While my co-workers were being entertained by my vehicular antics, they would interact with the entertainment at times, and a lot of the interaction seemed to be pretty helpful. They helped sell off the parts I’d accumulated, and offered advice on dismantling stuff.
A big help came along when one of the guys announced that his sister was selling off her 2004 GMC van. I hesitated because I wasn’t sure if they would mate up, but investigating the dimensions gave me enough pretty close numbers that I scooped it. They even drove it right to my driveway!
The biggest issue here was that these vans were Unibody construction, which meant that in order to use the frame, I needed to cut the body off of it. Armed with a sawzall, a grinder, and a couple weeks left of decent summer weather, I started carving pieces off until I was left with a rolling chassis. The nights started arriving earlier and earlier into the fall, and by the end I was un-snaking wiring in the dark.
By the first snowfall I was ready to stack the classic chevy parts generally in place on the new van frame, and it rolled right into my garage for Hibernation Mode.
As my garage isn’t the kind that is big enough to work in, just park, I am anxious to see the Spring Thaw, so I can roll back into an area where I can start fitting things together. I noticed that the classic fenders infringe on more of the engine space than the van’s did. I am likely going to need to modify some shapes in order to fit them around the radiator.
The van had a whole bunch of leather seats, some buckets and a bench. The driver’s seat was the most worn, but the front two were the ones with the butt-heating elements, so I will see if that will be usable.
I had an idea to use an old military jerry can to host the gas filler, as I won’t be using the original 1954 orientation. Hopefully I can get that assembled firmly, as people around here have been known to take gas containers for themselves if it’s not bolted down.
rattycan 