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Some recent shots. Deciding where to end the center console. A part of me wants to continue it all the way to the front and go up over the engine and end at the dash. Yes- it would make it a pain to get in the left rear seat
With your fab skills...just install a rear door on the drivers side
Why not make the console make a little dip right before the transmission? This way it would be easy to step over it and get in the left rear...Looking great!
Very impressive build. I have a FB page called Vinvanco and would love to post a few pics and possibly feature your van on my blog with a "Twelve Questions" feature. Take a look at my vinvanco.com blog and let me know if you'd be interested. Cheers!
Very impressive build. I have a FB page called Vinvanco and would love to post a few pics and possibly feature your van on my blog with a "Twelve Questions" feature. Take a look at my vinvanco.com blog and let me know if you'd be interested. Cheers!
Thanks! I've been following your Facebook page for years. I've seen the "Twelve Questions" feature a few times- I'd be honored to do one. You can message me on Facebook. Paul Makowski
Sent my gauges out to get the odometer corrected to match the actual miles on my engine combo. Now if I can just find someone with a Tech2 to come program out the crap in my BCM so all the idiot lights don't come on.
Well the van is on hold for awhile. A killer deal on a 1972 Corvette 4 speed just came my way and I couldn't pass it up. Hopefully I can get the Vette painted and re-assembled in a few months.
I get it. I have a 1929 Ford Model A roadster that has been stopped and started for going on seven years. We're going for a period sixties show car look. It's about halfway built.
My dad had a '68 Vette when I was a kid. Gold with black interior. It was a very cool car.
The van has been neglected. I had hopes that the Vette would be a quick paint and re-assembly. Unfortunately it has turned into pretty much a frame on restoration. Everything I uncover, I just have to fix. Can't let it go. So- no new van pics right now but here are some of my work on the Vette. I will be back on the van in a few months where I am going to re-skin the rear doors and make a custom roll pan.
Interior floor restoration. Rusty e-brake; fiberglass floors were nasty. Cleaned and painted everything and put down some Dynamat.
These cars have 'hidden wipers' where a little door opens and closes so you don't see the wiper arms all the time. This is the compartment where all that stuff lives. I just couldn't let it be.
People think Corvettes are fiberglass they don't rust- well except for the "birdcage" which mine had rust at the upper and lower corners and a section at the bottom.
Here is one of the upper sections I fabbed and welded in.
Here is the finished windshield frame.
I have also put in an HEI distributor and new carb; full exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers; a new fuel injection-ready gas tank (for when I go LS); welding in a new rear frame crossmember since mine was bent; and re-fit the rear bumpers.
Next I will re-fit the front bumpers and restore the headlight bucket assemblies and switch from vacuum-operated to electric motors to lift and lower the lights. Then I can FINALLY get onto finishing the prep for paint (which is where I wanted to be when I bought it.)
Wow I actually worked on the van. Cut off the lower door skin as I am fabbing new ones since the factory doors have a 'hump' in them that I just can't live with. These things were never produced to be 'straight'.
Solved the problem of how to deploy the upper and lower door rods when you shave the exterior door handle. Used a convertible top header motor from an Audi A4. Used the ends of the factory rods and welded them to the rods on the Audi motor.
I searched the junkyard many times for very narrow bucket seats. A few months ago I stumbled upon a Porsche Boxster so I bought the seats out of it. They are 19" wide, which is pretty narrow but wider than what I had planned on. So I had to scrap the engine framework I had already made since it was way too wide. I made some new brackets to mount the seats then I made a new engine cover that hugged the seats and left me with just enough clearance on the inside for the engine. I really pushed the limits of my cheap sheet metal brake.
Made the trans tunnel and I had to mock-up the front section of the full center console just to see how it is going to look. Yes- the rear drivers side passenger will have to step over the console, but there will rarely be someone in the back seat.
08-21-2016, 11:37 AM
