King of the World!!!!!!!!

Feeling good about the grille set up working out!!!

Gotta go pack now.

:)

Getting all up in my grille..........

So here it is!!!!  I can't get over the grille and lights!! It looks awesome!!

It took a while but it was well worth it.  I am exausted and I will spend the next few days moving and then off to Calgary or a week for a wedding.  

After I get back from Calgary, I will be painting the van.

Gotta go to bed now...................mission accomplished..........again, with help from "Rusty", "Lady" and "Horseshoe/Bucket".

:)

Time is ticking...........

Windshield is in......chrome grilled is painted black in the right spots........windshield visor is ready.......and I'm moving on Monday....*gulp*




Above: New glass!! Headlight holes are cut out only to be bracketed back in and aligned for the old school grille and then fibre glassed in to place.

Above: Hood pins were installed and then removed for painting and need to be re-installed.

Above: Here's a champion of a guy!! I'm not going to lie to you, he is a gentlemen and a scholar, he is a world class kind of guy and ladies.....he is single!! ;) We will call him: "Bucket/Horseshoe" and he is not only a great guy but also, he is a wonderful person and I feel lucky to be buds with him.

He is responsible for many trips to Canadian Tire, (for those on the spot demands and needs), as well as various trips to Timmy's and showing up with surprise iced caps adn timbits to keep me going. He's given his time for the cause and has done a fine job on the down spoiler not to mention shining my rims up for me. This guy tought me the saying: 'the cat's ass' and that's what we're working on ;)

Above: 1976 Hood and grille are installed and painted on the 1995, Headlight holes are aligned and fibre glassed. I'm trying to paint the awkward spots with the spray can so that I can just easily use the roller later after I move........I think that will be fine.

Today, I installed the grille and lights and though it took a long time, it looks dead sexy!

Tomorrow, I have maybe half a day to switch my tires, install the hood pins, finish the left bottom side...........sigh, pop a few bolts in the front bumper........and god knows what else!!

The rest of the weekend is for the move on Monday.

Keep on Truck'n!!!

:)

I get by with a little help from my friends.....

Well, the windshield is out!! It was hard work and took a while but that bugger is out! The new one should be dropped in tomorrow by a pro.

After a failed attempt to remove the windshield, my buddy, (we'll call him Rusty), vowed to come back the next day and that the windshield would be out; he is a man of his word ;) You know you have great friends when they stick with you for this kind of crap work.

Here is a series of photos:

Below: At this point we were worried that we were going to have to kick the glass out; luckily, we didn't have to.

Below: For a while, we used a wire and tried to cut it out like cheese or clay but it only moderately worked. We ended up getting it out with a fine cutting wood saw, this worked the best when you get one guy to lift the already cut part while the other guy contiues to cut.

Below: The power of the mighty saw was the best method.

Above: Rusty letting off some steam!! He put that windshield in it's place.....or I guess he took it out of it's place ;)

Below: Cleaning up the body around the seal......didn't take too long.

Above: Two very happy boys!! Victory is ours!!



Below: Fixed and painted............drying and then ready for glass. I actually had the glass dropped in today and it looks great. Pics to come........

Below: The grille conversion is now underway. Here is the basic idea:

step one: cut out the area needed for the headlight and it's adjustment screws......................................cont..

Below: Step two: bracket it in place where it aligns with the the headlight housing piece and then cover the open areas with fibre glass so that water does not get in to places that it should not be. Note: In this picture, I do not have the brackets in place at all.....I am just holding it for a visual.

Below: Here is another friend, we'll call her "Lady", who has given me so much help with this project. Here she is cleaning out the rubber gasket for the windshield; I am amazed at how clean she got it. She is responsible for many areas in the van where I would have rushed through; she took the time and did a quality job!!! Hats off.

Overhead visors and down spoilers are being cleaned and painted..........

Grilles are being taped and sprayed in the right spots...................

Hoods are being cleaned and painted.......hood pins to be installed.....

Chrome rims and being polished and oh my god do they ever get shiny!!

More coming soon,

Keep on Truckn!!!!!

:)

PS: The expanding foam was a failure.....though it worked on my first van, this time I bondod and primed and thought I was done but it continued to expand and cracked.....boo! Rework sucks but must be done.

Let's get Physical..........Let me hear your body talk.

Project Chevy Van facelift is very much happening. It's been many a long days but it is really getting there. I am not a pro and I have very limited time but I think she' s coming along nicely. Basically, I've been grinding and cutting and removing all of my rust away. After the rust is gone, I spray tons of 'rust converter' and then I prime......sanding in between all of that as well. I'm hoping that this will add a bunch more years to my van.

