COOPSTRIPES: March 2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

Back in the garage

Yes. Its been a while since I updated the ole blog. It's been a long winter, and I spent most of it in the garage. The Early has me jazzed. I have never been this excited to get a van done. With the possible exception of the Flying Eagle. Which really isn't finished, but that's another story..lol.

In the last episode, our hero was in the middle of finishing bodywork on the front doors and openings. All the while, fighting slow hardening bondo, slow drying primer, and choking on bondo dust. BAMM!.... ZONK!.... BOINK!

sorry, I had an attack of Adam West. Holy rocker panel Batman lol

LOOKIN GOOD!

One of the things I've always wanted to do on an early Dodge,is some custom trick to change those ugly headlights. The factory trim rings are hideous. They protrude. Don't fit well. and don't lend themselves to any bolt on that looks any better. I've been mussing on this one for some time. The stock ring has to go. But how do you fill all that space between the light and the body. The headlight sticks out beyond the body ring. So I decided to recess the whole light assembly similar to the sunken taillights. Problem was there isn't a lot of room behind the bucket to set it back very far. We cut out the mount and bucket and modified the bucket to allow it to go back nearly 2 inches. Doesn't sound like much but it does the trick. Before

After

Then we had to get rid of those mounting holes,to make the ring smoooothe

then fill it all and make the correct taper inward. Gona be COOL! Reminds me of the lights on the turbine car Chrysler built in the 60's

The Boys were down a couple times to help. We got a lot done. Some of this stuff just can't be done by one guy (or at least one old one lol). Helped me pull out the Engine to paint it. They helped fabricate mounts for the new heat and air conditioning system.

That's the new Camaro synergy green. That's also going to be one of the colors on the outside of the van...

Also made a mount for the new fuse block and wire harness. and began modifying the tilt steering column that is going in .

The wiring harness is a complete harness from an Astro van. All the Dodge wiring was removed and everything from front to the rear lights is being replaced.. Yea, I know the die hard Dodge guys hate me, but I wanted to build it like a hot rod. How many 32 fords have there been with Chevy engines in them? Millions! The donor Astro had a new engine and trans. and I want to modernize the mechanics so everything that makes it go is from the Astro. Gas tank ( that bolted right in) fuel pump , 350 small block-fuel injected, tilt wheel ,4 speed overdrive trans. Complete wiring harness, cruise control, intermittent wipers, power windows, even the seats, that fit like a dream. Which I love by the way. ( no damm car seats in MY van) besides I have worked on Astros a long time and this will be easier to fix when needed.

Wiring is a time consuming task. A lot of it can be stripped out. Stuff I'm not going to use like the stock heater controls (getting heat and air from Vintage Air). power door locks and the like.

Wiring up the taillights and rear interior. The biggest problem is where to put it all. The Astro has an ecm (computer) that controls all motor functions. It has a crap load of wires in it. I need to put it some where inside the van and close enough to the engine so I don't have to lengthen or shorten all those wires. I already have done that with some of them ,but I don't want to do all those. The best place so far is in the wall right behind the driver seat. Close enough to the motor. I think it will work,, I'll know better in a week or so.

Yea and that's only half of it LOL

IT'S ALIVE....

Radiator out of a c-6 corvette will be mounted under the front floor. Low and at an angle. Just like in a vette.(my sons idea). more on that when we get to fabricating the mounts.

I did do some other stuff besides work on the van. I went to Detroit for the Autorama and the Pinstripers panel jam. This is one of my donation pieces. that was a great time. Good to see Scal, Tramp and all the other cool stripers.

Finished fixin the paint on the Nautilus.

Finally got it on it's way home to Calif.

Just had to put this one up.. I love it..Vance wanted a fink on his tool box at work.. TOOLS = FOOD. Ain't it the truth! HA HA HA.

THE EAGLE SAGA

It was 40 years ago and I attended the largest van event that I ever went to. Even tho I had had a van for some 4 years, this was to be only my 3rd van event. The Nationals at Bowling Green, Ky was sensory overload to the van enthusiast. 6300+ vans in one place? It still stirs the emotions. I belonged to a club from Newark, Ohio at the time called, North Fork Vans.

