'94 Dodge B350 highroof

[campism]

(Continued)


Once I got a closer look I was relieved that my van lust never took off for this one, 'cause the degree of rust would have squelched it. It's a project for damn sure, but it looks like the van is going to a good home.











Here you see Bob the Buyer on the left and Bob the Seller on the right, dutifully recorded by Bob the Enabler and Observer.

[campism]

I'm embarrassed to say that in nearly eight months I've made NO progress on the big Dodge. I plead landscaping commitments. Once the walls are done (330 feet of rock wall lining a U-shaped driveway and two different block walls at opposite corners of the house, schedules for all of them heavily influenced and delayed by rain) we can get new gravel put down in the driveway and then work on the van can commence. The bride and I were discussing it just this morning. And by then it will be midsummer in Virginia and the van won't fit in my air conditioned garage so working conditions should be delightful. I can hardly wait.

Meanwhile, Bob the Buyer mentioned above has heroically started on his A100 project and created a build thread elsewhere. At this rate his will be finished before mine has even begun. He already has it running!

http://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t58279-new-dodge-a-108-owner

[campism]

Well, we're finally getting to the point where we might begin thinking about starting the repair and conversion of the van we bought almost a year ago. I've come to hate landscaping and I swear I'm never going to touch the yard again once we complete this seemingly endless project. I have a van to build!

Anyway, I've long been curious about what's under the riveted-in-ceiling in this FGME +30" roof. I assumed it has some metal framework to provide rigidity once the sheetmetal and ribs of the stock roof were removed. Lots of van pix out there but nothing to answer my questions until I take out that liner on my own van.

However, I've had a Pinterest account for years and constantly get loads of van pix and they finally came through for me with photos of the inside of a roof like mine with the inner skin removed. Unfortunately, the link to the source is broken so I have no more info than this one pic but I'm glad to have it. This Dodge van differs from mine in that it has tall side doors and normal rear ones, the reverse of mine, but the bracing and its placement is what's important and the pic gives me an ideas of what to expect then the work actually begins. Looks like there's plenty of space for insulation between the inner and outer skins.

[carringb]

The metal frame up there is a rollover protection structure, which is required for ADA-compliant raised-roof vans. Definitely one of the bonuses of buying those over a regular high-topper IMO.

[campism]

You won't believe it, but almost two years after dragging this van home and more than a year after my last update I've finally begun working on it. We knew it had a blown head gasket and is not driveable, and in order to fix it I needed a clear spot in the driveway with good access for an engine hoist in case I need to pull the engine, or room for a rollback in case I need to junk the van. A spot where I could leave it parked for several weeks in case of a delay with the machine shop or a parts vendor. You can see what a mess the oak trees made of the paint.

Procrastinating a little longer, I remembered a buddy had given me his old power washer that he said worked fine but would not mix the soap in with the water. Worth a try with just water. Test patch okay...

So I did the rest of the body. Note the contrast.

So I then did the top, as far as I could reach. I'll break out my scaffold for the very top, which is still filthy.

Out of excuses, I started on the engine, pulling hose and wire connections and tagging them so I don't get lost on reassembly.

[marret]

Cleaned up nicely. Good to see you making progress.

[campism]

Yeah, during its nap the little quarter-sized rust bubble on the rearmost side door turned into a hole but that is the least of the van's problems. Hope I can keep some momentum now that I've finally begun.

[marret]

Sorry to hear about the hole, but I think I’d prefer the door over the body.

Yep on momentum. If you need a second set of hands on something, let me know and I might be able to provide them.

[carringb]

Have you done a rust inspection underneath? If there’s any perforation at the box-frame, especially near the spring mounts or front sub-frame, the would bad news. Being a unibody makes frame replacements a no-go, although small areas of damage could be plated over.

[campism]

Someone mentioned that early on and I gave it a good look during the original inspection and it looked okay to me then. I probably need to go under there a spray everything with some coating for further protection, Waxoyl or the like. I know the power washer can get the dirt and gunk off so would do that first and let it dry for several days.