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We have another update on what we are now affectionately calling "THE BEAST". Since I posted last we have upgraded the transmission to a 700R4 to get the overdrive. This made a big difference in being able to cruise on the freeway, before the trans and after the rear end gears were changed this thing thought it was going 75 mph when we were really going 50 mph, rpms were really up there. Not much to show on the tranny replacement, pic wise. But here are a couple of how she is looking now a days.





Not much cosmetically has been done I've focused more on the mechanical side of things. I was having some problems with an occasional flooding issue, and it seemed that it happened at the worst times, so I decided to pulled the carb and add a fuel injection set up.


The reason I went with the MSD Atomic is because I still have to pass emissions testing ( yes on a 41 year old van) and this is the only unit I could find that's was legal in California. So far it's been great, it starts right up every time. It really woke the motor up too, hence the name change.

The Atomic comes with an electric fuel pump, so I ended up cleaning up all the extra fuel lines under the van. The van had a dual tank set up, not factory and I really never cared for it or used it. I removed the extra tank and ugly filler neck that stuck out of the side and replaced all the fuel lines while I was at it.

Secondary tank.

I repaired the Ac and got it working again, (R-12), and this baby blows cold!

That's 33.9°, I had to shut it off because I couldn't drive with all the snow flakes it was throwing out of the vents,haha. So there's the latest.

Very nice ! Love to hear a video clip of it running.

I'll have to figure out how to do that? Posting a video, any help will be appreciated. I forgot the work I did on the fuel tank, dropped it, cleaned it up, installed a new sending unit, painted it and reinstalled.

Excellent van!

Nice work.

Tank looks like new.

Man what a gorgeous van! Thanks for sharing all the info with us.

I went through my whole life hating brown vehicles... until I saw this van.
I honestly can't believe how good it looks to me.

Thanks. I go back and forth about the color, should I keep it original or go with something more unique. I’m probably have to decide on something in the near future but I don’t want to get a high dollar paint job that I will have to worry about getting a rock chipping the paint and really take the fun out of having a vehicle like this, it’s made to be driven and enjoyed not stuck in a trailer. The passenger side rear quarter panel looks like it had some work done along the way and the body filler is starting to crack so I would like to have that section repaired, but do I repaint it or leave it primered? If I repaint that section I may as well leave it brown, if left primered, I have to decide on a color change, I can't roll with it primered too long, not my style, haha.