And now for something completely different.....

[falconvan]

Decided against it; I wanted this to be a quick winter project and I'm afraid that will tie it up all summer.

 

[Flipper_1938]

Decided against it; I wanted this to be a quick winter project and I'm afraid that will tie it up all summer.

I would have made the same choice. It would have still been a brick...just a little shorter

It's different enough right now to be fun.

 

[the reverend muddy grimes]

Just a thought, leave it stock height, load a cherry picker and a rolling tool box in it and use it as a mobile workshop.

 

[falconvan]

That's more or less where it's going; I'm always borrowing my brother in law's truck when I need to haul something heavy. I think this'll make a pretty cool looking shop truck and haul or pull whatever I need.

 

[falconvan]

Here's a couple from the weekend; I know this doesn't look like much sanding but I also did the inside wheelwells, footwells, and door tracks; took about 13 hours total. I was going to just seal it and paint over the blue but it's just too crappy looking. Might as well start from the beginning. Did a little rough in on the gauges, too.

 

[Flipper_1938]

Here's a couple from the weekend; I know this doesn't look like much sanding but I also did the inside wheelwells, footwells, and door tracks; took about 13 hours total. I was going to just seal it and paint over the blue but it's just too crappy looking. Might as well start from the beginning. Did a little rough in on the gauges, too.

Seems like they all end up being ground up re-do's even if that is not what you started out expecting.

 

[falconvan]

Yeah; certain things you just cant let slide. Another month of sanding is worth better results; even on something like this.

 

[falconvan]

Here's another several hours with the DA; also a set of seats I picked up at the boneyard today.

 

[falconvan]

Here's where I got to today; I had to push it out, blow it off with an airgun and sweep up all the blue dust, it was getting overwhelming. Also here's the front. It's pretty beat up so I'm going to try and build a new one. I got these trimrings off of Evilbay; maybe these and a square tube grill will make it look cool. Definately different turn signal lights, too.

 

[junkmagnet]

Probably something simple, just a quick winter project. First is make sure the motor will run. Once we get the drivetrain lined out we'll paint it inside and out, throw on a few 70's retro hot rod goodies along with some new decals. How about Van Halen's "Ice Cream Man" playing through the loudspeaker?

gotta love that song!!!, you could use a s-10 frontend and column to make left hand drive...[P

 

[falconvan]

Yeah, it's hard to beat the David Lee era of VH! I remember cruzin in my 455 powered 72 Bonneville with the stereo cranked on VH back in high school. Actually, I really dig the right hand drive; it's one of the things that make me decide to do this.

 

[riverrat44]

Been following your progress on the van..... Where abouts is Festus? I like the 455 idea, no sense messing around with some baby motor, ya might have to put wheelie bars on er......... I'm promoter for our car, truck, m-cycle, or anything with wheels show on May 8th here in Lowry City.. Like to see you and your ride there.....

 

[falconvan]

Been following your progress on the van..... Where abouts is Festus? I like the 455 idea, no sense messing around with some baby motor, ya might have to put wheelie bars on er......... I'm promoter for our car, truck, m-cycle, or anything with wheels show on May 8th here in Lowry City.. Like to see you and your ride there.....

Cool! I'm about 30 miles south of St Louis. Where's Lowry City? That sounds like a good date to shoot for; I'm hoping to have it done by April.

 

[falconvan]

Finally made it all the way around; now just the doors, hood, some edges and the roof too sand. I had cut out a panel in the rear that needs replaced; I'm going to work on that tomorrow. Also painted the footwells and sliding door tracks with POR-15. My son came by and started cleaning up the motor but we ended up taking a break to do some pickin. Back on it tomorrow; 1 more day off before it's back to work.

 

[riverrat44]

Cool! I'm about 30 miles south of St Louis. Where's Lowry City? That sounds like a good date to shoot for; I'm hoping to have it done by April.

Lowry City is 17 miles south of Clinton on Hgwy13, Or 70 miles no. of Springfield. Keep up the good work.....[P

 

[falconvan]

That sounds doable; we'll see how things look come May.
I finished up building a new rear panel for the roof and got it welded in; also set the motor and trans in place to start figuring out mounts. It looks like the headers are going to fit so I'm happy with that.

 

[falconvan]

Looks like I may have to notch the frame for the drivers side header after all but no big deal. I stuck the old front end on just to see what my forward clearance is going to be. Here's the last of them for today; I'm ready for a break for a few days.

 

[falconvan]

Not a whole lot of spare time this weekend but I did manage to get my motor mounts built. I need to move the tranny crossmember back about 6" and I'm good to go. Also threw on the valvecovers to check clearance; all looks good so far.

 

[falconvan]

I took advantage of having MLK day off work and got a solid 12 hours in the garage today. Lots of little stuff done: Sanded and painted the column and the brake pedal assembly, started looking at how to make a new front clip; the original is one piece but I'm going to make the side pieces seperate and the front will bolt on. I cut up the sides off of the old one, I think i'll try and make them first. I started cutting the front piece out of some 16 gauge but the jaws on my air shear broke so that was as far as I got on that. I sanded for a long time on the doghouse; I can't believe how much paint was on this thing but I finally got it finished. I had to drill some holes and cut a small access panel in it for when I bolt it all together. Once again had to push the truck out to clean up all the sanding dust, it gets overwhelming. Finally I had to notch the frame for the drivers side header so i got that finished, too.

 

[falconvan]

Here's a few more.....