1950 Dodge Panel Van (My Long-Term project that needs to be completed!!!)

[BDL]

Work continues on the metal where the fenders meet the fenderettes. I added another set of shaped 5/16" rod pieces to the fenderettes so they match the front portion of the fenders. I need to work on the gapping, but time has run out for now. I'll get back on it as soon as I possibly can.


From 03/17/2018:


From 03/18/2018:



The way she sits

 

[rapidtransitric]

Great progress. Things are looking good

 

[BDL]

Life update... Praise God for my wife's successful surgery today. Please pray for a speedy recovery

 

[BDL]

Progress is good... Little as it may be, progress is good. I worked on mounting the fenderettes this weekend. Check it out!

(please excuse the edges where the fender meets the fenderette... They need a LOT of work in order to look good)

 

[BDL]

No real update right now... Just don't want the thread to die

 

[Cranky]

Man oh man.......what a build! Really wanting to do some work on my junk and maybe soon.

 

[Bb70charger500]

Wow . Impressive work your doing ! I'm liking the build can't wait for the next update

 

[BDL]

So, life never slows down... While between medical procedures, we decided to take a little drive down to visit my dad in Florida. We ended up putting 3681 miles on the minivan (yeah, I said minivan - it's a little kick in the teeth to my ego, but it turns out that I enjoy driving the thing) in about a week's time. We left Iowa in the evening so the family (3 year-old and 10 year-old boys, wife, and wife's dad) could sleep as I drove. It's a little rough, but I like to kind of cannonball the trip. We had breakfast near Chattanooga and lunch somewhere near Savannah, GA where we caught I95. We saw some family near Fernandina, FL and continued on 95 the next day it to my dad's place in Pembroke Pines. The next days were a blurr as we visited the beach and enjoyed some nice R&R. Somewhere along the trip, we made it to Key West for a day and managed to stay away from the expense of Orlando's Disney experience. I75 Took us across Alligator Alley and up the West coast of Florida for the return trip. The trip just leads me to YEARN for the day when I can call Florida my home.

Anyway, in order to get ready for the trip, my wife and I made a tough decision to sell her '08 RAM in favor of purchasing an '11 Chrysler Town & Country. We picked up a "back lot beauty" of a van for $5500 out the door! A serious steal of a purchase! Of course, the van needed some real TLC before we could go. The main things it needed were new tail lights (were both cracked/broken), headlight housings (slightly weathered and provided an excuse for upgrading to black ones), a pair of new transmission cooling lines (leaking where the rubber met the steel ends), new A/C (ended up just being the rear evaporator core but I replaced nearly the entire system) and new tires. The interior had a few minor issues, but they were all resolved in about 15 minutes.

Of course, I removed the front bumper cover in order to replace the A/C condenser (which has the transmission cooler built in at the top), transmission lines and headlights. That provided a great opportunity to put the front bumper cover back on where it should have been (instead of pushed out of place like it was).

I tinted the front door windows just enough to help in the summer heat, bought two new pair of Drive Audio headphones for the kiddos and polished what once seemed to be a turd. She really looks good now

Oh, did I mention what I did with the tires? The fact that the thing needed new rubber gave me an opportunity to upgrade from the stock 16" alloys to a set of 18"x8" alloys. The wife and I scoured eBay for just the right wheel... We landed on a glossy black replica of a wheel found on the Durango and Grand Cherokee. We had Discount Tire Direct wrap them with some 235/50R18 Falcon Pro G4 A/S tires and use some new black locking lugnuts to round out the package.

 

[BDL]

Where has this Summer gone!?!? Again with the "no update" update. But the "no update" update resets the time-clock and prevents this thread from closing. Updates coming soon!!

 

[whayden2003]

Keep the life updates coming. Trust me they count just as much. And I agree about the time just passing.

 

[whayden2003]

Wait explain. Threads have a time clock? Must go update mine. Lol.

 

[Auggie56]

You are doing work that only 99.300% of us dream we could do. Thanks for sharing in your accomplishments.

 

[BDL]

The time has come for me to update this thread with something other than "no update!" Finally, I have made some progress (even though it may look like regress).

Deciding to swap in the Hemi presented a couple issues I was choosing to ignore. Heat/Air and Electronics. My attempt to fit the PT Cruiser Heat/Air box was a fail. It never fit the way I wanted it to and I was afraid it wouldn't function correctly or be reliable. But I could not fit the Charger Heat/Air box between the PT Cruiser Dash and the firewall. However, there was definitely room between the firewall and the new engine. To boot, my intention with the new engine is to use all the factory electronics and none of the electronics (Door switches, heat/air controls, headlight switch, radio wiring & instrument cluster) in the '04 PT Cruiser dash were compatible with the new electronics. So... Out with the old and in with the new.

I began by whittling away at the PT Cruiser dash with the phillips in my impact driver (and then my hackzall) until all I had left was the mount on the left side that held the steering column in place. At which point, I realized what I had in front of me and I said "It sure looks like I'm starting over."

At that point, I brought the Heat/Air box into mix and began to realize where the firewall needed to change. So, I got to work once again. This time, with the hackzall and cut-off wheel. I now have a clean slate... So to speak.

I have all the electronics I'll need, so I know where I need to make space. I'll be using the Charger instrument cluster, headlight switch and heater controls mixed with the center section from a 300C (because I like the clock). Although the PT Cruiser had the window switches mounted high in the middle of the dash, now, I will use the '06 Charger door lock and window switches and they will be located in the doors. My goal is to have a dash that looks refined and relatively modern. With all that in mind, I have a full donor dash on its way. Well... kind of. I know a local guy who has bought a few Chargers/300's/Magnums to part them out. Well, he's got some full dashes but we are having a tough time getting together. No doubt, we will. It's just a question of "when" it will happen. I want to take that full dash and decide how much of my dash I want to do in metal and how much I want to do in plastic.

