So, on to the brakes. I drove the van back to my work for the weekend so I could use some of our equipment. For the fronts I am using the Scarebird disc brake conversion, which require using the original hubs. I used a 5/8" hole saw in the mill to cut the swedging out from the drums, then pressed the hub out with our giant press. Link to the kit: https://scarebird.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=127 Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I pressed out the studs and bearing races and had the bare hubs. For the next step, I differed from the instructions a little. It says to use a lathe or die grinder to open up the brake rotors that are used for the conversion kit. They are about .010" too small to fit the hubs. I thought this was stupid though, because you would have to do this every time you needed to replace front rotors. While that might not happen that often, I wanted to future proof a little. If you have access to a lathe, I suggest you do what I did. I decided to turn down the hub rather than bore the rotor. There's plenty of meat in the casting, and I'm not removing much material anyways. Trouble is there isn't a great surface to grab on to the way it's cast. So here's what ya do: Step 1) Chuck up on surface #1 in the picture below (which is the original machined surface for the brake rotor to set in) Step 2) Make sure it's chucked up straight by running a dial indicator on the bore where the inner bearing race presses in. Step 3) Surface #2 on the hub is originally a rough casting with a bit of a taper. Take a light skim cut to square it up like it is in the picture. Step 4) Flip the hub around and chuck up on surface #2 that you just cut. Make sure it's straight, by running a dial indicator on the outer race bore this time. Step 5) Turn surface #1 down until the rotor is a slip fit on the hub. .005" clearance is probably fine, it doesn't need to be perfectly precise, as the rotors probably aren't either, so give room for a little tolerance on the part of the rotors. Hopefully I wrote that out clearly enough that it makes sense. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
With the machine work done on the hubs I could start reassembling them. I made a bearing race installer (a chunk of round bar turned to fit inside the races) and pressed the inner and outer race in, along with new wheel studs. I switched over to right hand threads so both sides are the same. Greased up the bearings, and they're good to go. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The next steps are all easy bolt on stuff. The Scarebird adapter plates replace the original drum backing plates, and fit great. The calipers are off a 1990 Chevy Celebrity, and rotors are rears for a 91-92' Lincoln Continental Mk 7. The kit come with a list of all the needed parts, which are are easily obtainable stuff. The purist in me hates Chevy and Ford parts on my Mopar, but hey, that's hot rodding. As long as it works in the end Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The fronts are all buttoned up, and the rears are much simpler. I just rebuilt the drums and replaced the LH studs with right handers to be the same all around. The original master cylinder is completely seized, and it's just a single pot anyway. I could have got the later A100 dual circuit master, but because I now have front discs, that wouldn't work either. Not to mention that no auto parts stores had one anyway. Instead I used a factory disc/drum master from the later B vans. It's not exactly a bolt in, but with some modification it will work. The bolt pattern is the same, but the master is much longer obviously, and doesn't fit where it needs to. I think later A100's have more room, but the single pot vans have a sheet of metal as some for of splash guard/air duct that goes right through where the master needs to be. The radiator bolts to this piece, so I didnt want to cut it out completely but had to remove a good amount. The cuts aren't the neatest but man theres just not a lot of room to work in there. Make sure you make room for the locking bar on top to rotate, and enough so you can get the lid off. Since the master sits below the front seat, you have to fill the fluid through am access panel from the top. It's a royal pain, but theres just enough room to get the lid off, and you can fill the back reservoir with a long skinny funnel. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Instead of a factory distribution block, I just used a wilwood adjustable proportioning valve (because it was cheaper and easier to get to be honest). The original captive nut for the factory distribution block works with one of the mounting holes in the new proportioning valve. I plumbed it all up with copper nickel lines, and it should be good to go. Bled it all up and Bam! Working brakes! Imagine that Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
This looks like fun.I`ll saddle up and go along for the ride.Those old vans are a real blast.Years ago,a friend had one that he set up as a"camper".We used it as a weekend fishing/camping machine. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Overall I'm pretty happy with the way the brakes worked out. I think if you have the right equipment, then the Scarebird kit is a good way to go. If you don't, you can still make it work with pretty basic stuff, just not quite as easy. They function good, it stops well. This is my first experience with manual brakes, as I'm used to the super overboosted power brakes of 70's Mopars, but I don't mind a little leg work. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I wanted to put in some seatbelts, and while I legally couldve just used lap belts like it had originally, I wanted to run full 3 point shoulder belts. The vans seating position is similar to a poorly balanced barstool, so I didn't mind a little support. I wanted something that didn't look too out of place though, so I went scrounging at a local pick n pull to find a decent set. There was a good supply of 90s ford pickups and I liked how their belts looked, so I dug through a couple trucks to get a good set. To attach them I made some brackets for the base and shoulder mounts. One of the original bottom mounts worked fine for the new ford ones, same thread and everything. I mounted the latch side to to the seat bracket, and made a mount on the a pillars for the shoulder, attaching it with some riv nuts. Works good enough for me Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Been driving the van around, it's doin pretty good. My trip permit expired in November, and I still have no plates, but with the way the DMV is right now I don't think the cops are really caring right now. As a bonus, here's a T that I ran across at Orielly's Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Put a repop glove box in, thanks to @31Dodger for sending it to me. Now I have a place to put all the fuel filters I go through at a rapid pace Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
With it in decent driving condition, I wanted to get some of the creature comforts working. The wipers were just unplugged, so I put the plug back on and to my surprise the wiper motor actually worked. It needed blades obviously but I didnt want to put the modern black ones on because they looked too out of place. I put some new wiper blade refills on, which were surprisingly hard to find. If you guys have any tips for finding new blade refills I wouldn't mind hearing them. Same deal with the heater, I plugged it back in and thr blower motor spun over. All the control cables were stuck though, so I had to get inside the heater box to lubricate the cables and free up the stuck heater valve. I put in some new ducting to go up to the defroster vents and now that all works. That big ice storm came through Oregon, and covered the van in a couple inches of ice which made for some fun pictures. Everyone thought I was crazy for driving my wagon in the snow but my commute is pretty short so I was fine. Then a tree fell on it.. but she's a tough old girl, made it through that with no damage thankfully. Was mostly just some branches, but not a fun thing to walk out to in the morning. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Wow, neat pictures, I love they way you're doing this van- low buck- going to a yard and getting cheap stuff instead of "kits" from aftermarket suppliers. Those Ford seat belts are probably better than you would have gotten from a overpriced kit! I like your Dodge wagon also.
