Reviving a 69 Dodge Sportsman Van

[Scotts_DG8]

This is Saturday morning, July 21st. Although it's been a couple weeks since my last update/post I have been moving along with the body work. I really did plan to post an update this past Monday evening but my laptop decided that it was not going to power up. I did some running around Tuesday with the laptop and the answer that came back was it was probably the mother board and was too old to put money in to fix it. I did pick up another later that evening but as fate would have it the power went out for two days coming back on late Thursday although we are getting power from a semi-trailer size generator for the next number of days/weeks until the real problem gets repaired/rebuilt. I just had an opportunity to get the basics on the new PC set up last night which is how I'm managing to get this post out. I've still got some setup to complete before loading pictures but should get that sorted out later this evening or tomorrow. Until then, Scott...

[Scotts_DG8]

This is Sunday evening, July 22nd. Well I did say that I would get some pictures loaded as to what I've been up to as far as squaring the bodywork away, each step is a step closer to paint. One of the challenges was pulling the dents and creases out of the body where it was not possible to get to from the backside. I thought that I saw a stud gun for rent at one of the rental stores that I'd been to so did a little running around and came up with nothing. The common answer was that I would not find one so why not try Harbor Freight, well that's where I headed next. I did in the end come across a stud gun and bought it. I kept in in the box until I could go on-line to check out any reviews that I could find of it with the thought that I would take it back if it got bad reviews. It was stated that it was good enough for home/hobby use so I headed out the next day and tackled the first dent that stood out and would be a good test. The following shows the results and some of the other dents I worked out. I myself give the tool an good rating.







The following shows the driver side door hinge pockets that needed to be worked. On the line while they places the door in place it did not line up so they used a hammer on the top of the hinges to open the pocket up some to install the door. What this did was cut and curl about a quarter of an inch of the pocket bottoms. I used several tools to curl the metal that was curled down into the pocket back out and flush and then tacked it in place with the MIG before cleaning it up. I then used a metal file and elongated the pocket opening at the bottom to finish it off. Oh, and the clean spot shown between the two pockets was a small dent that I pulled out with the stud gun.



The next task was to fill a hole in the front passenger step pocket. It was exposed after the media blaster and was obviously a blow out at the factory again. It was not a big deal, it was a small task done in short order.



Next up was to fill the holes in the front passenger floor. I chose to fill as oppose to replacing metal. It is pitted but not bad enough to still not be strong/solid enough. Other than the holes you could hit the floor with a big rubber mallet or metal hammer, I did. There was one strip of metal that I did cut and replace and that was on the lap joint where it was rusted below it. I cut about three quarters of an inch by five inches out and other than a little surface rust that cleaned right off the worst of it was on the underside of the metal that I removed. I did primer the under side of the replacement metal before I welded it back into place. After cleaning it up I then clamped it down to the floor and plug filled the four holes that I pre-drilled in it. All is good to go after a little bit of metal glaze over the shallow surface pits. Oh and the answer is yes, if you were wondering if I was going to put a floor mat back in place. The next answe is because that's the way that I am, that's for those that would wonder why I would take the time to smooth the pitted area if I'm going to cover it with a rubber mat. I'll always know it was there if I didn't take care of it now.



So, for the most part that is where things stand. I have a few more areas of other dents/creases that I pulled with the stud gun and slide hammer but saw that I hadn't taken any pictures. I'll get those for the next update.

If all goes well and there is no power outages or rainy days than by the end of this up coming week all metal work should be completed on the body and next weekend I start working with the filler. The doors are a seperate project but should take another week to wrap up to the point I can touch them up with filler. That's the update with plenty of pictures. I hope all of you that are following along are enjoying the story. Until the next update then, Scott...

[keiser31]

Nice job Scott!

[MikeC5]

Very nice work. It's good to know that the HF stud gun is up to the job too. I might just have to wander over there and procure one...

[Scotts_DG8]

This is Friday morning, July 27th. Well this update has more pictures which everyone likes. I added a photo of the passenger side under the side doors that I had missed taking. Overall the general body of the van has now been bumped and pulled and is now ready for filler which with luck should start this weekend. The doors are a seperate project which I hope to get to work on this up coming week. Now on to a few pictures.