While I am waiting on that dash (& dreaming of the combined dash I want to end up with) I am working on building my firewall so it fits around the engine, heat/air box as well as the ECM. An added benefit of using the OEM heat/air box is the fact that I will be able to use the factory A/C lines from a Charger/300C/Magnum. It's so nice to be able to open a browser to RockAuto and "simply order" the A/C lines.

Oh yea... I also am in the middle of adding some supports between the strut towers and the A-Pillar of the truck. I still think I'll need to add a strut brace that will go right to left across the engine bay, but these supports I'm in the middle of adding will be a great start to building the strength back into this truck.

My connection to the Internet is pretty terrible right now so I'll have to link pictures of what I have so far and where I am aiming later. Hopefully, yet today.

 

[BDL]

Today's Video Update: The first of what is sure to be a few updates on the dash and firewall

 

[BDL]

Here are some random pics of the dash and firewall area in progress... Nothing special, really. Oh, Also a quick sketch of what I'm thinking of for the dash and the firewall sheet metal ready for more measurements and lines where I'll end up cutting/bending.

 

[BDL]

Houston, we have a Fire (wall)!

I am pleased to announce the Panel Van now has a firewall that makes sense! Years ago, I had a mission to "put a firewall in." And I accomplished that mission. Since then, I have regretted that short-sighted mission time and time again! A firewall has to take into account all the controls that will eventually be mounted to the firewall. But it also has to accommodate the heat and air conditioning box as well as the whole dashboard. It's a bigger deal than I had originally considered seventeen years ago! Dude... Can you believe I've had this truck since 2001 and it still has only seen the road from a trailer and from behind a garage door?!?! Have I mentioned that I need to get this thing done?

Anyway. I need to take more in-process pictures and videos. Measuring everything (repeatedly) and spending so much time in the design phase has paid off. The result is a firewall that adds the rigidity the truck needed while allowing me to mount (most of) the '06 Charger heater/air box so it can be controlled by the stock Charger controls. I did run into a problem with the gas pedal. The way it is, I cannot go full-throttle as the pedal hits the floorboard DOH! Ok, so, it's not perfect. I'll either cut the end off the pedal or raise it up an inch or cut the floor out and drop it 2" or shim the pedal out from the firewall at the bottom or come up with some other creative way to address it. That's a problem for another day.

By the way, here's my tip of the day. When you download the videos off a Go-Pro, it's best to check those files before you delete them from the micro-SD card. The first video I have here is actually an update from work I did on Nov. 1 & 2. It's not a big deal to re-do a video, but it is annoying.

Update from Thursday Nov. 1st & Friday Nov. 2nd:


Time lapse from my work on Sunday Nov. 4th:


Update from the end of Sunday Nov. 4th:

 

[BDL]

I was thinking about the fresh air vent actuation.... These videos were taken in 2014, so they need to be redone, but they are an attempt to show the actuation of the fresh air vent.

Opening:


Closing:


And from the inside. Again... From 2014, so please excuse the video quality:

 

[BDL]

Here are some pictures I took from the update videos...

Firewall from the outside on the driver side:

Firewall from the outside on the passenger side:

Engine compartment:

Firewall from the inside on the passenger side:

Firewall from the inside on the driver side:

Brake and Go Pedals from the inside on the driver side:

 

[BDL]

Wire Harness Time! I laid all the wiring out for the Panel Van last night so I could get a handle on what was there, what I still need, what needs to change and what needs to stay the same. The wiring harness for this truck is a mashup of several harnesses that I put together to create one that does everything I need it to do (I think). The main engine harness (along with the ABS module, gas pedal, TIPM, ECU, TCU & Instrument Cluster) is from a single donor '06 Charger R/T (5.7L engine). The main interior harness & the dash wiring harness & steering wheel are from a donor '06 Charger SXT (3.5L engine). The door wiring harnesses and window mechanisms for the front doors are from an '07 300 (2.7L engine). I spent some tedious time re-pinning several broken or mangled or missing connectors (most on the engine harness) and finally believe I have a good place to start laying everything out. The main harness that goes through the interior of the truck will need to be re-worked to re-locate one of the back (side) door connectors to the right panel van door on the rear of the vehicle. The Trunk mechanism wiring will be removed. The rear window motor wiring will be re-routed to control the exhaust dumps (one on each side of the vehicle). And, of course, the interior lighting wiring will have to be created and wired into the harness as well. The front wiring harness will need to be modified to handle the HID's I am using in the panel van. In addition, I will need to add and re-locate connectors for the turn signals on all four corners and the brake lights. I'll also need to decide whether I'm going to put in a hight-mount (third) brake light. Whew... Lots of stuff here!

Why did I jump to wiring??? Glad you asked! My effort is actually moving toward finishing up the firewall. But in order to do that, I need to figure out where a 3.5" hole and a 2" hole need to be drilled through the firewall for the wiring. If I drill these things in the right places that the stock engine harness does not need to be cut apart and lengthened, then someone else, later on, can more easily remove this little 5.7L Hemi and upgrade it to a 6.1 or even a Hellcat without having to chop up their harness. At least, that's the idea. I'm learning to try and think a few steps ahead. ...it's Not Easy for my feeble mind! ;)

All that said, I rambled on for even longer on an update video I made last night. It'll be uploaded to YouTube in a few hours (I hope). As soon as it's uploaded, it should be available at:

 

[snakeyes]

just caught back up on this thread all I can say is awsome awsome awsome