Vannin' Home Forums Thread Like Summary - New to me 76 G10 Shorty

Here yall go! This will be a fun project that I can drive while I work on it! Here is an Album with a couple of pictures.

Went down to Florida Saturday and traded an Evo Harley Wide Glide for this. I have been kinda wanting a Shorty with Factory Windows, but wanting to trade for it. This one popped up when somebody shared the Craigslist ad on here, and even though it had huge conversion windows, I kinda liked it. I sent the owner an E mail and he sent me videos showing me the issues....like the typical rust and what not. We made a deal and so I had a friend drive me down, made the trade, and drove it home! Drove perfect and I even got caught in monsoon style rains. No signs of leaks from the split sunroof, but the old blocked off roof vent still leaks and there is a windshield leak. I kind of assumed that would be the case as the roof wood paneling shows obvious water damage. I will either just repatch it or put another roof vent on before replacing the paneling. Had a nice oil leak and so swapped on a set of chrome valve covers I had here at the house and fresh cork valve cover gaskets. Vacuum lines were run a bit wrong, so I rerouted them and hooked up the vacuum advance (Wasnt even hooked up). Seems to have fixed the oil leak and runs nice and smooth. van has some rust around the roof rails and at normal 45 year old van places, but nothing that really caught me by surprise. he also tossed in a set of 15x8 Superior Slots, extra vent windows, a spare tire holder, and some random parts. I am happy with the trade, and I am sure he is too!

Very nice! You owe me a beer as finders fee....

I adjusted the timing this weekend, as it was a bit retarded and really felt like it was fighting itself to accelerate under load. Runs much better, but I definitely could run it a bit more advanced as it was HOT out and I drove it and didn't see any increased engine temps and no pinging. I may give it a little bit more next time the doghouse is off.

I have been driving it daily, even in the rain with the leaky roof. I bought a tarp to cover it like so many other vans out there. LOL. Once my wife has her stuff out of our little garage, I will put this one in and reseal the drip rails and do some type of fix on any rust up there. I also got a piece of 0.063" steel to cut and use to repatch the roof vent. It looks like they put a flat piece of steel on there and ran self tappers through it, then put some type of sealer over the top of all that. It looks like shit and doesn't seal the best. I plan to put a patch above and below and sandwich the roof between them, using sealer between the layers and Stainless Steel 1/4" Machine screws with Nylock nuts to pull it all together. Anybody ever try the flex seal stuff? I was looking at using it if it will work... let it cure up slightly before tightening he screws and I would assume that would create a nice seal around them.

So here are my Future Plans for this thing:

I really want to tackle interior first. The wood paneling on the roof has some rot from the leaks, so I want to get this sealed up before I replace it. I am sure there is probably mold up there and in the insulation up there. If I cannot find a similar paneling, I may have to do something different up there, like maybe cover wood with fabric or vinyl. I am going to try to salvage the wood on the walls and the green carpet they trimmed it out with. It sucks that the Door cards are all missing, though. I will need to make new ones and try to make it match the best I can. I will probably use whatever I use for the Ceiling on the Door cards. The floor area behind the front seats is less than 45 Square Feet, and I found some nice dark Laminate at Lowes thats like $25/Box of like 26 Square Feet. That's nice and Cheap, and I like saving where I can. I will pull the old Particle board floor out and put put a barrier layer down and then the Laminate directly on that. Looking at L track to put down on the flooring to mount a seating arrangement. I would like to find a Bench seat to mount in there. I currently have the one in there that I put in the G30 when we travel with the kids, but I want one that I can put in specific for the van that will utilize the L Track. If I had a bench and 2 captains chairs, I could even fit them all in there using the track and remove them when they aren't needed. I would also Fab up some type on bed platform that can be removed, as well. almost like a little modular set up. My bed is easily removable in my G30 and the entire cargo area is finished without it, so its still usable and still looks good. I kind of want to go a similar route here so that I have options.

Since its going to just be my around town van, I want to do some small engine upgrades. I am thinking an Aluminum intake, a nice sounding cam without too much duration, and a stall up around 2k. I am assuming the van has a 3.08 open rear since the underhood sticker doesn't specify anything different and that was the standard for the 350/350 vans in 76. If I see another rear pop up somewhere with a 3.42 or 3.73, I would swap them out in a heartbeat!

After that is all done maybe I would start some body work, but that is low on the priority list (other than fixing the rust and straightening out behind the left rear tire that obviously got wrinkled from a blow out at some time).

Thats all just a pipe dream for now until I get back on my feet. I am just gonna drive it till then!

I just typed this all out and posted it, then read back and saw I basically had already posted this info briefly before...so much going on in my head right now. HAHAHA

Nice score Brother. I'm happy for you.

That's a cool van... congrats!

I bought a police equipped 2 dr Nova 9C1 brand new in 1977 with the 350 and the "high altitude" axle ratio (3:55 to 1). It was a great little engine! Even smogged up it would easily run 120 on the certified speedo. It was not any different than the 350/4bbl (LS9) in the vans performance wise.

We're gonna try to make it Neal. Not having electricity is a problem for old folks like us. Maybe we can work out an evening visit. Y'all coming to GSVR? I've got HotWheels for the little vanners.

Good looking van. I'm glad it worked out for you.

Very nice. Keep us posted with your progress

Nice Van...

Right on Brother; good ideas and our vans are our best Medicine. Mine's been down for so long; since February with the powetrain and suspension build. ( $$$$$ hard to come by these days ) .
I love driving my 74' Shorty; everything else melts away. Hope to be back in the saddle end November. Wish the Best my friend and good times ahead.