Neil and Tom's Arizona Adventure!

Okay, so I've made a deal for two 1966 A100 vans in Phoenix, Arizona. It all came about very spontaneously and impulsively, but isn't that the only way things happen sometimes?

So tomorrow AM, very early, myself and my good buddy Tom are flying one way to Phoenix from Ottawa, Ontario. That's approximately 2086.7 miles (3358.3 km).

There we will take possession of the two apparently running vans, and drive them home. We are bringing an assortment of tools, some spare parts (see another thread where I bought a parts van) and a couple of sleeping bags.

The trip will take 5 days? 6 days? 10 days? I'm hoping for 5. I'm hoping the vans make it! Wish us luck! I'll try and post some photos once I get back..probably won't be able to post any along the way. Oh ya, I'm scared shitless!

Best of luck. Keep us posted

I don't have a laptop, but maybe a cybercafe? I'll have my digital camera but the little memory card is so small I doubt any cybercafe will have a reader for it...maybe. I don't know if there will be TIME to be stopping for cybercafes! Thanks for the good wishes, just what I'm looking for....some Early Vanner Force

Best of luck, bro! Have fun and stay safe!

Good luck Neil and Tom! Of course there will be time for the cybercafe's. How can you make a trip like that without quad expresso shots in your latte's?

Take care,
Don

How do you change the name of a thread? I thought about that, but isn't there a movie with that name?

I'm just checking the weather, man is it HOT down there right now!

Well, here we are! I'm on the sellers computer, he's a really great guy. We got here yesterday and began work on the vans right away. They're a little rougher than I thought, but nice dry rust free arizona bodies.

We got one running, then the other. One needed a new master cylinder, new water pump and new thermo housing. New thermostats in both, etc. Both seem to be running now and we have gears and brakes and we're getting ready to head North within the next hour. I'm not sure what awaits us....wish I could post some photos.

Pray for us! :-)

Awesome! My prayers and best wishes. Bon voyage!

With the temperatures forecast, night driving might be wise. Keep plenty of water at hand too. Best of luck on your adventure.
Kakster

Thanks guys, yes lots of water! Is it ever hot here!

We spent all day again working on these vans. The white one won't cool. We had to replace the master, water pump, thermostat housing...blah blah.. Turns out the inside of the motor is just plugged, no water going through.

So I'm going to try and make a deal for just the blue van. The guy wanted to sell both, but I think he'll go for my deal. I'm dissappointed because it's a nice rust free van too, but without a running motor we just can't take it.

We're heading out tonight, with the two of us we should be able to drive alot...hopefully we don't break down too much. This blue van seems pretty reliable.

May be too late, but a one way rental trailer might be able to get both Vans back home.
Kakster

Love the updates. Its kind of exciting to see how this works out.

Hey guys...well I'm home. What an adventure! I don't know where to begin...

As I said earlier, after 2 days in the hot Arizona sun we were only able to make one van run right. The white one just kept overheating. We changed the waterpump, master cylinder, thermostat and housing, hoses....all kinds of shit. Eventually we pulled some plugs and found the cooling jackets were plugged up and nothing was flowing. Engine no good.

We made the decision to abandon that van and just take one.

We arrived in Phoenix about noon on Wednesday and left for the road at midnight on Thursday night. Mike, the seller was very nice and let us sleep in his spare room and shower and drove us around a bit to find parts. I think he enjoyed working on the vans with us, something he's been missing .... his hobby! Maybe he'll decide to keep the white one, who knows.

Our first stop was a Home Depot where we bought some wood and made a quick makeshift bed in the back where one guy could sleep while the other drove.

We were about 2.5 hours from Phoenix when a cop pulled us over. We were doing 59 down a big hill in a 75 zone....but our license plate lights didn't work. I think the cop thought "Check this out! A van going slow down that big hill...and it looks like a wreck! Must be Mexicans running dope for sure! I'm going to hit it big tonight!!" But in reality it was just a couple of crazy Canadians out for a ride of their lives.

He asked to see our paperwork and quess what? I realized I had forgotten it all at Mike's house!!! Needless to say, we had to turn back to get it. :-( Bummer!! Oh well, it gave me the chance to return Mike's cordless phone that somehow ended up in the van....

The van was running good until we hit some of the big hills...then things went sour. It didn't run hot, but it began to miss and stumble and lose power.



We eventually made it to Tulsa, OK where we decided to stop and make repairs. Tom had decided the carb was part of the problem and maybe a good timing along with some new points would be in order.

We stopped in the parking lot of an Autozone. Tom rebuilt the carburetor while I gave the van a quick coat of paint with some house paint we bought. That's what was already on there, so what why not eh?





At this point things still weren't right. We took out the distributor and found the gear at the bottom was broken! Autozone had everything we needed, but it took an old guy there to find it for us. We put in a new vacuum advance, new points, new gear, new plug wires, set the timing and valve lash, painted the van and 7 hours later we were ready to roll.

We took turns driving and trying to sleep, but something would always come up, like we needed gas or food or just to take a leak, ya know?

We managed to drive a bit of old HWY 66 but it's hard to find...not well advertised. There was a cool old place with over 600 cars for sale, but it was closed.



Somewhere along the road we stopped at a truck stop for food and showers and then carried on. Shortly after the van began it's bad running again. Missing, idling rough, backfiring. The timing was off. We had to stop and do all that again.

you guys rule! that sounds like a great trip. too bad you had to leave the other one though.... where the rest of the story?
james

In Gary, Indiana the van began to shake really bad and grind. I knew exactly what it was.....the u-joint! But I had forgotten that this van doesn't have just any old u-joint...it's got one of those famous Chrysler ball and trunion deals. Uh oh...they're completely obsolete, I knew that from having one on my '65 Barracuda.

I pulled off the highway and into an Autozone again. Nope, they didn't have what we wanted.

We did get a rear u-joint, but no way would a ball and trunion for the front be available.

Tom said "No worries, I'll rebuild it.". Well it was bone dry, we should have at least greased it back in Phoenix...just an oversight on our part I guess.

I'm telling ya, I'm really lucky to have a friend like Tom. He took the driveshaft off, replaced the rear joint and took the ball and trunion apart and found a bunch of the roller bearings (more like needles) were bent and missing. He cut replacements from a paperclip and the end of a spring, put it all back together with lots of grease, then we wrapped a newer style CV Joint rubber boot around it with tie straps and off we went!

A few people told us "You'd better get that fixed before it gets dark because you don't want to be around here at night unless you've got your gun handy." The local Subway had bullet proof glass along the counter like bank. It was like a scene out of The 'Hood and I was glad to get out of there actually.