Reviving a 69 Dodge Sportsman Van

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Scott, nothing boring here. Were the 115 holes rust holes or somrthing else??

Ben

[Guest South_paw]

Scott,

Not boring me either. I love hearing about other folks fight with rust. Keep it coming!

[keiser31]

Scott, nothing boring here. Were the 115 holes rust holes or somrthing else??

Ben

Not to butt in on Scott's thread, but it seems to me that when I found it for Scott, it had plywood screwed to the floor...hence the 115 holes to weld. I think they also went through to the gas tank in a couple of places if I remember correctly.

Edited September 16, 2010 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Scotts_DG8]

Ok, first on the holes, John has the answer it was 115 screw holes. One of the previous owners had used screws to fasten plywood to the floor behind the front seats to attach carpet, in the front of the van they had also used screws to fasten the carpet directly to the floor with no plywood. There were also bolt holes that were drilled that were used to anchor something to the floor in the back which had to be dealt with along with the screw holes. It was also true that there were screws through the gas tank. I learned this the hard way when I tried to remove the gas tank to have it cleaned and after dropping the tank straps it just hung there like magic. I could hang on the tank and it still held its place to the bottom of the floor. I got myself a pry bar and in the end did manage to get it down at which time I found it was screwed to the bottom of the floor, scary. I took the tank and had it boiled out, screw holes repaired/welded and a tank liner/coating put in.

I'm also happy that my progress has not begun to bore anyone as yet. I've got an update to post directly following this. Scott...

[Scotts_DG8]

Today, Wednesday – 15-Sept-2010, I managed to pull the van out again and initially thought that I was going to bite the bullet and climb under it to do the last of the welding work. I put it up on the 4 jack stands and pulled the passenger rear wheel off to make room to grind the underside of the wheel well. Did I ever talk about my on again off again wishy-washy nature, or my emotional and passionate side? No, ok we’ll just skip that. It was really a beautiful day and although I paused for a moment I really kind of stopped in my tracks as to what I was doing and went inside for a fresh cup of coffee, back out with the coffee I pulled up a chair and sat there taking it all in the day and the van. I’ve accomplished a lot in a short period of time from my perspective, but maybe my personal time line is distorted. I finished the coffee and thought that the bigger challenges ahead of me now were the patches that still had to be done. I already had the patch for the rocker behind the front passenger wheel but I still needed a patch for the CB antenna hole. I changed directions and decided that I was going to do the patches, I thought the underside could wait.

I prepped the area around the CB antenna hole and went and got my hole saws and as it turned out the hole was an inch and a quarter. I cut a piece out of the spare scrap door, blasted it to clean it up and used a wire wheel to scratch the surface a bit to eliminate the surface left by the blaster. I checked the fit and saw that the plug from the hole saw was a little looser fitting than I thought it should be but argued with myself a bit and thought to myself that I could still use it. I tacked a few spots ad began working my way around the plug, it was a challenge as the gap was just a little too much to make the task of tacking easy. In the end I did manage and after cleaning the weld up I next realized that I really could use a proper grinder. You can see the progress in the following pictures, if you look close at the end results it is a little wavy from using the three inch cutoff wheel as the grinder, it will have to be worked a bit more but it can wait until it comes back from the blaster.

<O:p

The rocker patch, now that was custom cut and fit to the exact opening and it fit tight in comparison to the CB plug. I thought I would include again the picture of the rust that needing to be patched, the cutout for the patch and the initial patch trial fit pictures to make this a complete story. I started tacking and followed it around jumping from top to bottom and side to side, not unlike what I did on the CB plug. I did think to take a picture after the first round of tacks so that you could get an idea of what was/is involved. I grounded it down and did another pass around the patch. I ground it down yet again and the picture is where it was left at for the day. It fits and looks amazing and the picture does not do it justice, I’m happy with it. I’ve still got a little touch up tacks to perform followed by a little more cleaning. Oh, I’ve also included a picture of the welder that I have/used for all this work, just because I know sometimes people want to see the tool(s) used in completing the task(s) being discussed.

