Sammy's CF Bedford Van

[Sammy]

so I went and got some paint for the exhaust today and while I was there I noticed they had a royal blue spray can, so I grabbed one just as a bit of a tester to see what it would look like

and I also layed a bit of black on the exhaust, I wasn't sure if it was gloss or not, it looks like its a satin finish, im fine with that

I also extended the pipe off the back of the muffler with the 3 inch pipe I had left and it just managed to go past the diff .... anyways that extra piece has made a considerable difference to the loudness, I wouldn't be surprised if as it is it would pass a noise test once the pipes out the back!

on that note I took a little video from the rear of the sound - and my dog photo bombed

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dRuRpCIHkM

[Sammy]

So now that the engine cover is kinda mostly worked out and reasonably complete I wanted to put the dash back together and start working out some of the smaller mounts, also while I had it all out I mounted up the brake controller and 2 way brackets

also finally decided on a location for the fuse panel, not the best to look at but there's not a lot of options that keep it plenty far away from the pedals, i'll probably make some sort of cover one day anyways....

slowly starting to look more complete!

aside from this stuff, i've been mostly doing small wiring stuff, got the park/neutral/reverse switches and wires all connected on the shifter finally, and I wired the 2 way into the radio power on the loom, so its just another plug and also turns off with the ignition!

and last but not least, I have tested the 2 cruise modules I had, one that came with the 304 and one from a VX, both of them don't do anything in my van so I tested them on my brothers VS ute and they do nothing on it, so I grabbed his module and I can at least get it to do the first part of the diagnostics where it moved the throttle to 20% and back, so I know most of the wiring is alright .... I have a replacement module on the go so once I get that should hopefully just about be done with the cruise control once I find a spot to mount it!

so now the cruise is ok I'm just about ready to call the loom finished! just need to extend one or two bits to suit the different location of the shifter and then probably be done!

this weekend is looking like its pretty free of duties so the missus and I are hoping to put a lot of time into our hobbies 

[Sammy]

the old vans been pretty neglected over the last few months, have been doing jobs of a heap of friends cars/motors/wiring stuff .... finally got most all of them done, on the up side it has given me time to save money for goodies

I've also finally worked out where i wanted to put the engine computer, so drilled a big hole under the passenger seat for it, it will eventually be tin plated around that seat from similar to the original bases so will be a nice little hidy hole for the computer.

just need to re-route some wiring to its new location.

I also bought some new shockies for the van, the old ones were as best as I can describe, totally stuffed! its certainly much more rigid when pushing the suspension up and down now!

i also noticed the front shocks are stamped with GM, so more than likely the originals! rears were Monroe, but certainly very old and crusty looking!

hopefully more progress in the next few months, really trying to get stuck into it now the weather is warmer.

[Sammy]

oh i also forgot to mention, i have finished the exhaust off! well aside from some black paint on the end! but shes all done, nice and deep note but quiet!

[johnb44]

looking real good :-)

[Sammy]

so I wasn't real happy with the 2 bolt flanges on my exhaust, I couldn't get them to seal so I cut them off and put 4 bolt flanges on, and while I was at it I actually finished painting it all!

I've also got stuck into finishing off the engine cover more! its coming along nicely!

unfortunately I ran out of cutting discs so will have to wait before I can do more on it!

[Gunning]

Looking good Sammy, I'm impressed with the dash, looks to fit nicely

[Sammy]

yeah I was surprised at how easy it fit in, I guess the good thing about a Bedford is its wider than a commodore so you don't need to cut down a dash to fit etc!

[Sammy]

little bit more progress, I have finished grinding the welds on the engine cover and gave it a coat of primer to keep it from rusting away!

I've also started forming up some angle iron that's going to be the base structure of the engine cover, and I have just on the weekend purchased and collected a holden crewman diff with plans to lengthen and install it hopefully in the coming weeks/months!

I think I can almost start to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel!

[Gunning]

That's good to hear Sammy, from the pics it's looking real good, it's obvious alot of work been done, great stuff