67(?) Falcon SuperCab falling in my lap

Well, I spent a little time with the van in the garage this weekend... weather was good enough to work with the door open in natural light work on the broken hinge and to troubleshoot the problem with the parking / license lamp circuit.

Fixed the hinge, but it looks like the whole jamb has some rot and has bent over time... bigger repair than I hoped, but I think will be okay for now.
Wiring seems simple enough... the wires were chafed as they passed through the door jamb and door, and the spring and sleeve were damaged. Took a little doing, but it works.

However, when I went to test it, I stepped on the brake pedal just for kicks... it seems that the brake light circuit is a little sticky and wants to stay on. They go off when I disconnect a wire from the switch on the end of the MC.

Can I just swap on a known good switch? Do they fail in this way because the brake fluid gums up the old switch? Maybe I can just clean it? I do have the MC from the Grimstone van, as I am considering putting the 67 MC in it...

Anyone have any idea if these 61-66 brake switches are known to be problematic in this way?

Well, an update:

Other threads have chronicled my trials with the 240... still needs a rebuild.

Wiper damage was repaired, and most recently have been working on door pillars and body rot. I have to repair some rotten drip rails yet, but here's the latest of the bodywork.

Front Passenger wheel well... there were four patches required here: rim of the inner wheel well, a flat section of the inner wheel well, and then two outer skin pieces.







New Rocker Panel... This came off quite easily with the air chisel on the shambulance, air nibbler on the donor. Inner rocker panel is surprisingly intact! Make sure your inner rocker panel drain slots are clear!!!







Front Drivers wheel well... again requiring four patches like the passenger side, but this repair is trickier... the step portion of the inner wheel well is very brittle, and it's not easy to cut. Also have to rebuild the contour of the wheel well as the inner almost completely rotted away where the two outer pieces meet near the step portion... well, once I cut it for access with my dremel...

Drip rail sandwich rot: side door



Drip rail sandwich rot: passenger rear corner... this area is leaking quite badly, and looks tweaked.

Done fighting with pinholes on the Front Passenger step / wheelwell.



Same with side door pillar. Passenger side is ready for primer, bondo and touch-up paint!



Almost finished hand-shaping the rocker panel! It's going on tonight!

Spent a busy weekend welding, but got some help dealing with other body rust... mostly rust spots that showed themselves beneath the green paint.



Decided that I needed to remove door handles so that I could get healp with bondo and sanding... the passenger door handle was screwey (and found to be damaged).







Back of van... actually had to patch the door handle area... this patch worked really well.



All the welding (short of the rear roll pan and roof seam) is complete now.



On to bondo and touch up paint! On another note, I examined the oil pump from the engine I was rebuilding. My hope is that is would replacing the oil pump will be all that I need for better oiling of the the top end!

The van is coming along nice, thanks for all the pic's

Looking good Corey

Thanks.

Oil pump improved the situation... less rocker noise... but the warning light still comes on when warm. Maybe if I replace the sender... maybe I should also look for a gauge...

Bought a new oil pressure sender, works like a charm!!! No engine swap for me! Now if I could rig up a PCV system so that my engine would quit smoking...

I'm a dumb@$$! I haven't been able to drive around without overheating. Figured out (the hard way) that my thermostat was stuck open. Replaced that, and the situation only marginally improved. Finally this evening while driving (overheating) on my way home from work, I thought to myself "maybe there isn't enough coolant in the system..." Why can't I get with these old vans that the rad needs to be full even without an overflow bottle? So now, I hopefully can drive around town for more than a half hour every three!

Oh, covered the draft tube -> PCV valve conversion in another thread... very nice to not be driving in a cloud of white smoke!

I sprayed the many spots I had been working on, though not throughly flatted... if I keep the Shambulance, it will get a colour-change. A couple other friends around here that have shown interest have also expressed the same. So this paint job does not need to be perfect. However, I want to hide the work. So here is where I got to late this evening, less a couple of the more tricky spots still left to fill!

i think the overheating problem is common for the early's i put a flex blade on mind but still gets hot but since i put a overflow tank on it has helped a bunch. your econo is looking good and something about those ambulance stripes on the window make it pretty cool lookin.

Your work is payin off Corey.It's the simple stuff (thermostat,plug wire ect.) that kicks your butt sometime.As far as the appearance,don't worry about it.Just call her 'Spot' for the time being.

Thanks... that couple quarts of coolant... no overheating since. I will have to seek out an overflow tank that will fit... with the stock fan, the rad is on a bracket that pushes it an inch forward... there's no room for a bottle.

