dimlight65 Posted June 21 Report Share Posted June 21 So the chingadera that holds the top of the fuel filler neck is both plastic and no longer available... So I made my own. I cut a "stop sign" out of aluminium... made sure it roughly fit the place where it needed to fit... made up a few new swear phrases while trying to finagle it back out of that hole, then marked where the filler needed to be... got way too involved in the fabrication process and took no pictures until this point... and at this point I decided to wait for John to put in his $0.02 worth. But later (after what you will see in the next post), I did a little more fettling, but didn't take pictures. Meh, it's what it's. 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 21 Report Share Posted June 21 Last Sunday, in the rain, I began fitting the fuel cell. I got one mounting hole drilled and a bolt in it, when a huge raindrop (or runoff from the van, not sure which) went into my ear. Well, that annoyed me to the point I quit for the week. Today, in the blazing sun, I crawled back under to finish the job. Bolt through floor to support the rear of the tank and locate it... There's another on the other side, but I'm not sure if this picture... Nope, it doesn't show up. What about... Yeah, can't see it there either. Oh well, screw it. It's there, you're just going to have to trust me. So then I had a look at straightening the cross strap... That went well! I then marked where I needed to re-bend it... and did that. This I test fit... and was satisfied enough with it to move to the other side. I took a few measurements and decided to shorten it... and it snugs up like so... Once we add rubber to the tops of the stand-offs and the strap, I'm confident that we'll be in business. And this is what it will look like from behind... 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted June 22 Report Share Posted June 22 Oh I like what's peaking out past the van 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 22 Report Share Posted June 22 12 hours ago, EDM620 said: Oh I like what's peaking out past the van To each their own, I guess. It's just an old Ford Pickup. Nice shade of blue, I have to admit. 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted June 22 Report Share Posted June 22 I'm thinking of the "arrest me red" item... 😄 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 22 Report Share Posted June 22 9 hours ago, EDM620 said: I'm thinking of the "arrest me red" item... 😄 Ah, the Fauxrarri. Think to come of it, there have been a few "faux" cars around our shop. I used to have a Fauxtus Seven, and a Fauxbra before that. John probably has pictures of those. All my pictures got lost two or three laptops ago. Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 22 Report Share Posted June 22 On 6/21/2025 at 4:34 PM, dimlight65 said: I did a little more fettling, but didn't take pictures. Today I did. First, I added a triangulation strap... and some knuckle abrasion preventative rubber... before screwing it in place... Then I popped the neck in... and finally the cap... and since this crossbeam, (yellow arrow)... is (*mostly) going away, I needed to relocate the fuel pump (red arrow). I decided to try this spot... on one of the standoffs. And it's plumbed to the tank like so... *I say "mostly" because we really only need to remove the front half of it. I might wind up re-mounting the pump right back where it was. We'll see. 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 23 Report Share Posted June 23 Ok, I have a question that probably makes no difference either way, but I want to hear your opinion... At the filler neck, we have a 3/4" hose nipple (red). At the tank, we have a -8 (1/2") male fitting (blue). In my hot little hands, we have a -8 female to 1/2" hose nipple (green) and a 1/2" to 3/4" embiggener (yellow). And finally, we will have a run of 3/4" hose (X), and a run of 1/2" hose (Y). My question is: Do we want a long run of 1/2" hose with the enbiggener at the filler neck, or a long run of 3/4" hose with the enbiggener at the tank vent? I'm leaning towards enbiggener at the filler with the long run being 1/2" because the tank is designed to vent through a 1/2" hose. And, yeah... I just talked myself into that. Never mind. Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 24 Report Share Posted June 24 I was concerned about the 1/2" vs 3/4" pipe question, so I did a little googlinge... and... followed by... So, yeah... I'm thinking a 1/2" vent should keep up with the fuel flowing in. Fingers crossed! 