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.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Summer is over time to work even harder...

   The last month has been ,  well different  .. . The old saying about the devil being in the details, is right. The major work goes fast then the assembly will eat you up in minutia. Replacing lost bolts. Pieces don't fit.You assemble a bunch of stuff only to discover you forgot something and have to take it all apart.
  Got the master cylinder in and before the engine goes in the brakes need to be done.
Dale brought down his magic flair tool and bent up some serious brake lines.  we installed an adjustable  metering valve and bled the brakes.. work like a charm!


  In goes the engine!!
   The custom radiator mounts worked better that I hoped. I don't know why this hasn't been tried before.  The problem with the early vans is the lack of airflow.  With the radiator in the engine cover its hard to get air thru it.. this increases air flow and the air from the radiator goes under the van and not thru the engine cover..  gona get a shroud and electric fans on it yet.
    While searching ebay, I came across the ultimate license plate for the van. In Ohio, you can run a year plate on a vehicle with historical plates.  Since I am putting a Rat Fink on the van. This plate is perfect..the correct year,in great shape.  RFA.  Rat Finks of America?  Rat Fink Artist...lol   Had to have it 
      Got a call from Mister Green. The man who restos the horse drawn vehicles.  He wanted some wagon wheels striped...those things had the snot striped out of them.
   Another call from my good customer Dan Wright, the model A restorer.. did this 29 for him.
This one was a stripe job with a bad spot on the door..customer thought a daffy would cover it nicely....  LOL
Mike at skinner diesel built me a drive shaft that fit like a dream..It's a tight fit but it should work... guess we'll find out.  lol
  When we did the gas tank and filler neck we used two different sizes of pipe.. close but different enough that a hose wouldn't fit over both.  So I made an adapter so a 2 inch hose would connect them.   sucess!
With the engine back in I could put the serpentine system on.  then connect all the wiring.   This is a March performance kit and it is really well made.
    Instructions are clear and easy to follow, and everything fit exactly as it was supposed to.        
                   Impressive!
  The wiring to the trans and gas tank will be run thru a conduit that I'm putting thru the center of the cross members under the floor.  I'll paint it to match the floor and it will be unnoticeable.
 I didn't want to paint the drive shaft till I made sure  it would fit.                                    









Hooked up the trans shifter...connecting a Dodge cable to a Chevy trans...lots of fabricating..but it works good.   I got a Chevy throttle bracket from the yard. As you can see nothing lines up as it should.. more fabricating...lol

I'm running lines for the air conditioning, trans,radiator wiring for heater box,cooling fans ,and on and on.         The devil is in the details....