Hard at It Working On the 1967 Chevy Van V8 Engine Conversion

Sunday August 14, 2016 Guerneville CA.

Another day working on the van V8 conversion project

This is what the engine and work area looked like as I started out this morning and by the end of the day, it didn’t look much different, but I did get some work done.

Making a new clutch rod

I decided to start out the day by constructing a new clutch linkage rod out of some parts I’d put together. I needed to machine the bolt head to be like the original linkage end.

I started out with it looking like this. The new piece I will work on is on the top and the old linkage I’m going to replace is on the bottom. The new piece is a turn knuckle so the rod can be made longer or shorter by adjusting it and locking the nuts down. I need to turn the bolt head on my lathe so it looks like the end on the bottom link.

I machined it on my lathe until it looked like this. It doesn’t need to be that accurate, so I just roughed it out and it looks like this now, ready to install.

Here’s the new linkage installed to the clutch arm. The bolt holding the forward part on, used to be a pin that was wearing badly, so the fix was something a bit more solid and this should do the trick nicely.

Fuel pump bracket

It’s hard to see, but I installed the fuel pump relay and fuse bracket I made the other day. It’s the green thing there. Things will look tidier when I get all the wiring done.

Dip stick woes

I also tired to get my old oil dip stick to work on the right side of the engine there, but the old one had too much of a bend in it for the stick to go in and out easily, so I’m going to have to do something about that.

Installed the fuel lines to the TBI unit

I spent the most time today working on getting my fuel lines hooked up to the TBI unit. It had two lines, one going in and one that returns fuel to the fuel tank. I had to cut the lines under the van and bend them around to meet the new lines coming from the engine. I went up the back of the engine and they can’t be seen easily.

The end of the day

At the end of the day, this is what the engine looked like. About the same as when I started the day, but it’s getting there.

Wiring harness work

I worked on the wiring harness a little taking it apart and seeing what’s there. It’s a good time to clean it all up. Remove any wires that aren’t needed anymore and repair any old repairs on the wires that aren’t looking so good. This is a 1967 van, so it’s had  more than one owner and who knows who all has worked on it, so there is some stuff that could use a little attention that I will attend to as I put the wiring in order.

Things left to do

Not too  much left to do. Wiring, oil dip stick, plug wires, radiator overflow tank and some kind of air cleaner.

I need to make another parts run to get stuff so I can finish up this job, so I’ll have to do that, maybe tomorrow.