alright i got 2 buddy's ready to go to Ontario tomorrow, we gonna jump on the rear end first bolt in those air shocks then measure and align the rear axle left/right wise (axle pads not welded yet), start plumbing the air hoses and electricals for the air compressor, eyeball an alignment cuz last time after installing the spindles/coils my front wheels looked like this \---/ . If i can get all that done il attend to my engine noise, open the console to access the valve covers then chec if i can see anything obvious, if not il just inspect the rockers for any sights of wear, was at my dad's this weekend he poped the covers of the 350 he has on the engine stands and took a rocker off, so i got a better idea wat to expect/look at as i have no experience.

also i have one of my front shocks busted so il be ordering lowered truck shocks, chances are il stick with DJM components as both my coils/spindle are DJM, i e-mailed to make sure i chose the right shocks

This post was edited by BlueAndWhite on Feb 12 2013 09:53am

i have no pics of Wednesdays work so i will post a wall of text

the compressor is installed and connected electrically, the air lines are connected to the front bags, but my rear line is not compatible with the air shocks, i need to mate my 1/4od hose to a shrader valve (my rear T is shrader then splits into 2 tiny lines all the way to each rear strut) the fitting i need is actually what i got on the front bags so i know it exists il e-mail air lift to see if they can provide me with one.

anyways we plugged the rear air line with a screw and used my bicycle pump on the rear shrader valve to inflate the rear struts, and tried the compressor system witch worked great once we fixed a leak in the front T line.
those 1/4od air lines are far from flexible and will make mounting my air pressure gauges hell on earth for sure, just routing them around the under body was hell they try to coil up on you all the time and cause lots of stress on the couplings.

Now that i am nearing the end of this whole suspension modification i have a couple adjustments and bugs to work out

even with my 130 psi in my rear struts the axle still touches the bump stops, kind of normal since i did not chop anything and didnt ''c'' notch the frame. but its not like the van is sitting on them to much.( i can push the van down on them with my hands on bumper)
to fix this il get some lift shackle made with 1/2'' lift holes and adjust it (prob cut off some of the bump stop since is like 3'' long and its braket is 1/2 lower then the frame) so that would give me around 5'' of travel before the axle actually hits the frame.( this is not an off road van) i tried summit and jegs, they dont carry 1978 chevy van shackles i can buy then modify, so either i get mine modified or either i get some built from scratch. I will check with this i guy i know that just opened a welding shop and see what he thinks would work best and if new ones come to be needed il check with local parts stores.Il google to see if anyone makes chevy van lift shackles

On the front end
my front passenger side seems lower then the driver side, at first i tough it was because i still had 1 of my rear struts in, witch was bottomed out with the drop(rear driver side) and it push the driver side upwards thus pushing the front passenger side downwards ( note all front struts are busted lol). we inflated all my tires to 35 psi( had deflated them to fit trough the garage door but now with the drop it clears nicely )
the truck did level out a bit but my guess is one of the front coils must not be seated properly. Worse case scenario my whole frame is twisted... and i commit suicide ??? profit. i dont believe it is, with front and back struts busted last summer i could take my hands off the wheel and the van never shifted direction so im pretty sure it is strait.

front brake lines
with the 3'' drop spindle moving the whole brake caliper mounting location 3'' higher my brake line is pressed against the top ball joint nut and will wear it out if i drive it like that


edit: just found oem shackles for 22$ a piece and i was thinking that maybe if i switch the right brake line with the left one they will clear the ball joint nut

This post was edited by BlueAndWhite on Feb 15 2013 01:46pm

NO
this thread is not dead, giving you guys a heads up and update on the situation, i just signed a lease for an apartment and definitely need the van to move my stuff but that's in July. Tomorrow i can legally drive the van around on its non winter tires but its not road worthy yet.
This Saturday il be making a quick trip to Ontario to work on the van with 2 of my budys, they have been tagging along since the beginning im very happy with the help
Then main event will be eyeballing a alignment on the front wheels, i purchased dollar store cookie trays for this, il sit the front tires on the trays witch il put on cardboard to make sure they slip around.
connect the rear compressor line to rear struts with a fucking fuel line on clamps cuz i cant buy the dam fittings anywhere
with that done il be doing a whole bunch of diagnostic/measuring and maybe install some gauges (suspension air pressure/water temp/oil pressure/rpm/volt)
check my brake line fitment/thread fittings to order some that will clear my top balljoint
recheck the damper and crank/wp pulleys so i can make sure i dont order stuff for nothing.
measure front ride height to order the proper drop struts
measure wheel width/backspace to order proper smoothies ( i want to order 5 of these to have that chrome smoothie spare on the back door ) might go larger in the rear if the measurements conclude i can.