Hey thanks @Greg Rogers. I might just be cheap but I've always felt if I can figure it out myself instead of buying some kit I will, and it's more fun that way. I like to build with my hands and my tools, not my wallet and a catalog. Also, here's some pics of my wagon for those interested Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Speaking of those fuel filters... with driving the van everyday, I was clogging these up about once every other day. I finally dropped the tank to clean it and put a new sending unit in, and man it needed it. Hooked all the new stuff in, and to my surprise my fuel guage actually works, which is nice. Side question to any of you guys that have owned one of these...why does it take so long to fill it up with gas?? The fuel fills up in the filler neck before going into the tank so I have to trigger the pump or it all spews back out. I thought the vent line was being pinched but I can blow all the way through it so I don't know. Kind of a pain, especially with a 21 gallon tank Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Cool man. I just finished a 68 a108 2 years ago. Was basically an empty old electrical contractor van with a slant and three on the tree. I swapped it to a 318/727. Disk brakes ,rebuild on the rear. Scraped off the old undercoating and painted it underneath. Built up the inside to haul my dogs and camp. Stitched up the diamond interior. If you already don't know afco makes a rear sway bar for these vans. Big improvement with it on. Anyway here's a couple pics. Good luck with your van!
@pinupwithgun That's bitchin, love the work on the interior. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Been a bit since I've posted, gonna have an update catching up soon. In the meantime here's a pic of the van doing duty as a yamahauler! Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Next up was the clutch. Wasn't much left, and there was a pretty bad racket and vibration when the clutch was in. The transmission was pretty filthy, but when I cleaned it up I was able to see a date stamped onto the top cover that read 65, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was the original trans. The pilot bearing was hammered, it was wore so thin that I couldn't even get anything to grip on the backside. Used a chisel to split it and peel it out, but what you see is pretty much what was in there, the whole front flange was gone. The van is a lot more drivable with a new clutch and release bearing. Its not a fight to get into gears, and I can downshift now, so that's nice. The trans still probably needs a rebuild, syncros are pretty shot, but it's a big improvement for now. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Well I pulled the motor in my wagon to rebuilt it, so the van is my daily for the time being... and then my throttle cable broke. Good thing the motor is right next to the drivers seat though, because I just ran the throttle with my hand for a week or two until I got a cable. I got pretty used to it actually, shifting was a little tricky, but I got half decent at it. To replace it I used an Allstar Perfomance cable, part number ALL54145, because it's about the same length. I had to make new endlinks and mounting brackets, but with those in it works pretty good. I had to readjust to driving with my foot and not my hand haha. Sent from my SM-A102U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Throttle by finger, that's great! Interesting as my 68 with the slant/manual trans. Had no Throttle cable at all. It was all long rods and linkage. I did switch to cable when I put a v8 in it.
@LongroofRon - I don't know if this is a consideration with you or not, but looking at the paint condition on your Van, it reminded me, have seen some guys bring back some amazingly skeevy looking rusty original paint jobs to pretty respectable looking original paint using nothing more than CLR, a green scrubby pad, and elbow grease. I bet it would clean up really well.
@Truck64 That's pretty much the plan. I'm definitely not going to paint it, I think the paint on it would clean up really nice. The only problem is that one of the doors is off a different van, its a lighter blue. So I'll have to get some paint mixed up to match, then kinda blend it in and distress it just a little to match the rest of the van.
Yeah, it wouldn't change the mismatch. What surprised me though, even when the paint is completely covered with a thin layer of rust, there is still a surprising amount of good paint underneath, didn't think that was possible.
Was the only reason you didn't use a later A-100 master was because it was hard to find? I got one on Parts Geek that I was going to use. because it was shorter and smaller then the 70's ones. Looks like it would work if I use a proportioning valve.
Would the later model A-100 duel master cyl. work instead of the 70's B style I got a new one on Parts Geek I was going to use because it is much more compact. Looks like it would work with an external proportioning valve. What do you think?
The Jalopy Journal
