got the van i've been wanting.
and yeah it's TMW, but its what i like :P

72 Chevy beauville
85K miles
350/350
ummm.
beauville package. haha












gonna start working on the grille tommorow... its easy enough. then i have to tackle the drip rail and roof.
she's a lil rough. but she'll pan out in the long run.
some small spots on the quater panels... but i have to wait for my body guy to be done with his projects.
anywho

oh yeah
chevy rally rims / beauty rings / hub caps / new shoes on monday + shocks

time to park the lightning in the drive way and move the van in

He Scores!! Hard to find I'd guess.

Don't tear it down too far to get it to Cherokee in October. I still owe you a beer.

what did i do to inherit a beer from you? lol lol

Lightning? park ? outside? ur [censored] nutz.
but my lightning isnt at this house... its at the other one... too low of garage cant fit... lol

So kinda havent went to sleep yet... drank alot last nite... started to work on the grille and headlight bucket before satan's a-hole *SUN* came up to haunt me.

anyway.
since i didnt take alot of close up pictures of the exterior O:)
im going to be doing before and after... more like side vs side. but im only doing from the driver side to the center of the grille then reworking it and reworking it. it'll take a lil while to do...
the rust on the grille/pitts actual dont look bad after u elbow the hell outta them for a few. starting to look real good on that side.

headlight buckets... the ring is chrome bright as day...
the inner part of the bucket going towards the light is DULL as hell...
i wont tell you how much elbow grease that needs but its alot. and ill ahve a couple hours in the buckets alone when its polished back up.
no tools for this... just elbow grease. i dont want to do power tools and overdo it.

anywho. im going to bed.

nice lookin TMW chebby Smitty! now go get them wheels!

Oh wow...I love those B-villes! Great score man and good luck with her!!!

Just to let you know those headlight trim rings had a coat of argent paint in them.It could be easily removed and allot of guys did this trick over the years.
The black on the grill could also be rewmoved and the grill polished out.
Personally I really like that black left in place.
A set of GM truck/van rallies would look sweet on that old girl.



I am also waiting to see what lug pattern this 72 has on it.....

A sweet older Beuville is one of the window vans I would not mind owning/driving......
This old girl can pan out to be a very nice "daily driver" van .....

.......Wookee

Congrats on the new van! If you're gonna own a TMW van, 70s & 80's Chevy or GMC, vans are a great way to go. They're the best looking ones.

There is a nice looking late bodied ford window van running around town here. It is a dark, metallic olive green and has after market wheels on it. Pretty sharp in my opinion.

If I am not mistaken wasn't the Chateau package the up scale option package for Ford window vans ?

........Wookee

Great score. Keep the pictures coming!

Van looks great! Good score! Now where are the interior pics? Brad

Not only window vans, but the factory ford customs were also labeled chateau vans.

My dad had a 77 ford LWB panel van that I found for him, that was a Chateau.It had the deluxe door panels imitation burl wood looking dash and door accents in the cab.A head liner the whole lent of the roof.The walls where covered in a generic looking fiberboard type of material......
The van was special ordered by a local florist who used it to deliver flowers.......

........Wookee

Very cool chevy, its gonna look sweet with the rally wheels. In the grand scheme of things that van needs very little. Congrads!!!!

nice lookin van! my step dad had one when i was growing up! id love to have one.

astro... check ebay... i have seen about 15 72-77 chevy beauville's pop up down there...

Yeah yeah yeah interior


non cracked dash








another bottomless pit... virgin territory in my eyes...

and dont laugh at how i was testing the 8 track player... lol!
it was nicer to sit in the back with a extra battery and mess with stuff. 8 track is a bust though... so im without tunes forawhile.

Hmmmmm. A Beauville without factory A/C??? Odd.

sometime next year... prolly in the spring...
im going to look up what it'd cost to put a/c in the pig...
figured i could get everything i need... hook it all up and take it to a palce in town and have them run condensor lines and all that nonesense...
also purchase a rear heat/ac combo and hook that up.
will see when the time comes how far i really wanna dig down and put a ugly pump on the top of the intake mani... lol

forgot to post these.
going to finish the grille later tonite

bad side


alot better side


comparison


damn headlight bucket is a pain in the ass... i may go a different route with them.
the black is getting taken off for now...

Don't you remember our brush will the Bellwitch? I'd still love to know who's hidin' over there!

Saw a '76 Beauville on Ebay and the buy it now was over $15K.

Now get back to work on the grille.

I used brush on paint stripper on my headlight bezels. Then used a soapy SOS pad & some water to get the paint off.
Looking at your dash, your van must be a late 72 model. Only seen one other 72 with that dash. 73's had that dash & then they changed completely.
Looks great,I want your windshield trim! LOL,Brad

yeah i forgot to take a picture of that windshield trim for ya.

had a hard day today.
wyatts grand pa gave me tined pop out windows... factory tinted... there nice. one of the back one was cracked so i just switch them to my louvers.
the slider and behind driver side now have the tinted pop outs...
Those bitchs were a PITA to get in...
the crhome ones vs factory tinted ones window retainers are alot thinner... the others are thick...
i may have to get my windows tinited and put back in... will see what happens.

lol way TMFW that i had to clean tonight. But does look good with the tinted windows on it ..

