Welcome from Florida Looks like you found yourself a nice van there.
Arianrhod:2003 Chevy Astro Black Magic: 1985 Dodge B-250 Serenity:1985 Chevy G-20 The Outcast:1983 Ford club wagon Luna 1974 VW bay window transporter Freedom:1990 Ford E-150(parts van) Outcast Vanners van club Support your local 2%
Right when I found a g30 cross member I also found a nice g20 with great LCA’s so I went that route to keep the softer 3/4 ton suspension because of the RV conversion. I’m now putting new ball joints on the newish control arms to re install all new suspension parts.
It got an entire new cooling system: hoses, radiator, overfill tank, water pump, thermos and housing (don’t waste painting if you’re not going to keep your hands clean 😎).
New brakes from the booster and the MC to calipers and a full drum rebuild.
After suspension and brakes install will be new rubber and wheels. I’m doing drivetrain all first then will dive into the RV side with a new inverter, solar charger and panels, removal of inside shower for an outside shower, installation and plumbing of new generator and frame-mounted air-compressor, and re-certification of well-expired propane tanks. More pics coming.
So, a couple things I’ve found out that I hadn’t read anywhere yet... The OEM brake booster has 3/8 studs on it and the reman ones, because AC Delco is obsolete, will have metric studs and will not include nuts - so you have to source new nuts (35 cents at Lowe’s m10 IIRC). Far as I understand, Cardone is the only one who makes these anymore. See pics The Master cylinder, also Cardone, used a larger diameter flare nut for the back side reservoir so a new line has to be made, or a flare tool, a new inverted flare nut, a pipe cutter, and some finessing to hook it back up. UCA stud nuts rusted beyond use also were found at the Grade 8 section in Lowe’s. Stabilized bar bushing bracket mounting bolts - Lowe’s as well.
In my case this vans been sitting for 5-6 years on flat tires through countless valley monsoons. Shock nuts were not reusable and the new ones did not come with new bolts so I again went to Lowe’s and matched up a nut with the old bolts. I pulled from a scrap yard the few bracket bolts rusted out or missing. The entire old MC and booster was a rusted out, leaky mess.
I included a before and after pic of both sides. I haven’t taken any post-assembly yet.
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 Member of Cape Atlantic Truckers South Jersey Host Club of Freeze Out Certified Nats Judge Member of Shenandoah Valley Vans
Been a mess at home but here’s some pics I haven’t posted. All aligned up. New uppers, lowers, springs, shocks, tires. One of the calipers was seized completely so I ordered new AC Delco calipers but one was no good (banjo bolt threads destroyed) and had to return. So I did more searching and ordered AC Delco rebuild parts for my original calipers (half price also!). New pistons, bushings, seals, hardware. I’m using AC Delco for everything available.
At first I ordered a MC/booster set but the MC leaked like a retired prostitute so I had to pull it all back off and send it back. I found them separate and re installed them. So far so good.
Installed a 13.5kBTU low profile Dometic Penguin II (mass overkill for a van but it was laying around). Industry tip in installing/wiring RV ac: use 12/3 marine grade and 12g marine grade wiring throughout. Insulation is sometimes 3x more and always more pliable.
I chased some shorting back to the fuse panel where there is a pretty bad short. over head dome lights are melted. In doing so, I found the PO did the same thing as every speaker wire is cut, overhead visor light wires are cut, obvious evidence of chasing the same short. The rivers holding the metal to the back of the plastic fuse panel have come loose and are shorting out.
While I was installing the roof AC, I also did new vents and working roof fan, and a liberal rubber treatment (this dropped inside daytime ambient temps 10*). The ladder and storage bars on top are getting a mirror polish also.