Jalopy Journey
As of the new year I?ve been working on a new project that some of you might be interested in. I?ve been documenting the journey my first gen Chevy Van takes to gain a new lease on life. I purchased some equipment to record the journey with and hope to upload some proper content to YouTube in the next few weeks. As for the Forum though, I will be using this thread to provide updates and discuss things specific to the project. So, you?ll get the inside scoop! Since I know that the forum is having some issues with the PHP and displaying photos, I?ve attached links to a google photo album and a couple quickly thrown together videos. That way you can at least see some progress rather than a wall of text. If there is another workaround for posting photos and videos let me know.
What I?m dealing with
The van is a 1964 Chevy Van and I saved it in early November 2019 from a scrap yard where it was waiting to be crushed. So as one would expect the van is a bit of a jalopy, but these vans aren?t getting any easier to find (especially here). That and I think this particular van has had an interesting life that if true I?d like to document and preserve, but I have to do more research so I will touch on that later.
Photos of the van before getting started - https://photos.app.goo.gl/kmToMWHQP9qJxg7V8
Drivetrain
It has a 194ci engine I have yet to confirm that it is the original but I think it is. I was able to get it running but the fuel tank was rotted out and leaking so it?s running out of a gas can behind the seat. It has the 3-on the tree transmission with the distinctive lack of synchros in first gear as was the standard in 64. The rear differential appears to be standard equipment as well.
Video of the Chevy Van running - https://youtu.be/xa7tmGCYFP0
Suspension
The rear suspension is rough. I suspected this much since I know that on two occasions the owners had modified the suspension system. At some point in time the van was lowered by doing axle flips. I will admit that they had done a somewhat decent job welding plates to the front axle to better mount the springs, that and they had replaced the shock absorbers.
The front suspension was later reflipped at some point, and as if that was enough, they had placed a chunk of 2in square tube between the spring and axle. Interestingly enough the gasser appearance of a raised front end was not their complete intent and was probably done for reasons you would likely never guess (I?ll explain later). Since the front was raised so high the front shock absorbers wouldn?t reach the lower mounts so they were simply left disconnected and hanging from the upper mounts. At this point the rear was hanging so low that when I purchased the van had chunks of 4x4 placed between the rails and the axle to keep it from bottoming out when it was moved.
Body
The body of the van is littered with bondo and has at least 5 layers of paint (I think I counted 8 total layers of material before bare metal). With all the paint its almost amazing that there is as much rust as there is, the rocker below the side doors is non-existent and have been ?replaced? with a piece of tin (no joke). There is rust in the obvious rust spots under the driver step, behind the rear tires... etc. There is little to no rust to the rear wheel arches however they were removed when a previous owner radiused the quarters; at least they were saved and left in the back of the van.
There are screw holes on the corners of the side and rear cargo doors indicating the doors were screwed shut at some point in time. This isn?t a surprise to me since the rear cargo doors are rotted right out and have little to no structure left. The front doors appear structurally sound although there is a dint in the passenger door that leads into the front corner.
There were 3 non-factory windows that were cut into the van, evident from the interior paint showing off the missing horizontal panel braces. There was another window in one of the side doors that was filled so I?m not sure if the door was replaced or what happened but the inside color appears to match factory. There is some residue from where spray adhesive was used to insulate and upholster the interior but was later removed.
Since the gas tank was garbage, I decided to drop it and inspect the undercarriage a little more thoroughly. That?s when I learnt that 64?s have a cast weight bolted to the underside of the floor. There was a lot of learning that day because I also learnt that at some point in time the driveshaft had left a decent dint in the floor that was obscured by the plywood covering the floor. I cleaned out the van and removed the plywood floor and to my surprise the floor is in really decent shape, the dint was easily addressed with a large hammer.
Quick video of a walk around inspection - https://youtu.be/zu2gNgqJZx0
Steering and braking system
The rear brakes were completely disconnected despite one drum having new hardware installed. The other rear drum is absent and missing after loosing a wheel (and drum) on the side of a road, but that?s a story for another time. The front brakes work decent considering the reduced weight on the front with the nose jacked up in the air. The steering system worked up until it didn?t. When inspecting the van a generous tug ended up breaking loose the drag link where it mounts to the steering arm (boy am I glad that didn?t fail on the road). All the links are straight so at least nobody tried towing the van by the track rod.
So what?s next?