Next van i want is another older Beauville and just keep it stock.

nice score

before ya'll ask... yes i did... LOL
hell i didnt want to clean them... lol

I just have one thing to say.......


































































Is it stock

rally rims dropped off to get sand blasted. ill get them back tommorow sometime.
then have to prime and paint them. gonna go with ethier flat silver or well you know.
it'd be cool as shit if i could find my color or close to my color and paint the rims that way.
but i wont... so silver it is.

tires not purchased yet... waiting to here back from the guy on ebay..
anywho. more tommorow.

WOW, look at all that space when you don't have any accessories!

bing back memoies of my 74 window nice score
i have lots of sugestions forew a trick grill and head lights that wont cost you mega bucks and looks cool

thanks gopher...
im staying with this grille for the time being man... ive looked through alot of nat photos from numerous people... and i barely see any IF at all for beauvilles around 72-77.
so i wanna keep this mainly looking stock on the exterior for now.


yeah its nice... BUT i want AC
the engine will transform and look like bruised since i have all of bruised's parts in a box here.


HOWEVER as rare as it is to find these.
theres one in the parking garage. and im trying to locate the owner...
im hoping its a AC van.
it has damage done to the front end... pretty bad... but it may justify a parts van for me which sucks... but if it has a/c its going to happen.



anywho more tommorow...
got my rims back from the sandblaster... gotta prime them up now.

Looking good..



Later the next day is another story gotta ask blue:)

This is the one that is sitting in the storage building that we wanna get. It has a sun roof, roof rack, louvers and Cragar S/S for the wheels And a latter on the back doors I think.



I met this guy about a year ago but he drive this around galesburg. i see it alot around town.

I want the venturi vent off of that one. LoL

Lol on that brown/orange van Its pretty much a wreck with the venturi vent I think it has about 5 layers of duck tape on it. I told him he could buy a new lid for it. But more i looked at it im not for sure if it can be saved.

Dang, they're discontinued, somewhat impossible to find.

ooopppsss.....the last picture looks like the van is in a tow yard.......

Not good.......

......Wookee

Its okay Wookie, she was sprung from the pen

she got sprung 13hrs after she was towed.

nice blue real nice

will hve pictures soon.
sorry i've been slacking...
started work and its well time consuming.

Need to start cleaning out the insides. And get it waxed up.



We didn't know that the guy we bought it off of had a six pack of beer cans under the seat.. We found them about 2 weeks later.

wont be updating this to often for the next 6weeks id say.

gonna start buying suspension products and buying a whole new braking system.

on the suspension side... anyone know when they changed the mounts for leaf springs?
i cant order them for a 72 but may be able to from the 80s still... just need to know if anything really changed before i shell out cash.
thanks

I just received new leaf springs from JC Whitney for my '75. If I remember correctly, they were listed for '71-'77

thanks for the heads up.. ill ahve to go check it out.

chop it !!!!

NO!!!!!
lol

actually trying to look into doing something different with this van... but that wont happen till next year... nor will i tak about it :P

Hey, I didn't say it

hmm time for a mini update?
tint windows on all the side pop outs.
They are gonna get replaxed sometime this winter with the stock ones with chrome trim.
Just have to get them tinted then the trim reglued.

Also old rims/tires from bruised. they didnt have too many miles on them so they live on. Then wyatt put the hub covers on them lol.

If you look closely we waxed, waxed, waxed for hours one night. shines now... but def needs to be buffed out.



http://s458.photobucket.com/albums/qq302/1138/Beauville/?action=view&current=DSCF1174.jpg

needed to add rear heat since the front wasnt able to heat the house.
Also came to found out i had a stuck open tstat.. so that was also a issue.

2 speed switch location




then the lil guy.
packs one hell of a punch for a lil unit.
Helps heats it so much nicer now.

put the switch there cause in no way will i cut into the dash.
it'll prolly get installed into the overhead console when i start that this winter.

wow! ole girl shined up nice.

you missed a spot guy

prolly....

Nice, I need a rear heating unit.

Looks good blue. I had added a rear heater to my '76 G.M.C. I had, it really does help a lot.

Cleaned up nice. And sooo much better with the windows tinted.

yeah. not sure what year those pop out windows came from... but there clean looking... no button on the outside for the popper.
they seal like pooo though.

I just needa take all the pop outs i have to a tinter and see if they will pull the chrome off, clean all the clue then tint windows and reglue the chrome channels back on.

also was hoping the body work would be done... rust taken care of.
Guy i use as my body guy has been busy and i've been working my ass off lately so havent been able to take it to him.
Hopefully this winter / spring i can get those two things done.

I wonder who took that pic?

what the hell is this?

oh never mind had to blink.



Lil progress made lately.
meant to update this with pictures, and progress but i wasnt touching a camera after oil spill in there.
smog pump and emissions. gone. forever. if you need any smog pump/ egr / emission lines etc let me know.

starter out / alternator out... i swear there orginal lol.
battery with frozen battery cables out.
it was fun cutting the battery cables down near the frame.


