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Got me an 83 Mini van
https://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39576
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Author:  6shotvanner [ Sat Mar 27, 2010 8:22 am ]
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"I get to talk to weirdo van people all the time" now come on Reed,I represent that fact :lol: Oh and so others know us vanners are now refering to the rear couch/bed unit as a F&F unit,it stands for Flip and F---. :shock: Actually at my age it's a F&N,Flip and Nap :cry: :)

Author:  volaredon [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:09 pm ]
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you have a 318? that MPG is definitely LOW. I was able to get 16 (town)-20 (hwy) out of my 87 long wheel-base model 250(but not a "maxi") and it still had its Lean Burn.
Holley 2280 non feedback.

Author:  Reed [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:46 pm ]
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Quote:
"I get to talk to weirdo van people all the time" now come on Reed,I represent that fact :lol: Oh and so others know us vanners are now refering to the rear couch/bed unit as a F&F unit,it stands for Flip and F---. :shock: Actually at my age it's a F&N,Flip and Nap :cry: :)
Nah, I like vanners. Weirdos are cool because they make life interesting. If I don't have a rear couch/bed in my van does that make me a vanning monk? :lol:


I know the 10 MPG is low. Then van runs OK, but nowhere near as good as it should. I need to remove the original (!) catalytic converter, give it a serious tune-up, and get the kickdown fixed. It has 2.9 rear gears, so it should be getting much better mileage than 10 MPG. When I get the time, I need to spend a day or to going through all the little stuff- looking for vacuum leaks, checking the carb settings, checking the plugs and gap, etc... Maybe sometime this week...

Author:  Joshie225 [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:56 pm ]
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Is the exhaust crossover in the manifold open and does the heat riser valve in the exhaust manifold work? My van was cold blooded and got bad mileage when the crossover was blocked with carbon.

Author:  Reed [ Sun Mar 28, 2010 10:16 pm ]
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Dunno. Haven't gotten that far yet. The van isn't cold blooded: it starts right up and runs passably well. I am pretty sure there are lots of other small issues, but I am going to check the crossover and the heat riser.

Author:  6shotvanner [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:23 am ]
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Reed I've mentioned this before but now that you have a v8...
You say that it's been de-leanburned right? So check the dist shaft for side to side play and air-gap.Been through that on a couple LA's over the years,symptons;mileage kept going down and eventually power but always started right up and seemed to be running fine.Since it's been converted no telling what dist(or it's condition/miles)is in there and the shaft bushing do wear out over time.Knowing you I'll bet you're already maping out a dist recurve anyway :)

Author:  Reed [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:35 am ]
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Actually, it never had lean-burn to begin with, as far as I can tell by just peeking under the hood. I need to spend a day under the doghouse to be sure, but I think this van always has had normal electronic ignition and no computer on the carb. I have a reman smallblock points distributor that has tight bushings around the shaft. I will probably swap the wieghts and springs and electronic ignition guts form the current distributor into that one.

I hear you about the distributors going bad. A few weeks back I helped Eric W with a intermittent no-start problem in his 84 5th Ave and it turned out to be excessively worn bushings in the distributor. The shaft would wobble so much that the reluctor would come into contact with the pickup in the distributor. But if I pulled on the distributor body while Eric cranked the motor, it would start up and run.

I'll map out the spark curve one of these days. My free time for wrenching has mostly been spent on my brother's 83 shorty van with a slant six. I finally managed to fix the noisy valves and pinging problem he has had. Now he can bury the needle in the van and only gets pinging between 75-85. I'll still need to do some fine tuning, but I am pretty sure I almost have his motor dialed in. Whew.

Right now I am working to source an Edelbrock SP2P or Offy dual-port intake for my 318 and a 400-500 CFM carb to top it off. I need to sell some parts though. The purchase of this van has pretty much emptied my petty cash fund. :?

Author:  SlantSixDan [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:41 am ]
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RS, talk to me when we get out to Seattle next month. I have SP2P and nice new phenolic large-pattern 2bbl adaptor for it.

Author:  hellion_locdogg [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:46 am ]
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Sweet Shag'n Wagon. You should "Mr T" that thing out, or go surfer style on it. Maybe a big mural down both sides.

Author:  Reed [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:19 am ]
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Dan- Will do! :D

Author:  Reed [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:22 am ]
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Quote:
Sweet Shag'n Wagon. You should "Mr T" that thing out, or go surfer style on it. Maybe a big mural down both sides.
Oh man, there is so much more to custom vans than Mr. T, surfers, and Scooby-Doo: http://www.showtrux.com/showvans/01vans/dodges.html

Author:  hellion_locdogg [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:38 am ]
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There is a range from cool to hideous. I'm sure you will do a taseful restore on it. Have fun on your new project!

,Cliff

Author:  Reed [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:55 am ]
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I don't know. Every time I get a van and I think about fixing it up, I waver between a clean, mostly stock look and metallic purple, green and blue exterior with gorilla fur interior. :twisted: I'll probably keep it mostly stock, though. :roll:

Author:  Eric W [ Mon Mar 29, 2010 2:20 pm ]
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Hey Reed, if I can get the water pump bypass hose fitting and stuff for my Performer manifold, maybe we can swap manifolds and carbs this weekend... :idea:

Author:  Reed [ Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:11 pm ]
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I played hookie for a day and went up to a junkyard and grabbed as many parts as I could afford off of a vintage 79 customized van that was going to be crushed. I wish I could have gotten more, or the whole van, since it looked like it could have driven out of there and easily been put back on the road. Oh well, you can't save them all.

One of the things I grabbed was the full set of four American Racing "hurricane" rims that even had fairly new light truck tires in the right size for my van! Yay! I got two mounted and I need to get the other two on. They should clean up nice when I get around to it. They look WAY better than those spray painted stock steel rims.

Image

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