Hi,
As the owner of 7 Dodge vans I will prognosticate from experience...
Spend the repair money on a rust free donor van. Rust never sleeps. My extended Dodge, 1984, cost me $3000 plus $1700 to ship it across the continent. Oh, it came with 4wd for that price.
Swap the top. Easy peezy. Check out my incomplete project post here:
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=8775&hilit=1984+dodge
If you need more help let me know. I have lots of parts including an extended length Dodge SMB rolling chassis missing the top. 1982 from Georgia.
Regards,
Gavin