bearings. The old ones were making quite a racket, and when I pulled the axles I saw why: the old bearings had worn through the thin case hardened bearing surface at the ends of the axles, giving them a very rough ride. The solution was "repair bearings", which ride on the axle about an inch further outboard, on a relatively unscathed part of the axle. I had to replace them twice. First time I used standard lubed bearings, which get their lubrication from the differential. Problem was that the outer bearing seal couldn't seal well against what was left of the axle bearing surface. I got a lot of diff. lube leaking out onto the rear brakes, to the point where the parking brake wouldn't hold the van. So I got some bearings that are prelubed with grease and have two seals - one inner, and one outer. I also stuck the axles in a lathe at work and relieved the rough casting surface outboard of the bearing surface, so the casting wouldn't trash the outer seals during installation. No more signs of leakage and the rear end is pretty quiet as well.
3) No PCV valve and no flame arrestor between air cleaner and engine block. Solution was to retrofit a PCV valve from fitting on oil filler tube to back of carb. Also fabricated a flame arrestor by soldering a bunch of 1/8" diam copper tubes together, and then shoving them into a larger pipe which in turn is clamped in the middle of the rubber tube running from the back of the engine block to the air cleaner. Seems to work. After all that, Donivan sent me a stock flame arrestor, which is waiting to be installed. My little fabrication seems to be working ok in meantime.
4) The usual: replaced all plug wires, spark plugs, checked timing, etc. Replaced fan belt and got a great fan belt tension gauge from Napa. I highly recommend it. It's called the Cricket or something like that.
5) Drained and refilled (manual) transmission, and adjusted transmission linkages to spec. Shifted much better after that.
6) Replaced drive shaft U joint bearings because they are there and relatively easy to do.
7) Heater/vent system controls jammed. Took apart heating system and found an internal flap was hanging up on the sheet metal. Filed it down, result was relatively smooth function.
8 ) Front steering wheel sparking and smoking. It's an aftermarket reduced diameter wheel (previous owner made that change. Turned out the turn signal assembly had worn away to the point where electrical parts were shorting out. Can't remember precisely how I fixed that... but it stopped happening after I did whatever I did. LOL. The turn signals still don't cancel properly, and never will unless I find a stock steering wheel and put that back on.
9) Some wiring under dash looked like it had shorted out, melted insulation, fused. Replaced with new wiring and also serviced fuse box (scrape off rust/corrosion, protect contacts with silicone grease).
10) Front end squeaking. Found new leaf spring bushings and replaced all. Still didn't fix the noise. Finally squirted some chain lube between leaves... voilá! no more squeaks.
11) Front seats are aftermarket Recaro. Great seats but they were never designed to be bolted to the tops of wheel wells. Finally had to drill through the top side of the driver's seat internal frame to secure the seat to the wheel well better. Well, at least it doesn't rock like it used to. I was able to score some stock seats from a first gen van, but they need recovering and frankly they look a bit dangerous (no head rest, no side bolstering). But they would be more like stock.
12) Motor adjustments. The motor really kind of stank at idle, in addition to running rough and having low power. Had a series of fixes that all seemed to play a part:
12a) Thought that part of the stink came from burning oil leaking into cylinders through bad valve seals. So I replaced all the seals. In the process I realized that there was little to no preload on the valve adjusters. Once I fixed that and got it all put back together, seemed like the motor finally ran a lot smoother and revved easier. It also stopped most of the stink.
12b) Throttle linkage issue. Replacement master brake cylinder was too long and preventing throttle linkage from returning gas pedal to proper height. Linkage screw adjustments maxed up but still not enough travel. Fixed this finally by twisting linkage under pedal in shop vice.
12c) Carb accelerator pump issue. Replacement pump (from rebuild kit) kept on separating and jamming the throttle linkage to point where even with proper linkage adjustment only 1/4 throttle possible. Fixed this by getting new pump with beefed up collar that prevents it from separating. Oh, and rebuilt carb.
13) New batter and hold-down.
14) Replaced aftermarket Pioneer radio with Dual HD radio. Love that HD radio.
15) Replaced funky radio speakers with Sony Xplod speakers. Not the finest but a lot better than before.
Well that's all for now. Thanks for listening ;-)
Oh, and it's a 67 ChevyVan108 with 283 V8 and three on tree manual transmission.
