1969 re,rebuild

hi I'm new here but not to vanning. i have been posting my rebuild progress on other sites, and I figured I'd do the same on this site. some of you may have already seen my progress and some of you may not. so i'll get you up to speed. i first bought my van back in 1993, i changed the color and wheels, about a year later i replaced the straight six and installed a 350 v8. about a year after that i had to swap out the three speed manual transmission with a turbo350 automatic transmission. i installed dual sunroofs, gullwinged the rear doors, lifted the rear of the van 3 inches. and interior work. i drove the van for 10 years like that. i sold the van back in 2006 and bought it back in january of 09. for the last couple months i have been re,rebuilding this van. so far i have gotten the nose cut off and replaced, changed out the straight axle, new king pins, new brakes(front) wheel cylinders, wheel bearings, tie rod ends, lowered the front suspension 2.5 inches. removed the rear gullwing door, replaced the door with a panel to seal the rear of the van. lowered the rear of the van 3 inches. removed the front and rear bumpers, made patch panels to seal the bumpermount openings. i still want to lower the front suspension 2 more inches, rebuild the motor, do some minor rewiring, replace the rockers, rear wheel openings, rear corners, front wheel openings, then i can do the interior again. i'm working with a budget of $100.00 a month( if i'm lucky) for this project. so far i'm only three monthes into the re,rebuild, and have well over 200 hours of labor into this. most of the major transformations have already happened, but there are more to come. so check back often for updates on the progress. thanks

Welcome Greg to the site!!!! I have seen your pictures @ vcvc, but sure others would enjoy them here also

here is a link to some photos that show the progress up to now, just incase you can't wait for me to figure out how to post them..... this was back in 1996

the old nose

as it looks today

rear panel, replacing the rear gullwing door

there is about 200 hours labor in just what you see

Welcome Greg, Glad you found your way over here. Your doing a great job on your van. Hey those front & back panel's looks kind of familliar

Welcome to the site Greg! I really like what your doing with your van and im really looking foward to seeing what else you do with it.

Hello Greg, You're van is looking good. I myself have been working on my '69 Chevy and lately doing nothing but hours of block sanding and priming to get it straight. I met you once back in 1997 when you were parting out a '68 GMC firestation van. I came to your house with Ron Duncan, I don't know if that rings a bell. I enjoyed all your recent photos on vannin.com. Keep plugging away on your van! - Ken Clem

I remember you Ken. didn't you buy the 307 out of that van? anyhow, it's good to hear that you are working on another early. what ever happened to your 108 with the yellow submarine painted on it? stay in touch

I didn't buy anything from that van. Maybe it was Ron who bought the engine. The submarine is the same van I am redoing now. I have owned it for 24 years and I decided to make the body as close to original as possible. Gonna do an old school paneling & carpeting with a 70's set of slotted aluminum rims. I remember driving that '68 while the previous owner was trying to sell it. I think it had 63K on the clock and it rode nice. Too bad it had so much rust. Good luck on your '69. Looks nice!