The Great Van Damn Thread

[a1fa]

As promised, with the new engine, a new thread is born. I'll keep updating the first post, so please try not to quote it. Scroll down for updates, or go to last page, for latest blog entry.

[a1fa]

Reserved 1/3

[a1fa]

Reserved 2/3

[a1fa]

Reserved 3/3

[a1fa]

Reserved for later.

[a1fa]

3/12/12 - Day 1

The engine arrived last week, but with work schedule, friends shop schedule, and parts still not on order, we had to postpone the inevitable. With most of the things out of a way, and a nice day ahead, with a quick call to the shipping department, and boys were more than happy to get the engine out of the loading dock as it was dripping oil on their floor.



Thanks boys. Resources put to good use. The rest of the day, the van spent collecting some good karma points from curious onlookers. Several coworkers stopped by and asked a few questions, and took a peak inside.



The plan is to do the build at friends house. He has all the tools, skills, and know-how, but getting there is half of the fun. The van felt loaded with engine inside, but the truth to the matter the engine was not heavy, but it seriously put hardship on my broken engine during a 60 mile trip. There was a hint of fear in me that the engine would not make it, and that it would leave me stranded up a steep hill, but even with a knock the engine pulled strong up and delivered all she got. I even saw a state trooper behind me trying to catch up... needless to say he ruined my fun for next 10 miles....

The little motor that could, and would, has not let me down!



Once we got to friends house, I let-out a big gasp.. this shit better work... Removing a good (dying) engine is like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Well not quite, but you get the point.



Meet Geoff, a friend, a riding buddy, and a coworker. Man who has done a lot in his life, and served his country proud. He has been around a wrench as long as he remembers. I'll be taking about him through out the thread.



Having all the right tools sure makes the job easy.







Geoff and I gave the block a quick glance, and went over the paperwork what went into build. So far so good. Looks like a quality build. Geoff is impressed.



Day 1, quite uneventful. The van is in the garage, and some work has begun on removing connections, and vacuum lines in preparation for engine removal. I recon, the build will take about 10 days, with only couple of hours of work at the time. My goal is to document the build, for my future reference.

[JamesG]

That's a pretty motor.

[STANIMAL]

Cant remember , are you going with carbs ?

[a1fa]

all original fuel injection... restoring down to every single detail..

Geoff, who loves to restore cars, would only work on it if I go back to original. Thankfully, this is the man I trust, and value his opinion.. so extra few hundred bucks to get it back to factory is not a problem. So far so good!

The old tin, and dog house has been taken a part and is ready for painting. The undercarriage has been cleaned, and transmission got some love too.

We hope to have it assembled and running in a week...

[STANIMAL]

Cool , keep us posted .

[a1fa]

Here is the old motor:





Buying a new engine could have been an overkill..

[Goggles Paisano]

What are you doing with the old motor? Is it being rebuilt? It'd be cool to build up and put in a sand rail or some other goofy shit. Cool bus.

[a1fa]

The motor is for sale for $450. It came out of running bus, however it has some kind of noise..



Some think its benign piston slap, others think its a valve seat taking a dump, and my mechanic friend thinks its a rod knock.... 101500 miles on the engine, solid lifters... 2.0L.. What we also found is that this noise may have been coming from a broken engine mount. All 4 mounts were broken... You won't know until you tear into it.

[jdiaz]

Sounds fine to me. :aircooledowner

[a1fa]

FF to 32 seconds, right on acceleration, its making a knocking sound.