Thought I might as well start a thread for this one that I've been yammering about in the 'what did you do' thread lately. '78 Econoline that I picked up over the holidays, and it's gonna be a project for sure. House-call mechanic and I are working on it together sporadically. It has been immobile for a few months after it tried to start all by itself, I am surprised the thing had never caught on fire, the wiring was so scary. Trying to baseline it before working on the cosmetics. New brakes, starter, igition switch, thermostat and a new distributor/coil/wires so far. Runs nice now! Next up is the re-wiring job, going to keep it as simple as possible.
Here's where we started:
Here's the new distributor and whatnot after we got it running......all the A/C garbage removed, etc.
Some of the extra fine wiring put together by whatever meth head was mickey mousing under the hood:
No real glam shots until I can get this thing cleaned up - there's a bit more bondo than I like, we'll see what happens whenever it's time to take it to a body shop.
Good grief what a mess of wiring, I feel your pain on that garbage, and I'm glad you're getting it sorted. Looking great so far, excited to see where you go with this one. I've got a serious hankering for some early 3rd GEN Ford lately.
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB
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%
Seats look great! I feel your pain with the wiring. I finally yanked all mine out and replaced with a Painless wiring harness. Too many old vans caught fire and burned and didn't want that to happen after I finished putting all the work into it to restore it.
Jim & Lucy Newkirk 1965 Chevy Bad Influence 1981 Chevy-the Love Shack 2012 Chevy Van , 2020 chevy van 2020 Chevy van Sapphire Sweet. Club Vannerz. vanninvanner@comcast.net
Jim & Lucy Newkirk 1965 Chevy Bad Influence 1981 Chevy-the Love Shack 2012 Chevy Van , 2020 chevy van 2020 Chevy van Sapphire Sweet. Club Vannerz. vanninvanner@comcast.net
^ we were looking into Painless, but they are crazy $$$ for our purpose. We're going to use a pretty nice 12-14 circuit harness w/ good wire, fuse box, etc. Only cost $35.
My friend that runs a hot rod shop in Orange, CA recommended Rebel Wiring to me years ago, and I've had a few other hot rod friends use them with good results. I can't speak from personal experience though.
I will say though, looks like you've got a job and a half on your hands, but it also looks like you have it under control. Great work so far, can't wait to see how it comes out in the end.
I wish I had the balls to tackle the wires in my van. My OCD hits everytime I look at wires. Then i remember I'm color blind and the ODC clears right up. Lol
Got my hands on an MSD Blaster 2 coil to see if the fancy looking Speedmaster I had was a dud (the Accel SuperStock that was in there previously seemed slightly better when we put that one back in).
Engine started instantaneously, well F me. Ya get what ya pay for.
The Wiring Gorilla is now chimpanzee sized maybe..... progress! Lights and blinkers are working after chasing down and fixing a bunch more weird sh*t. Holy smokes I'd like to get some of whatever the previous multiple owners were mainlining when they had who knows what in this thing - hot tub? mini fridge? rotating bed platform? disco lights?
Still have to wire the gauges back up and tie up some other minor loose ends, then tidy it up because it's all willy nilly looking still. But we got over a major hump today.
Patched up a torn pocket on the doghouse apron, used my favorite cheapo solution - dental floss. Thankfully all the other panels throughout the van are in mostly good condition and won't take much effort to fix the few little tears/holes. Got to go find some extra trim/self tapping screws because there are plenty missing.
Also got the steering wheel installed after fighting the bolts to align the notch on the adapter to the the signal reset factory position. Just need to see if the horn/ring/signal reset are all good once we get a few more things wired back up (brake lights, reverse lights, gauges, horn, maybe dash lights if I even have them).....then drive it some more
I hadn't really done any cleaning or given anything a wipe down inside, and had some time to kill, so I kinda did a once over on the interior....I barely made a dent in some of the built up gunk, dirt, dust, substance 'X'. Maybe I should just keep it as is for that 'patina' stuff that everyone likes.
My friend that runs a hot rod shop in Orange, CA recommended Rebel Wiring to me years ago, and I've had a few other hot rod friends use them with good results. I can't speak from personal experience though.
I will say though, looks like you've got a job and a half on your hands, but it also looks like you have it under control. Great work so far, can't wait to see how it comes out in the end.
Dang, I like their options and price points. That 21 circuit would be nice to have and redo my van with in the future.
You hear the thunder of stampeding rhinos, elephants and tacky tigers This town ain't big enough for the both of us And it ain't me who's gonna leave
Today I decided to put on smaller mirrors. They're definitely in the category of utility downgrade / cosmetic upgrade. Came from a Bronco from the same era, were in pretty nice shape and not expensive. The jury's out until I drive with them for a bit.
