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The CAMMERVAN!

4K views 37 replies 16 participants last post by  JohnnyJ 
#1 ·
Since there was some interest in the pub in this wildhair idea I have, I'm going to post up the build so far. May not get updated often since I don't get a lot of time for projects, but I really would like to have this thing mobile and under it's own power next summer.


It all started when I was on the road, bored in a hotel room and randomly surfing the web. I found a Pontiac OHC six on ebay for $300, with a make offer option. The seller was claiming he would scrap it if it did not sell this time.

It was just the base, 67 230 with the 1bbl engine, not the more powerful and desirable Sprint 4bbl version, but it's still a cool looking motor and I thought it would be neat to build a stand for it as garage art and just be able to fire it up.

I sent him an offer of $200, and he accepted. He was only about a half hour from where I was staying, so I drove right over and picked it up.

Got an extra cam and housing, and an extra distributor with it too.







When I got home I powerwashed it, it was surprisingly clean under all the dust!





I started getting a lot of questions as to what I had planned to put it in, and I really hadn't thought about it. Mentioned that I would like to put it in an early Chevy van, since I had never seen that done.

Well, a friend of mine out in Six Lakes called me up and said he had a 65 that he was originally going to build for his wife, but had since found an original Dodge Street Van she preferred.... and he needed to make some room. We agreed on $400 and I went out to pick it up.





Towed it home with the 95 F150... got about 2 miles from home and the clutch pushrod broke on the truck, had to get the trailer towed home, and then the pickup, by one of my son's friends. Next morning, bought a new clutch master cylinder, grabbed the push rod and installed it, 15 minutes later I was unloading the prize.... that winch in the bed came in handy....



And so it begins!

 
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#5 ·
The van had a 230 Chevy six in it when I got it, I made it run to determine whether or not it was scrap, and then pulled it out.

Carburetors are sooo over rated.



With carb:










Sold that engine for $300 to a guy that cracked the block in his Mercruiser.

Figured it was time to see if the OHC was a runner.



It's got some blowby, but I will deal with that later.

The engine crossmember needs to be 2" lower and 2 1/2" rearward to match up with the Pontiac motor mounts, so I made up these blocks.

 
#7 ·
There is a lot of these that got chopped in the 70's. There are no less that a dozen people on the van forums who have threatened to chop my top off if I touch the sheetmetal on this van. It does not have an extra hole cut anywhere.

Here's a 2nd gen that got a LOT of body mods by people with actual talent.

 
#15 ·
Lol, this is awesome!

Oddly, the guy I bought my C10 from, was selling it to get one of these vans lol. I wonder if he did?

Also, I have one of those Pontiac wheels, it came in the back of the C10 when i bought it lol. If you're ever in Ionia, and it's of any use to you, you're welcome to it. I just keep it because it looks cool.
 
#16 ·
I really like the Look those Pontiac wheels give it.

I was working in Harrison about 15 yrs ago when there happened to be a huge van show starting that weekend. There must've been 200+ vans in town, I couldn't believe how crazy some of those vans were! I got stuck behind an old dodge van with a blown alcohol hemi that was rear mounted, with jet boat style headers sticking out where the doors should've been. I'll never forget how much my throat and eyes burned waiting for the damn stop light to turn green lol.


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#22 ·
VThe reason to go through that ( and it was really super easy with the extractor kit) was because the guy I bought the van from recommended checking the rear axles since early 10 bolts are known for wasted axles.

He was right.







He had given me a set of good axles with the van, so, I installed new bearings and seals and the rear should be good for another 50 years, LOL.
 
#28 ·
Got the trans crossmember from Speedway, I can't make this for the $60 they charge.



Got one of the HF scissor jack style transmission jacks. I honestly do not know how I used to swap out transmissions before I got this.



Used a magnetic angle finder to match the angle of the trans to the pinion angle, and bolted the mount to the frame rails. I will be adding some angle reinforcements

 
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