In reply to Dr. Hess :
Looks to me like there is plenty of air in the LF tire. Same air that's outside the tire too
. I never thought I would be attracted to a Dodge van, but then I didn't know about the DeDion rear either, and I am a sucker for the geometry and dynamics involved.
Never thought there were sexy delivery vans. I was wrong.
sweet, you got it!
how big are those in the back anyway?
Dr. Hess said:If you would have put some air in that left front tire, things would have gone easier for you.
We put air in every tire. The only one that held any after 48 years was the driver's side rear.
Antihero said:sweet, you got it!
how big are those in the back anyway?
Height, width, or length? It's tall enough for me to stand up in, and I'm 6'2"
Congrats!
Cooter said:Antihero said:sweet, you got it!
how big are those in the back anyway?
Height, width, or length? It's tall enough for me to stand up in, and I'm 6'2"
All dimensions if you dont mind.
Im assessing its ability to be a band van.....because im crazy apparently
And obviously.....if I could ever find one lol
Cooter said:Dr. Hess said:If you would have put some air in that left front tire, things would have gone easier for you.
We put air in every tire. The only one that held any after 48 years was the driver's side rear.
I'm somewhat shocked any of them still held air or even rolled.
Congrats!
In reply to Antihero :
Ian F said:Cooter said:Dr. Hess said:If you would have put some air in that left front tire, things would have gone easier for you.
We put air in every tire. The only one that held any after 48 years was the driver's side rear.
I'm somewhat shocked any of them still held air or even rolled.
Congrats!
There is an external shoe drum brake on the back of the transmission. I had to get under the van to cut the linkage on that so it would roll. But all the wheels spun freely.
Congratulations on getting your van! Persistence paid off!
Oh I see the chassis from a Sprinter and an air ride suspension holding that thing inches away from the ground.
In reply to JmfnB :
The DiDion rear on this van needs to be maintained. Sprinter live axle would intrude on the floor a lot. That said, the factory drawing published a few posts back makes me question the durability of the wheel bearings. A re-work there with a pair, or an angular contact 2 row would seem both doable and wise.
The Route Van's suspension design allows for a much lower drop than I could ever dream of with a Sprinter.
The Sprinter is also Unibody, which makes a body swap pretty unwieldy. The fact that the Route Van is designed for a passenger side engine would put the scale of difficulty right off the chart.
I would consider a drivetrain swap from a Sprinter, but the electronics and the Route Van's gearing would make that choice pretty tough as well.
What about something simple?
5.2 magnum, auto from a truck.
Bags for ride and drop.
Done.
4bt
A lot of normally good ideas that would be in my Top 10, but width and height restricts my choices quite a bit. I'm going to assess what I have first, and then see if I can fire it up next. Engine swaps are further down the list for me at this point. When I know what I can reuse, that will help me figure out what compromises I need to make for driveabilty.
Honestly if it spins it’ll fire up pretty easily
Slant Six and a 700-R4 sounds nice but it's kind of a wide engine depending on the intake & the slant.
Hope this is a viable project.
Cooter said:In reply to Pete Gossett :
It did.
But it wasn't.
No matter, got it sorted anyway.
Interesting story about that. But the frame is solid .
Saw this on Instagram and put 2 and 2 together. Had no idea I followed you lol
In reply to yupididit :
I posted it to the wrong account .It was supposed to go to me @eloelcooter account .
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Same here. It looks like it was originally sold as a cutaway. A different company built the back of it from the doors back. Even if I build something like a camper or a bed on the back, it will turn out pretty cool.
In reply to fasted58 :
Awesome! Thanks!
Cooter said:A lot of normally good ideas that would be in my Top 10, but width and height restricts my choices quite a bit. I'm going to assess what I have first, and then see if I can fire it up next. Engine swaps are further down the list for me at this point. When I know what I can reuse, that will help me figure out what compromises I need to make for driveabilty.
It sure does look like the engine compartment was designed to fit around a specific flat-head engine.
A Slant 6 might fit, but it'll be tight. But on the plus side, it's quite possible an original design criteria for the Slant 6 was to make it fit into engine bays originally designed for the flat-head 6. Looking at the picture above would support that theory, with the /6 valve cover shifted to the right and the intake & exhaust on the left.
I think this project deserves a pushrod OHV head built to fit the original flathead block
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