Hello everyone!

Itsavanman

Adventurer
why do i always get the weird ones? had 0 compression on 2-3 cylinders, hence the running like crap, what i found was the brand new lifters pumped up to the max and wouldn't come back down, tried prying on the rocker arms couldn't make them budge. weird as all hell.. anyways ran some motor flush aka kerosene through the oil and it freed them up and made them go down to appropriate levels, now shes running great.. now just have to button everything back up and weld on a new rear shock mount, and shes good to go.. hooray!
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
shes back together! over the last 2 days have put about 200 miles on her.. 150 of which was going to the south part of the state to pick up a camper for its bits and pieces... going to steal the pop up mechanicals, sell what camper bits and pieces i can, send the aluminum to the scrap yard for a few bucks then turn it into a flatbed and sell it...
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
haha.. I think i may take some pictures of all my parts stash today, but nothing to look at lol.. still a stock ford van.. looks just like the picture i took of it when I first got it lol... still fixing mechanical stuff, had the ignition tumbler drop pins and lock up yesterday at work, had to dig out the tumbler and install a new one, what a pain in the butt! today i have to get the heater working, and the cb, and maybe the exhaust leak tackled today.. had some ups and downs on the camper and part sourcing this week, got a free jayco popup, drove almost 2 hours to get it and get there and its aluminum, so no using the roof for a pop top.. oh well, but later in the week i found a free leer fiberglass truck cap that will some modifications will work with the popup, its narrow, but it fits the 2nd bump up in the roof perfect. now have to find a way to tuck the jayco popup mechanicals inside the van somehow as so they look nice, but also don't protrude into the coach thus becoming a possible impailing device in the unlikely event of an accident..
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
got the heater working, but not the coach lights, not really a big problem, as a lot of it has to come down to modify the fiberglass top to accept the pop up part. thinking about doing a clamshell opening top instead, thinking about using 73-87 Chevy hood hinges to get it to open, with the springs in the hinges it should be easy enough to raise by itself without any extra lifters. plus there would be no intrusion into the coach with all the popup stuff. did my first mpg test today, not even 9 mpg, not good as epa rates the mpg at 12 combined, need to take care of an exhaust leak at the manifold, as I think its drawing in a bit or air and making the computer think its running rich, so plan on fixing that next, and replacing the O2 sensor as well to hopefully get the mpg back up into the double digits..
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
well still just gathering parts, a search for a small block bellhousing zf5 4x4 have proved to be futile.. so I am getting a np435 4 speed and np208 and also a np205 t case, wanted the added mpg of an od gear, but the problem is the anemic 302 is still buzzing due to the fact that it has to drop down to 3rd gear all the time to get up even the smallest hills, so it probably wouldn't get the best millage anyways, so a 4 speed it is, did some junkyard cruising, the hood hinges from a 94-01 dodge ram seem to have the right arc to pop the top not sure if they have enough spring to offset the weight of the top, so a set of gas lift struts will be added if needed for some more lifting oomph. scored some bulk fleece to add to the truck camper for the added length it needs, still need to go over to the body shop to see if i can rent a bay for a few weekends to modify the camper shell for use in the van as i need 50* or warmer to lay up any fiberglass resin, which we haven't seen in a month. hopefully will actually get to do something rather than gathering parts and talking about it lol...
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
took ownership of the np435 and 208 t-case today, first used craigslist buy that wasn't covered in grease, mud, etc etc, and he was a nice guy too.. so now i have to start measuring to see how everything is gonna fit....
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
such a nice day (20 degrees and windy) I decided I felt like yanking some more parts for the pile, so now i have a clutch pedal (sorta) its a brake pedal, but should work with minimal modifying, and picked up a t-case shifter today too, its for a Chevy but should work all right... looking at taking master and slave from an f150 of 80's vintage so its not a hydraulic throw out bearing (I hate those) its almost time to do some grafting, I was planning on doing the front axle first, but it looks like i am going to do the transmission and t-case swap first, then do the axle.. this project sure flipped a 180, was planning on doing the pop up and interior first, then the 4x conversion.. but its too cold to lay fiberglass, so workin on mechanical stuff it is...
 

brettf

Adventurer
such a nice day (20 degrees and windy) I decided I felt like yanking some more parts for the pile, so now i have a clutch pedal (sorta) its a brake pedal, but should work with minimal modifying, and picked up a t-case shifter today too, its for a Chevy but should work all right... looking at taking master and slave from an f150 of 80's vintage so its not a hydraulic throw out bearing (I hate those) its almost time to do some grafting, I was planning on doing the front axle first, but it looks like i am going to do the transmission and t-case swap first, then do the axle.. this project sure flipped a 180, was planning on doing the pop up and interior first, then the 4x conversion.. but its too cold to lay fiberglass, so workin on mechanical stuff it is...

Awesome! Love the idea of the van with the third pedal! :) Keep up the updates!
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
Looks like the AOD is taking a crap in the van.. Darn!! guess ill just have to put in the 4 speed a little sooner then I was planing.. Should be transplanting the manual pedal box in a week or so, then I will actually have some pictures of the progress woot!:wings:
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
I bet everyone is waiting on pics, well, next week should be when I actually get to putting some things in, 4 months later lol.. oh well slow going..
 

Itsavanman

Adventurer
so.. I actually managed to get the single pedal auto brake pedal out, to test fit the clutch and brake pedal assembly.. boy what a pain that was getting the old one out, the original one was also the steering column support, so i will have to hack off the column support off the old one and graft it onto the f150 pedal box.. everything is quite simalar so it shouldn't be too hard. also since the boosters are different i will be using the f150 booster and replace my vans master cyl as its leaking from the rear seal, so heres a pic of the test fit, I still need to move some wires and other doodads to get it to fit right. but we are close!
IMG_1938_zps6e46c945.jpg

since the old one was such a pain to get in and out, I will be making this box a 2 piece design so that its easier to install.
 

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