not sure how much of all this il get done but if i want to order my stuff i need to get my shit right, might get it on the roads next week to get my axle welded to the pads

with an allignement it will drive and brake, good enought to get around short distances, but with the rubber brake lines rubbing against the ball joint nuts might as well play russian roulette

This post was edited by BlueAndWhite on Mar 14 2013 06:20pm

Got some progress on this project this weekend, Identified the engine noise issu, pluegged the rear compressor line to the struts, mounted the air line gauges, measured ride hieght and rim back space/width and started marking the dash for some gauge instalation.

I could not get the alignment done, my tie rods are completely seized , even after heating them with the bernzo and using a 24'' pipe wrench i could not get them to turn so i said fuck it and il be ordering new ones.

here is the pics or gtfo section

this one is the compressor installed on one of the ''steps'' of the ladder frame

here is the rear air line T i made out of 5/16 fuel line, it leaked with this set up so i took it appart put some rubber coating gravel gard( all i had, if this fails il make sure to have rtv silicone next time) on the fittings and added 1 more clamp on each side, did not test for leaks yet, i wanted it to dry all together,


this is my front brake line, going strait into the balljoint nut, unfortunately i can not simply rotate that block as the hard line is into some kind of guide. might just flip them around so they point the other way if the brake line is long enough but i doubt so.


il be puting pics of the air gauge in next post

had to trim and drill new holes to make this baby sit in its spot


started to look into how i was gonna fit the other gauges in the dash, il drill or work my way with a dremil for the holes, and cut a slice along the top to fit the panel in it as it is ''L'' shapped(like the air line gauge panel) so il have some bolts going from the top of the dash and holding it in the right spot

placed an order for lots of bits and pieces witch added up to some money lol, some are back order and summit will be receiving them on 1st of april so il be getting them after... if not i would already have my order.
2x djm front struts for lowered ride height
2x front brake lines
1x power steering pump
1x pulley puller
2x rear drum shoe sets
2x otc 1 man bleeding chech valve
2x outer tie rods
2x inner tie rods
2x tie rod sleeves

So my plan of going back this weekend and installing all those bad boys is out the window. But then i tough, might as well go down anyways and get the struts out, power steering pump out(can it be removed with the pulley on?),tie rod assembly out, work on the dash gauges and wire/plumb them up. That next time around with the items it would be a breeze to instal brand new stuff when you pulled out all the rusty/gunky shit out already.Also i came across the cherry bomb glass pack muffler i had on my cavalier in my closet, il try to rig it on lol.


now i started to make a bill for the following
3x 15x7 cragar smoothies (front and spare)
2x 15x8 cragar smoothies (rear)
20x rocket racing chrome bullet lock lug nuts
4x some rando lock nuts for the spare on the rear door lol, the easiest wheel to steal (packs of 4)
6x flush mount chrome valve stems (packs of 2 ,needed an extra for that spare wheel)
witch adds up to 489$
but with delivery and customs i get a final purchase price of 659$ usd, il maybe wait to get my vacation chec for these goodies but i will be purchasing them for sure, will keep my current tires for now, unless the front ones really dont clear even when aligned.

Way cool man!

very exciting!

Definitely going to be one awesome ass van. That's for sure!

ty, my brother just made me realize i would be ordering bullet style lug nuts for nothing cuz im installing smoothie wheels... i believe i got carried away

today's work
-discovered i had tranny cooler in the rad
-pulled my power steering pump/tie rods/struts
-bent my brake lines so they now clear
-installed the dash gauges and currently have the oil pressure hooked up and functional (so shiny)



power steering pump bracket ftw


This post was edited by BlueAndWhite on Mar 23 2013 08:45pm

this bad boy is back on the road, il take some pics tomorow
ps: lots of rubbing, and i dont mean in the bed