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 29 Report Share Posted June 29 (edited) Yesterday, John removed the drum brakes... then we removed the old axle from the van... I am still debating whether or not I want to modify this assembly... to raise the rear a little so we can finally set the ride height (and pinion angle) exactly where we want it with blocks and shims. We'll see. With the axles side by side... and centered up to each other... I had a look at the axle width... Hmm... appears that the new axle is a bit wider... Good thing we were running 1.5" spacers before, because the axle IS 3" wider! This should be just right. Ignore the crooked studs. It's a... um... camera artifact? Yeah, that's it! In order to determine the correct angles for the shock mounts and spring perches, I bought a Dangle-angle-ometer... Then I saw this on the packaging... I have lost all hope for humanity. Moving on... I made sure the differentials were level to one another... and determined the angle of the shock mount... and spring perch... I will use these angles when I zook on the corresponding bit to the new axle. Edited June 29 by dimlight65 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted June 29 Report Share Posted June 29 (edited) John is insisting that I run a charcoal canister on the fuel tank vent. To do so, we soldered another vent line into the filler pipe... then hit it with more solder yesterday (because we ran out Wednesday)... It's super long (said the actress to the bishop)... so we bent it over and soldered on some strain relief for the joint at the top... Then I decided that the eyeball I had John put on the diff cover... looked more like a butthole, so I ordered another eyeball and some white vinyl backing so we could try again... Much better. That's for you, Dad! Edited June 29 by dimlight65 2 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted July 4 Report Share Posted July 4 Today, I drug the TIG welder over to the axles... then ran to take an emergency crap. While I was in the litter box, John arrived at the shop and began measuring out where things needed to go on the axle. First, find the center... Second, measure out the widths needed... Third, set the angles... And then, get zooking! While I was welding, John crawled under and cut out the crossbeam (what went askew on the treadle [and yes, I am going to beat that Monty Python reference into the ground. What, are you some kind of Spanish Inquisition?])... leaving SO much room for activities! After I had the mounts all welded in place, John hit them with the wire wheel and a lick of paint... Oooh, so pretty! Tomorrow, we install! Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted July 4 Report Share Posted July 4 (edited) LOL, I have to tattle on myself here. See that extra little bit of weld? I totally got lost as to where the corner of the bracket was and just kept going! It was when I saw the Panhard bracket looming in the corner of my vision, I realized I had gone too far. Oops. Edited July 4 by dimlight65 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted July 4 Report Share Posted July 4 (edited) Oh yeah, also while I was in the litter box (see two posts up), John installed the tail lights. Grotty old left unit... compared to the new hotness... and the right side... So much better! Edited July 4 by dimlight65 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted July 5 Report Share Posted July 5 (edited) 23 hours ago, dimlight65 said: Tomorrow, we install! Oh, hell yeah! First, dump in 2qts of oil... then bolt on the cover... and the next thing we knew, it was in... and we were bolting it down... It was decided to slap a rotor and caliper on for grins... Oh yeah! Well, we can't stop there. Wheel? Fuck yeah! Tomorrow I will build the frame bracket for the Panhard bar, and Friday (payday) I will order brake lines. Ok, I will go ahead and out us. The U-bolts that came off were for a 2.75" tube and we need bolts for a 3.5" tube... and someone cut them too short for us to open up and reuse. Despite what that picture up above shows, the nuts only went halfway onto the bolts. I want thread showing. So I will also be buying new U-bolts Friday. Next Saturday we should be able to bolt the axle in for good... or EVIL as the case may be. Edited July 5 by dimlight65 1 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted July 5 Report Share Posted July 5 Hey meester - das a big square hole in de floor, whacha doin wid dat? punkin clearance? 2 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted July 6 Report Share Posted July 6 20 hours ago, EDM620 said: Hey meester - das a big square hole in de floor, whacha doin wid dat? punkin clearance? Ed Zachary. The diff bumped a big dent in the floor, so we opened it up. Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted July 6 Report Share Posted July 6 Yesterday, we tried to open up the 2.75" U-bolts to fit the 3.5" axle. To do so, we fired up the oxygen/acetylene torch... Well, someone forgot to shut off the tank valves before we left for the day. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and realized this. My first thought was, "Well crap. I'm going to be out of oxygen and acetylene." My second thought was, "Oh crap! The shop might be full of oxygen and acetylene!" I jumped out of bed and hauled ass to the shop. To make a short story long, the torch's valves are apparently better than the valve in my TIG welder and did NOT bleed down the tanks. Instead of going back home, I took a nap in the back of the van... T'was quite the comfortable, I must say. When I woke up, I got to work on the frame end bracket for the Panhard bar. Take some 4" box steel... cut it into two "L" shaped pieces... stack one on top of the other... and zook the hell out of them... Then I crawled under the van and loosely bolted the Panhard bar to the axle.... from the side, I