Vansplant

I sold the van but she ended up coming back to me. I guess it was meant to be. She went to a good home but, then was abused by an evil villain posing as a friends friend needing to move some stuff and unaware of the woes of the the Saginaw three speed with column shift. It's amazing what redlining a 50 plus year old vehicle in granny gear can do. She now needed a new mill. She had a hole in the side the size of a baseball. Threw a rod. My good friend that had previously bought her didn't have the time, money or space to get her back in running condition. He generously gave her back to me knowing I'd not let her go to the crusher and hesitantly parted with her to begin with.

The way the story goes, we have been through a slew of vehicles lately trying to find something that fits our needs. Eventually after some poor decisions and bad luck we opted for getting a newer safe family economy type car. This meant trading in my current "work truck" for a down payment and incurring a monthly car payment again. I was ok with all this because I knew Jeni would have something dependable and safe to drive in and the boys would be safe too. I have been getting to and from work on pedal and motor bikes for the last few months so, being a one car family for a while sounded fine to me. I knew I had some time until the weather was going to get too bad for two wheeling to find a second cheap vehicle. Landscape side jobs have slowed some now and I verified the availability of my Dad's work truck if needed for a project. And, we were going to have a very small little amount of money real soon from the off loading of hopefully one of our last slew of poor vehicle decisions.
Vanatsy sat behind the back yard in a fenced off area collecting sap and tree resin for a shorter time than expected! Jeni got the ball rolling when she suggested that instead of trying to find another vehicle I should try to find a motor for van. It was something that hadn't crossed my mind for some reason as a current option. I was missing driving an older vehicle and knew I'd have one again eventually. Maybe just shrugged it off because the task seamed a bit daunting.
I expedited the the hand off and transfer of the title to make certain that all went smoothly before getting too deep into the project. I got her pulled, pushed, and jockied the shop with use of neighbors, friends and a used motorcycle tire tied onto the front bumper of my dad's 3/4 ton truck as a push'in cush'in. for some surgery. she had to go up against the wall for room to get the cherry picker in through the driver side door! I found a donor 250 six to go in her from a 66 short bed. Dude was doing the standard swap to small block chevy v8 and hadn't had any bites on his six for sale. I was opting to keep mine six in a row knowing I will actually be doing some commuting with this and might try to get some decent mileage. Besides that I knew it would mate up to the tranny and motor mounts ok.I heard it run in the truck before the guy pulled it and it seamed good plus, the price was right. Vantasy had a 250 six in her before which was not a stock motor in 64, they only had 194 or 230 cu in sixes. This leads me to believe she had been through at least one other motor before. She also ended up needing a new clutch. I found that out the hard way after trying and trying to get the tranny(which had to be dropped by the way) to mate up and not getting anywhere. turns out, the flywheel and clutch that were on the new 250 were for a 4spd and they were a half inch bigger! That only equals a quarter on each side! Finally I saw where the were rubbing marks on the inside of the bell housing. I had to pull them...under the van and put my old ones on. I went to do that and noticed my old clutch was nearly down to the rivets. so it was time for a new one.
It has been quite the project for me. Not being able to pull the motor and trans mated is a challenge, and not having a hood to pull up and out at an angle is a bigger challenge. LAck of clearance...ect. Having a friend strong enough to shoulder squat a motor over the wheel well is helpful when oil pan wont clear and you cant go up because the hoist is hitting the headliner. Thanks for all the help from my friends. Thank you Miller High Life. She is getting close. I'm a throttle linkage away from test driving her now! Hoping to get her going real soon because the weather is getting colder!