Frank Frazetta - H.G. the BarbariVan

[hgs_notes]

Ac ouple years ago I bought a rusty G30 work van with a blown 4.3 engine and pushed it into the back corner of the shed. It was intended to be 4x4 swapped and just be badass.

Last weekend another van came up on market place that was way less rusty and extremely cheap. It's a 1979 G10 and was parked in 1992. Two owners ago was a body guy and he started doing the rust repair but I don't think it was all that bad. He added the large side windows common to the typical conversion vans. If he wanted a conversion van he should have just bought one. They're fairly common and affordable. Anyway, ideally I wanted a shorty without windows but those are unobtainium in my area. It was a runner when he was working on it.

When I looked it over I only found rust holes in a few places and not extensive. The one brown fender and door are originals that haven't been worked on yet and have some rust/damage. I'm pretty sure I have good front doors and a good fender. There's a small rust hole behind the rear bumper and some in the rocker under the slider door. Overall a much better start than my G30.

I offered $400 and it was accepted. I got it home a couple days ago and pulled everything out of the back, vacuumed and got to see what all I got. Only a few dead mummified critters, only a few handfuls of poo, only one large critter nest. I believe the original engine is all intact and not messed with. Casting number is for a 79 350, has a TH350 tranny, AC, cruise, tilt, PB, PS. Should have a 3.07 rear gear. Haven't looked for the SPID yet, I should do that.

After cleaning it out I checked the oil and hooked up a jumper pack. It cranked over so I sprayed some ether down the carb and it does fire. I stopped there. The gas tank has a small leak from the seller moving it with forks on his bobcat under the tank. Which is a shame since the inside of the tank was perfectly clean. I ordered a new tank, sending unit and straps. I'll pick up some fuel line this week and hopefully can get it running next weekend. I don't know if the carb is too dirty to run or not. I don't know if the fuel pump works.

I bought a set of 15x8.5 aluminum slots for it but haven't had any luck finding some cheap tires in the size I want for it. Instead I may be buying another set of wheels with tires mounted. The tires are only 2 years old and mounted on some classic turbo fan wheels and they are cheaper than a set of similar tires without wheels. Good enough to drive on because I believe the tires on it now are from 1985 and only 1 holds air.

Since I believe this van won't take much work to be road worthy I'm going to run the drivetrain as is and just fix what's left of the body work and get some fresh shag carpet for it. I'll spray some paint on it, eventually find some tires, spif up the wheels and cruise the boogie van. My hope is that I can find a good airbrush artist to paint a sick mural in the style of Frank Frazetta on it, hence the name. If that doesn't happen it'll get some stripes or something to really grab attention. Maybe a cool wrap, who knows?

Like most of my projects, it'll be slow going. Mainly because I have too many things going at once. Getting the cobra ready for paint now, still have lots of work to do on the crewcab, still need to swap gears in the 71 C10, still have a Jimmy waiting for attention, still have a 71 Riviera that needs tons of work, etc. I'm never bored.

[hgs_notes]

All day to swap wheels? Yes, when you have to strip a few layers of paint first. Picked up the wheels last night off market place for $180. The tires are worn out but hold air. Picked up a battery for it. Hoping to drive it off the trailer next weekend.

Looked at the G30 and the rear doors and front left fender look good. There's also some doors I got from the junkyard in the van. And there's front sheetmetal from an RV I need to get yet.

[Getter-Done]

Wheels turned out good.

Nice Project.

Will there be Shag carpet in the back .

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Wheels turned out good.

Nice Project.

Will there be Shag carpet in the back .

I'm thinking more like sheet plastic with hooks for hanging tools like knives, ropes, tape, etc.

Or shag, who knows?

Couple things from this evening. I put the battery in and turned the key to see if it cranked over better than with the jump pack. And it fired up and idled perfectly. Twice in fact. Then ran out of gas. The tranny fluid was a little brown but didn't smell too bad. Not great but as long as it moves forward and back.

And check out this radio. Factory option UP5 on the SPID.

[Getter-Done]

Just Kidding about the shag

That CB is cool.

[hgs_notes]

Saturday I got the new gas tank in. It came with a 33 gal tank but I ordered the smaller 22 gal tank. I didn't compare measurements which was a mistake. I figured it would be shallower like the suburban tanks are but no, it's shorter front to back. I also ordered the newer style tank for an EFI application in case I do an in tank pump some day. But the other difference on the tank is the filler tube is larger than original. So the money I saved on the smaller tank was spent on fuel filler hose. Oh well. I managed to get it all in and working by adding some short pieces of chains on the tank straps. I still need to hook up the vent line that parallels the filler hose.

It's all in and even the gauge still works. I put some gas in the carb and it started right up, then died after a bit. Still didn't get gas from the tank. One more time and it was fine and running off clean new gas.

I also had to repair the left rear brake. The brake line was sticking up high, I moved it back down by the axle tube and the end where it goes into the wheel cylinder started dripping. Crap. Of course it's all rusty so I ended up buying new shoes, cylinder, hardware and line for it. But then I couldn't bleed it. No flow from the master cylinder. It's half shot. By that I mean it is a double diaphragm and I think one part works, but the pedal only goes halfway to the floor.

I did manage to get it off the trailer and drive it a bit but the tranny didn't want to engage. I had checked the fluid when it wasn't running and it was high. After a nights sleep I figured I better check it again while running and sure enough it was very low. I added about 3 quarts and that did the trick. Tranny works! The problem now is the right front brake is dragging BAD. It's been raining so everything is wet. No traction to push the stuck wheel without a lot of tire spinning so I parked it in the grass where it stopped moving.

This morning I dragged it up by the garage and that stuck wheel would roll some then slide then roll then slide, etc. I took off the wheel to inspect it and it has new pads on it but the old caliper, which was rusty and dirty and probably not backing off enough. I broke the bleeder trying to coax it open. No surprise there.

So I just ordered the rest of the brake system and maybe I'll get that all done this weekend. Oh I did drive it though. The wheel rolled enough that I decided to just send it. My driveway is 1/4 mile long and I went down to the T intersection another 1/8 mile away to turn around. I did that twice and that rotor got hot but I was able to drive it and go through the gears. The only non-brake issue was some backfiring under load. I think there's a vacuum leak and the timing might be off a bit. Not too concerned, it really starts and runs pretty good.

Cleaned up the dash a bit. All the gauges work, radio lights up but I don't think there is a speaker connected, no sound. No cracks on the dash, must have been stored inside. I don't think the windshield leaks. It's been out in the rain for days. The more I get into it the better I like it. Definitely not a waste of $400. I spent a couple hundred on wheels, couple hundred on the fuel tank stuff and a couple hundred on brake parts and $80 for a battery. All in for around $1250 but still need the right tires and the wheels I'm planning to use need work.

Oh and check out the keychain that it came with.