You can see the ugly lettering, decal, and finally spray paint mess they left on the side of the van. I called all the detail shops to come and buff this out for me, but they all refused. After doing it I realize why they didn't want the job. It was hours and hours of work, but well worth the effort.
The small primer spot on the rear quarter panel was a rust hole that I cut out and hand made a patch panel for. The total investment for this buff project was $200 + my time.
The next item was to do something with the interior. I wanted to use the van to haul equipment, so no beds or shag carpet. The van originally had a cage behind the drive seat, but I didn't want the commercial vehicle look, but still wanted partial protection from letting equipment slide forward during transport. So I took the upper half of the cage out, and bolted in an old piece of conveyor belt from the 1930s that I had laying around for the last 10 years. I knew I would use it someday, and today was the day! I also wanted to finish the van floor with Rhinoliner truck bed sealer to protect it from scratches and abuse. I paid the extra $70 to have it color coded to van's original paint.
The next issue was to find the correct size slotted mags. The standard backspacing on new Ansen slots you can buy is 3 3/4 which will cause clearance problems on the front. I searched and searched, finally coming up with a used set of Ansens that were polished 15x7 with the 5 on 5 bolts circle and 3 1/4 inch back spacing for $500 shipped. A steep price to pay but what can you do? Then I found another pair of 15 x 8 1/2 for the rear with the same backspacing for about the same money. Running 235/60R15 on the front and 275/60R15 on the rear.
I wanted to get the rear lowered and my scheme was to move the front perch of the leaf spring up to create some lowering. I redrilled to bolts but it only afforded me about an inch of decent.
The front drop spindles are a 2 inch drop, so I plan to cut the springs to give another inch and a half drop. The rear could be further lowered with a re-arched main leaf, but my intention is to control cost, so we will see.
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
Thats a lot of work ...KUDO'S on the restore ! Love the color .... brite
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