Vanning


Vanning is a compulsion, an obsession, an occupation, an affliction, a fascination, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it, must. Those who don't, think it's a waste of time. For me it is a calling.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

And the beat goes on,,,,,

Workin hard on the early,

With all the the mounts welded up we needed to trial fit the engine and trans.

Fits like a glove... with the repositioning of the engine, there is a lot of space behind it. so..... I came up with the idea to shorten the engine hole and engine cover. Here John and Danny are cutting out the floor with the cover mounts.

The side panel had a big hump in it,to accommodate the alternator on the stock engine. The new one has a serpetine belt drive and we dont need that space, so we decided to take it out and make a flat side cover......cool!
Wow ,, to look at it you would never know its 8 inches shorter than stock.. Also, started to plumb in the gas tank, and the new filler neck..




I got the door frame with the gas filler roughed in.

Spent most of the week finishing up the paint on the Nautilus.. should be ready for a trip to California next week. With the motor in, we get an idea where the van sits after it was lowered.. the stance is perfect. slightly lower in the front... It should drop even more after we get everything back in.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

If you have been following my blog, you may think I spend all my time in the garage working on my newest van project. Well as much as I would like to do that, I need to do some work and make the rent once in a while.
I did this street rod a few days ago. A real nice one

I again have another van from Tom in California. He picked up the Nautilus from the last owner in New York. It needed some repairs to the body and paint. The bodywork done ,I am getting to it! This is the first color.. won't be done till next week.

Last Saturday I went to the Ohio State game with Wisconsin... It was one of the most exciting games ever!! The Bucks won 33-29. It was back and forth all game, and the Buckeyes won it on a bomb in the last 20 seconds. Lost my voice for 2 days


Last Friday was trick or treat for the grand
kids...I got to go with them. That was fun, even tho I ended up carrying Vada the last half of the trip. Little Vada was a princess. Damm she is CUTE!
Last Thursday I got some help from Danny and John with the doors and other welding projects on the van. Here we are cutting in the new battery box into the floor. The stock battery box is inside the van behind the driver seat. Not the easiest place to get to , and I don't want battery fumes or acid inside. Besides it's ugly. So were gonna hide it under the floor. Wow this is coming along just fine.
In earlier posts we sealed off the ugly gas filler on the side rear of the van.. the new filler is going in the side door jamb. Danny did this trick on his Astro ,so he is helping me with this one...VERY COOL!


Another trick I want to do is to make the front air vent intake to match the grill with the center vertical post removed. A very subtle change but it really does look good.


Another day , another color!