Projects 1962 Econoline "The Box" Build Thread

Built the top mounts for the upper bars of the 4 link on the axle.

 

Oh Yeah, I did get the tires. Nitto Drag Radials fit the bill perfect.

 

Front mounts built for the upper 4 link bars.

 

I built upper bag brackets for the bag on bar setup. Tacked them in and mocked up a driveshaft to get an idea of the angle.

 

Nice work . That thing is bad ass... keep up the awesome work...

 

Rear end is swinging good, and it looks like I can make the driveshaft angle work work with the angle change as the rear suspension is lifted and lowered. Now time to think about the front IFS, and the body channel. Tear out the OG I6 and cut our some more floor.

 

We are gonna start with the channel. This will make is easier to know where the IFS has to sit in the frame up front. The IFS is challenging, and many guys said it could not be done, but I had to get the channel done first to know where the IFS needed to be to get it the stance that I wanted.

We started with bracing the entire van. With a unibody especially, we knew that she got alot of strength from the "frame". I also put in some angle iron 4 inches up for bracing and for a guide on where the body needed to fall. This took a ton of measuring and remeasuring, to be sure that I could sit in the van after this was done.

 

The we stared cutting. Gotta grow brass balls to start this, no turning back....

 

Then we let the 4 jacks down that were holding after all the cutting.

 

Pretty scary looking inside after the cuts, we have alot of filling to do. But the outside rear wheel is just where I had hoped it would be.

 

More shots of the inside after the cuts and channel.

 

First part of getting the body mounted back to the "frame". Front body mounts.

 

Now to fill on some of the openings from the channel. Channeling 4 inches made the filler pretty easy on the sides with 4 inch strap.

 

Thanks for the nice compliment. We worked hard on this one.

 

We finished the side filler for the channel, but waited on some of the front filler, as we knew that we would have to make some changes in the front tubs for the wheels and tires to fit. Side filler there could wait, so I decided to roll up the tubs for the rear wheel wells. Roller from early 1920s, would not trade it for a new one! Eat your Wheaties that day!





Looks easy in the pics, it took a few hours of running them through the roller to get them done. I think I am still sore.

 

Made a box to cover the 4 link also.

 

if we can both make the time, burgers are on me. 2nd sat. in april is econowest at the rosebowl if you're still in town. it's small but fun, just old vans.

 

With most of the filling done, and channel set for the body, it was time to get the IFS installed. This took some thinking. (hard to call in engineering when you are a garage builder at best). We cut the floor off the top of the frame first, and tried to get some measurements on where it needed to sit. We came up with needing to narrow the frame about 6 inches, and dropping the frame about 4 inches.

 

Bummer is I have to get back to NY the first week in April, I will miss that, so close....

Ill keep you posted when I head to LA in a few weeks. Would love to meet up for a burger.

 

We figured best to build the subframe on the bench and then slide it in there.

 

We then cut out some heavy plate steel and made drop mounts for the cross member. Slid it into place and took some more measurements.

 

Looks like this will work as far as height and width, now get it tacked in and start to put the a arms and brakes to get an idea of wheel height. We used drop spindles and Stainless a arms with air ride up front.

Now we need to box in the frame and build a bridge over the top of the frame to add strength where we dropped it.

 

Took a break from all the thinking on the front suspension to do some metal work on the tubs. Built the side covers for the rear tubs.

 

Then built the frame to cover the rest of the rear suspension and the notch.

 

Did a bit more filling on the rear where we have openings from the channel.