Well, now that the two patches are basically done I really have no choice but climbing under the van the next time I’m outside and deal with the dirty work that I skipped doing today. Since it is forecasted to rain beginning tonight through tomorrow the tasks under the van won’t be occurring until Friday or Saturday after which I’ll shoot for another update. Scott…

[Scotts_DG8]

Today, Tuesday – 21-Sept-2010, I managed to finish with the patching of the wheel well in preparation to install the spare tire carrier that I had picked up. I originally had discovered that a previous owner had filled the holes in the wheel well with braze that I had removed the braze and filled the holes with weld. It looked ok but it was not consistent and it still required more work than I wanted to put into it. What I decided to do was to cut a hole and patch it, I had used a piece of the door frame from the spare rusty drivers door I had as it was the same metal the wheel well was made with. It will need a little fill here and there but it is solid, as it had a little dip in it that I used a jack and piece of wood and lifted the van a little from the center of the patch to tap the dip out. That will do…

The next task will be to mount the spare tire carrier. With that I finished the say cleaning the spare tire carrier and putting a coat of primer on it. The underside or backside of the carrier was never primed or painted from the factory as I observed when I was cleaning it up. I’ll get this in place in the next day or two.

I also finally finished off the patch in the rocker area behind the passenger door. It was a stinker as I was down to the last little hole to fill and every time I went to weld/fill it it would blow out a little larger hole taking me back to square one again. I finally managed to fill it. The humor to this was that when I was putting the welder away I noticed that I never turned on the shielding gas, duhhh… The good news though is that it is done, again it will get a little filler and you will never know that it was done.

This update is two parts, a second update for Tuesday - 21-Sept-2010 is below...

[Scotts_DG8]

Continuing with the , Tuesday – 21-Sept-2010 update. I also this past weekend it was raining out and I decided that there was some other things that needed to be taken care of. One of the items was to take the battery box and give it a good cleaning and a fresh coat of primer. It turned out real nice, it still needs an epoxy primer/sealer and a good coat of semi-gloss black to finish it, I’ll tackle that over the next couple weeks when the opportunity arises.

Along with the battery box I chose to clean the heater up. I pulled it all apart and in the end found that the heater core and control valve needs to be replaced. The control valve will be a bit of a challenge as I spent an evening looking for it and it’s not out there. I did go with a backup approach and ordered a control valve for a D100, the head looks generally the same but the down tube is short and the head has a mounting bracket that it part of the head that will have to be trimmed off. I’ve still got the main box to clean and prime. The parts that I did do are shown. Again, it will get the epoxy primer and semi-gloss black paint when I do the battery box.

That’s everything to date. Until the next update. Scott…

[Scotts_DG8]

Update posted Sunday, 26-Sept-2010 at 11:15PM.

It has been busy the last few days and consisted of a few high moments along with a few more offsetting lows. Some of the highs were the last of the heater work was completed and primed and is now awaiting painting. I also had a look at the fan motor and decided to take it apart and give it a good cleaning and the housing a quick coat of primer and decided to use the rattle can of black rustoleum enamel I had. I also noticed that I had some left over caliper paint and decided to shoot the fan blade with it, it turned out nice and looks like metal. Sure, I know, who’s ever going to see the fan blade inside the heater? I guess I’ll have to keep a picture in the glove box. Before putting the motor back together I placed the armature in my cordless drill and used some fine steel wool to clean each shaft end and then used some 800 grit paper to clean up the commutator. It took only a short amount of time to put it all back together and I used the battery in my truck to test it out. It ran great, quiet and with the fan blade attached I could hardly hold on to it.

I also cleaned the last main box of the heater and primed it. As it turned out the heater control valve and heater core arrived in the afternoon and I confirmed the heater core was the correct one. So, all that is left on the heater box is to give it all a good coat of paint before assembling all the parts. I’ve still got some repair work to do on the couple plastic diverters which will be covered in a later update.

