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My '77 B-200 Tradesman Resto Project #211616
02/02/09 01:27 AM
02/02/09 01:27 AM
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,065
Milwaukee, WI
In_The_Pink Offline OP
master
In_The_Pink  Offline OP
master

Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 9,065
Milwaukee, WI
Yep, you read right, I'm restoring a van. B-vans, the other B-bodies.

Here is what the van looked like a few months after I bought it (purchased in June '04):





Yes, those are vintage Appliance Mojock wheels on mismatched tires. It was a typical ed out late '70s van. It was customized in '78 by Red-E-Kamp in SoCal, and had many of the typical custom van additions- 14"x14" smoke-tint roof vent, four vinyl swivel-base bucket seats, convert-to-bed rear bench seat, lots of cheap plywood and filthy blue carpeting (not shag, though), urethane fender flares and front spoiler, CB, overhead console, etc. The second day it was home, I tore out the OH console, panelling and carpet, removed the rear door spare tire mount, and basically cleaned it up. I removed the broken roof vent and put a piece of plexiglass in it's place so I could fit the van in my garage.

By August of '04, I decided to remove the engine and have it rebuilt, since the valve seals were totally shot and it puffed immense plumes of blue smoke upon start-up. I had well over 100k miles, so it was time for an engine rebuild in the winter of '04/'05.

It looked like this in June of '05 once the engine was back in:




I added a 4-bbl Eddy 1406 carb and Performer manifold, Hedman hedders, and built a dual exhaust system using mandrel bends and tubing. I added some white panelling inside (to keep the sheet metal from getting damaged in case of any wayward cargo) and some grey carpet to spruce up the floor and provide a non-slip surface. I used the van for work, but when I got wind that these vans could be had with 4-speed transmissions, the next major step came about...

Following a tip from a salvage yard owner, I visited Jack's Auto Ranch one very wet day in August, in search of the needed 4-speed related parts. After three hours of walking in the rain, I stumbled upon this little slice of heaven:



A '77 B-100 shorty with a 318/4-speed combo, all of it intact! Needless to say, I spent the next two hours removing everything I needed to convert my van, and it was time well spent. You can rear about the 4-speed conversion HERE .


Once all of the 4-speed relevant parts were cleaned up and the trans was rebuilt, I removed the old 727 and swapped in the new A-833 4-speed one weekend in August of '05. I also removed the 8-3/8" rearend and rebuilt it at the same time since the ring and pinion gears were heavily worn (that all too familiar *clunk* when dropping the trans into reverse ). What!? No 8-3/4" rear? you say. Nah, the 8-3/8" handles the 200 ponies just fine. New bearings, an LSD carrier, and a 3.55 ring and pinion gear set later and the rearend was back together. One week after removal of the 727 and rearend, the new and improved van was ready for it's break-in run. Holy smokes was it ever worth the wait! The feel of driving a 4-speed van is very different than a car given the seat height and length of the shifter stick, but it's a blast to drive.

Fast forward to November of '05, when the below pic was taken:




We had an early snowfall, and shortly after this pic was taken, I decided to take the van off the road and start the restoration process. The 27 year old lacquer was holding up very well, but there were signs of past issues that needed to be addresses sooner rather than later. I could see evidence of a previous RF fender repair, and though it looked decent on the outside, I could tell there was some not-so-good work done in this area looking inside the wheel well. Fortunately, in October of '05 I purchased this '71 Sportsman from Mike, a fellow Mopar fan in Green Bay, WI:




...which I quickly dismantled and cut-up, keeping many of the good parts for later use, which turned out to be a wise move on my part.

Back on the '77, I started disassembling and removing things from the front end so I could get a better idea of what type of half-repaired damage I was going to have to fix. I soon discovered the RF fender had lots of plastic filler in it, and the front edge of the pass. door was tweaked, too. Digging deeper, I noticed the front bumper brace was also slightly bent (which explained the shimmed and mis-aligned front bumper) and the inner fender pieces were slathered with seam sealer, rather than bodyworked back into position as they should've been. In light of all these areas needing work, I decided to use the same areas from the '71 parts van to repair the '77. I broke out the in short order and got busy cutting.