1) Brakes - a lot of drama there where you don't want it. Although previous owner had redone nearly all the brakes, there was one part that failed - the backing plate for the right front wheel. It cracked right at the upper pivot bolt that the shoes center on... the result is that the shoes got out of whack. I heard it as a sharp thwap! as I was doing a test drive on freeway. Luckily I was in slow lane and close to an exit. Limped the thing home, found the problem, located some replacement backing plates, all well now. Wound up putting in new shoes as a precaution, and bleeding the entire system. I try not to over use the brakes, coasting to stops whenever possible. This also saves on gas.
2) Rear Axle bearings. What I was testing when the brakes went was new rear axle bearings. The old ones were making quite a racket, and when I pulled the axles I saw why: the old bearings had worn through the thin case hardened bearing surface at the ends of the axles, giving them a very rough ride. The solution was "repair bearings", which ride on the axle about an inch further outboard, on a relatively unscathed part of the axle. I had to replace them twice. First time I used standard lubed bearings, which get their lubrication from the differential. Problem was that the outer bearing seal couldn't seal well against what was left of the axle bearing surface. I got a lot of diff. lube leaking out onto the rear brakes, to the point where the parking brake wouldn't hold the van. So I got some bearings that are prelubed with grease and have two seals - one inner, and one outer. I also stuck the axles in a lathe at work and relieved the rough casting surface outboard of the bearing surface, so the casting wouldn't trash the outer seals during installation. No more signs of leakage and the rear end is pretty quiet as well.
3) No PCV valve and no flame arrestor between air cleaner and engine block. Solution was to retrofit a PCV valve from fitting on oil filler tube to back of carb. Also fabricated a flame arrestor by soldering a bunch of 1/8" diam copper tubes together, and then shoving them into a larger pipe which in turn is clamped in the middle of the rubber tube running from the back of the engine block to the air cleaner. Seems to work. After all that, Donivan sent me a stock flame arrestor, which is waiting to be installed. My little fabrication seems to be working ok in meantime.
4) The usual: replaced all plug wires, spark plugs, checked timing, etc. Replaced fan belt and got a great fan belt tension gauge from Napa. I highly recommend it. It's called the Cricket or something like that.
5) Drained and refilled (manual) transmission, and adjusted transmission linkages to spec. Shifted much better after that.
6) Replaced drive shaft U joint bearings because they are there and relatively easy to do.
7) Heater/vent system controls jammed. Took apart heating system and found an internal flap was hanging up on the sheet metal. Filed it down, result was relatively smooth function.
8 ) Front steering wheel sparking and smoking. It's an aftermarket reduced diameter wheel (previous owner made that change. Turned out the turn signal assembly had worn away to the point where electrical parts were shorting out. Can't remember precisely how I fixed that... but it stopped happening after I did whatever I did. LOL. The turn signals still don't cancel properly, and never will unless I find a stock steering wheel and put that back on.
9) Some wiring under dash looked like it had shorted out, melted insulation, fused. Replaced with new wiring and also serviced fuse box (scrape off rust/corrosion, protect contacts with silicone grease).
10) Front end squeaking. Found new leaf spring bushings and replaced all. Still didn't fix the noise. Finally squirted some chain lube between leaves... voilá! no more squeaks.
11) Front seats are aftermarket Recaro. Great seats but they were never designed to be bolted to the tops of wheel wells. Finally had to drill through the top side of the driver's seat internal frame to secure the seat to the wheel well better. Well, at least it doesn't rock like it used to. I was able to score some stock seats from a first gen van, but they need recovering and frankly they look a bit dangerous (no head rest, no side bolstering). But they would be more like stock.
12) Motor adjustments. The motor really kind of stank at idle, in addition to running rough and having low power. Had a series of fixes that all seemed to play a part:
12a) Thought that part of the stink came from burning oil leaking into cylinders through bad valve seals. So I replaced all the seals. In the process I realized that there was little to no preload on the valve adjusters. Once I fixed that and got it all put back together, seemed like the motor finally ran a lot smoother and revved easier. It also stopped most of the stink.
12b) Throttle linkage issue. Replacement master brake cylinder was too long and preventing throttle linkage from returning gas pedal to proper height. Linkage screw adjustments maxed up but still not enough travel. Fixed this finally by twisting linkage under pedal in shop vice.
12c) Carb accelerator pump issue. Replacement pump (from rebuild kit) kept on separating and jamming the throttle linkage to point where even with proper linkage adjustment only 1/4 throttle possible. Fixed this by getting new pump with beefed up collar that prevents it from separating. Oh, and rebuilt carb.
13) New batter and hold-down.
14) Replaced aftermarket Pioneer radio with Dual HD radio. Love that HD radio.
15) Replaced funky radio speakers with Sony Xplod speakers. Not the finest but a lot better than before.
Well that's all for now. Thanks for listening ;-)