The first picture shows some additional work done on the nose of the van. The area that shows bare metal was originally dented in and bumped out and documented earlier in this post. I wished that I had the dent stud gun back then as it needed to be pulled out more and cleaned up. The problem is that it can not just be bumped out as there is an air box behind this area that is welded up as part of the nose of the van.



The second picture shows the passenger side under the back doors that I missed taking a photo of earlier. There were several creases in this area that were pulled out.



This next set of pictures shows the creases in the drivers side rocker panel being addressed. The one crease was almost 3 feet long with a 8 inch drop towards the back of it. There was also a 10 inch crease just ahead of the rear wheel that needed work too. While working this side I thought I would address a request for some better pictures of how the stud gun worked. Well I thought that I could capture it in a single picture while working on this area, so looking at the picture you can see a stud in the nose of the gun along with one on the ground, these get welded to the panel. The nose of the gun is spring loaded and as you press the nose of the gun to the panel the nose receeds into the gun and the collar of the gun provides a ground to the stud in the nose. When you pulled the trigger for about 4 seconds the stud gets welded to the panel. The slide hammer/puller has a knurled disk that you can see on the nose of the slide hammer/puller that grips the stud. You put a little tension of the hammer/puller and slide the black 2 pound weight from the front towards the back to pull though tension on the stud to work the dent out. The stud then gets cut and ground/snaded off to a smooth surface. I threw in a couple pictures up the side that was worked trying to show the profile of the work that was completed.

Two of the pictures show the fuel filler opening that I had also did some additional worked on and as you can see it now looks real good looking up the side of the van. The actual opening I may do a little more hammer work on as there are some dings that I think I could do a better job of getting out before using filler.





This final picture shows the passenger side rear corner that I had managed to bump out nicely without using the stud gun/puller. A little filler will finish this off.



That pretty much covers where things are at. On a side note, for some reason I was having a heck of a time with the stud gun on the driver side rocker panel, a numer of studs did not want to weld enough to pull the dent as the stud(s) were pulling off. I ensured that I was down to bare metal but nothing seemed to work. Maybe 3 or 4 out of 10 would pull right off after a couple pulls of the slide hammer/puller, I sure did not have this problem on any other area I used it on.

So, next up will be some filler and/or metal glaze work on the outside of the body, then I've got a few more screw holes on the inside before filler and/or metal glaze will be used to finish off the inside of the van. Then it's on to the doors. Stay tuned for the next update, Scott...

[Mooky]

good work man....love your van...I have wanted to find one for a long time. i couldn't so i hopped up a chevy astro with a v8, painted it sublime green and added traditional flames...you have some fine body repair skills, that is going to be one real straight little ride. very well done sir

[Landman]

Nice job Scott. Were you a bodyman in a former life?

[Scotts_DG8]

Mooky and Pat, thank's for the comments on the body work. I have to tell you that I would never make money at it in a body shop, the amount of time that I put into a single area would in some cases cover most all the work on the outside of the van in a real shop. I am one of those people that have a mind set that anyone can do what I do, hence I can do anything that anyone else can do. It only take some research into the task, coming up with a plan and then proceed slowly until you grow your confidence/skills. In the end I am also working the dollars more so than the time. By the way, my first body work effort was replacing a rear quarter panel on a 64 MGB I had back when I was maybe 18, it turned out real nice as a first attempt. Again it's been research, planning, time, patiences and the desire to get it done is what has worked for me. I'm heading out now to pull the van out now so I'm going to get this Saturday morning July 28th started now. Again, thanks for the comments. Scott...

[Scotts_DG8]

Update as of Saturday evening, August 4th. Well this is going to be a bit slow on the updates as filler work has been going on since the last update. This is, as some may know, is a process that tends to repeat it self, put filler on body and sand it off and repeat until all is to one's satisifaction. I originally had every intention of doing my own filler work but my neighbor has in a sense made it his mission to do this work. This is his day job and as much as my pride may be sore a tad his skill and speed sure help me put that old bit of pride aside pretty quick.

And don't think for a minute that as my neighbor is doing the filler work I'm over in the lawn chair watching. I've been working at finishing off the little odds and ends inside the van. I'm wrapping up the welding/filling the screw holes mentioned quite a few posts back and on the side have been refitting the fuel filler neck cover back into it's original location. I'll take a couple pictures of this for my next update.