After many hours of careful cutting, grinding, drilling out spotwelds (OMG there are lot in a van with welded on fenders), and measuring, all of the damaged pieces were off, and the van looked something like this at the right front on 12/31/05:



Then I had to fit the '71's fender and inner fender as well as a new front bumper brace from a salvage yard van in place:






After much more measuring and test fitting, everything was aligned and ready to be welded in place. Some further massaging would be necessary, but everything fit well and all of the bolt-on parts were in their correct positions, so it did the final sheetmetal welding and added some seam sealer to the (now much tigheter fitting) joints:



With the RF corner now done and the weather warming up, I set my sights on the LF fender which at one point had been heavily dented, partially pulled out with a dent puller, and covered with a thick layer of plastic filler:



...so that had to come off, too:



I cleaned the flanges up and test fit the '71 LF fender:



It was a great fit, which was a pleasant surprise at this point. I used a fiber disc to remove any surface rust from the cavity behind the fender and applied two coats of black PPG DP-LF primer:



The '71 fender was welded in place, and one final test fit of all front end parts was done:



With the front of the van in good shape, I turned my attention to the doors. The '71's rear cargo doors and RF door were all straight, clean, and had no holes nor dents, and almost zero rust, so they were used instead of the original doors. There was also the door handle changeover issue, which made the decision a little easier. More on that in later posts.





The next project was removing the awning windows that were cut into the rear upper 1/4 panels in '78...
I'll make that another post so the dial-up users don't ask Tom to ban me.

Re: My '77 B-200 Tradesman Resto Project [Re: In_The_Pink] #211617
02/02/09 10:27 AM
02/02/09 10:27 AM
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,828
east side of Ohio
basketcase Offline
master
basketcase  Offline
master

Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,828
east side of Ohio
very nice. wouldn't mind having one of those myself. I roade around in a '90 B van for two years delivering truck parts.


Dave


1981 Dodge D150 360 auto
Re: My '77 B-200 Tradesman Resto Project [Re: In_The_Pink] #211618
02/02/09 12:15 PM
02/02/09 12:15 PM
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 82
Austria
3eighty3 Offline
member
3eighty3  Offline
member

Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 82
Austria
Respect for your work! I can imagine it's pretty difficult to pull a project like that through because there aren't a lot of reproduction parts for a van out there...


thomas
_____________________________________________
cuda blog

Re: My '77 B-200 Tradesman Resto Project [Re: 3eighty3] #211619
02/02/09 02:55 PM
02/02/09 02:55 PM
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,376
Back In Iowa
B
belv2vert66 Offline
pro stock
belv2vert66  Offline
pro stock
B

Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,376
Back In Iowa
Excellent Work !!!! I have been eyeing a few of those vans around here. Too rotton for me so far but I like them !!!!

Re: My '77 B-200 Tradesman Resto Project [Re: In_The_Pink] #211620
02/02/09 06:28 PM
02/02/09 06:28 PM
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,445
N.Wilkesboro,NC
D
DusterKrazy Offline
master
DusterKrazy  Offline
master
D

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 3,445
N.Wilkesboro,NC
Alright! This is what Im talking about!

Re: My '77 B-200 Tradesman Resto Project [Re: In_The_Pink] #211621
02/02/09 09:01 PM
02/02/09 09:01 PM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,730
elyria, ohio
7
72gtx4speed Offline
top fuel
72gtx4speed  Offline
top fuel
7

Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,730
elyria, ohio
this definately is not your run of the mill resto. good looking work. good luck with the rest of the job.

clem


when i grow up i want to be just like sunroofgtx, god please don't let me grow up.
Re: My '77 B-200 Tradesman Resto Project [Re: 72gtx4speed] #211622
02/02/09 11:13 PM
02/02/09 11:13 PM
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,704
MICHIGAN
DynoDave Offline
master
DynoDave  Offline
master

Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,704
MICHIGAN
I always loved these vans. What an awesome project.

Next time you have a half hour to kill, and want to read a humorous B-van related story, check this out.

Goatfolks


DynoDave
Walter P. Chrysler Club - Great Lakes Region
Member # 12304
1970 Plymouth Duster
1972 Dodge Charger Rallye
https://wichargerguy.proboards.com/
1977 Chrysler Cordoba






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