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Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Hammer #556444 April 17th 2012 12:56 pm
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 28,125
Madman!
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Madman!
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 28,125
Originally Posted by Hammer
I vote smooth too. I really like the idea of power sunroof like Frank's #9. Your work is really looking nice, Ken. I have no metal working skills myself, but I sure enjoy watching your work. Keep it up buddy! smile


Thanks buddy! I'm glad some people are enjoying the build.


Ken Schwarz
Tricky Truckers, N.J.
Van Clan Plus One, Canada
Manse Vans, Finland
Rebel Vanners, N.J. "USA"
Toopa Sinner Tribe, N.C.

www.showvans.com

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/360991

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"Coolness ALWAYS trumps comfort"
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Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Radarlove #556445 April 17th 2012 12:55 pm
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 18,213
Likes: 2
Supreme Master
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Supreme Master
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Yes we enjoy the build


Everyday above ground is a Good Day!!!
Never Stop Vannin'

Member of Break Away Vanners
Host of Spring Break
At Shenandoah Acres Family Campground

Owner & Creator of Wizard's Van-In Videos
Member of Riding High Truckers from 1982 to 1996
2nd Member of The Toopa Sinner Tribe
Member of Free Bird Vanners 1996 to Present
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Host Club of Freeze Out
Certified Nats Judge
Member of Shenandoah Valley Vans
Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Superbeast #556460 April 17th 2012 3:18 pm
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 253
enthusiast
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Posts: 253
Originally Posted by Superbeast
Originally Posted by Hammer
I vote smooth too. I really like the idea of power sunroof like Frank's #9. Your work is really looking nice, Ken. I have no metal working skills myself, but I sure enjoy watching your work. Keep it up buddy! smile


Thanks buddy! I'm glad some people are enjoying the build.


I love these build treads, and especially the chops and radicals. I love learning about how much work and knowledge there is behind all of these fantastic custom vans. As I don't hold this kind of knowledge myself, I can only compare your work to the other guys on here building their own custom vans, and all I can say is that there are several great fabricators here on vanning.com. Keep it up buddy, we want more! smile


Rough and ready!!

Toopa Sinner Tribe

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Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Radarlove #556471 April 17th 2012 4:21 pm
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 4,460
D
pooh-bah
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D
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Posts: 4,460
Looks like alot of quality work there ken. Been toying with the power moonroof idea myself.


2003 Grand Caravan

Member Vanatics Van Club-Spfld, IL
Member Florida Van Council
Member Central Florida Vans,-Orlando, FL

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Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Radarlove #556474 April 17th 2012 4:28 pm
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,866
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Looks great Ken. Keep up the great work and the photos. The bracing looks good and sturdy. Wish I lived closer to lend a hand.


Shanning P.
Alberta, Canada
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1991 Dodge Ram 250
Member of Vandits VC. Calgary
Stay Weird!
Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Radarlove #556477 April 17th 2012 4:34 pm
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,463
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pooh-bah
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You know Ken, a couple of years ago I was all set to put a power window in my roof.

It's very doable, if you take the entire roof section off the donor and splice it in. There are only three channels in the center area of the van's roof to fill in, after all. That's not that big of a deal. If you need to relocate a bow that's in the way, that's simply a dozen spot welds to drill and four slots to cut to snap it into a new location.

You may need to make a few radial slices and flatten the remaining donor metal to match the curve of the van roof, but I've seen you do far more complex profile matching that that in your build threads! Install a roof bow to reinforce the area on either side of the moonroof and you'd be flying.

You'd still need to make holes somewhere for the drain lines to exit though... routing the front ones could be interesting in a van. (The one I got has 4 drain lines, one in each corner.)

My friend who worked at the repo yard snagged a huge inbuilt flush top power moonroof for me out of a big 90's land yacht sedan. I think it was a Lincoln; I'd told him to look for something with as big and flat of a roof as possible. I figured that would get the metal as close as possible to the profile of my van's roof.

Unfortunately, somehow he misunderstood what I wanted; he actually went to all the trouble of pulling the headliner out and dropping the entire mechanism with the drain pan, drain hoses and the window... It took him an hour just to get the thing out without breaking any parts. All of this effort was a wonderful show of friendship, but unfortunately the moonroof is *totally* useless to me without the section of roof it mounted to!!

To this day I don't know what he was thinking. I'd wanted him to simply sawzall the entire section of the roof out so I could just weld it in. It would have taken him 10 minutes to simply cut it out.

The problem is that I have no reasonable way to replicate the curved surfaces where the rubber seal surrounding the glass seats into a recess in the metal roof, not to mention the nontrivial issue of needing to obtain, align, and attach all of the threaded studs which are needed to hold the mechanism up against the new roof.

So, the whole enormous thing has just been sitting in my garage collecting dust.

I suppose a flange with a recessed seat could be made up of fiberglass, but I don't trust homebrew fiberglass structural part's dimensional stability all that well, especially when being relatively watertight is at stake.

Since then, I've given up entirely on installing it, and went down the road of making the cabin as quiet as possible instead.


-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van


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It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts...

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Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Radarlove #556502 April 17th 2012 5:24 pm
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,398
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old hand
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Posts: 1,398
Ram, that's too bad. Years back I installed a couple of them, one in a van and the other in an El Camino that had been converted into a delivery using VC top. You are 100% right about needing the roof itself and with that, the job is pretty straight forward. The drains can be a challenge so it's worth considering before moving forward. In the case of the chop that Ken is doing, I'd like to see him complete the job with a smooth look and then if the owner decided to add the sunroof, you have a better idea of what would look best. But that is up to Ken.

Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Radarlove #556618 April 18th 2012 12:31 am
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,463
Likes: 12
pooh-bah
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pooh-bah
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Another thought concerning the chop is just how much headroom and what kind of headliner will be inside, since the moonroof drip tray and mechanism will eat up some space. it wouldn't do to have it right up against your head! (I'm tall... my hair already scrapes the headliner!)


-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van


[Linked Image]

It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts...

Are you living to work, or working to live?

[Linked Image]

Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! [Linked Image]
Re: 84 Dodge......Transformation
Radarlove #556713 April 18th 2012 10:59 am
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 4,460
D
pooh-bah
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 4,460
Shoot! You gotta be a tall guy then! I can sit in my drivers seat with my cowboy hat on and still have a beer cans worth of room between me and the roof and im 5'10". I really want to see this moon roof done on something.


2003 Grand Caravan

Member Vanatics Van Club-Spfld, IL
Member Florida Van Council
Member Central Florida Vans,-Orlando, FL

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