Originally Posted by FinallyaVanner
Well I am taking your advice C1, I am taking my time and things are slowly working out. I took the van out for its first van run in the beggin' of Jan. Man what a rush it is to be basically in a convoy of 51 vans cruzin' down Pacific Coast highway on a great sunny California day. Even the cops just looked and smile. Also this being the first run getting' her back from the custom shop and also after fixin’ the pinched fuel line. No more stallin', it made it there and back without a hiccup. I was still a little hesitant since every time before it would stall in the most screwed up places. So it felt good to drive and not have it stall.
As for working on her well I am setting up an old school amp board (with Craig amps from '75 & '76 ) two 50w and the rest 24w. I have a bunch of speakers from the same time frame from Craig and Pioneer that I am figuring out where to put. Right now I am runnin' Pioneer TS-160 in the front doors with a Craig 24w amp and TS-X9 boxes in the rear with the Craig 50w amp and man it sounds good. Most people who have heard it like the old school sound of 70's set up. (Uncle Fester I like Disturb too, but it doesn't come across to good, lacks the killer bass) but 70's music sounds great though!!! I also was mounting and wiring up the Quad 8 track player (which sounds great in a van), CB, and scanner to see what order I would like them in the overhead so the pic shows how they ended up until I build the overhead. They all work as of now.
I had one dilemma, how to share the amps/speakers with the stereo and 8 track. So I went to my trusty Van mags and there, I found an article on just that and they used a DPDT switch. Well I looked it over and that would be a lot of wires to run from the overhead to the amp board and back. So what I did was wire in two DTDP relays on the amp board so when the radio is off the music is from the 8 track, but when you turn on the radio it activates the relays, disconnecting the amp/speakers from the 8 track and connects them to the radio. So far it is working out great. And I am sure someone did the same back then!! Just need to tidy up the wirin' a little. Well that's where I am at right now. Started lookin' at fabrics and colors for the interior, but first I have to insulate and lay a floor. I was lookin at this 1/2" insulation board with foil on both sides to go down first and a 1/2" plywood sheet on top. Does that sound about right?
Thanks again for all the great comments and until next time, Happy Vannin'




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it was great meeting you at the slowride! your van looked awesome!

jim


1974 Dodge Tradesman 360 B200 Maxi Van, 1976 Chevy G20 Shorty, 1989 Dodge B150 Shorty
V.P. California Street Vans

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