While out hunting for those unicorn spindles off a P-30 I met a guy who had quite a few different vans, he ended up later emailing me a link off my local used.com for this really gross, tired old 1985 Chevy 30 cube van. I noted that it had A arms and moved on, then got thinking about it and went out and had a look. The box on it was ok, and my wife wants somewhere to work on glass projects with her torches. A deal was made for 450$ and the guy with the vans wanted the front sheet metal off it so we made a deal on that for 200$. I figured for 250$ it wasn't too bad a deal. I got it home the other day and went out and had a look at it... The rear end is a 14 bolt, 4.10 gears and would probably be a decent for the 1100, if I was to replace the stock diff. I did some quick measuring up front, and this van has the 1 ton bolt in crossmember with big brakes, and the van was equipped with hydroboost. If I narrowed this crossmember it would be a decent fit, with a little bit of a lift. Steering will be interesting to figure out, but this looks like a possibility. I was shocked to see what looks like a relatively fresh looking 350 in it, that was on propane. Behind it is a Turbo 400 with an HD case (possibly a TH-475?) There might just be some good bits for a project in this crusty old van. I'll have to see if that engine in it will flash up.
There's a few decent things on it, and yes my wife is happy about getting her shop That's the important part. I had a good laugh when I saw the odometer (about 336,000 miles) on the bright side, I haven't seen Chev drive trains last that long, maybe some of it was rebuilt or replaced at one point. Didn't get around to checking the trans or engine, but doesn't seem like much play in the diff. I did see a sticker from a local shop I've used, Might ask them if they remember the history on it. The only casualty today was the cap off the distributor. I thought about taking it off before lifting the cab off, then decided, nah. I'll be careful! Oh well. Didn't plan on using that anyway.
A day ago, I wouldn't have been able to tell you if a front cross member would unbolt with the engine in or not. I can pass on that they do. With the engine still in the way, I couldn't get an accurate read on how much that cross member would have to be narrowed, but looked to be about 7 1/2". I decided if I do go this route with the clip, I should have the sections of frame that they bolt to for reference (steering box and idler arm locations in relation to clip) to keep all the measurements for the geometry. Sawzall made easy work of that. Maybe later I'll cut out the sections where the nut plates are out of those frame sections for doublers inside the frame of the 1100. I could also search for a viable rack, and go the rack and pinion route instead of the steering box.
