Monday August 29, 2016 Guerneville CA.
Stay home and get this job done
I was sorta thinking about going kayaking today, but I need to get the van project finished up so I can go on some trips.
I started out with the engine hood cover hinges. The slots needed to be longer so the hood hinges can be adjusted to loosen up the hood as it was too tight back by the hinges.
I had a choice. I could file each slot with that file or I could just use the saw and quickly make the slots.
I used the saw and cut the hinges like this so they can be moved up more which will move the hood cover up too.
I painted them and set them to dry.
Radiator belly pan
After a break, I tackled the belly pan. It goes in front of the radiator and directs air to it.
That took about another half hour.
Cleaning and painting under the van
I did some cleaning and painting under the van until I ran out of paint, but it mostly is much cleaner so the muffler guy doesn’t get rained on by desert dirt as he’s working.
Holding the hood up
I was thinking it would be nice to have some way to prop the engine cover up from the hinge end. After some thought I realized I could put a bolt into the cabinet to support the cover when it’s opened from the back, which means pulling the two hinge pins, that’s why I was loosening up the hinges, so the pins are easy to remove.
Here you can see the hood resting on the bolt I installed in the cabinet.
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Now I’ve taken the back half of the engine compartment off with the hood still there so I don’t need to remove the hood to do this, which makes it that much easier to do.
See, no rear compartment and the hood is still there.
Tackling the oil dip stick
Ok, it was time to tackle the oil dipstick problem. After doing some more bending on the dip stick I could see it needed some kind of mount, so I made this little brace which seems to hold the stick just right. I had to cut five eights of an inch off the tube to calibrate the stick to this engine so it would read full which it is right now.
Now was the time to go varoom
All right, I’ve been working on the van all day and it would get dark soon, but first I was determined to go for a little ride in the van with the new engine, even if it doesn’t have any mufflers yet.
At first I just drove around the yard a couple times, but then I thought, let’s hit the road to test this out.
I drove down the rood a couple miles but turned around before getting to town. The V8 is nice and smooth so when I get back to the house, I turn and do it again, but this time………………..
I got on it a bit taking off. Nice varoom, vaarrrooooooommmms. Reminded me of the olden days when we used to make a lot of noise around here racing our motorcycle engines.
That put a smile on my face and I decided it’s ready for the trip to the muffler shop.
That was my day for a nice one.
