Van Restoration Project

yARIC008

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I've been working on this for quite some time now. My plan is to basically restore my van to better than new condition.

I guess it'd been in the works for about 3 years now. I redid alot of mechanical stuff first, this included...
installing new wiper/turn signal controls, new PS pump and lines, new exhaust, new locks, new door handles, new cdr, new lock actuators, new window regulators, new door switches, new weather stripping, new wiper motor, new wiper transmission, new cowling, new wiper arms, sulastic shackles on the rear, all new AC components (evaporators, vents, compressor, condenser), new alternator, new belts, new radiator, new engine and tranny mounts, and probably alot of other stuff too. Basically just trying to replace everything i can before it breaks down and hope that it lasts another 24 years and maybe another 400,000 miles. Using as much OEM equipment as I can find, mostly from Ebay as most of it is not sold by Ford anymore.

After that I decided the interior needed to be redone. I started small then realized I had to do it all. So i pulled everything out and started from the base metal. All of the plastic trim is being repainted factory gray color, PPG brand that I am getting from a local automatic paint supply place. Will be repairing all plastic damage and putting hushmat tape between all surfaces that rub together to reduce noise. Got all new seatbelts, got a mega deal on ebay for 15$ a piece for brand new ones.

I prepped for several weeks and then sprayed lizard skin sound insulation and thermal insulation all in the interior. I decided then to give it a little more sound protection and am installing hushmat on all of the surfaces. I've got the carpet in, but not trimmed and fully installed yet. Going to have to the headliner fabric replaced down the street. It's just too big for me to redo myself with lots of compound curves for the AC system. If it were flat I would have done it myself.

Next I'm redoing all my add on wiring, for instance, the HIDs, radio add ons, fuel pump, alarm, etc. Seeing I have the headliner and carpet up, i'm going to run all the wires to the rear along with the factory wires and run several spares all around for any future projects I haven't thought of yet.

Here are some pictures of my current progress on the interior. I'm hoping posting progress on here will keep me motivated and keep working on it. It's tuff to do with some much other stuff going on.

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Here is everything removed and prep work almost complete and ready for Lizard skin.

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Here is the lizard skin sprayed. Took only a couple hours to complete, ended up using 6 gallons of sound insulation, and only 2 gallons of thermal insulation.
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Here is the hushmat going in. Stuff tears your hands up and cuts you up if you're not careful. Not finished with it yet, but every surface is getting covered, including the ceiling. Going to take about 290 square feet of it to finish it I think.

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Here is carpet being laid in to relax the creases out from shipping.

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junk

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Yaric, impressive work as always. Your work is always top notch. I put a ton of lizard skin inside and outside my crewcab when I had it torn down. 3 gallons of each product actually. Now I don't have my doors insulated or door panel bottoms installed, but it's louder than I would have thought. I'm interested to see what you think once your back on the road.

did you grab any sound level readings before tearing it apart?

Also I've always wondered how you use your van? Is it basically just transportation or do you use it for business?

- Jeremy
 

sjwelds

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Hey what do you think of the Sulastic shackles? Been curious if they work and how well they work.
 

F350camper

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yARIC008, cool project man! Thanks for keeping us posted here, I'll be following closely. How many miles do you have on that roadmaster short block these days?
 

fsmyth

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just a quickie - 3/4" plywood on the floor will cut down a LOT of road noise.
I did it to every van I have owned. 1/4" on walls even more so, but it's a PITA.
Shag on the motor cover is good for noise, but catches dirt like a vacuum cleaner.
I have tried a bunch of different things on the ceiling, and never found anything
that made a lot of difference (exc. deadening the rain).
 

yARIC008

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Your work is always top notch...

Also I've always wondered how you use your van? Is it basically just transportation or do you use it for business?

- Jeremy

Hah, don't know about that. It's a notch, but not sure its top notch! I didn't manage to get any readings of sound as I don't really have any calibrated meters, but it was pretty loud, especially seeing i had the carpet out for a while. My wife is a pretty good meter too, if she doesn't like it, it's too loud.