The next day there were some strong winds and a chance of rain but I still managed to finally get the spare tire carrier mounted in the van. I did manage to think to snap a picture when it looked like rain was moving in right after installing it and before cleaning up the welds. I then hurried to clean up and closed up for the day. Of course the rain never came.

Saturday I decided to divert my attention over to my F150. I had gotten a non-repairable slice in a sidewall a while back and since they stopped making the style of tire I had, I ended up having to get two new tires. Since I had asked the extra tire and it only had a few thousand miles on it I asked them to replace the original spare tire as it was the original 14 year old one with the extra tire I now had. As it turned out the tire store said that the bolts on the tire carrier were frozen and they would have to cut them to get the spare out. I had said no cutting I would have a look at it, well that day came Saturday.

After having a look at it I knew that I was going to need something to use for leverage to remove the bolt. I recalled that I had a short piece of rebar and used it by placing it through the loop on the bottom of the bolt to spin it. My first couple attempts to spin it revealed that there was no way it was going to come out with the bumper in place. I next spent a couple hours removing the rusty bolts on the bumper, breaking one. I then had full access to the problem bolt and after cycles of PB Blaster, cleaning the rust using the wire wheel on my electric drill and the rebar I finally managed to get the bolt out.

With the bolt out I managed to get the spare out, looking at the wheel it’s pretty rusty and is the first time it has been down in 14 years. I’ll need to check the wheel closer but am concerned that the rust may be too deep requiring it to be replaced. I then decided to remove the entire spare tire carrier to give it a good cleaning and probably a coat of primer and some POR15. It was then that I had stopped to have a look at the amount of rust around the back end of the frame and saw that the spring supports were also peeling paint pretty good and could also use a good cleaning and coat of primer and POR15.

Sunday I went out to begin cleaning the rust off the back of the frame, spring supports and trailer hitch, it started off well on the trailer hitch and went downhill from there. After the hitch I began to clean the passenger side rear spring support and uncovered some major rust through on the rear support, there is only about a half inch on either side holding the spring up. Cleaning the driver side rear support revealed a similar story. Also, over night without the spare in place a gas tank leak was revealed, it appears to be under the support strap and was hidden by the tire. Looking at the spare again I saw that the signs of the leak were there as the gas had dissolved some of the goop between the tank support and the tank and it is on the one side of the tire.

So, my attention for now is going to be diverted to the F150 to get these issues corrected. The truck really has no other areas of rust, the bottom of the box looks like new and the cab is the same. I redid the complete frontend suspension, new bushings and all last year when I replaced all the brake lines when one failed. The heat shields above the exhaust could use some work but they are still solid enough. It’s a 5.8L (351) with only 75K and a lot of years left so I guess I’m going to be replacing the spring supports and gas tank, wish I caught it sooner. Scott…

[keiser31]

Whew! It's a really good thing that you caught that damage on the F-150 before towing the van to the media blaster. That could have been a major disaster. How many times have we seen disaster strike because the tow vehicle was not up to snuff? Too many to count.

Great job on the heater stuff. That van will look gorgeous when done. You can come and help me do mine next...

[Scotts_DG8]

Keiser31,

“Good thing that I caught it before towing the van”, my thoughts exactly. I was just going to free up the spare tire carrier so I could change/update the spare tire. Who’d a thunk I was going to expose the problems that I did, but now that they have been exposed they will need to be addressed. I’ll be starting on it Wednesday as it rained a bit today and is supposed to rain throughout the day tomorrow, besides I’ll be running around to get the needed parts tomorrow. I figure it will probably be a three day task for me, if it goes quicker that’s a bonus.