It was hot that weekend. Very hot.. To hot to even move. Got up sat to enter the show & shine. This was to be the first for me. When I got to the check in area we discovered that there were nearly 1000 vans in the line ahead of us. Didn’t do it. After parking back at the club camp we went to look at the vans. The heat was oppressive, and we spent most of the time in the bleachers watching the vans inch their way through the judging lanes,occasionally walking down to take a closer look. There were so many vans it was impossible to see them all. It amazes me to this day how the N.S.V.A. group was able to judge all of them and pick winners in just a few hours. There were a lot of real nice vans. Many were even outstanding. Saw the B.F.G. van, future shock. It was extreme, especially for then. But the one van I kept hearing about was a van from Ohio. Built by Greg of Akron. The van was the Flying Eagle 2. I never saw it. But a number of people said it was the best thing they had ever seen. I the host group must have agreed since the Flying Eagle 2 was awarded top honors at Bowling Green. including best overall paint ,and best interior. I never did see it..until it started showing up in every van publication there was and back then there were a lot of them.

Greg toured the van all over the country that year. Taking top honors at many shows, including Best of Show at the west coast van nationals in King City Calif . Over the next few years I became a fan of Greg's style of paint. He was the “Foose” of his day. His paint was on many of the top winning vans for years. The Superstar, Rocky Mountain High, Hotel California, Rolling thunder, and others were among the elite of the vanning scene. But the Flying Eagle 2 was Greg’s personal van and probably the best one he ever did. What ever became of it.?? Well in 1978 he repainted it. The second paint job was not as elaborate as the first but was still very nice. I know this from pictures I saw in a magazine called small car trends. But I still hadn’t seen it. Then later that year he sold the van to a guy in Louisville,Ohio , Ben Merkle . Merkle Had the van at the 7th. Nats show & shine. in Cortland. Never saw it. Later that day someone told me it was there. Hunted it down but it was locked up and I had to settle for seeing the exterior… after that it was never seen again. Fast forward 24 years to the Nats ,2003, in Kansas City. A long time Vanner friend comes to me with pictures of a van that he just acquired ,and wants to know if I would be interested in helping him restore it. Woaaaa. It’s the Flying Eagle. And it had been on fire! Well, to actually find this van after all these years was real cool ,but the story behind it was even cooler.. Blaino bought the van on ebay. as the story goes, Merkle was driving the van one day and it stalled at a light. Then there was smoke ,then fire. The fire department came and put it out but the van was pretty messed up. The van was insured, and after settling with the ins. company they sold the van at auction. No one wanted it. It had no parts a junk yard could sell and it ended up selling for $100. That person put it on ebay and it sold for a ridiculously low price. That’s when Blaino came to me. Blaino lives in Oregon. The van was in Michigan. And after a year of banter Blaino offered the van to me. I took it. Then Mikie and I took a 12 hour trip to Michigan and I finally got to see the Flying Eagle. Upon inspection and a little detective work , we determined that the fire was caused by a fuel line leak.The rubber hose at the carb, either cracked or wasn’t properly installed and sprayed gas over the engine., That's why it stalled. Then the gas hit the exhaust and fooom. The fire was contained to the intake and above. The paint on the block wasn’t touched.The fire melted the wiring harness, heater box and then came through the fire wall. The front of the cab was burned pretty good, some wood will have to be replaced but most could be saved. The pictures to follow will show the progress of the restoration… oh yes, in 2000 the van was repainted again, supposedly by Greg at least partly. It has his mural work on it. The theme is still the sailing ship, but it is now a futuristic look. Actually I like it. The idea is to eventually restore it to its original paint job, but that will entail striping the van completely as all 3 paint jobs are still on the van, and at least the first 2 are lacquer. If you look just right you can still see the old paint outlines. I am going to fix the van as it was before the fire for the time being. The restoration is pretty much done . Now i'm working on improving it. you know I can't just leave it alone. coop

COOPSTRIPES

Vanning

Monday, March 12, 2012

Back in the garage

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