The following pictures were taken yesterday. Although it would look pretty much the same by late this afternoon several spots have moved into a finish glaze coat that will be hand sanded to finish. After all filler areas have been finished I will shoot some epoxy primer to seal the work up. At the current rate the body, less doors, should be ready for high build primer by the end of this up cominng week.



That pretty much sums up where things are. As I continue to make progress I'll be back with additional updates. As always, stay tuned. Scott...

[keiser31]

Til you said this,

"And don't think for a minute that as my neighbor is doing the filler work I'm over in the lawn chair watching. I've been working at finishing off the little odds and ends inside the van. I'm wrapping up the welding/filling the screw holes mentioned quite a few posts back and on the side have been refitting the fuel filler neck cover back into it's original location. I'll take a couple pictures of this for my next update",


I thought you were sitting back sipping on an ice cold Vernors getting a tan.

[Scotts_DG8]

Update Thursday morning, August 16th. The thing about body work and filler work is that it is a slow process, especially if you are working around wet weather and the body experts availability. The following are a few updated pictures as of last night. You can see that there is not much to see other than a change in the color of the filler, but that is a good thing. The blue colored filler is the glaze coat that is final layer of filler that gets applied. After the glaze coat is finished, outside and the spots inside, the next step will be an epoxy primer coat before the high build primer.



For those that have been following the whole thread/post you may recall my mentioning the numerous screw holes on the inside of the van that needed, in my opinion, to be fill welded and ground down on the floor, walls and ceiling. I'd finally completed that task and have now also applied a coat of filler, of which most will be sanded off, that will finish off this job. The following pictures give you some idea of how many screw holes there were, and three quarters of the the spots shown has two to three holes below the filler that were welded and ground down before the filler stage. If you happen to look at these pictures closely you might notice under the rear windows some sanding had been started, this was the area the was heat shrunk and pictured in an earlier post. Well just after taking these two pictures I finished sanding these areas with a 36 grit and they now both have a coat of filler on them. They will show up in a future update.



One final picture of my neighbor, also known as the body expert, who had stopped over last night to get some work done. I more than appreicate his time and effort. He is currently working on the spot that I had just taken a picture of that you saw earlier in this update. This spot now also has a glaze coat on it. Also when all was said and done last night the lower rocker you see below where he is currently working, along with the opposite side now have what should be the final glaze coat applied.



So, where are things now standing? The outside of the body is close to being completed, there are a few small dents in the roof that will get addressed next by myself (this weekend) to prep the metal and the neighbor (this weekend?) for the filler work. The doors I will be into next week, there is a little rust repair to do and some stress cracks on a couple doors hinge areas that will need to be welded. Although the updates are not posted quite a often as I would like, progress is being made. For those interested and following along, stay tuned for the next update. Scott...

[durant28]

Love these vans, I learned to drive in a Ford Econoline van. Had a lot of fun in that thing and the were good work trucks too.

[keiser31]

Boy, that van is gonna look GREAT, Scott. Keep up the good work. Mmmmm....tan metallic or green???

[Scotts_DG8]

This is Monday morning Aug. 27th. I'm sure there are numerous persons out there wondering what's been happening since my last update. Again after you all review the attached photos you may feel that not much has happened. Let me just say two words, "hand sanding". So let's have a look at the progress.

The front of the van is done and is ready to cover the work with a coat of epoxy primer. The nose was a stinker to get the right contour as there is a slight center high point/ridge under the "D", but as you see all is looking good now.



The driver's side is done. If you look closely you'll notice that there is a bit more filler showing then there was in prevoiusly posted photo's. This was both a bit above the rear wheel opening and then again behind it. Not sure how it was missed but it all looks great now.



The passenger side is done, well basically done. The one spot at the roof just between the door openings still has a little something going on there that needs to be addressed. It's not something that shows up in a photo, nor really visually standing in front of it, but you can feel that there is something just not quite right there yet. The problem is that there are some reverse quarter rounds that fade to flat at the top near the roof. A bit more work is needed.



The back is done. Again if you look at previous photo's you'll notice a little more filler at the bottom right corner, again a slight high/low area was felt while finish sanding the corner. All is good now.



Wait a minute, this is a new photo. I knew that there was a couple dings in the roof, specifically the two on either side above the doors and a dinge you could see from the back. Well upon further review I notice quite a few dings and a chain of them on the back. These are on their second coat of filler and with luck should be completed this week.