And thanks for the comment of the work done to date. It only takes (for me) lots of time, a lot more patience and boat load of perseverance, anyone can do it. As far as coming out and helping you do your van, let me finish mine and if you like how it turns out and I’m up to doing another one you can ship yours here and I’ll do the same level of detail work on your$. After all, I can’t exactly pack up all my tools and cart them across the country can I? Scott…

[keiser31]

What do you mean you can't pack up your tools and cart them all of the way out here? You will have a beautifully restored van to cart your tools in.

[Scotts_DG8]

Today is Tuesday – 12-Oct-2010, and I see that it’s been a while since I posted an update on things. The last couple weeks has been dedicated to the F150 issues (between periods of rain) that I had uncovered and mentioned at the end of my last update. Not that the F150 has anything to do with the A100 but it will be used to tow the A100 to the media blaster along with continuing to perform other supporting tasks.

The first task was removing the spring shackle supports. I performed this with a cutoff tool that I used to cut the heads off and then punched the rivets through with the air chisel using the punch tip. As you can see they were in pretty rough shape but the frame was solid just needed to be cleaned up some.

I next used my well used pressure pot blaster and cleaned the ends of the frame along with the trailer hitch. There was some heavy pitting revealed but it was all still solid. I primed it all up and put a good coat of POR15 on it all.

Next was to clean up all the rusted parts, the bumper support brackets and the spare tire carrier parts along with the bumper where the first to be cleaned. The bumper was a bit of a problem at first being larger than my blast cabinet but I got creative and sealed off the one end with some 4 mill plastic which turned out to work rather well.

(Continued in next post below)

[Scotts_DG8]

(Continuation of previous post: Tuesday – 12-Oct-2010)

The bumper cleaned up well, and that left only the gas tank straps. Again all parts received a good coat of primer followed by a coat of POR15. I was then ready to start putting things back together. The spring shackle supports went a little slow as the new “grade 8” bolts that I used first stripped and then broke. I had to cut two new bolts off and went out again and picked up different metric M12 10.9 bolts which did the trick.

<O:p</O:p

In preparation to installing the gas tank I gave the tank a good coat of 3M Rubberized Undercoating. The straps themselves also had a rubber material used as a cushion on the bottom side of the tank; I checked with the dealer and they don’t carry it any longer. I did though find some rubber material the same thickness in a 12” x 12” square and after cutting it into strips I used contact cement to attach them to the straps. I replaced the sock/filter on the pump when I installed it in the new tank. The tank itself fought me quite a bit going back in but with some patients it all worked out.

The only thing left to do is to mount the spare, which was the original task that I started. That's all for tonights updates, I have a couple more things to finish on the van before it heads to the media blaster. Scott...

[Scotts_DG8]

It’s the morning of Thursday – 14-Oct-2010 and I have one last update on the F150 to close this diversion from the A100 out. As mentioned early on, the diversion started with the task of freeing the spare from under the truck so that the original spare tire could be replaced. It lead to the unearthing of the rusted spring shackles and shackle supports along with the leaky gas tank. Well I had already documented the completion of the shackles, shackle supports and gas tank so to close it out I finally remounted the spare yesterday. The wheel was pretty rusted as seen in an earlier picture but cleaned up rather well and a coat of primer and a rattle can of DupliColor Wheel paint made it presentable again. I had cleaned the original support bolts and nuts and applied a little grease on the threads while putting it all back together. It all went back in smoothly. So the F150 diversion is officially now completed. So maybe now I can get some more accomplished on the A100 before the cold weather starts to really set in. Scott…

[Scotts_DG8]

This is Friday – 19-Nov-2010 and I felt the need to post an update here as it’s been almost a month. First I didn’t drop off the face of the earth it’s just that I’ve had to redirect my efforts to other task around the house. And as it’s getting closer to that first snow of this winter and my garage is not heated I’d pretty much decided that this project will have to wait until the spring at this point. There is though at least one thing that I do plan to get done this winter in my basement for this project and that is to go through all the wire harnesses. As I get into the wiring sub-project I’ll post an update but again, the major project will need to be put on the back burner until spring. For those of you that have been following along thank you all for showing your interest, it is for sure a good bit of motivation. Scott…