Tomorrow's progress includes
put in and run HEI wire
put carb on and run Hot for choke
put new plug wires on
run new battery cables * im making my own *
put starter on
put alt on
wire loom everything...
lower radiator pipe and coolant..
maybe vroom vroom tommorow nite?
btw i started this on Sunday or early monday... i forget.
ill have more pictures tomorrow.

Looking good man.

Looks good..

I like the orange valve covers.

nice work!

How come I don't see any beers in these pictures.....WTF

i drink during dissassembly. not reassembly.

got wires done, tinkering with some options on some stuff for future wiring... hmmm

valve covers and the air cleaner riser are orange.
was gonna do the tstat housing and linkage holder on the rear of the intake... but decided agianst it.

not too chabby for a chebby!

You can get a chrome waterneck for like $14

Galaxy, if your refering to mr gasket's line of stuff.
i wouldn't call it chrome... i have one ;)
and it peels off... thats why i was going to paint it... but ill leave it for now.

right now ran into a snag... something is up with the alternator bracket's... i have two of them orginal and the new one i wanted to go to... niether work... so im modifying it/

mock up

wire look in front of carb im gonna try to keep below the PCV line that needs replaced. red wire is hot to elec choke.
just trying to make it look good.
sadly after i wireloom it all i wrap it in tape... sooo much FUN! lol



this is just mock up... checking everything.
its been slow last couple days... got sick and LP heater ran outta gas and since i cant drive into town... yep.
ill get her finish up next week though. got some parts coming from TN that i gotta add.

things after mock up.
-New PCV line.
-shorten negative on elec choke so thee isnt 5" of extra wire
-cut hard line fuel line back another 4 - 5 inches or so.
*ill be running neoprene fuel hose from the hardline to a filter to the carb*
-modify tranny dipstick tube so it wont rub the electric choke
-order alt bracket kit to put it lower. it doesnt wanna mount right so its just mounted at the water pump, i cut the tab off that hooks to the manifold.
since a few kits make it like that i figured i'd do it myself for now.
but it'll get lowered on the pass side... it'll be directly to the left of the water pump pully.


all in all thought i think the chevy orange came out good... and i didnt over do it... just a nice touch here and there.

Is that the alternator bracket I sent you? It should work. Do you have the lower brackets? Also, the trans dipstick tube should mount to the top of the alt. bracket in the right hole. Also, the oil filler tube mounts to the back hole on the left side of the alt. bracket if you are looking at it from the front.
Keep us posted,Brad

i think the bracket you sent was for a short water pump?
it wouldnt hook into the bolt hole on the waterhole and reach the intake mani bolt. bout 1/2 - 1" off
i still ahve it though.
i took the stock one and took the grinder to it. to do away with the tab... i was gonna cut more off and make it streamline but didnt wanna mess with it tooo much.

Yeah with the tranny tube going in that hole... the stock spot... it bents around the elec choke.
this intake manifold sits up more in the rise to the carb area. about 1" over stock manifold... so thats why it hits like it does.
im not worried about it though... ill get her figured out tommorow... way too cold tonight.

Update
wont post up on this till next week/end
pushing it outta the garage in mock up phase.
Got another paycheck today week late... so ill wait till after the holidays to start work.
I have a nice list of stuff i need to buy to complete this.
and im also redoing a couple of things.
ill update when i can.

Merry Christmas everyone

Looking good bro. Are you gonna paint the dipstick and filler tube?
Black maybe?

oil tube will be black or alum painted color... not 100% sure.
dipstick tube is staying it's silly color...

i mainly did this for longetivity... but everything you see will be forsale ethier this summer or next winter so i can do the engine swap O:)

Does your wife know anything about this? lol jk
Looking good

nice lookin motor. Hope it runs as good as it looks.

hopefully it does...
but it only needs to last me 4-5 months and then its gone.

um... may be a lil longer till i put it back togethor.
found a deal on soemthing and gotta see if i can get it still.

*lalala*

yeah, just to be safe dont drag race it just yet

i dont drag race the van... i have a lightning for draggin reasons


however may be pulling the intake mani back off.

Lightnings are nice trucks! Ive also seen 10second vans too though lol.

Yay... new toy for me.
Hobart 140 w/ kart and gas reg.
just need a argon tank and need to start practicing ALOT on scrap metal.
maybe in the spring ill start to touch the van with it.

300$ for the package... so not a bad buy.

Love the windows nice ride I have 2 '92 G30 Beauville & '93 Sportvan

trade ya for the Red one ;) and you can take my beauville back from where it came from... lol lol

Both vans look great, White van looks good with the rims and tinted windows

that & 50k...lol......thanks for the kuto's

Done


have to mess with the idle.
and have a issue with my alternator that we wont discuss here... ill toss it up in chevy area.
anyway better pictures tommorow
NEW intake looks 10000000X better.

yeah def better pics tommorow.
also put blue dodge captain chairs in the front.
not worried about the color... if it gets to me too much ill put covers over them.

alright

Engine looks great Blue.