determined approximate parallel-ity... to determine approximately where the bracket needed to be... Somewhere in the vicinity. Unfortunately, now I was stuck until I had U-bolts... and it's only 9:30 in the morning. I'm nowhere near ready (mentally or physically) to call it a day. On 7/5/2025 at 2:52 PM, dimlight65 said: So I will also be buying new U-bolts Friday. Next Saturday we should be able to bolt the axle in for good... or EVIL as the case may be. Or, I will trek over to Summit and get some damn U-bolts! So NOW the axle is bolted in! While I was out, I bought bolts for the bracket and drilled the mount when I got back... The clevis for the Heim joint will sit in this zone... once we determine the height we want the bar to sit. By now, I AM mentally and physically ready to call it a day... so I did. Next Saturday, we determine said bar height and plumb the brakes (because I also bought all of those gubbins while I was at Summit). Psh, I don't need to eat this week. 1 Quote Link to comment
EDM620 Posted July 7 Report Share Posted July 7 7 hours ago, dimlight65 said: Psh, I don't need to eat this week. There always be dumpster diving! Mmmmmmm Cheapo guy I worked with survived on just one of those lil yogurt things every day (lunch) and a cup-o-noodles for dinner 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted Saturday at 09:57 PM Report Share Posted Saturday at 09:57 PM We used a scissor jack to force the shocks into place... Which was quite the faff! But they are in now... so we were able to jack the axle up to ride height. This allowed us to determine the location of the frame end clevis and zook it together... We decided on 3° of up angle to the frame. Our thinking was "If the bar is higher at the frame end, body roll should pull the axle away from the fender on the side that is in bump." We did lots of trigonometry and other sciency sounding shit to get to that number (ok, so we drew a picture and said, "Yeah, that seems right," then held the bar up and decided on "at the very top of the frame bracket" was where we'd weld on the other). Then I welded the left-hand threaded end of the bar... and John hit it with paint... along with the finished frame bracket... Tomorrow I will finish drilling the frame for this bracket and install the Panhard bar. Don't ask about the brake lines. That... didn't go well. Suffice to say, pre-made lines are on their way. Quote Link to comment
Satisaii Posted Saturday at 10:32 PM Report Share Posted Saturday at 10:32 PM Leaf springs + coil overs? Those coil springs look close to coil bound in your pictures. Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted Sunday at 03:06 AM Report Share Posted Sunday at 03:06 AM (edited) 4 hours ago, Satisaii said: Leaf springs + coil overs? Those coil springs look close to coil bound in your pictures. Yes, and eh, kinda but not really. A) They are helper spring shocks to add a little spring rate (and a touch of ride height on an axle flip that went WAY too low [I know, there's no such thing as "too low," but we couldn't get the front as low as the rear]). 2) They are at such a radical angle (even with shock mounts that are twice the stock length) that their effective rate (and travel) is greatly reduced... I think. (Also the camera angle makes them look more stacked than they are.) Edited Sunday at 03:10 AM by dimlight65 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted Sunday at 09:35 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 09:35 PM 18 hours ago, dimlight65 said: Also the camera angle makes them look more stacked than they are. See, there's still a few millimeters of travel left! 1 Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted Sunday at 09:47 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 09:47 PM So after taking the pictures seen in the previous post, I got to work finishing the holes to mount the Panhard bar clevis to the frame. What John left for me... and after drilling the rest of the way... That left hand hole felt like it was double or triple wall! Quite a PITA. I see now why John left these for me after doing the outer frame holes. Anyhoo, with holes made, I popped the mount on and bolted it down... Then I retrieved the bar and got it in place... Me like! Here's the axle end's washer stack... and the frame end... Yeah, we mounted the clevis a tad too far forward and had to re-stack the washers to get the bar parallel to the axle. Hey, that's why it's adjustable. Quote Link to comment
dimlight65 Posted Sunday at 09:57 PM Report Share Posted Sunday at 09:57 PM The other day I was watching the Driving 4 Answers YouTube channel and he made a strong case for an oil separator catch can even when running a PCV system. Of course I don't remember what all he had to say but it was along the lines of, "It can't hurt to keep as much of the oil mist and vapor away from the intake." So I bought... but after getting it hung, I decided I didn't want to remove the doghouse to plumb it today (that end of the van was facing the sun, it was really hot and humid, and I was being a whiny little bitch about that). It can just sit there and look pretty for a while. 1 Quote Link to comment
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