I?ve decided to completely remove both the front and rear suspension including the steering and braking components. I?ve already made quick work of the front suspension but have to raise the van a bit more to get access to the rear suspension. I?d like to start out fresh by replacing some of the suspension system. I would like to upgrade to disk brakes (power steering would be nice too), I have some ideas but I?m still deciding. If you have ideas let me know, or let me know what it is that you did.
What I?m dealing with
The van is a 1964 Chevy Van and I saved it in early November 2019 from a scrap yard where it was waiting to be crushed. So as one would expect the van is a bit of a jalopy, but these vans aren?t getting any easier to find (especially here). That and I think this particular van has had an interesting life that if true I?d like to document and preserve, but I have to do more research so I will touch on that later.
Photos of the van before getting started - https://photos.app.goo.gl/kmToMWHQP9qJxg7V8
Drivetrain
It has a 194ci engine I have yet to confirm that it is the original but I think it is. I was able to get it running but the fuel tank was rotted out and leaking so it?s running out of a gas can behind the seat. It has the 3-on the tree transmission with the distinctive lack of synchros in first gear as was the standard in 64. The rear differential appears to be standard equipment as well.
Video of the Chevy Van running - https://youtu.be/xa7tmGCYFP0
Suspension
The rear suspension is rough. I suspected this much since I know that on two occasions the owners had modified the suspension system. At some point in time the van was lowered by doing axle flips. I will admit that they had done a somewhat decent job welding plates to the front axle to better mount the springs, that and they had replaced the shock absorbers.
The front suspension was later reflipped at some point, and as if that was enough, they had placed a chunk of 2in square tube between the spring and axle. Interestingly enough the gasser appearance of a raised front end was not their complete intent and was probably done for reasons you would likely never guess (I?ll explain later). Since the front was raised so high the front shock absorbers wouldn?t reach the lower mounts so they were simply left disconnected and hanging from the upper mounts. At this point the rear was hanging so low that when I purchased the van had chunks of 4x4 placed between the rails and the axle to keep it from bottoming out when it was moved.
Body
The body of the van is littered with bondo and has at least 5 layers of paint (I think I counted 8 total layers of material before bare metal). With all the paint its almost amazing that there is as much rust as there is, the rocker below the side doors is non-existent and have been ?replaced? with a piece of tin (no joke). There is rust in the obvious rust spots under the driver step, behind the rear tires... etc. There is little to no rust to the rear wheel arches however they were removed when a previous owner radiused the quarters; at least they were saved and left in the back of the van.
There are screw holes on the corners of the side and rear cargo doors indicating the doors were screwed shut at some point in time. This isn?t a surprise to me since the rear cargo doors are rotted right out and have little to no structure left. The front doors appear structurally sound although there is a dint in the passenger door that leads into the front corner.
There were 3 non-factory windows that were cut into the van, evident from the interior paint showing off the missing horizontal panel braces. There was another window in one of the side doors that was filled so I?m not sure if the door was replaced or what happened but the inside color appears to match factory. There is some residue from where spray adhesive was used to insulate and upholster the interior but was later removed.
Since the gas tank was garbage, I decided to drop it and inspect the undercarriage a little more thoroughly. That?s when I learnt that 64?s have a cast weight bolted to the underside of the floor. There was a lot of learning that day because I also learnt that at some point in time the driveshaft had left a decent dint in the floor that was obscured by the plywood covering the floor. I cleaned out the van and removed the plywood floor and to my surprise the floor is in really decent shape, the dint was easily addressed with a large hammer.
Quick video of a walk around inspection - https://youtu.be/zu2gNgqJZx0
Steering and braking system
The rear brakes were completely disconnected despite one drum having new hardware installed. The other rear drum is absent and missing after loosing a wheel (and drum) on the side of a road, but that?s a story for another time. The front brakes work decent considering the reduced weight on the front with the nose jacked up in the air. The steering system worked up until it didn?t. When inspecting the van a generous tug ended up breaking loose the drag link where it mounts to the steering arm (boy am I glad that didn?t fail on the road). All the links are straight so at least nobody tried towing the van by the track rod.
So what?s next?
I?ve decided to completely remove both the front and rear suspension including the steering and braking components. I?ve already made quick work of the front suspension but have to raise the van a bit more to get access to the rear suspension. I?d like to start out fresh by replacing some of the suspension system. I would like to upgrade to disk brakes (power steering would be nice too), I have some ideas but I?m still deciding. If you have ideas let me know, or let me know what it is that you did.
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