ME's Van

[Russell]

Looks good get fancy and put a switch on the blue wire!

[DanStokes]

Looks good get fancy and put a switch on the blue wire!

Could do that. So far the lines seem OK.

Speaking of electrical:

From the day we got Vanna her interior lights have been uselessly dim - open the door at night and you can't see a darn thing even though the dome lights were on. Today I tackled that. Following my own advice I started with the ground an guess what? It WAS the ground! Now nice and bright.

Dan

[DanStokes]

We're back from our trip to St. Paul and while Vanna ran well we did have a couple of minor SNAFUs.

The left rear door stopped releasing as well as the outer handle of the side door - seems like these have door handle issues. Turns out that the left rear door upper cable can't be readily fixed with the cable repair ends (shown earlier in this post) so I bit the bullet and went to Capitol Ford and bought the OEM replacements - pricey but it's done. The side door handle is on the way from Ebay.

Also, the heater blower resistor pack burned out leaving only high fan speed - not a big deal but worth fixing. The plug was burned and fused to the old resistor pack so I tracked down a replacement pigtail, cut and spliced, and now have all fan speeds. This is common enough that NAPA (Echlin) offers the pigtail pre-made with the weird double retainer plug.

So Vanna is almost ready for any further trips.

Dan

[Tubbed Pacecar]

Dan: Some OEM door handles are really good, others are shyte. AND, some of the aftermarket ones have the OEM issues resolved, and in some instances, have even been made so they will work on either LH or RH side of the vehicle. Example: The drivers door handle on my '08 Ranger broke a couple years back, (*&^%$ plastic!).......almost all the Rangers of the same series as mine @ Pick'n'Pull in these parts were missing their door handles. Started looking online, and the Dorman one is much more robust, AND Dorman made it so that their replacement will operate LH or RH, so Jobbers only have to stock one item.
I don't have the Huge riveter required for the door handle (and window regulator) rivets, so I went and got some SS Button head/allen screws, flat washers and nyloc nuts, and put it back together, no issues since then....and my truck has buckets and console, so having a drivers door that doesn't open from the outside was a PITA.

[DanStokes]

Dan: Some OEM door handles are really good, others are shyte. AND, some of the aftermarket ones have the OEM issues resolved, and in some instances, have even been made so they will work on either LH or RH side of the vehicle. Example: The drivers door handle on my '08 Ranger broke a couple years back, (*&^%$ plastic!).......almost all the Rangers of the same series as mine @ Pick'n'Pull in these parts were missing their door handles. Started looking online, and the Dorman one is much more robust, AND Dorman made it so that their replacement will operate LH or RH, so Jobbers only have to stock one item.
I don't have the Huge riveter required for the door handle (and window regulator) rivets, so I went and got some SS Button head/allen screws, flat washers and nyloc nuts, and put it back together, no issues since then....and my truck has buckets and console, so having a drivers door that doesn't open from the outside was a PITA.

I did the same deal with the 1/4" SS screws and nylox nuts - WAY easier. When I was still working I borrowed the big rivet tool from work to do the handles on the 'Stang and it's not easy to pull the rivets and keep the handle flat to the body. After I used the available rivets w/o success I went to the screw/nut system and all went perfectly. All the handles on the van are now screwed on. The side door handle that's on the way seems to be different from the front and rear door handles but we'll see what it gets here. No clue if it's Dorman but there can't be too many factories making '99 E-Van door handles!

Sounds like you and I have made similar discoveries.

Dan

[DanStokes]

How to replace a E150 side door glass: I'm posting this because I found nothing on the Interwebs so I dove into it and figured my experience might, at the least, same someone some anxiety. Turns out it's dead simple.

The broken glass (our neighbor picked up a rock with her mower and was appalled that she caused damage but it really wasn't a big deal).



And:



All there is to it:

The upper pivots are just 2 screws that come out from the inside. These require a square screw driver bit (1/8 IIRC). Keep track of which plastic grommets go where.





At the bottom just remove the pivot assembly by removing the 3 Phillips screws. You might decide to just keep the pivot from the Pick N Pull window but if you want to use your original pivot you'll want to screw the pivot out of the nut and bolt assembly that goes thru the glass and them remove the fasteners by loosening the 14mm nut from the bolt. Again, note where the grommets go. Assembly tip - I taped the outer thru-the-glass nuts in place on the glass so I could just screw the square-drive screws back in place from inside..




Then put the whole deal back together. As we have the swing-out window I didn't investigate the fixed window but I think it's the same process except there are 4 square-headed screw mounts which come out the same way - this means the fixed and swing-out glass pieces are not interchangeable.

This seems like a dumb little how-to to post but given that I was unable to find info I thought some folks might find this useful.

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

even more fun is trying to find replacement hinges and catches for those windows... .not fun at all

So she was appalled - not that it's any of my business but should she be apaulined?

[DanStokes]

even more fun is trying to find replacement hinges and catches for those windows... .not fun at all

So she was appalled - not that it's any of my business but should she be apaulined?

She's an absolute sweetheart and I was saddened that she took it so hard. It was really no big deal - the hardest part was picking up the broken glass which she did.

This event did bring up a thought, though. I can't tell you how many folks I've seen driving around with a plastic bag taped over one window or another when a quick trip to PnP would fix it.

Dan

[Russell]

That really is the best thing about driving a mast produced older vehicle. The ease of finding cheap parts at the JY! I had to replace a window in Jennifer's trailblazer years ago. I agree getting the glass out of the door was was worse than putting the new window in.
I was able to find a TB that someone needed the regulator so the window was already loose!

Knock on wood I have not needed any parts for the ATS yet they are not common in the you pull its yet.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Knock on wood I have not needed any parts for the ATS yet they are not common in the you pull its yet.

best thing to do is not to wreck it.

[Russell]

best thing to do is not to wreck it.

I am not Death Bob, that's a goal every time I get in/on something with wheels.

[Deaf Bob]

I am not Death Bob, that's a goal every time I get in/on something with wheels.

Mine too except in an arena

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

We bought a '94 GMC conversion van to use as our inter-state dog hauler.
I did a 100% suspension rebuild and it's been awesome.......well except for the time the rear heater hose ruptured.
I cracked a head but it got us back home. I don't want to do any more head swaps in a van!

[Deaf Bob]

We bought a '94 GMC conversion van to use as our inter-state dog hauler.
I did a 100% suspension rebuild and it's been awesome.......well except for the time the rear heater hose ruptured.
I cracked a head but it got us back home. I don't want to do any more head swaps in a van!

did a head job on a motorhome... 413 Mopar.
top of carb was level with the driver’s floor
had a sore chest from laying on it. Refused the next head job after that.

[DanStokes]

did a head job on a motorhome... 413 Mopar.
top of carb was level with the driver’s floor
had a sore chest from laying on it. Refused the next head job after that.

At my age I farm out more work than I used to. I just don't bend like back in the good ol' days.

Dan