BTW, I might also state here my interest in hearing about any other late model (68, 69 or 70) A100 vans and/or A100 pickups out there that may be sitting around and available along with any parts. I’m interested in finding; sun visors, another set of frameless pop-out windows (with gaskets), a complete sliding side step, an original rear bench seat, a complete headliner, a complete set of upper fiberglass trim panels and lower covered panels (Std. in a Custom Sportsman), bumpers (front & rear), an original jack and who knows what else…

[Scotts_DG8]

This is Friday evening, March 30, 2012. It's been well over a year since my last post on this project (actually almost a year and a half) and thought it was time to bring it back to the top again. I'll be picking up from where I left off and getting back to work on this project in the next week or two as it warms up.

I need not get into details but I'm sure that there are many that know that at times resources ($) and other responsibilities can side track a project at times. Enough said about that.

I also see that although I'd not posted any updates to this thread in quite some time, looking at the number of times this thread has been accessed and hopefully read there just might still be some interest in seeing this project finished. I'll give it my all to try and make that happen and with a bit of luck I hope to at least cruise around the block by this fall.

That's all I got for now, until the next time. Scott...

[Landman]

I need not get into details but I'm sure that there are many that know that at times resources ($) and other responsibilities can side track a project at times. Enough said about that.

I'm with you an that one Scott. Been there, still am, most of the time. Hang in there. I for one am most interested in following your progress.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Landman
Forgot the quote. (see edit history)

[Scotts_DG8]

Pat,

Thanks for the thought and the interest. It for sure does not compare to the amount of work that you've put into your Coupe project which I too have been following, nor Bernie's Coupe project (a whole lot of talent there). I'm sure there would be plenty more interest if this thread were covering work on my '31 Dodge. I believe I noted early on in this thread that this project was also to means to take inventory of my "restoration" skills after not working on vehicles in a number of years. I didn't want to just jump into the '31 project cold. Also, as noted, I hope you and others continue to find this thread of some interest as I work at completing this first project. Scott...

[MikeC5]

Very interesting thread. I'm looking forward to the 'home stretch'!

[Scotts_DG8]

It's Thursday evening, June 21. I know that it was back the end of March that I said that I would be back at this project and as it turned out it was about the middle of April before I got to get some needed work done on it before sending it off to the media blaster. Well it went to the blaster the first of May with a two week planned turn around that turned into three weeks and in the end became almost 6 weeks. I kind of knew that it could be pushed for other work as doing cars can get sidetracked for their main business. The bottom line though is that I've just gotten the van back blasted top/bottom and inside/outside, and it's in PPG DP epoxy primer to boot. I'll get some current pictures taken and do a comparision post early next week to share the results. Stay tuned. Scott...

[unimogjohn]

Welcome back Scott. You were missed. Look forward to your posts and pics.

[Scotts_DG8]

Thanks John, I hope to be a bit more productive from this point forward this summer.

So with that said, starting off this Friday morning, June 22, I have a lot to do the next couple days and it isn't going to be Van related. It was though previously scheduled before I knew when I was going to get the Van back. To apease those that might be interested in following this thread I am posting for now just a single picture from sitting in the driveway after getting it home. Again a more complete status, with pictures to come, will be posted early next week. Scott...

Edited June 23, 2012 by Scotts_DG8
Reloaded Photo after Size Limits Corrected. (see edit history)

[Scotts_DG8]

Friday morning, June 29th, it has been a busy week since I last posted the teaser picture, and not all my activities during this week had been van related. I thought that I would take some time right now before letting to much time pass to post the remainder of the pictures taken from when I got the van back home from being blasted.

Let's have a look at a couple general pictures that show the before and after. Most all of the activities of getting the van ready before taking it to the media blaster were covered earlier in this post.

