Hot Rods 1965 Dodge van

I've been wanting one of the old 60's Dodge vans for a while so I finally pulled the trigger on this one after looking at a few. Of course I didn't check it out as well as I should have and am ending up doing a lot more rust repair than I wanted; but it's making progress.

Just going to be a decent basic hauler, doing the body work and paint, rewiring, and sticking with a slant six/three on the tree. Hoping to have it together for the Hot Rod Power Tour in June.

 

Here's a few more......

 

And a few more.....

 

And here's the next area to tackle; pretty rough but I've got some solid replacement parts I cut from another van.

 

Go here, too....you will love it there. They have an A100 section....http://www.vintage-vans.com/

 

Yeah, I’ve got it on there. That’s a cool site.

 

Back from Florida today and started the surgery, looks like the heavier structural parts are in decent shape so it shouldn’t be too terrible to heal.

 

Hey Pat......you are a work-a-holic! Good work you are doing there.

What happened to your red SHO powered Plymouth Coupe?

You might recall me, I bought a transmission and some ‘49 Plymouth fenders from you a few years ago.....

Ray

 

Hi Ray! I ended up pulling the SHO motor and dropped in a Mopar big block. I drove it for a year and sold it to finish my 48 coupe. Good to hear from you!

 

The piece that supported the back of the leaf spring was pretty thin on this side. Luckily the frame rail is solid. So I needed some heavy sheet metal to rebuild this piece and I had just had some VFDs for some 75hp chilled water pumps changed at work. The old VFD cabinets are really heavy gauge steel so I saved one from the dumpster and am using pieces of it to rebuild the spring support. Can’t beat the price and it’s twice as thick as the original bracket.

 

Closing in on finishing this corner, just need to rebuild the structure for the lower door hinge. I cut this corner out of another van; it’ll need a little massaging but it’s workable.

 

Go Man, Go!

Ray

 

Thank, Ray!
I got the support post rebuilt today with some 2” x 3” tubing and got the corner tacked on. Now to do a little repair work on the corner, patch the rear floor on this side, then do the other corner. This side was the worst; happy to reach this point.

 

Will watch the work in progress. I had a '69 years ago, last year for the A-100. Mine was a slant 6 and 3 on the tree. It rode better than one would expect for something where you're sitting directly over the front wheels.

 

I have a '64 window van that has been a family treasure for some time now. 340, disc brakes, efi, side pipes.... always starts up and has room for everything and everybody. You will love this thing when it's on the road

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

good luck with 'er....

 

Thanks! It turned out be more metal work than I’d hoped but it’s coming along fairly well. I’ve had the Ford and Chevy versions; cool old vans.

 

I just noticed your Avatar, Jack. Very cool.

 

Please look at the pictures in Post 11. If those perforated straps are the gas tank straps plan on replacing them as they are only intended for furnace duct support. I would not want to see you driving this down the road with a full tank of gas and they break. Could be disastrous, for you and other drivers, and your van that you are spending so much love on.

 

Yes, I intended to change them out. That's what the previous owner had holding the old tank in, which wasn't the right tank anyway.

 

I figured that you were going to change them as they look cut to remove the old tank. Just wanted to make sure Sir. The work is looking good so far.

 

Thanks! There’s a long list of previous lame repairs to correct on this thing. Some of the old bodywork was fiberglass cloth and resin right over the rust holes. Someone spent more time and effort doing it wrong than if they’d have done it right in the first place.

 

Are you sure that it shouldn't have a Hemi in it....?

.

 

Lol, that would certainly make it fun! No, it's just going to be a bone stock budget priced shop truck, just bodywork and single stage enamel repaint plus I picked up a really good running low mileage slant six to replace the worn out original. Interior will be two black vinyl seats and a full rubber floormat.

 

Nice work. Big project. Sure like those old vans!

 

I got the corner fixed up along with patching the floor, fixing the panel that goes over the fuel filler tube, and sealing the surface rust on the backside with some POR-15. Next step is replace the drivers side rocker panel and do some repairs the the front of the leaf spring mount. Then all the metal work on this side is done.

 

Getting there and looking good.

 

Thanks; this thing has definitely been a challenge. I cut the rocker out today and drilled out the spot welds on the spring support so I could build another one. I can’t believe this was holding the spring up; there’s nothing left of it. Luckily the frame and the inner rocker was solid so I built a new support from 1/4” plate. Maybe a little overkill but I had plenty of 1/4” so I used it. Found this stamp on the frame when I cut the old bracket off; pretty cool.

 

I got my spring support finished and mounted today; time to take a break for a few days.

 

I got the drivers side rocker tacked in, made a repair piece for the rear wheel opening and got a decent start on the other rear corner today. I’ve got the first week of January off work; I hope to have all the patching on the body done and the welds ground down by the end of that week so I can start on the doors.