That's where things stand. The complete outside of the van will be completed and getting a coat of epoxy primer later this week, this will get detailed in a future update. You may have noticed that there are no pictures of the inside of the van, although you can see a bit of the inside in the photo's posted here and there. The majority of the spots that were welded and filled have been sanded down and are ready for a glaze coat before finishing them off with hand sanding. While checking out the photo of the back you can see a long strip of filler under the rear window, there is another under the other side too. The skim coat of filler was needed to cover the heat shrink marks that were left while addressing the poor previous body work under the windows shown in an earlier post. Did I mention that there is a lot of hand sanding involved here? I guess you could say that I'm basically doing enough body work for two cars in one here. Most cars are simple as you are just doing the visible outer surface and as the van does not have panels to cover the inside I just felt the need to finish off all the exposed visual areas inside too, which is basically ever surface. Oh, then there are the doors that need to be address. Stay tuned as there is still many updates to come. Scott...

[unimogjohn]

Scott, great job! Have you decided on a final color yet?

[Scotts_DG8]

Scott, great job! Have you decided on a final color yet?

Thank's John. Regarding the final color choice, I'm think that I've pretty much made up my mind but will probably get a sample of both of my initial choices and spray the face of a couple spare doors to make a true final decision. I'll post some photos when I get to that point which should with some luck be sooner than later. I can tell you that I did make the decision to do a base coat/clear coat paint and everything that is being used is PPG products.

I guess for those that might not be happy with that vague of an answer I guess I should say that I limited my choices to those listed/shown on a '69 factory sales brochure I have and the two colors that I narrowed it down to were; Tan Metallic and Medium Green Metallic. Both of these colors are actually a poly paint, which is the small silver dusty type metal flake. Which ever color choice it is it would be applied as a two-tone with the belt-line being White which was quite common for these Dodge A100's. Today was a rain day here so I'll be back at it tomorrow. Scott...

[MikeC5]

Hand sanding and a lot of surface area! It will be worth it Scott.

[Kingoftheroad]

Van looks GREAT !!

Looks like your making huge progress, can't wait to see it finished !!

Love those old vans with the flat front ends..

[Scotts_DG8]

Thank's for the comments guys. As much as I would like to believe that the hand sanding is coming close to being done, the truth is that I've only just begun. I'm not sure that I mentioned it or not but the epoxy primer that was sprayed after it was blasted had a lot of dust/dirt throughout so the entire body will get sanded to ensure that it is a clean smooth surface before everything gets a fresh epoxy primer base coat. With that being said, I'm feeling pretty comfortable saying I may complain some here and there about the hand sanding while I'm doing what needs to be done.

As far as the flat nose vans go I've had a desire to have one for years and it has always been the Dodge. I've seen some really nice looking Ford and Chevy vans out there but prefer the curves instead of the flat sides. I guess it also has something to do with when I grew up and what I grew up around. Scott...

[lmpetersen]

Scott, just wanted to let you know that I am following this thread. I found it today whilst searching for a100 resources (which as you know are HARD to come by!). I live in Oregon and I just purchased a 1969 a100 all window van that I am excited to get started on. Mine is a 225 slant six manual which I like, for simplicity and reliability. I too have been wanting one for years, mainly to haul my vintage motorcycles around in but also for camping and cruising in. Keep up the work, it's an inspiration!

[Scotts_DG8]

Welcome to the AACA forums and I'm glad that you're enjoying the ride through my project. I will say that I too searched for forums covering these old van and I don't know if you have checked it out yet or not but there is a forum out there called vintage-van that you may have come across in your search, I do visit it every now and then. My choice though to post my project here was because I tend to be an original from the factory sort of person and also a member of the AACA, it's a great group of people here.

The last time I drove one of these vans was back in '73 when I had a job building and installing cabinets, it was a '67 A100 panel van. So with that being said I have no first hand experience with driving this van as it didn't run when I got it but at the same time am really looking forward to it. Oh, and the van I drove also had the 225 six and three speed manual but ran real well hauling a full load of cabinets and tools without issue. That 255 six van back in '73 had 145,000 miles on it and had never been rebuilt and still ran great. I'd thought several times that it would be good to have a 255 slant six as opposed to the 318 especially from a mileage standpoint but the van came with the 318 and I'll stick with it for now.

