Vannin' Home Forums Dodge General Discussion Lo-buck Upgrades

Since I am still an unemployed bum, any changes on my van come in small (and cheap) stages. I did just get a camera last weekend though and figured I'd show some of the "upgrades". "old interior" (note cracked steering wheel with no horn,original white low-back seats with no belts, and remnants of rubber floor mat). "new interior" (note Grant wheel with stock horn button, velour/naugahyde captains chairs (with 3-point belts) on coil-sprung swiveling pedistals, functoning gauges,switches, dash lights, wiring, -all junkyard parts, and carpeting (free from landlady). Also built an overhead console from old wood shelves my landlady was throwing away to house the junkyard stereo. I built the console short enought that the visors (also junkyard parts) are fully funtional. In addition to a new distributor (xmas gift), the engine now has stainless steel heat shields I made from a piece left over after adding a new countertop in kitchen (sink cut-out). I'm not sure if they will help the vapor-lock problem or make it worse, but at least I won't have to look at those rusty exhaust manifolds until I can replace them with headers. Stay tuned for more changes soon...

Hey looking good! I love free/cheap upgrades. Starting at the end of next week I have to give Marty a quick once over to get him in dail driver condition so I can park Bumpy (my 84 Ford) for the final touches on his mechanical resto and his cosmetic resto. I will be documenting the dissection of a vintage 76 customized van and will be performing as many cheap, quick, and dirty interior modifications as possible to get it presentable. A more fancy interior will come later, after I get Bumpy done.

By the way, your van originally had A/C right? If so, and if you are going to leave the guts ripped out, do you have any extra A/C parts you would be willing to sell? My system seems complete but you can never have too many spare parts...

And what happened to your vynil door panels?

The steering wheel (with mounting kit and factory button was only $6.50 and for $73, I considered the chairs, belts, and pedistals a decent buy (they look like they would match marty's interior perfectly).

Mine had a dealer-installed A/C system (at least most of it) but since the compressor was frozen, the condenser was missing, and the vent/switch panel in the dash was smashed-up (the van was serving duty as a storage shed), I tossed what was left. Sorry.

As for the old door panels, I still have them but they have speaker holes which don't match the holes in my "new" doors.

I'm impressed. Vandude it looks good.

The heat shields look cool. I bet they will keep heat away from the carb, and away from your feet when u drive.

Lookin' smooooth, like butta. Cant beat the prices, neither.

No worries. Looking real good! I plan on getting a Grant three spoke wheel too. JC Whitney sells a knockoff that is 10 inches in diameter with a five inch dish for about $20 plus mounting kit.

Casey- Yeah, I'd be interested! Right now my van has some electrical gremlins I have to work out so any spare electrical bits are always welcome.

Vandude- How did you mount those heat shields under the valve covers? Did you use four valve cover gaskets and just match the holes in the head and use long valve cover hold-down bolts?

Man, I got a bad itch to start cleaning up Marty...

Casey, once I have the headers, I don't believe I will need the heat shields since the headers cool-off faster than the cast manifolds. Reed, I used hi-temp composit fel-pro gaskets between heads & shields, and 3/16 cork fel-pro gaskets between shields & valve covers, all held-down by stainless hardware. total cost was $12. The craftsmanship on the shields isn't top-notch but hopefully they will help eliminate the vapor-lock problems I suffered last-summer