Hey everyone! I thought I'd put together a thread cataloging the work I've done, and will be doing on my van. This past August I purchased it from a guy in Albuquerque, NM and had it transported to me in Dallas, TX. As the post title states the van is a 1985 Chevy G10 cargo. It has a 5.7L 350 SBC with a TH400 with roughly 68k miles. Overall it was purchased in pretty good overall shape with no significant rust or body damage. The interior was fully gutted with no carpet, headliner, or panels. Below are some pics of what I started with. I'll make additional posts with pics of the work etc.
I of course was first inundated with maintenance based fixes to get it to pass inspection and get registered in TX. However the first main upgrade I did was get rid of the 16" black steelies. I decided to keep it classic and went with Cragar 15x7's in the front and 8's in the rear. 215 /70 R15 and 255 /60 R15. Obviously I'm not going as wide as most guys and gals go in the van realm but I'm hoping to work my way, eventually, towards a pretty decent drop in both the front and rear so I'm trying to be mindful of fender clearance. My thinking behind the tire sizes is for the overall diameter of the wheel to be the same for the front and rears. We'll see if I need to adjust that later though, lol.
So, as you guys may have noticed the van came with an early generation sliding door and is missing the body line rib. Besides that already annoying me every waking day since acquiring the van, the door doesn't function. So I've been on the hunt for an appropriate year sliding door that actually functioned. The only doors I found were either beat up, rusted out or out of state. Then.... I found one! Although I would prefer a no window door, I'm ecstatic to have found this door, which is in phenomenal condition and operates almost like it were new!
Other parts that I have acquired and updated include the hood, both front seats with seat belts and bases, and super clean side mirrors. I've also started cleaning up the floorboards and applying Dynamat. I've applied it under the doghouse and a few pieces inside the front doors.
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