Capt's New Tow Rig

[Captain]

Now on the Positive Side !! :-)
Friday my son Shaun came Up to help with the Wall Panel and Air Conditioning Unit install.



And with the help of our neighbor John to Hold, Steady, and Lift the Air Conditioning Unit,
We got it all back mounted on the left side
"Love When A Plan Comes Together" !!





"No Amount of Planning, Can Beat Just DUMB LUCK !"
Yes it was a bygosh guess, but the fabric pattern matched PERFECT !!

Sunday before Game Time, fitted the small panel that will go in by the rear doors, and "Weighted it" to get the curve in.



No pix, but took care of some Air Conditioning Unit plumbing of the condensed water drip hose, and relax some of the Freon lines curves in the Wall.
And Installed the two fan switches for the AC and Rear Heater in that 4" hole in the previous pix.

[Captain]

Next, upholster the small panel, get that in, get the fender well cover in, and the ceiling panel cut, upholstered, and installed between snows this week.

[Beagle]

FIRST, I am still in Mourning over the Packers loss to the Buccaneers.........But when you get within the 10 yard line 3 times and can't score.....Have major Defense Failures....
PLUS 2 interceptions and do a 3 and Out....
We deserved to give Brady the Win

It's not like Brady didn't try to give that win back several times... you can't trade field goals for touchdowns and expect to come out on top. I ways yelling "Go Bay" all game since I don't have a fish in that bowl.

[Captain]

The small panel and fender well cover are installed, last of the wiring with the outlet box, and DC plug in complete

And again Dumb Luck on the close pattern match........

then back to pulling the Air Box plumbing out to replace the heater hoses.
Going to Change the hose layout to a "Series System", front heater first off the engine block, then to the rear heater, then back to the water pump. Getting rid of this mess !!
Small "Boiler Systems" are this way, as otherwise the hot water goes to the highest level first, and bypasses any parallel circuits.

Have the old hoses out, now the fun of routing them from the back thru all those brackets thru the engine compartment to the heater.
Hope a 50 foot box of heater hose is enough....LOL

[ejs262]

looking at that mess of hose, I would be tempted to build a manifold to make things a little simpler.

[Captain]

First, a manifold might be a good idea, but ROOM in the engine compartment is crammed already.
but here's what I have done so far.



The hoses are tagged with red and blue tape for hot in, and cold return.
And, I installed a hot water shut off, so NO water is circulating thru the cores in the summer months to help with the air conditioning unit(s)


I did add a coolant catch/reservoir bottle.
This was a NOS (Never Out of Style) parts pile Samurai coolant bottle,

And from the cut off's bucket, made this bracket....
Now the system after cycles a few times, all air should be purged out, and coolant will equalize in the bottle

[Captain]

Here is how I tried to bleed all the air out of the system, I used a Coolant Flush Fitting, and used it as a Fill Point, and Air Bleed.

This worked out well, as also filling the radiator at the same time, air purged out both, and at start up, No large coolant drop when the thermostat opened.
I did have help, this is my Pipeliner Friend Jack, who stopped in to visit on his way home from a pipeline job in Minnesota.

[DanStokes]

Good to have help!

Dan

[Captain]

Dan,
There's Not Enough Therapy to Help ME !!
LOL

[Captain]

Yesterday, didn't get out to the shop. Domestic Duties, plowed out the 5+ inches of snow, and the town run for groceries and supplies.

Today, knocked a bunch off the punch card.
Took some pix of the installed catch bottle.




Completed the Rear Heater install as wanted working room if we had leaks.

[Captain]

Then installed the folding to a bed rear seat.




Now that all the interior "Large" work is done, put the door interior panels on.



're installed the "Dog House", the air box, and resecured the hose and wiring brackets under the vehicle. Tomorrow, going for a Long Test Drive, check out the fuel injectors, and the heaters.
Last on the punch card, roof decal, rear corner panels with the rear speakers, and running boards.

[Captain]

It's the little things that you tie in at the end of a project takes up so much time.......things that you are not going to take pix of to document the work........
I still have some bigger items to get done, rear door spare tire rack, running boards, and mud flaps, all salvaged from the old van.
And Tuesday, the last of the Graphics goes on the roof. Then I can re-install the roof Sky Light/Vent, and the luggage rack (that was a Covert UHF antenna).

Here's the finish back with the speakers installed. I did think about painting them gold, but just left the Original Flat Black as they were from the Bone Yard Ford Van donor.

And any suggestions on cleaning up and polishing some 36 year old aluminum running boards? :-)
This is NOT a Show Quality vehicle, but I want it to look Kool, as my Travel Tow Rig.

[Russell]

I have never polished running boards, but I had some pacer bullet holes on a ranger they were almost white. I polished two with just elbow grease and aluminum polish, she second two I wet sanded with really fine paper the polished. The second two took half the time and a quarter of the elbow grease.

So wet sand with really fine paper 1000 or 2000 can't remember what I used. Now days I have a buffer so I when use it.

[Captain]

I have been taking care of other projects, and still working on a unusual RPM hunt in this project, while using Seafoam Intake Cleaner, the Heater Core sprung a leak..........
Not dripping, just that unique smell coming out of the defrost vents.
So More knuckle and forearm gauging under dash work!!!
Found one online, $22.95, with tax and shipping total $41.00.
Doesn't look to bad in the repair manual, but all diagrams show the Heater only, not tucked up in the right kick panel area.

[Captain]

More gremlins are showing up. This Van must have been in storage a amount of time before being auctioned off.
The rear fuel tank was removed at the time of remaking into a Surveillance Van for a in the floor storage compartment.
But they just put bolts in the cut off fuel lines on the "Dual Tank Switch" for the rear tank.
The Dual Tank Switch was letting gasoline through to the rear lines and leaking at the bolt plugs.
bought some bypass lines and removed the Dual Tank Switch.