Although the van spent a bit more time at the media blaster than originally planned the end result was worth it. The following are a few more pictures showing the results.

I also played with one set of doors that I had blasted and mounted them just to see how things looked. What I found/realized was that the doors although rust free were from a 67 or 68 van and the holes for the DODGE script are for the large font and my 69 van has a small font script that only has three holes. I'll post more detailed pictures on the door issues when I address them.

That covers the general pictures on the condition after blasting. The following couple pictures shows some of the flaws that were uncovered when the paint and filler came off at the blasters. The damage on both sides under the large side windows were hidden under the bondo/filler. These will be straighten a lot better then original before some spot putty/filler will be used to finish it off.

The fuel filler opening was pushed in really quite a bit, it was better hidden under the paint and filler and was a bit of a surprise. This will be pulled back out and metal worked before touching up again with a bit of spot putty/filler.

The passenger rear corner had a few good dents that I have already mostly bumped out since getting the van back. A little more work should do it.

The front passenger floor was a concern as it had a good amount of rust but after getting it back it turned out that the floor is still solid and the damage was more surface than expected. In one of the pictures just posted above you can see the underside of the floor and it is spotless with the exception of the few small rust holes. The holes will be welded/filled and the surface of the pitted floor will be smoothed over with a spot putty which when it dries is as tuff as metal.

That pretty much brings it up to date. We too have been going through a heat wave not unlike a good part of the country, yesterday had gotten to 100 here, and the heat will be in the mid 90's for through Saturday. I'll still be outside today, at least for a time addressing some of the many body issues. I'll try to remember to have my camera with me to capture what I uncover and address as I go. Scott...

Edited June 30, 2012 by Scotts_DG8
No one said I could type and spell at the same time... (see edit history)

[MikeC5]

Looking good! They did a real thorough job with the blasting.

[Landman]

Now Scott that is a CLEAN van. Nothing hidden anymore. I think you have the makings of a nice vehicle there.

[Scotts_DG8]

Looking good! They did a real thorough job with the blasting.

Mike, they did do a real good job considering that they had never done a van before, other cars, trucks, frames, axles, etc. but not a van. It was a lot of work for them too I would imagine. I'll for sure take my '31 to them when I tackle that. Not quite as labor intensive as doing it myself with a D/A and I'm sure the neighbors are happy that I chose to get it done off-sight, besides it would have taken me a good 4 weeks and that would have been without tackling the bottom and still would not have been as complete. One other thing though is that I'd noticed a few small spots that they had missed here and there which I'll take care of as I go through it to ready it for paint.

BTW, I've followed along on your touring car project and you've accomplished a lot in a year. It had to be a ton of fun taking it on its first cruise around the yard.

More updates to come. Scott...

[Scotts_DG8]

Now Scott that is a CLEAN van. Nothing hidden anymore. I think you have the makings of a nice vehicle there.

Thank's for checking in Pat, not quite the project you've tackled and it won't have the classic lines your's will when your done but I hope in the end that it turns out as a nice driver. As you point out, there's nothing hidden anymore. I've now got a clear view of what work needs to be done before paint and for the most part all activities will be posted here to document it. Stay tuned...

[keiser31]

Man, that thing sure looks a lot better than it did in my driveway!! Looks like you picked the right place to get it blasted. I can only imagine how clean it will be to do work on and not get greasy or have rust fall in your face.

Edited June 30, 2012 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Scotts_DG8]

Well it's Saturday evening, June 30th. Just a short update without current pictures tonight. You'll have to visualize a little using the previously posted picture below showing the fuel filler opening.