I've been lucky enough to have three specific awesome friends who understand that I am in need as I have to finish the body before moving towards the end of August. They have come out and have lent me a hand and I love them dearly :* (This probably wouldn't have been finished in time had they not helped me out, so le't hear it for friends!!).

Here are some pics!!



above: My friend working away, removing rust.






above: although I am going to use the $50 paint job technique using a roller, I've sprayed the matching color behind the bumper before putting the new one on. It's much easier to spray the cracks and tight areas now.
That chrome bumper is the one that I salvaged from my black '81 van before having it towed away.


above: The bumper is on with only two bolts for the moment. I'm hoping that when the others are in, the whole thing will straighten itself out.










above: A small dent......can't really be seen unless you get down on your knees so I'll let it go; again, time is of the essence here.



above: This back corner was rotted out pretty badly; I cut a lot away. A while ago, I bought a primed hood from a guy and low and behold, he even had a replacement piece for this very corner. The replacement panel was for a full size van and not a stubby but I cut and trimmed it and bondo'd the crack. I used a rivet gun to attach it..........I am not a pro and I really don't mind the rivets being visible so this is the finished product.





above: Here's what my weekend has in store.....the windshield is coming out and the overhead visor is temporarily coming off to get to these repairs. I have a much newer winshield with no cracks that I picked up for $50 around X-Mas time.
I've been collecting everything I need to build my van, hoods, windshields, taillight covers, old shcool grilles, radical headlights. All I need now are flares or those chrome trim pieces around the wheel wells that the conversion vans have...........anyone know where to get them?
Let me know, please :)



above: A bad spot to be repaired this weekend.



above: I bet you're wondering what the heck this crap is!?!? This is how I repaired this section on my first van. This is the bottom side of the van on the driver's side between the driver's door and the back tire; This spot always rusts out. I cut and remove a big strip here because it makes it easier to have access to clean out what lies behind. After cutting and grinding and cleaning and rust converting, I duct tape these sections and then fill it with expanding foam and then cover the holes so that the whole area is covered. Leave this to dry over night and by the next day, it should be dry. Make sure to put paper behind the duct tape where it doesn't stick to the van. Once you remove the tape, the foam will have expanded and all you have to do it shave the foam back and then fill it with body filler. The foam has little bubble holes so the bondo gets in to those holes and sticks well. Now you just have to fill it in and sand it smooth. I'm not going to bother putting in the lip on the underside, it's way easier to skip it and most people won't even notice. I have no plans for running boards ever anyways.


above: My neighbours thought that I was crazy the first time I did this and my current neighbours feel the same way. :p

Note all of that rusty crap that came out from inside and behind the cutaway section. This is a great way to clean that spot out.

I'm telling ya; this works and saves a lot of time and sanding. ;)







above: I forgot to flip this image so rotate it once clockwise and you are looking at the front of my van as it looks right now with the hood open. I had some down time to kill so I began fitting the old shcool one piece chrome grille to the van. I had to remove over an inch from the nose of my '95. The hardest thing will be getting the lights to fit. The old grilled is set up for circular lights, which look so cool!! The circles that you see here for the headlights don't line up with the circles on the grille; so.............because I need to be able to adjust and aim my headlights, I am going to cut the headlight hole section right out on the van, align them and then re-attach them with a bracket or a sort. This will totally work and will be awesome, more on this later.




above and below: The guy who developed the $50 paint job technique used it on his charger and Beatle. These are the kinds of results that you can expect when done properly.







My Van, to be continued...............................

INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE!!!!

So long story short.....I am moving very soon and I was going to sell my van for a shortbox v6 conversion van but after going to see it......I felt much better about my van. I think that it was just what I needed to remind myself that my van is in pretty good shape and that I have put a lot in to it.  

So longer story even shorter.....I've got just less than two weeks to do the body and paint but I am determined. I've been putting in some long days and I've made a bunch of progress. I have finished almost the whole right side and some of the van and have started the grille conversion.  Everything is going well, some things take longer than I want and some things don't take long enough but hey, I have no time to be picky right now. I never said I was a body man......just a crafty person.

I've got plenty of empty cans of rust converter and primer and it looks like I've fried my angle grinder from removing an inch of metal off of the nose to fit the grille.  I still plan to use the $50 paint job method using 'tremclad medium blue'. I am pretty excited about it all !!!

Things to do:

-Remove  windshield and visor to do the body work......pay $80 to have my new one proffesionally installed.

-grind bolts away to remove the rear bumper to do the body. I already got the front one off. These will be replaced with the chrome bumpers off of my '81.

-The obstacle with the grille conversion is that the wholes for the headlights do not line up with the holes on the body. The solution is to cut out the headlight holes on the body; cut the whole thing out in a section and align it and then attach it with a custom bracket; this will work.

-small sections of body.

Wish me luck and keep me in our vannin' prayers!!  Pictures to come!!

:)