THE SURFINK COMES ALIVE

       The last month or two has been rough. Hot, not a lot of work, among other things, so I have lost myself in the garage workin' on what I intend to be the best thing I have ever done.

sanded for what seemed like a month

after laying out the graphic I masked it and sprayed the color between the two tone



after that it was time to haul it to Sam's and get it in the paint booth 

spent the better part of the day masking it up  took off the doors so we could paint everything at once

had to mask up for each color separately

first color done time to mask some more

Sam does a fabulous job of layin on clear. so I had him clear the whole thing after I got all the color on

Like glass!!

Got the doors on and she's ready to go home!




 

After getting it home I spent the next week color sanding and buffing it out.

Its getting close

Gotta break for Food

Couldn't wait to get started on the art on the back

First layer of color

the clear buffed up like glass!

the fink is nearly ready for the last detail

2 days

Wont be long till I can grab the key and hit the street!!

What I did yesterday

what I did yesterday

          Every once in a while something comes along that you never expected.  Such an occurrence happened to me today. I have been into the custom paint thing since I was about 20 years old. I didn't know much about it at the time. but I wanted to do cool things with my rides. I was never into the go fast thing. I was more into how it looked rolling down the street.
 Being a young kid ,living in Columbus (read that cow town)  Ohio. I was about as far as you could get from the heart of the custom car culture. The big daddy , rat fink  and the like, may as well have been on another planet.
         I was first exposed to the pinstriping world when I came across an article in Hot Rod magazine about Von Dutch. That was in the 70's.  It had a brief history about the man who is credited with starting the custom pinstriping art form ,and several pages about the basics of striping.  What paint to use, brushes, thinner, technique etc. It was enough to get me to buy some brushes and play with it.

       A short time later I started my correspondence with Ed Roth.  He really was the one to teach me most in those days.  As many of you know I was asked by Ed and his wife Ilene to paint his casket when he passed away. That was an honor that I still can't believe was given to me. 

       Well, today I was honored to be asked to do some striping on the newly restored Von Dutch bus.   If you wrote a movie script using Dutch's life it would be so far out there, not to be believed. He was a character to say the least.  Not only was he a famous pinstriper . He also loved to work in metal. building vehicles from scratch. Knives and guns were also a favorite of his.  His knives alone command a healthy price now, into the thousands of dollars..
       For many years Dutch lived in this bus and would park it in the desert and create in his portable machine shop.  After he died in 1992, the bus was stripped and was left sitting in a field. years later,  Steve Kafka bought the bus and restored it. He found a lot of the original machinery and parts and put the bus back the way it was when Dutch was living in it, complete with some of his cigarette butts on the work bench.  lol.

    My bud Magoo ,from Vegas ,was also to do some work on the bus, so we met up at Steve's shop near Phoenix today and went at it. I was to do some striping on the panel that was just above Dutch's  bed.   The design I was asked to do was, the some what famous Dutch design, of "Harvey shaken by cross breeding". 
It was an almost spiritual experience being in his bus and striping on a wall panel having gotten started 40 years ago with advice from him.  That along with my association with Ed, I am humbled to have ended up here.

The last month has been very busy. The weather has started to warm up,and I have been able to work without the heater blowing on me.   I've been doing wiring.  Wiring.  More wiring.  I painted the dash about 2 weeks ago and have assembled the dash complete with air ducts and instrument cluster.  The only thing left to do is install the unit that will drive the digital dash and the cruise control.  It was back ordered and I am still waiting for it to get here.  It is a cool unit. New from Dakota digital, It works off of  GPS and has no connections to the motor or drive train, only power wires and a pulse that runs the cruise and speedo.  technology marches on!  

 

from this  

                                                                           To this

I wanted to keep the dash as close to stock as I could for a retro look The instrument bezel is from a Dodge Sportsman van about 1968 I think.It is Cast aluminum instead of the stamped steel one in the stock A-100. I have since stripped off the green paint and polished it . It looks so cool that way.  I was able to make the stock Dodge steering wheel fit on the Chevy steering column. unless you really know your vans you would never know its not a Dodge unit!

With the radiator and all the hoses and the like in the van it is getting quite crowded under there.  I had to finish wiring the dryer for the air conditioning mounted under the floor.   uggh.  No fun there.

I was getting crap for the yellow spark plug wires on the engine so I got a set of Taylor plug wires that can be custom fit exactly.  I have a real dislike for unruly wires. I didn't use to be that way but after years of trying to find a short or bad connection in wires that look like a bowl of spaghetti,I want my wires NEET! This set up is the best I have come across. They can be cut to any length . loomed together so they don't flop around. The trick now is to run your plug wires under the headers and out the back.  With the wires being black, they almost disappear

The last connections were the trans lines. I had 2 hoses made to run to the cooler . The connections were hard to get at with the radiator under the floor.Laying on your back on cold concrete is so much fun.   lol.      The lines were a little long the first time and I had them shortened, now they fit perfectly

  The wiring in the overhead console cant be finished till I know where it all goes.so I am mocking up the overhead and wiring all the goodies up there. There are 3 monitors for the cameras on the sides and rear, the Sirius radio head, clock, interior light switches, and the power window switches all going in the console.

This is the cruise control module from a late model astro. it will work perfectly with the steering column connections. I can't get it hooked up till the module arrives and then the wiring is FINISHED!.   Dale was down this past weekend and we pressure tested the cooling system and air conditioning too.  It all checks out.  The cooling system is now full of coolant and it doesn't leak.  Amazing!. Ran the engine up to temp.  The fan kicked on just like it was suppose to. Got the trans fluid full. 
       All systems seem to be working.   The radiator needs an overflow tank. Dale came up with the idea of making a tank to fit right behind the serpentine bracket,and follow the shape of the components. I mocked it up out of cardboard and Vance said he will weld it together for me. 