Once I put the lizard skin in, I could tap the walls and still hear a little ringing, that is why I decided to do the hush mat on top of it. The Hushmat makes a huge difference. You slam the doors now and its SOLID, no rattle or shaking at all. I believe it'll quite the ceiling quite a bit in the rain too.

I use my van mostly for transportation now. My dad bought it originally and used it to transport tools for work back in the day. Then my brother used it for several years for transportation to school. Then when i turned 16 it became mine. I used it mostly as a daily driver/transportation. When we had our biodiesel business we put the big tanks in the rear and used it to pick up oil. Nowadays because I mostly drive a company car it just sits in the garage and gets used on occasion. Once finished I hope to use it alot more again for traveling to visit family in Tallahassee. Gotta start using it again, would be cool to get a million miles on it, but that'll probably never happen.
 

yARIC008

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Hey what do you think of the Sulastic shackles? Been curious if they work and how well they work.

I think they're awesome, they really quiet the ride down. They were a little difficult to get on as I had to bend the retainer a bit to get them on, which is what they say you have to do sometimes, but other than that, went on not too bad. Raised the ride height about 1" so now it rubs the roof in the garage more now. They make a deal that goes on there to lower it back down, i should probably get it.
 

yARIC008

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yARIC008, cool project man! Thanks for keeping us posted here, I'll be following closely. How many miles do you have on that roadmaster short block these days?

Hey man, long time no see. Didn't even know you were back on here. The engine has about 100,000 miles on it. Seems to be going strong too. It's got a leak or two that needs fixing but nothing too serious. I was young and dumb back then, it's amazing all it has is a leak or two after all that time. It's been 12 years.

I never did get around to installing that turbo, oh well, maybe one day...
 

jhenegh

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I like seeing some of the veteran members still coming back from time to time with their current projects. Things change and more & different people get more active in forums as time goes on, but I've noticed a lot of the early members still come and make posts or do project threads. Good work ;Sweet
 

F350camper

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Hey man, long time no see. Didn't even know you were back on here. The engine has about 100,000 miles on it. Seems to be going strong too. It's got a leak or two that needs fixing but nothing too serious. I was young and dumb back then, it's amazing all it has is a leak or two after all that time. It's been 12 years.

I never did get around to installing that turbo, oh well, maybe one day...

Yeah Eric I came back on here about a year ago after a long hiatus. I got this idea in my head for a diesel ranger and decided to just make one. Oh man, I forgot all about that turbo! haha. Looking forward to project van redo!
 

IDIoit

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I would like to complain about this thread.

it needs...MORE PICTURES!!!

keep up the good work.
 

yARIC008

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Here are some more pictures and a video. I basically only get about an hour a day in on it as I can really only work on it at night after 2 year goes to sleep and then I'm really tired too... So anyway, got the ceiling almost finished with hushmat tonight. Below are a couple pictures of some of the stuff I'll be doing. I'm working on a crude wiring diagram in visio, I'll try to post that up soon.

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Here is nearly completed ceiling. Obviously headliner will go over top this.

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Here is shot from the rear.

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Here are connectors I am going to use on my headlights for the halo and projector high beam cutoff deal. They're basically just square trailer connectors. Right now I have all the wires with individual spade connectors and they're a pain to mess with. These connectors will make it much easier to remove and install headlights when needed.

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This is what the connectors will be replacing... this mess.

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This is the double pole double throw relay I am going to use to run my window regulators directly off the battery. Right now I discovered the wiring in the van makes the voltage drop by about 2 volts once it gets to the window motor. By connecting the motor directly the battery it rolls the window up and down 2 seconds faster. This coupled with new tracks and weather stripping for the window should make it roll up possibly even 3 seconds faster than it used to. It used to LABOR up, really irritated me and defintley let you know it wasn't a new vehicle.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2QoTiWuBp0
Here is a video of the rear door closing now with the lizard skin and hushmat. Not sure if you can really tell in the video how it sounds, but it sounds solid now.
 
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