fcvan

[fcvan]

After like 2 and a half years I finally got my van back on Wednesday. It was a very long and at times painful experience but the guy did end up doing a great job.
It has had a flat firewall fitted, brakes, wipers and heater installed under the dash and mini tubs. There were quite a few other things meant to be done but enough was enough and I had to get it back in my hands.
Just have to get my own shed finished and get stuck into it and get it on the road. Thanks to the wa club members that offered help in getting it back but it has worked out in the end. Cheers.   I'll keep you all posted and hopefully start getting involved with the club again.

[fcvan]

More pics

[fcvan]

Flat firewall and supercharged v6,  pretty stoked how that turned out.

closer shot of the steering colomn mount


modified bonnet hinges.  springs removed. I'm either going to use some gas struts or some kind of prop to keep the bonnet open?


the join on the front chassis rails is now removed.  It was stitch welded along the entire seam and then a new plate welded over the top.  It looks smooth as well as giving more clearance to the oil filter and the headers.


close up of the firewall recess

[fcvan]

the mini tubs came up alright.  beats the dented up ones i had anyway.




dash shot.  I've tried to use the original dash/colomn mount but I think that the wheel sits a touch high.  I think a small colomn drop is on the cards.






rear of firewall with extra bracing and mounting points for all the stuff we've crammed in there.

under dash brakes.  The pedal box we spent hours going through a truck wrecking yard to find the most suitable. Then the Commodore booster and master cylinder was fitted to the box and braced to the firewall. It just fit in there. The master cylinder is abit to the right of the ash tray so i can still fill it with fluid when it comes time to bleeding her up.


electric heater with a fabricated cover which the duct tubing can attach to and run up to the windscreen demister.  I hope there's enough room.  haha    I had a water heater with a billet control panel to use but this way I don't have to have heater hoses.  Apparently I should still be able to use the control for the electric heater.


under dash wipers.  We looked at using aftermarket, mini, cable wipers but the commodore unit ended up working ok.  The arms needed a fair bit of working to get them to clear the heater unit .


This ended up putting the left hand wiper into another spot. The old spot was filled.


With all the new parts under the dash there wasn't really any room for the cowl vent linkages.  I decided to get it filled


Thats all the shots I have for now. As i get more work done I'll keep you posted. Hope you all like it.

Miikael

[cruiser056]

Hey,
      That is absolutely cool!!  Man you must be absolutely stoked with that!!  If that was mine now in my shed, the missus would not get me in the house, I'd be in the shed praising to the God of Holden.

Keept sending the pics, can't wait to see the finished product.

Michael

[TAYZ]

That is one grouse looking van I must say, bloody sensational its a credit to you.  Gotta love windowless vans!!!!!

                                                         tayz

[tommo65]

That is one very sharp looking van something to be proud of. Keep up the good work.

Tommo

[customFC]

Wow lots of neat tricks built into your van.
Great stuff.
Thanks for posting the pics. I am sure it will inspire others. It certainly shows what can be done with a bit of thinking and a whole lot of work and patience.
Regards
Alex

[fccool59]

man you must have a large area between your dash and firewall, ai barely made space to squeeze in the ignition box, i am trying to find a location for the booster, i never thought of that one but dont think i will get one in there, is it hard to add fluid or do you just pour it through a funnel and hose?

[fcvan]

hey guys.  thanks for the comments.  It's been a long slog but I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. 9 years since I purchased it so hopefully on the 10th year its done.  Wishful thinking, probably  haha
FCCOOL59. I haven't had to put fluid in there yet but that was a concern that i had when we planned it out.  I bleed brakes on pushbikes every day using a syringe with some tubing attached. so I figured that would work with the van aswell.  Have to wait and see.  As for the room. The commodore booster is huge.  Before the old firewall was cut out it seemed like it would just fit in there. If you use another model booster in there that's smaller in diameter that will make it a whole lot easier.

[Ed]

Hey Mikael,

top work, and I love all those little nifty engineered details.

the wiper mount, brake booster, firewall.. wow.

no wonder it took so long, it must have taken hours on hours of head scratching.

well done, looking great

Cheers

Ed

[minifcvan]

thats a shit hot van....youve done well... cheers mark

[sgo]

Good on you, well on the way in building an excellent vehicle

Could you give us a run down on that electric heater?
cheers, George.

[Ed]

George,

if im not mistaken it’s a ceramic heater from Rare Spares about 35 dollars. Cheers

Ed

[Rob_FE_56]

 Mate that van is looking grouse.  

Did you notch the rails when you put in the mini tubs or did you just take the tub in flush with the rail?

Seems like a lot of work just to gain about 1/2 an inch or so,
but I suppose if thats all you need to run the wheels you want, ya gotta do it.

I'm mini tubbing an EH windowless van for a bloke at the moment. He wants to run 285 tyres so I had to notch the rails about 3/4s of an inch. Reinforcing it (to make the engineer happy) has been a pain.

Your engine bay and firewall look real good, can't wait to see her finished.

Cheers, Rob.

[fcvan]

Hey thanks guys.    Rob the mini tubs were only put up to the chassis rail as you said.  I mainly wanted new tubs for appearance and as I said before the old ones were badly dented and I didn't want to bog em up .
I had the leaf sprins off at one stage and lowered the car over the diff/wheels till it bottomed out on the chassis.  The tyres had heaps of clearance.  They're only 17" x 7" with a 235x40 tyre.  The wheels and diff were made to suit the car at around the same time so they fit well and the track was kept the same.   Good luck with the fat tyres.

[Rob_FE_56]

  The Eh van is running 8.5" centerlines with the 285s and weve got about 3/4s of an inch clearance on the outside and about an inch on the inside.

My Fe sedan on the otherhand has stock wheel arches and will probably stay that way, I am running 13x6s on the front (probably a 205 tyre) and 13x7s on the back with a 225 tyre.
It's a pretty tight fit.

I'm going for the 60's hottie look but with a more tasteful stance (Lower). Stock looking interior (bench seat, stock wheel, column auto) and with around 200 "gigawatts" it should be fun.
Plan on posting some photos soon after I finish repairing the subframe and put a stock firewall back in (over the next few weeks).

It's a pain having to borrow a camera from the better 1/2s work.

Look forward to seeing more pics of your van as she comes along.

Cheers, Rob.

[Al]

Miikael well done, that van is just awsum. The amount of thought and work that has gone into it is incredible.   THANK YOU for showing us and please keep the pics coming.                                                                            Cheers Al