                                                                     That will be so trick!!

I have been working on this project for 3 years.  The last time I sat behind the wheel and drove this thing, I was in Vegas and the brakes went out!    LOL..  (wasn't funny then). SO last night we finally were ready to see if this thing would actually move under its own power.

 I

 WOW  I'm getting close, Today I ordered the material for the interior. 

Next time I'll have her ready for paint.  The pace is about to pick up!   Later!

The wiring in the console gets more complicated as we go.Because of the placement of the door latch,using a solenoid to open the door is somewhat difficult. The window motors and other structures don't leave much room.  So I found a kit from Auto-Lock to convert the windows to remote operation

Hopefully this is the last thing to wire in  the console.  I have to install switches for interior lighting but I have all the connections ready to hook up.

I love this....the remote unit has another channel that allows me to hook up a release for the side door that will work with the same remote. 

   The entire van will have sound deadening mat applied. Sticky rubber mats that keep road noise down and insulate the interior

When making a custom install, there is a lot of trial and error.  So far there has been about 3 errors and 2 two trials on the radiator. but I think this combo will work.   

 

  

We had to give the shroud the steep angle to clear all the obstructions, and keep it high enough off the ground as not to get ripped off by debris in the road.



 

The enging cover is the next thing on the list. If you haven't seen the older post where we shortened the engine cover maybe you should go back and check it out.  Suffice to say the dog house is almost 8 inches shorter than stock. There is some welding to finiosh up and holes to make to be able to bolt it all togeather..  then it will be the first pieces to get painted!   O Boy!

When I show this truck, I want to show the engine. this engine box is deep and all the cool stuff is to low to see.   IDEA.     

  Make a  front engine cover with a cutaway, that I can install when the van is on display.

  With a little fab work and welding , it is all visible!

Vance came down and we finished up some  welding that was needed on the trans mount.  

 Hopefully the weather will warm up enough that I can get the radiator filled and trans lines finished and finally drive  it!!  till next time....

Happy New Year 13!!

Yes, The new year is here.  I haven't posted for a while but I have a good reason.  Spent the last month of the year on an extended trip. Many miles to the 4 corners of the country.  Here is the short version.   

 First stop was the Turkey Run in Florida. Striped a bunch of cars and ended up down at Lew's workin' on the van. I had a bad thermostat . Lew is a life saver.  Helped me change it and got it ready for the next 5,000 miles!  

Then spent a few days at Judith's workin' on Nats stuff and more.

 

Drove to the west coast..Did the Mooneyes show.  Here I gave Ilene Roth the Christmas hillbilly crash helmet Judith made for her.   Very cool!   lol

Spent a week hangin with Jimmy C. Paintin and clownin' around .  What a great time.  Thanks Dena and Jimmy!  Your the greatest....O yea,  Had a burger or two also.  

 

Started this painting while I was there.Not finished  yet. Trying to get it done for the Rat Fink Reunion this coming June. Think I'll make it?   

 

 

 

Went to the Brush off event again.  A collection of some of the best stripe artists in the country. Here is a few of the pieces that were there.

\Each artist brings a panel for trade and we draw to see who gets which one.   a great time!

 

 

\ Hung out with Kenny for a few days.  Went to his place,  the underworld.   Look close in the background.  that's the Hollywood sign.  He's in the Hollywood hills.. The road goin' up this mountain is unbelievable! Curvy , Narrow!  very cool.

We went to the live steam clubs park.  Been trying to do that for a long time. 

                                                                              He took me to Forest Lawn cemetery . Visited Buster Keaton and others.   that was cool to.

  Went thru Vegas and visited Magoo.  Then made it to Ilene's for more Fink stuff... Then it was back home for Christmas and the New Year.

Back to the old garage... its time to pick up where I left off. The the air condition and heater unit is connected to all the hoses but the electrical isn't even started. Since I'm waiting for the shroud and radiator to get done I figured I would do the rest of the electrical.   The stereo needs a few things finished. Got that done and the thing is incredible..It will do everything but make your lunch. Then started by running wires up the windshield to a power block.   

 

I have done a lot of work smoothing out the sides. Shaved door handles, hinges, filled seams.   The last thing I want to do is screw an ugly mirror to the side of the van.  IDEA!  Why not use backup cameras in place of the mirrors?  I found some and monitor screens on eBay.  I made pods for the cameras out of resin and fit them to the doors in the front corners. Check out the pics.  Once they are painted you won't even notice them.  I got them hooked up and they work better that I imagined. You can see a full 360 degrees around the van.  More than any set of mirrors. I can't believe I'm the first to think of this!!  

 

There will be a 3rd monitor in the middle for a camera in the back.  My buddy Tommy has been using this trick on his bus for a rear view .. many RVs have rear cameras.  We've been using mirrors on vehicles for over 100 years.  It's time technology is applied to the lowly van..lol 

 

 

Gotta figure out what I'm going to do with the interior. I have a basic idea what I want to do. but I need to figure out what will work and what wont..  Cardboard mock ups help.   

 Got the heater and air controls mounted in the dash.  Time to finish wiring and hooking up the duct work.

Figured I would get what sound deadner I had on hand installed,  I have more coming   its gonna take quite a bit .

Vance has finished the radiator shroud. Got him a sheet of aluminum and he fabricated a custom shroud with a high volume fan from a ford police interceptor.  Awesome    lol