Kowboy's 65 Handi-Van

Well I flew out to Arizona Friday and drove down to Tucson with my sister to get the GMC. After a check-up and short drive I bought it and planed to drive it home. It ran like crap for awhile, like the carb was junk, but it turned out to be just a loaded up engine. After it warmed up all the way, and with a full throttle start to blow the garbage out of her, she was purrin like a kitten. The carb is ALL out of adjustment, the idle is real high, and the choke sets at to high of a temp, but that easy. So off I go heading home.

Stopped at a Firestone dealer to have the tires checked and the psi corrected, some pics of her in all her glory!





We made it about 46 miles out of Tuscon.......this is where we called AAA and got flatbedded to my sisters house in Phoenix.




More to follow next weekend, when I take the Dodge out with a car trailer to get her home.

Congratulations kowboy!!! Looks like you got your self a pretty solid van. And its got chrome bumpers! Glad to hear you finally got your van,
-Ryan

Yeah, Congratulations kowboy!!! looks good. now you can make it your own!!!

The "E's" will miss ya!

Well.....Ester is home now, got home around 2pm today. Unloaded her off the trailer and put her in the backyard. Took the trailer back to my friends house, came back home, and started the "to do list" on Ester. First thing is there is a MASSIVE vacume leak around the carb area and it squirts gas out of its side whe you stab the gas. I guess I need to rebuild the carb first. Then its time to gut the interior panels out and see whats under there!

NOW.................the fun begins!


Oh yea, the teardrop windows are glass not plastic.

Looks like a good Van to work with, sometimes getting them home is half the battle .

Digz wrote:Looks like a good Van to work with, sometimes getting them home is half the battle .

Heard that!

Kowboy,
You should have this one fixed up in no time. Keep the pic's coming!!!

Some interior pics.


Day/Night mirror.............and it works!

3 speed trans and bellhousing, the clutch and flywheel are in the postal box

Glad to hear you got it home. If you need help finding parts and or people who can do upholstery work , auto glass or anything else let me know.

vanishingbreed wrote:Glad to hear you got it home. If you need help finding parts and or people who can do upholstery work , auto glass or anything else let me know.

I am tryin to find a set of panel doors for the side, I dont like the windows and there gen 2 doors and dont match the top body lines.

Sounds like no problems this time. Now the real fun starts.I look forward to seeing your progress in the coming weeks.Good-Luck

mike

Kowboy,man Im glad ya got your van and got it home ok.Let the fun begin! You might think Im crazy,but I caught myself 'just sittin' inside .. wishin and hopein and thinkin and dreamin. Dang,that sounds like a song.Haaa Enjoy!

Found the vacume "leaks" today and it runs pretty good now. The carb is junk though, it wont adjust right and most of the screws are stripped, but it does run ALOT better. Took it for a spin around the block for a tester, didnt get hot and I need to replace the exhaust system. Its getting inside the van.

The T350 is not a "van" trans either, it has a custom built crossmember for it. Its safe to say that the engine/trans are not the origanal.

For your exhaust system I would suggest you see Richard at A1 Muffler in Highland, Calif. He has been doing the exhaust on my clubs vans for 37 years.

Thanks.....I will.

Well I think I found the overheating problem. It sems that it doesent have a T-stat in it. So I climb under her to start draining the radiator and some idiot put a plug in the drain petcock hole. Went to the parts store and got the parts I need, but now its startin to rain, so it will have to wait till tomorrow now.

When I talked the the lady you got it from she made it sound like it was in great condition. Said she drove it from Washington to Arizona with no problems other than having to replace a radiator hose. She said it could be driven anywhere. and only sent me pics of it all blue and looking clean. I was going to buy it for my brother and am now glad I didn't because he doesn't have the money or no how to deal with all the repairs. Good luck bro.

She drove it from Washinton in like 2000 or 2001, it probably was in good condition then. Her husband was taking care of it, he passed 3 years ago and I'm pretty sure it has just sat since then. The title was in her husbands name too.....I still havent gotten a title that California will except yet, but I'm still tryin. It was still a decent price for what it is, she REALLY doesnt know ANYTHING about cars and whoever is "taking care" of them now is an idiot!

After a long day of calling and checking on how to make Ester towable behind the motorhome, she will be converted to 4x4. Its easier and cheaper to convert her to a 4x4 (around $800) than to have a driveshaft disconnect installed ($1100). I can get a whole truck that was hit without an engine for $200 that will give me the axles, transfercase and a 700R4.

It looks like a Handi-Highboy is in my future!

hey good luck with that truck.....i looked at that one back in jan..but the cost to bring it back here to canada would have cost twice the price of the truck....im glad someone bought it ..she was nice to deal with....

A little update..........as you know the tstat lower housing had some issues, but I got the replacement part today and it will be runnin this weekend. I also bought a 65 Chevy "cave" van for parts. I'm pretty sure the doors will be traded to the Handi since it has less rust todeal with. Heres a pic of the "parts" van. More pics and progress to be posted this weekend.