Now that that we are all using the same point of reference, the task of visualization comes in to play. This fuel filler opening is located at the rear on the drivers side and you can see it is caved in requiring it to be bumped out to follow the original body lines. It could not be pulled out with what tools I had stock of so the next solution was to remove the fuel tube cover just on the other side of the opening shown. This task took several hours, several in this case comes out to just over 4 hours, due to how it was attached and the need to locate and then drill out a good 12 spot welds that held it in place. I then used a porta-power and a piece of 2 x 4 against the back door frame to push out a good portion of the area caved in, this was another couple hours effort. Although it looks great now that it is dang close to where it should be there is still a little finish bump work left to do. I also in the end am happy that I removed the cover, there was a good coat of rust hidden behind it, now I can clean it and prime it before reinstalling the cover. I'll be sure to take some pictures to catch everone that follows this post up the next time.

Oh, and John, I can't argue that the van would have to look a lot better than when you brought it home before sending it off to me. It also still had all those hidden surprises waiting to be found after it arrived here. That's it for tonight, until next time. Scott...

Edited July 1, 2012 by Scotts_DG8 (see edit history)

[MikeC5]

It was fun to finally get it moving under its own power. After seeing your van I wish I had looked into getting everything blasted. One advantage I had is that taking the body off the frame was pretty easy and then the body is light enough that it could be tipped on its side or flipped over without too much effort (a rotisserie would have been nice though)... It is amazing how long every little thing takes.

[Scotts_DG8]

Just a quick post this Sunday evening, July 1st. Well now it's time to see how all those that viewed the previous nights post visualized yesterdays efforts with actual photo's.

The first three show the fuel filler tube cover, the top cover had to come off before the bottom could, then you can see the rust that needs to be addressed before it goes back together. The last two shots show the outside of the fuel filler opening that is now close to being back to where it should be. Not a lot of van work today as I chose to give my neighbors the day off as it was Sunday. That's it for the visualization update and I hope everyone in the end were not to surprised by the pictures posted. Until the next update, Scott...

[keiser31]

Scott...that is great that you went to the extent of removing the cover over/behind the fuel filler access. I can only imagine how good that truck will look with the way you are approaching the restoration.

[Scotts_DG8]

This is Friday morning, July 6th. Although the temps have hit the 100's several times since my last post I've still been working outside, the problem is that all this work getting done was not specific to the van project. Had a one day diversion replacing a rear window regulator on a brothers girlfriends jeep, and clean up from some high winds that preceeded a storm that came through.

The good news though was that I did get some work done on the van with the help of a neighbor who is a body guy. He's been following my activities and stops over now and then and offers his help, I'd mentioned him in an earlier post. Well he called from his job Tuesday and asked if I wanted him to bring home a couple tools to tackle the wrinkled/stretched areas under the two large side windows on the 4th, sure if he was up to it but I noted it was going to be a hot one.

So Wednesday morning of the 4th I had pulled the van out of the garage early in the morning but had a few things not van related to get done before he came over. It was already in the mid 90's by the 11 in the morning he got back from running a few errands and came over. His plan was to heat/hammer/shrink the problem areas back to flat. The original person that did this hidden repair that was exposed from the media blasting had just covered their bad hammer/dolly work with filler and called it good. I had already pulled out my torch and got a bucket of water and rag to complete this task. I for the most part had the easy job as I got to sit on a milk crate inside the van holding the dolly while he was outside with the torch, hammer and wet rag. It took about an hour and a half to do both sides and while we were at it finish off the little bump work around the fuel filler opening. It all looked great when we finished, a very little filler now will finish off each of these spots. He left for home and cooler temps while I did a few minor things before putting everything away for the day and heading in myself it was just too hot, the temp of 102 for the day did set a new record. The pretty much covers this update, the pictures follow.

The Passenger side results:

The Drivers side results:

And the Fuel filler opening results:

On a side note the temps here in the Metro Detroit area have been mostly in the mid to upper 90's to just over the 100 degree mark for the last two weeks. We are suppose to be dropping back into the mid 80's by Sunday and currently forecasted into the middle of next week, that will for sure help with working outside. So, until the next update. Scott...

[MikeC5]

Looking good, moving right along... I need to learn how to do that metal shrinking thing...

[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...

[Guest 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