The looks of the van... I can smile and wink at pretty ladies again as I roll by or pull up at a light! Van looks good enough for now!

Gonna throw an update into here... been updating my engine build thread, as I was contemplating my recent mechanical problems may have warranted an engine swap sooner than later... been broken down for the last month.

Fast forward to today, I got the van running with a reman'd Ford Autolite 1101 carb, but it is configured differently (no spark control valve). So I apparently will have to upgrade to Duraspark II sooner than later, and I'm not sure if I can find a donor in the boneyard... ugh!

... after test driving with the new carb, I realized the mess on my driveway is tranny fluid! I didn't get very far! Also realized I had used the wrong fluid. So I drained my C4 tranny and torque converter, put an o-ring on the shift lever to cure the leak, and did a little detailing.

Just for kicks, here is a pic of the engine I'm rebuilding:



and so I detailed some bits I had forgotten (oil dipstick and distributor clamp), and also the tranny pan, filler tube and dipstick while I had them out...



Now, I realized that my Green Dot C4 never shifts into third gear... not sure what the deal is, but in my research, I learned what the different gears are supposed to do... P R and N are obvious... White Dot Drive is 2nd and 3rd, Green Dot Drive is 1-2-3, and L is 1. I hope to find third gear eventually, because I would like to get out on the highway!



In checking things out, I just want to put out there that I need a new Green Dot gear selector indicator, if anyone has one. Also, I can't send my steering column down there to be refurbished, but would like to get what it needs (lower spring washers, any bushings, turn signal switch, whatever). Also, when looking at my steering column selector lever, and it's very worn and doesn't grab the selecter detent plate well. I suspect I will have to weld and build it up, then cut it sharper to really grab the detent edges... I invite your thoughts on this.

I have seen Ron Blachut's steering wheel restoration, but I wonder if there are any other resources for doing this... like maybe using a ratchet strap and epoxy to restore the cracked up hub? I'm particularly curious because I hae a coveted white steering wheel.

Thanks all!

Looking good, keep the updates coming!

Wow Corey,your gonna need your shades on when lookin at that motor.I like that color.
Hope you can find you an auto indicator.Keep on postin bud!

Have you asked about the auto indicaor over at oldeconolines group? I think someone on that site has reproduction or nos indicators.

61econoline wrote:Have you asked about the auto indicaor over at oldeconolines group? I think someone on that site has reproduction or nos indicators.

I'll do that... Can't remember if it's in there that the steering column guru is in, too... I just love postin all my crap in this site for y'all first!

Yeah and we dig your progress.I was lookin at the Econo meet vid from this past weekend,at the end,related vids pop up.Your vid of your 240 popped up.Don't know when it was made,but cool.

Really? My tired 240 with two cylinders extremely low compression, blow-by fumes, no top-end oiling and extremely gunky? In the dead of winter, with my lovely toque (or wool hat if you are not familiar with that uniquely Canadian term), and ice crystals in my breath? That one?

Yup! That'd be it.Heh heh Stocking cap,sock cap,beanie(as my kid called it) are terms I'm more familiar with.Touque?.....hmmm....that term is more common here with a smoke of the left hand kind.Eh?
I like the vid though,and you bucket page too.

roflmao... yes, I guess "beanie" would be the universal term! I'f I'd have known I was in AR with y'all, I'm sure I'd have gotten really drunk for the occasion!

Spring is here, and it is time to share some Shambulance inspiration!

I have basically figured out (finally) how I intend to lay out the interior!!!

I have a few school bus seats which I plan to install along the drivers side of the van. Front one will face the rear of the van, and I will modify them all to fold down into a bed. Will add seat belts to the front-facing seats, and mount a collapsible RV table to the wall for the front two that will be "dinette-style".

My "medicine" cabinet with the stealth pop-up TV will go on the rear paassenger side. That's part of my original idea... toughest part to figure out was how to arrange the seating! Not only that, but I need to make some room in my garage and the school bus seats will go perfectly into the Shambulance!

Now, I just have to clear a path in the garage to reach the seats... what a mess!

When it's done, I believe the Shambulance will be perfect for camping, tailgating, taking the crew for a round of golf, loading up with groceries or whatever... I'm glad I have a plan for it.

So this summer, I plan to finish the bodywork and interior (and reclaim a bit of space in the garage). While I'm at it, I will try to refurbish the suspension bushings, and maybe paint the Shambulance with it's base coat for it's subtle hot-rod ambulance-themed look!