1996 Express Van

Pull the front seats, and as this is a conversion van, if the carpet doesnt come out, cover it with heavy plastic, duct taped in around engine opening in the floor. cover the doors, if this is an inside job, ie garage, roll windows down, and drap old sheets folded through windows covering inside and out, duck tape or masking tape across the bottom.. digi camera handy or polaroid for before pics as you remove things, they come in very handy putting them back together. Lots of small "beer" can paper bags. As you remove bolts clean and put in bag, mark where they came from with magic marker.

Whitelightning

If it has a body color bumper, pull it to keep it from getting messed up or cover it REAL good. Draw the A/C down and cap the lines. Watch out for the rear heater A/C lines some of them run in strange places. Pull engine separate from trans. Just make sure to block or strap the trans in place so it doesn't shift. Mainly because the oil pan hits and you have to lift and tilt the engine nose down to get it out easily. While you have it out change the converter front seal, check the idler arm and steering box for wear. Change the heater core if it hasn't gone bad yet. Easier to do with the engine out. Watch out for any custom wiring to the engine, like alarms or remote starters. Some places don't tap the factory wiring harness. (on mine they ran the remote starter disengage wire direct to the distributor instead of tapping the tach feed)

check out

Sorry. My damn eyes read 1966...

It was still a nice post. I never got into the early chevy vans, the flat glass winshield, recessed at that, just didnt do anything for me. And the dodge with their pie tin head light bezels, ugly.. I must fess to a moment of weakness. I liked the, gasp, ford falcon vans from the 60's. As soon as the engines moved foreward. chevy became top dog again. Then there was the Corvair Greenbriar, that was a sweet truck, as soon as I modified the throttle cable set up so it couldnt freeze in the winter. Very uncool to let of throttle and it keeps going........

Whitelightning

Thanks for all the info. Should be a wild ride, and I will keep those interested posted...maybe I'll add pics as I will be taking a lot along the way.

Eightupman

YEp...well versed with the bags and sharpie to make sure I know where nuts and bolts go back to. I picked up the engine today and the van will be here tomorrow. Looks like a long week or two or three.....

I am going to try to leave as much as I can on the old engine so when I transfer parts I will have more than just the digi pics to go by. The one thing that I am pleased about the most is that I will not have to adjust the valves, and get oil everywhere inside the van.

Other than all that...GAME ON!!!

Eightupman

Stay tuned Ken. I started the job today and will be posting progress soon. With pics. And oh yes...there was blood shed.

Eightupman