Well.. Ive never owned a van but I came across this for 1000.00,,, clean body 97k

460 with a C-6.. this was the bad boy of the day
[I]It was a conversion van..bathtub top... with funky brown and yellow tweed and dark paneling ..shades of the 70s..
The floor was covered in wood for the buildup and underneath its all in good shape.. surface rust stuff only

I have decided to strip it all the way.. body off... blast all the rust.. removed all the chrome and do dads from nearly 40 years of RV'ing.. which made for 10 hefty trash bags of junk and a bunch of funky old wood on the burn pile
Ill have a bunch of questions and as always appreciate the expertise on here

The transmission was on its last legs so Ive already pulled it for an upgrade red clutches rv convertor deep pan.. and a couple of c6 tricks .. I wasn't going to do the motor other than gaskets but Im so far into it I think its probably worth pulling.. its life was unknown but from the good ol boy publications stuffed behind the insulation I bet it had a hard life...

The valuable thing about this van is that it is pre-smog... which is such a killer here in California.. so I intend on making it run the way it should... removing (for testing purposes only mind you.. smog *****) anything that reduces performance ,mileage or just plain weight

Im toying around converting it to 4 x 4..more on that later

Here's some pics of the tear down... and a question or two while I'm waiting for a manual to arrive

Thanks all

notme



A round canister with the fuel lines leading to it was bolted to passenger frame rail below the passenger seating area.. tanks. I assume its some kind of evaporative canister... goes to the carburetor.. if I eliminate it can I just put a vent on the gas line?



Junk from the RV conversion.. UGLY!!!!







All cleaned out... surface rust will be blasted then Ill coat the entire interior with extreme liner




The only rust of issue was the battery boxes.. typical from batteries over 35 years.. I will blast it.. remove the boxes and move them inside into an aluminum battery box



I need a right fender... thanks for those who helped me already on that

 

the round thing is your charcoal canister. Surprsied to see one on a '75 You can get rid of it but your van will smell like gas. If you plug the vent on top of the tank you can just use a vented lid. Either way it wont' pass smog if they smog where you are. I thought even in california you weren't allowed to remove emissions equipment when it was originally equipped. No performance benefits to deleting it, it just basically passes the gas vapors up where they get sucked by engine vaccuum and burned up. If its not hooked up or you just want to simplify you can get rid of it. The vans and the trucks did not share very many parts so you may want to try posting in the sister forum for 68 and up full size vans. Lots of knowledgeable van guys in there: 1968 - Present Full Size Vans - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

 

Thank you about the van forum... I never realized it existed here... if a mod reads this please delete this.. I have moved everything over to the van forum

As to smog.. State and Feds prohibit removal of anything as we know
California law does not require smog on anything pre 75.... there are mobile sniffers and chp that could do a roadside inspection but so far they are not here... and Ill be gone when if and when they begin ( were lucky to have any coppers on the road at all with our budget)

I thought it was the charcoal canister and I realize those dont affect performance at all... in my case mine was trashed . I was just going to put a filtered vent on it and call it good

Thanks again

notme

 

Welcome to CA!

Evaporative Emission (evap/em) System introduced in 1970. It was mandatory in all sold new in CA 1970 Passenger Cars, F100's, Bronco's & E100's. Other states may have required it as well.

Within a coupla years, evap/em was mandatory in ALL sold new in CA Passenger Cars, F100/350's, E100/350's & Bronco's.

Evap/em: Fuel vapor valves are located at the top of the tanks. Lines route from these valves to the valve on the charcoal cannister.

A corrogated paper hose routes from the cannister to an elbow on the air cleaner.

Evap/Em: UNLEADED gas only! / Fuel caps: NON vented only! / The non vented caps have 4 staggerd "ears" on them (2 above, 2 below 180 degrees apart).

There are restrictors inside the evap/em only fuel filler tubes. These restrictors have 2 additional cut-outs for the 2 lower ears of the cap to twist into.

Back then, gas station nozzles came in two different diameters. Larger with leaded gas, smaller with unleaded gas. The restrictors would not allow a leaded gas nozzle to fit in.

When catalytic converters were introduced in 1975 (cars), 1977 (some trucks), people knocked the restrictors out so they could use leaded gas which was cheaper and more readily available than unleaded gas.

Some people 'gutted' the converters, removed the charcoal. Some were unaware, so didn't and it wasn't long before the leaded gas melted the charcoal, pushing it into the muffler.

So, it wasn't too long before their vehicles sounded like vacuum cleaners headin' on down the road! And pretty soon, their vehicles died along the road...muffler plugged solid!

CA smog tests: In order to avoid them, people registered their vehicles out of state. A phone call to one state's DMV was all it took to get their plates once the 10 buck fee was paid.

Pal of mine was attended the CHP academy, had a 1976 Ranchero, all the emission parts were removed. Ranchero was registered in the state that only required the phone call (I know which state, not sayin').

He was pulled over for speeding by the Sacramento polizei, CA drivers license, out of state plates. He was NAILED to the cross by the polizei & DMV.

Cost him a small fortune to reinstall all the emission parts, re-register it in CA and pay the FAT penalty fees! He was so PO'd that he quit the CHP academy a week before graduating, went back to work at Lockheed.

 

number dummy: I have the exact cap youre talking about. It was on the filler neck of a bed that had the exposed fuel caps (the kind before they started using fuel doors). the bed was on a '79 so obviously not factory. I reused that filler neck on my flatbed, but my tank is not vented (the tank under the '79 wasn't vented either). Can you find vented fuel tanks to fit that style, with the 2 high ears and 2 low ears?