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The driveline replacement started because of two issues:
Issue #1: The gas gauge didn’t work Issue #2 bothered me a lot, and considering the age of the vehicle, how wore out her engine and transmission were, and some modifications I wanted to do to her, I decided to start from the back and work my way forward restoring the entire drive line. And this is where the certified fertilizer hit the oscillating rotator! I pulled van alongside the house and pulled the rear end, gas tank, and driveshaft. It was all goin’ good from the bottom, but when I went into the back of the van afterwards I noticed I could see the concrete below through the floor! I don’t think this was a feature from the manufacturer! Can you say body patches? |
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Here she is with everything removed |
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As you can see, the floor was full of holes. I cut out the main damaged sections for patches and fill welded the remaining holes. |
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After the patches were in I sprayed this section of floor, both inside and underneath, with a rust converter, primer, then paint. In the future I will come back and fill all the divets with a metal based filler, sand & smooth the entire floor, then repain the entire floor. I am also cleaning and painting the entire under carriage as I work my way forward to the front. |
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With the floor patched it was time to put her back together.
I had the inside of the gas tank cleaned and sealed, then I cleaned and painted it in shop class. pulled all the rear fuel system out and checked the parts for serviceability, cleaned and painted all reusable parts, replaced any that were bad. All gaskets, lines, and clamps were replaced, and I installed a new sending unit. I had the rear end professionally rebuilt converting it from a "peg-leg" to a "Sure Grip" with 3.23 gears. I replaced the emergency brake cables, hard and soft brake lines, and installed all new brakes from the wheel cylinders out. After everything was checked, cleaned, and painted I put it all back together... |
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