I wish! We're having a snow storm right now so it's KILLING me that this thing is just sitting there. My daily driver took a dump on me so I'm in a rush to get this thing going. If I put a battery in it and fuel in the tank it would fire up, but with no driveshafts or brakes, things might get a little hairy.... I got another car to drive, but a z/28 on z-rated tires wouldn't be so great in the snow....:sombrero:
The Lunchbox Build... 4x4 chevy shorty van
- Thread starter Lunchbox2
- Start date
I wish! We're having a snow storm right now so it's KILLING me that this thing is just sitting there. My daily driver took a dump on me so I'm in a rush to get this thing going. If I put a battery in it and fuel in the tank it would fire up, but with no driveshafts or brakes, things might get a little hairy.... I got another car to drive, but a z/28 on z-rated tires wouldn't be so great in the snow....:sombrero:
The weather has been really crappy, so it's been tough to get major work done on the van. It has new coolant, tranny fluid, and oil/filter now, all of the vacuum hoses are taken care of, tranny lines put on, and front shock mounts are fabbed up. I'm hoping to start burning metal tomorrow so the front end can be done. I also dug up a battery that would hold a charge, so I'm going to hook everything up and see if we have power.
My daily driver took a **** 2 days ago, so I either have to put a motor in it or get the van going quick. It's so close I think I'm going to try and get the van going first. I'm not getting my z/28 out of the garage in this crap, so I don't have anything to drive currently...
I put up a small shelter with tarps that connect to the shop, so I didn't have to deal with the snow and I can open the door up and steal heat now! haha I'm hell-bent on getting this thing finished and it's soooooo close. I don't care what it looks like as long is it runs/drives.
I'll use some 1/4" plating underneath these on the frame, but here's the shock mounts
Here's tent city.... It's actually not that bad, the concrete is clear and dry and the wind is blocked, then when I open the doors I have heat. The cold itself doesn't really bother me, as I'm from up north so 30 degree weather ain't ****. As long as I'm not sitting in water or snow and the wind is blocked, I'm working :sombrero:
My daily driver took a **** 2 days ago, so I either have to put a motor in it or get the van going quick. It's so close I think I'm going to try and get the van going first. I'm not getting my z/28 out of the garage in this crap, so I don't have anything to drive currently...
I put up a small shelter with tarps that connect to the shop, so I didn't have to deal with the snow and I can open the door up and steal heat now! haha I'm hell-bent on getting this thing finished and it's soooooo close. I don't care what it looks like as long is it runs/drives.
I'll use some 1/4" plating underneath these on the frame, but here's the shock mounts
Here's tent city.... It's actually not that bad, the concrete is clear and dry and the wind is blocked, then when I open the doors I have heat. The cold itself doesn't really bother me, as I'm from up north so 30 degree weather ain't ****. As long as I'm not sitting in water or snow and the wind is blocked, I'm working :sombrero:
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Give me your address and I'll send you my Man Card. After reading this thread, I realize that I don't deserve it. This has to be one of the best builds I have seen, not because it's high dollar and perfect, but just the sheer energy expended and no-holds-barred make it happen attitude. Kudos, and I wish you had started this in 2011 so I could just keep reading and see how it turned out!
My mouth ALMOST wrote a check my *** couldn't cash this go-around. By the time I realized how EXTREMELY ambitious this build was, I was halfway through it and couldn't turn back. So I just had to put my head down and get to work otherwise I was going to fail, and failing sucks.....
I'm a filmmaker not a fabricator, and the fab work reflects that. There's definitely some things I'd do differently if I did it again, but the work is solid and will hold up to years of abuse. I'm lucky to have a buddy who IS a fabricator, owns a salvage yard, and was willing to let me build it out at his place. I worked until I got stumped, then I'd ask for help. He usually walked over and told me what I was doing wrong in about 30 seconds, then I'd get back to it... If I needed parts, I could just walk out-back and grab things off a truck.
This is the biggest project I've ever taken on, and it's a great feeling knowing that I'm at the tail-end. I turned every single bolt/screw, cut and welded every piece of metal, I know every single inch of the wiring harness, and if anything ever goes wrong I should be able to diagnose and fix the issue. I still have bodywork/paint and interior to do, but finishing up the mechanical aspect is going to be a HUGE relief.
Thanks for the encouraging words and stay tuned in! I got big plans for the Lunchbox....
I got the passenger side shock mounted finally. The driver side will be MUCH easier now that I know ****** I'm doing... I'm not completely happy with the angle the shock sits at, but there's nothing I could do about it. It would either hit the floor or it hung down 6" below the axle, so this was the best compromise I could come up with. I'm going to roll with it and see what happens.....
Here's my work-space and the reason why my van's out in front of the shop and not IN it... 49 chevy 5-window street rod build
Here's my work-space and the reason why my van's out in front of the shop and not IN it... 49 chevy 5-window street rod build
Get to it! haha
Then I got the rear locker and shocks done....
The rear brakes are giving me problems though, these disc brake kits weren't designed to run on a van axle......The caliper bolt was hitting the u-bolt when they were up at the top, so I put them on the bottom. I definitely don't like this, so I'll get some new u-bolts and then try them up-top again...
The rear brakes are giving me problems though, these disc brake kits weren't designed to run on a van axle......The caliper bolt was hitting the u-bolt when they were up at the top, so I put them on the bottom. I definitely don't like this, so I'll get some new u-bolts and then try them up-top again...
Then I spent an entire day on trying to make the column shifter work, because I don't need ANOTHER shifter in the floor.... I had to get parts from a late 70's chevy truck, but I got it done and it works like a charm. I can pull it down into 1st and shift up through all of the gears, and vice versa, I'm happy...:sombrero:
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Then I filled everything up with fluid...... Coolant, tranny fluid, oil change, and threw a battery on to see if it would fire. I didn't have a camera going because I didn't think it would do anything. I hit the key just to see if I had power, then I tried to turn it over. Once it turned-over, I let off, kind of surprised that everything worked. My buddy says "what's the matter, fire that ***** up!"
So I hit the key again and she started right up! Man that was a sweet moment. 5 months of hard ************* work and I got to hear the ol' girl sing finally...So I set up the camera this time and fired her up again, this was the 3rd time that she ran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHHTlqR4LmY&feature=youtu.be
So I hit the key again and she started right up! Man that was a sweet moment. 5 months of hard ************* work and I got to hear the ol' girl sing finally...So I set up the camera this time and fired her up again, this was the 3rd time that she ran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHHTlqR4LmY&feature=youtu.be