I am going to phone that guy this afternoon and ask him if he still has the 1983 Dodge van for sale.If so, my sister said she will take me over there Saturday morning.So I can check out that van. cuhulin
Back in the 1950s, my mom owned a 1952 six cylinder manual shift Ford car.On the coldest winter days, pull that manual choke out, that car never failed to start right up. cuhulin
They guy across the street is a dipstick, don't blame the car. If he can't tune it that's not the car's fault. My daily driver is a 1966 Dodge, carbureted. I can have it out of the driveway and on the road just as fast as my daughter's 99 OBD-II Jeep. And the hood doesn't go up for weeks at a time.
Now it does have disk brakes and electronic ignition, but thats the only real change.
If the choke's set right, you won't even notice its working either.
The problem is that hardly anyone knows how to rebuild a carb these days. Working on those things is becoming a lost art, and consequently it is easier to get modern fuel injected systems kept in good condition.
It's a weird world, isn't it?
--scott
Cuhulin,
Get back to us as to what kind of condition this van is in. Rust, body damage, high milage, etc. But I doubt it will be worth 1.5K. The evolution of the carb/emissions systems is this, 1st, there were carburetors, 2nd, there were carbs that talked to and got orders from the computer, then there were, 3rd, throttle body fuel injection and today, 4th, port fuel injection.
From a maintinece, reliability stand point, #1 and #3 are the best. Followed closlly by #4. So guess what the biggest nightmare of the lot is, #2, The infamous computer controlled feedback carburetor.
Either get something older or newer. BTW what part of the country are you in?
disston
I need to check my condition to see what my condition is in first.In about four hours, I am going to plug in my phone and see if he still has that van for sale. cuhulin
Vehicles don't hardly rust out where I live. Of course, I will roll around on the ground and look that over too. cuhulin
Shade Tree Mecanics are becoming a lost art.I Blame it on fed govt. cuhulin
I know how to build one (no special tools or skills beyond general mechanical competence). Parts are readily available. Brand new carbs that are far better than vintage carbs ever were are also available (the Carter/Edelbrock Thunder Series, Barry Grant, Demon, etc.) for about 1/3 the price of a turn-key fuel injection system.
Well, yeah. On many levels...
If you old van is not rusted out, nor worn to pieces, you could get a good junkyard engine and swap it into a chassis you know, for a lot cheaper than $1500.
Really? There are three very good carb shops in my little town.. all seem to be doing a decent business with the old car crowd and the racing crowd. Worse came to worse I could just buy a new Edelbrock for any of my old Chryslers if I had to. Bolt it on and away you go.
Steve B.
Where is your town, and do any of the shops have a Solex expert who might be willing to take a look at one for me?
--scott
Clearwater FL. Don't know if they have a Solex expert or not as I only have to work with Carter stuff. Will be happy to find out for you if you would like though.
Steve B.
My sister came over here this morning to take over to the guy's place so I could check out that 1983 Dodge van the guy has for sale.I phoned the guy at about 700 PM yesterday evening.I saw a late model Cadillac in the carport sitting next to an older model Dodge van.The van has four windows on the side behind the drivers side window.There is a ladder on the back of the van, from what I could see of the van, it looked to me like it has been well cared for and maintained, there is a wheelchair logo thingy on the Cadillac car license plate.There is a wheelchair ramp from the carport to the front door.I knocked on the front door, I tried several times with my sister's cell phone to get him on the phone.We sat there from 9:00 AM this morning to about 9:20 AM.Nobody answered the door or the phone.I will try later on today to get the guy on the phone.Next chance I will have to get over to his place will be tomorrow afternoon after church.If his van runs good, I think I want to buy it. cuhulin
Do whatever you feel up to.
This afternoon, I bought the 1983 Dodge van.The van is in very good condition, except the airconditioner doesn't work.I am used to not having airconditioning in my old vehicles anyway.I asked him how much money.He handed me back $200.00, so I paid $1,300 00 for the van.The guy said he bought the van brand new. cuhulin
Well, I hope it gives you a long run of good service.
Dodge airconditioners are bad about failure of the evaporator core. I replaced mine last year. It took me two days to get the old one out, two hours to get it back in place with the new core.
I would vote Democratic before I would go without air conditioning.
Don't go out of your way but the next time you're in a carb shop, would you mind just asking if there is a Solex guru around? I keep meaning to try doing a rebuild on mine but I'd really rather let someone who knows what they are doing at it.
--scott
On the back of the title of the 1983 Dodge van I bought from the guy yesterday, he wrote his name on there.He also handed me a bill of sale of that van.I tried phoning the guy about the title, but I got a voice forwarding message.Will have a problem concerning the title, or will the bill of sale be good enough? cuhulin
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