Hi.....
I'm in Ohio and am restoring a 1964 Econoline panel van. First one I have owned since the 80's. They are still a fun ride.

Nice forum by the looks of it.

Here's a pic of what I'm starting with.

She has been upgraded before I got her with what looks to be a mid-70's 300 inline. She still retains the 3 on the tree tranny. It's a special order heavy duty suspension van also with a 9 inch rear.

Getting geared up to tackle a king pin/ front end repair and she should then be road worthy.

I'm hoping to pick the experts minds.

Cheers

 

It looks to be a solid van. There is a guy here that plans to restore a basket case up here. I would only use as a donor van. You got a good start there. Keep in touch with your progress.

 

Thanks.........she is solid as all heck. The underside is just great!
Just gotta do the king pins and line her up & she's on the road.

 

Thats righ I still have to do my kingpins also. They are wore out and you can see movement. What helped tighten my steering was new tie rods and stabiliser bushings and man that helped.

 

Yeah.........I'm gonna do it all and also add one of those steering stabilizer shocks for the bumps.

I love the old Econoline flatties...........had a couple in the old days.......toured the country in them.

 

WHen I was young I thought they were ugly. Now I look at them differently. My dad worked for a dry cleaners as a kid and they always had the vans. The metal racks for hanging clothes on we would hang on them like a bunch of monkeys while he was driving. Once he saw us he blast us to sit down on the wheel well or floor. Gave us a nickel or dime to wash the vans. Use to climb onto the roof to clean that area. Sadly that job paid minimun wage and rasing a family of 6. He eventually got on with Sears. Then we were able to afford to by jeans no more handme downs.

 

nice lookin truck good luck with it i have owned several vans over the years.workin on a 61 econo pick up right now just ordered new king pins and all new window rubber gettin ready for paint i actually learened how to drive stick in my dads 66 van back in the early seventies used to drive it up and down the driveway lol just remembered that good times it was mick

 

Some of my fondest memories are of all the foxy ladies I had in vans in the back row of the drive-in..............
AHhhhhhhhhhh..............the good old days.

 

OK.......TOOK A SHORT CUT........
found A VERY NICE LOW MILEAGE COMPLETE FRONT END OUT OF ANOTHER 64.

SWAPPED IT INTO MY VAN.

Everything was tight in it......king pins perfect. I cleaned it.lubed it......put it in.....did brakes and bearings while there.

Took her out today when I got done and ran her about 80 miles.highway and winding back roads.

ALL GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

NOW...........on to stripping and doing up the inside.

YEHAW!!!!!!

OH YEAH...........I plan to rebuild the axle I removed and keep it back.......do this at my leisure.

Turns out it did have worn king pins but the real problem was somebody jacked it up on the tie-rod!!!!!!!! Bent it bad and this threw off the alignment. OH.......and the wheel bearing were loose as a goose!

ALL GOOD NOW.