As far as my project goes it will be a while yet before this one is completed so obviously there will be many more updates to come. By the way while checking out my update(s) you also might want to check out the other sections/forums here on the AACA site when you stop by as there are a lot of great posts by many other owners/members on their cars/projects, maybe some or all of it will catch your interest enough to decide to join the AACA, although that's not required to enjoy these great forums. Again, I wish you luck with your van and hope that you enjoy it and that you stick around for future updates. Scott...

[keiser31]

Scott, just wanted to let you know that I am following this thread. I found it today whilst searching for a100 resources (which as you know are HARD to come by!). I live in Oregon and I just purchased a 1969 a100 all window van that I am excited to get started on. Mine is a 225 slant six manual which I like, for simplicity and reliability. I too have been wanting one for years, mainly to haul my vintage motorcycles around in but also for camping and cruising in. Keep up the work, it's an inspiration!

Where in Oregon are you located? Need parts for that van? John

[lmpetersen]

Hey John, I am in Redmond Oregon (near Bend), and YES I will be needing parts. Just got it home today, drove it 20 miles and no issues except that it started to stutter a bit going 60mph up a hill in 3rd gear. I think it was flooding a bit because when I let off the gas it was fine. I included a photo of it so you can see the condition. With the van, I got two nice side doors, and two rear doors with pop out windows. The bumpers are removed, and I think eventually I will want some chrome ones. The interior is spartan at best, the only seats are front buckets and they need new upholstery. The dash is good, and I have a new passenger crash-pad. All in all, I think I did pretty good. I paid $1000
for a running a-100 with all of those parts....

[Scotts_DG8]

Friday morning, September 7th. It's time for an update and some pictures as I'm sure you all are wondering what's taking so long between posts. Two real reasons, weather and still more body work. We've had some real good and much needed rain pass through and the lingering humidity has not helped the exposed metal. Also I'm still finding other little things that need to be addressed before primer can get appled, more on that issue a bit later.

First up is a picture taken just Wednesday afternoon. As all the body work was completed on the outside the next step was to prep the outside to the primer. As I got down to hand sanding the area around the front driver's wheel opening I came across severl suttle dings that where hidden from by the dirty gray primer and once it was sanded smooth became obvious and had to be dealt with. The reason the van is pictured not fully outside the garage was due to a quick shower which really was just a sprinkle that past through, although it looked like it could pour buckets any minute. I was crawling around inside the van using the paper and tape to continue to prep for spraying the drivers side. It seems that every time I touch this van it shows me something more that needs to be addressed before moving on to primer.



Moving on to yesterday, the weather worked with me and I managed to pull the van out and had every intension of making the best of it. Frist look at the following couple pictures one would think that all went smooth, not quite what happened. If you were to look back as the driver side shot saying all the body work was done and checked this out out you would notice numerous additional spots. As I ran my DA with the 180 grit over the rest of the old primer below the windows I uncovered pits in the metal from surface rust that was trying to start under the original paint that was stripped. I also uncovered a couple more dings around the tail light. These all had to be filled with the glaze and sanded before any primer could be applied.



Bottom line, by late yesterday I managed to finally get the driver side in a new coat of epoxy primer. It was a task for sure but in the end I'm very happy with the outcome. I took several pictures trying to show how nice it came out but it's hard to shot a picture of a white surface. Mike came over and checked it out and thought it looked great, oh, not an insect either.





The next task will be to move across the back and up the passenger side to the front and get that into primer. With some luck I may even get the remainder of the outside sides sprayed in one shot before shooting the roof. I'm hoping no more hidden blemishes appear but will address as needed. With the weather forecast and my speed the worst case would be that the outside should be in its new coat of epoxy primer by the end of the day Tuesday. Did I mention that this is September? My current revised goal is to get the van painted this year. After seeing how well the outside turned out I'm tempted to re-shoot the inside, we'll see. That's it for this update, today is running to the store and cutting the lawn before any work on the van. Also, there is rain forecasted for this afternoon and continue on into tomorrow as passing showers.

BTW, Impetersen, you've got a good base there and for a good price in my opinion. I'm no where the expert on these but have learned a lot so far. There are some parts that are hard to come by for sure but I find that there are more of these out on the west coast, like many other older cars, so you should not have as hard of a time coming across some good used parts. Good luck with your new ride.

Scott...

[MikeC5]

That is truly smokin' Scott! It looks like the proverbial new body in white..