Thanks Charlie, Thanks Dave! It's great to have someone watching the build AND seeing the vision! This van has been done in my head for years... I know what it will look like and I am feeling really good about the final product. It will be done right AND done well.
Thank You for the compliments.


I have been chomping at the bit all week to get out to the shop. We got about 3 inches of snow last night so I blew off drining 65 miles into work today. Stayed home and worked on the van. (After shoveling walks and driveways of course...)
TechRod, by all means get a thread going! Some of the computer and electrical stuff you are doing is crazy!
Mel came out after I called him. He worked on the floor patches, notching the old xmbr so it will fit over the K braces and making plug weld flanges. he layed out the notches and cut them out with the sawzall and plasme cutter.
http://images50.fotki.com/v1530/phot...MVC006F-vi.jpg
He cut a piece of 2" DOM down the middle and fit the halfs into the notches he made.
http://images57.fotki.com/v505/photo...MVC012F-vi.jpg
All welded up and grinding down the high spots.
http://images51.fotki.com/v102/photo...MVC016F-vi.jpg
While Mel was working on all of that I was building this contraption to set the height for the top of the new inner wheel houses. This gives me a hard reference point for height AND a place to clamp too.
http://images35.fotki.com/v1154/phot...MVC004F-vi.jpg
It will stay in place while I build both sides.
http://images30.fotki.com/v479/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
I used posterboard to make the RH pattern. This is the difficult side because I have to work around the bottom of the slider door track. It is directly behind the inner sheet metal and protrudes into the wheel well about an inch and a half.
http://images51.fotki.com/v102/photo...MVC023F-vi.jpg
This pic is from underneath so you can see the track and how I had to jog the panel around it.
This is the fit I am looking for. It won't be welded to the outer. The inner panel will get welded and this gap will get filled with seam sealer.
http://images45.fotki.com/v1310/phot...MVC022F-vi.jpg
http://images57.fotki.com/v505/photo...MVC019F-vi.jpg
Once the pattern was made I could start cutting steel. I cut a hunk of 18ga with the old Pexto. That machine handles the heavier gage a bit easier than the 3 in 1 does...
Laid out the pattern, cut out the shape, put a bit of a bend on it to conform to the old inner well and set it in place for a look see...
http://images32.fotki.com/v1090/phot...MVC003F-vi.jpg
After a couple more ins-n-outs I had the shape real close.
http://images12.fotki.com/v20/photos...MVC006F-vi.jpg
This is the fit-up underneath. I wanted to keep the new steel away from the outer by about an 1/8th inch. It's real close to that and it will seal up nice.
http://images60.fotki.com/v361/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
There is a little more finagaling to do but I think it's real close right now. I put in a few Cleco's and called it a day.
http://images56.fotki.com/v362/photo...MVC007F-vi.jpg
The Cleco's are half an inch from the edge of the inner. The new panel will get trimmed to this edge and welded in once I have all of the fabricating on both tubs complete.
http://images54.fotki.com/v104/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
Thanks for looking
Mark