Got Me Some Parts

I got some awesome parts for poochie. my dad went to get some rod and custom magazines from his friend Greg today, and Greg donated a cool boat steering wheel, a pool cue ball and some cool gauges to Poochies build. Ill get some pics tomorrow if i can. Thanks again Greg

A Few Punches To The Nose

We removed the headlight buckets, and the grille assemblies, so we had a straight shot at the back of the nose. Since the motor and doghouse are out, it gave us a clear shot at the numerous dents in the nose of poor poochie. The front end is the only bad panel on the whole vehicle. Using a combination of my size 13 foot and my dad's size 14 foot, we kicked out the majority of the dents, then using a couple of mallets and some wood blocks we managed to flatten out the nose of the van quite a bit. It may not be the straighest panel on the truck but its a fair share straighter. Since neither of us profess to be bodymen, we reassembled the light buckets and will leave any subsequent bodywork to paid professionals. Not a bad little nose-job for a couple of hacks like us.

Poochie Tried On Some Shoes Today

See No Engine Hear No Engine

Welp, We did it, we pulled the engine and transmission, now the only thing standing between us and a new drivetrain, and lowered suspension is figuring out exactly how were gonna pull it off. We figure the engine is gonna be relocated a foot and a half to two feet further back than its stock placement.

1/19/08: An update since last we spoke

We went out to pick-up a 12-bolt for our 29 Model A roadster. Came across an old Econoline that was nice enough to donate a couple of parts. Picked up a rear tail light lens to replace poochie's broken one. Pluse a headlight surround that was in better shape than poochie's original one. Also found a glovebox door. It's real rusty but my we kinda like it that way. Next time we're our that way, we're going to see if the instrument surround is just as rusty. If so, we're going to swap it in to add to Poochie's beautifully used look. We removed the instrument panel and restored the gauge faces, giving the needles a fresh coat of orange paint and probably cleaning both sides of the instrument panel's glass for the first time in forever.We've decided that we won't be replacing the paint anytime soon. Nope. We're going to focus on the mechanicals for now and let the exterior paint be its glorious bumped and bruised self. We're in the process of cleaning all the bolts and miscellaneous parts we've pulled so far. Everything's getting a well-deserved soak in degreaser. We took the slicks and rear wheels back out from under it that we'd placed there just for grins. They're going off with dad's 29 to for mock-up. More on that later. We've moved the Econoline's suspension and rear end out to the stall for storage. We've put the orginal 13"s under the front and a set of junk 14"s in back to better apporximate the appropriate rack we're going for. Of course, it'll ride and inch or two higher, but you get the drift. That's about it fot now. We'll check in when we have more progrees to share. Guess whats coming up next?

Clean enough to sleep indoors again

Our bud Marty, who is a fabricator and does things with metal that we only dream about, came over last night and we started talking about the plan for the van's next life. Drew and I had the front end nearly out when Marty arrived and he helped us get it completely out. rolling some rubber under the front wheel wells, we basically lowered the front down as far as we could to see how far we could drop it before the tires interfered with the front wheelwells. Long term goal is to put a Mustang II Front end in so that we can achieve an extremely low but equally safe ride height. We discovered that if we plan the wheel and suspension spacing carefully, we can get real low by setting the wheel back a couple of inches within each well. Playing around with turning radius, we think we can pull off a very low ride height without reworking the front wheelwells. For the short term, we'll keep the stock suspension, relocate the springs below the axles and add blocks until it sits where we want it. It won't be driveable but it be a rollable. While under the van, we studied the unibody and determined that we've got some serious reinforcing to do before get too far along. We made a parts list so that we can begin scrounging parts from craigslist, swap meets, etc. We'll share that soon. Here are some shots of the van in the garage, where it will be for the foreseeable future. The fun has just begun.

This weekend we pulled the front end out from under the econoline so that we could visulize it with a full-on slam and begin the mock-up phase.

The Teardown

Holy shitsky!

Guess we'll be replacing the tank.

Bumperbegone.

bye-bye bumper and engine cover.

Gave the interior a much needed scrub.

Removed a few bumper stickers and tried to keep this one intact.

About fifteen bolts were removed and presto, the doghouse was out.

Pulled the tank and found Jimmie Hoffa inside.

I was told it ran when it was parked. We'll soon see about that!
Is this a one or a none-barrel?

The Cleanup Crew

Today, Drew and I degreased the engine and began scrubbing every inch of the interior using
Greased Lightning, Crude Cutter and a boatload of elbow grease. We spent the better part of the day and didn't finish. But we got a good start and tomorrow we'll knock the rest of it out. A couple friends have stopped by and think the lettering on the van is a hoot. We're starting to think it might be worth keeping until everything else is sorted out.

Next step is to pull the gas tank and radiator to be boiled out. Will it run without a rebuild? Stay tuned.

Rub A Dub Dub

Forty-four years of grunge and grease would soon be a goner. While I was at work, my son Drew gave the outside of the van its first bath in two decades. What that bath revealed is that the body is in remarkably good shape for a vehicle that has never had a stitch of body work and was still wearing its original paint. And rust is almost non-existant. The passenger footwell has the only rust I've found and will be an easy fix.

Next we'll be degreasing the engine and scrubbing the entire interior. Over and out.