Vannin' Community and Forums Forums General Discussion General Discussion What Did You do To your Van Today?

i spent the morning getting to know my new '71 g20 van. had her 2 weeks now, and driven almost 300 miles, but had only pulled the doghouse long enough to check the tranny fluid. other than my old jeep project, i've always owned toyotas and nissans, and this is my first v8 (just in time for high gas prices). i cleaned up a bunch of wiring that was just laying all over the intake manifold, found and fixed a heat shield rattle, checked out the points, cap, rotor (need to replace), plug wires (old 7 mm ac delco) air cleaner (need to replace, that all helps explain my 12 mpg), checked the choke, which doesn't work at all (two small barrels (primaries?) -choke always open. two larger ones -choke always closed, rochchester quadrajet). comparing what i saw in the haynes manual to my carb confused the heck out of me, so i made a list, put it all back together and took the dogs for a ride...

--Made me laugh the first time I saw it GR so I thought I would throw it on there for shitz and giggles...

Today, since it was about 77 degrees, I gave my van a wash. First of the spring, even though we had a relatively mild winter it was a bit grimy and gritty. Cleaned up nice. Now that the weather seems to be turning warmer I get to do the the regular maintenance, oil change, plugs, dist cap, lubing front end and spraying leaf springs. Before that I have to replace the push rod-value lifter cover gasket on the side my 4.9L 6. It's still the original and finally is just leaking too much that tightening it just wouldn't do. I bought one from Green Sales, so I have no excuse! Besides that....that's all, unless I dream of other projects to start!

Took my mag-lite out of it, and put in fresh batteries and an LED bulb upgrade.

Otherwise, not much other than start it up a couple times a month.



At least my son has a job now, Operation 'Give him the beast' is under way.

I buffed and waxed a section of the roof of the hightop..
what a pain in the a$$!!!pics in the paint and body section..

Took it out on a small tour into the city,drove my daughter home.Nice sunny day it felt great to just drive down the highway.

After rolling out of Detroit and making it all the way to Toledo (2 weeks ago) ;) (not a van problem, seeing an old long lost friend) ....I decided to polish the van. It hasn't been done since 1982 I'm sure and between gel-glossing the fiberglass topper and using turtle wax heavy duty rubbing compound.....I am exhausted (yes I am nuts enough to do it all by hand). One morning for the topper, 3 days for the van. It was crazy because someone spray bombed something blue in the same space...the whole van was covered in fine freckles!!

Now it's been nice enough to rain on it so I will be washing it one more time and then waxing it....it has been a labour of love and paid itself off by catching the eyes of two bikers from Kansas who were riding by and a young kid who popped in to tell me he loved it.

Pics soon when I get my new camera to do it justice

Pulled out the circa 79 paneling and insulation. Tomorrow begins operation new interior.New floor,walls ceiling.Ill post pix as I go.Stay tuned..

repaired driver door lock mechanicals,and started insulating the ceiling..one section installed and rain stopped me from going any further..miss my garage..always another day!