Friday, January 18, 2013

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Random vandom

Just random photos. All recent. All of these vans are out on the road.



































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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

What I'm up to.

Saw this 65 at skatepark. Turns out the owner is a 17 year old skater and he's had his van a year. Very cool!



This guy came out to our club meeting recently. His Chevy has a stock four cylinder. It's tiny!





Heres a 65 econo I did some striping on recently at an indoor car show and pinstripers charity auction








Here's a rat fink panel I painted recently for the charity auction.


Here's the aluminum dash skirt
I've been working on for a 52 Chevy pickup.


And last but not least my buddy Bj bought this 200 straight 6 from a 67 mustang to put in his 63 econo. Should be a good runner.


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Location:Here and there

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Issue 3 sold out

Hey Vanners issues 3 and 2 are presently sold out. I have 50 more of each on order. This is last call for issue 2. Issue 3 will probably get re printed until 500 copies. Issue two made it to 550 and I think that's plenty. Thanks for the support as always and again the webstore address is customvannermag.bigcartel.com.

In other news if you haven't layed your hands on a dirty Donny vantasy model kit yet you should. They are bitchin.




As always I like to share random photos I have on my phone.


Fourth nationals sticker



I loved the drawing of that econo.




Old school two color posters









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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Shipping delay

Hey Vanners issue 3 is selling fast. There is a shipping delay right now. I packed orders while I was at the council of councils in Florida but I did not ship any. So they start shipping out again today. If you ordered between the first and the fifth and you don't see your mag by next Wednesday send me an email. Otherwise sit tight and thanks for the order.

In other news issue 2 is sold out! It took some time but they are now gone.

Here are a few photos from Florida.













That's all vans by the way.









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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Custom vanner Issue 3

It's been some time since I have posted anything. I've been pretty busy with the fiberglass and magazine. Issue 3 has gone to press and will be in stock the 27th of January. I finally got with the times and made a webstore for the magazine. You can order mags and stickers from www.customvannermag.bigcartel.com.

The third issue focuses on art and graphics in the van scene, mostly concerning airbrushed art. There is an article on harold harnish, Interview with painter Ron Kassebaum, inside the club with wheels of confusion, several feature vans, vintage photos and more. I'll try to post a lil more often.





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Monday, October 10, 2011

65 econoline

My buddy jeff has his econoline up for sale hit him up for details
Nosanctuaryfries@aol.com







Friday, August 26, 2011

Dazed and confused

If you're in California in september ya should hit this event. Been around for a long time. Wheels of confusion is a great bunch of Vanners. They've been around since 73.





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Thursday, August 11, 2011

How to shorten a drive shaft

Ok so you're making a really bitchin van but the engine, trans, and rear are all different than stock and now you need a drive shaft. Here's a quick how to on shortening it your self. I have pictures for most of it but none for the very beginning. Sorry.

Determining what to take out: slide the yoke end of the drive shaft into the tail of the trans. Then pull it back out about 3/4 of an inch (that's what she said). Now measure from the center of the eye (the part of the joint that gets pressed in) on the u joint to the center of where the eye of the rear joint would be when bolted to the rear end. you now have your new drive shaft length. Now subtract that from the length of your current drive shaft. Thats how much to cut out.

Ok here comes the fun stuff! You need to scribe a straight line down the drive shaft. This line will allow you to keep your yokes in exact factory phase when you go to weld it back together. If you get the yokes out of phase you will end with vibration. Get out a metal scribe and a long straight edge. Put the straight edge down the length of the driveshaft centering it off the same u joint centers you used to measure the desired length earlier. Now choose where to make your first cut. This is up to you. Perhaps you want to retain a factory weight or get rid of a dent. It's up to you. Remember to take your time and get a straight cut. This helps a lot when welding it back together. We used a gravity style band saw
Which made for a very precise cut. We made our first cut about ten inches from the yoke. We needed to remove 25 1/2 inches from the shaft. Here we are measuring from the first cut to the Blade. Now would be a good time to double check your measurements.


Next we beveled our edges to give the weld a little v shape to lay in to. This helps with penetration ( that's what she said).


Now we take both pieces of the shaft and clamp it between two small pieces of u channel. Make sure you line up your scribed line and of course strip the area where you are going to weld.





If you look closely you can see our scribed center line.


Now place a few tack welds around it. Then finish up with a solid bead. Make sure you ground your welder to te drive shaft and not a u joint bearing. You can ruin the bearings. Putting in new bearings you say? Well then ground wherever you want.


Now grind down your welds. Don't go nuts. Just get it pretty smooth and be done with it.


Next check the fit in the car. This is a 34 ford so we had a pretty short length. 33 1/4 inches to be exact.


She fit like a glove! Now we will take it out and put in new u joints and have it balanced. Then we'll paint it. It's up to you whether you have it balanced or not. As long as you kept your yokes in phase you should be fine. I suppose it depends on the project and your pocket book. Balancing usually costs around $150. Give it a shot first and if you don't have vibration at highway speeds you did well. Good luck and be sure to wear safety equipment when working with power tools. Work smarter not harder.