Those look really cool. I swapped mine for smaller ones once. Not has small as those. After a week I went back to my stock Dodge elephant ear mirrors. I just couldn't see with the smaller ones.
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%
SUNSHINE VANS-VAN DIEGO ADRENALIN BY THE GALLON & CHASIN RACIN ONE FOR THE DIRT & ONE FOR THE STREETS '93 CHEVY G30 454 4X4 SPORTVAN EXT 146" WB '92 CHEVY G30 454 BEAUVILLE EXT 146" WB
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%
Jim & Lucy Newkirk 1965 Chevy Bad Influence 1981 Chevy-the Love Shack 2012 Chevy Van , 2020 chevy van 2020 Chevy van Sapphire Sweet. Club Vannerz. vanninvanner@comcast.net
Looking great. I had to replace all the wiring in my last van and now I have to do it again in the van I am chopping. Loose wires everywhere and brittle and cracked. Not looking forward to it so I feel your pain
Coming to a crossroads....talked to the paint & body guy down the road that charges $60/hr. Long story short, whoever 'painted' the van previously did more damage than good, i.e. painting on top of paint without sanding/roughing up the old stuff first. So we're talking a sh*tload of labor just to get it to a repaintable state. Option 2 would be spraying it with this Raptor stuff (like Rhino liner or Hippo textured coatings), which wouldn't take as much prep. He recommended that, but I don't really like how it looks.
Not sure what I want to do at this point. Much sleeping upon it will be happening.
Don't wanna drive it as is? People are hurting right now for work. I'd hit up offer up or CL and start hunting for a body guy. It might not be show quality, but you might find someone.
You hear the thunder of stampeding rhinos, elephants and tacky tigers This town ain't big enough for the both of us And it ain't me who's gonna leave
Don't wanna drive it as is? People are hurting right now for work. I'd hit up offer up or CL and start hunting for a body guy. It might not be show quality, but you might find someone.
I was totally planning to drive it as-is but the paint has kind of degraded since bringing it home, i.e. bondo cracking and peeling off in spots. I know I've only gotten one dude's opinion, maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself a little. And fostering my love-slight dislike relationship lol ....my wandering eye doesn't help.
Jim & Lucy Newkirk 1965 Chevy Bad Influence 1981 Chevy-the Love Shack 2012 Chevy Van , 2020 chevy van 2020 Chevy van Sapphire Sweet. Club Vannerz. vanninvanner@comcast.net
Black Magic is done in rust-oleum bed liner. I'm not crazy about it but it works. I just didn't have the 3-4k to drop on a professional job.
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%
This guy has his own shop/booth on his property, probably 1/3 of a mile from me. His work looks legit....some Porsche he painted won 2nd place in some Gucci car show, if that makes any difference.
I've gotten other quotes of 5-6k, materials included. Apparently black is the toughest color to make look straight.
Jim & Lucy Newkirk 1965 Chevy Bad Influence 1981 Chevy-the Love Shack 2012 Chevy Van , 2020 chevy van 2020 Chevy van Sapphire Sweet. Club Vannerz. vanninvanner@comcast.net
One thing to keep in mind is nothing lasts forever, even bed liner. If you think the prep work is expensive now, imagine how many hours would go into removing that mess. I'm a fan of bed liner in truck beds, but that's about it. I know many will disagree with me, but IMHO it looks super half assed when used as an alternative to paint. Like it belongs on a lifted diesel with tow mirrors, semi stacks, and covered in Monster stickers. Aside from all that, it's made to be hard to remove, I wouldn't even take on a job to try removing that stuff.
This guy has his own shop/booth on his property, probably 1/3 of a mile from me. His work looks legit....some Porsche he painted won 2nd place in some Gucci car show, if that makes any difference.
I've gotten other quotes of 5-6k, materials included. Apparently black is the toughest color to make look straight.
Yes, every panel has to be straight and black will bring out all the imperfections.
You hear the thunder of stampeding rhinos, elephants and tacky tigers This town ain't big enough for the both of us And it ain't me who's gonna leave
Months ago I entered this van in the 'work in progress' category at a local car show. It happened this past weekend during a weird spell of crap weather. I went to it anyway and stuck a for sale sign on it thinking I might get a few bites......ha. I realized that monring that we forgot to wire the wipers back up, so it made for an interesting pre show cruise. One of these things is not like the other.....
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%
Jim & Lucy Newkirk 1965 Chevy Bad Influence 1981 Chevy-the Love Shack 2012 Chevy Van , 2020 chevy van 2020 Chevy van Sapphire Sweet. Club Vannerz. vanninvanner@comcast.net