this is my latest project, the $100 dollar parts hauler.  i bought this van when my friend amanda moved to texas and couldn't take it with her. it ran on 5 out of 6 cylinders and had 260, 000 miles on it when i gave her a 100 spot for it. my plan is to fix her up and use her for running erands and haulin scrap and as a support vehicle when i take my other car ( a big block chevy powered 89 caprice) to the drag strip.  you might think "why not use a truck?" my theory is that with the right mods and proper care, the van would get better gas mileage while being a unique alternative to a pickup or an suv. i also figure i can haul just as much with the van as i could with an s-10 or a ranger (within reason, i realize that th van does have a roof over it's "bed"), and i couldn't pass up the deal amanda was offering me.

 i'll make more update and post more pics as i work on her. in the meantime check out my other ride page for my 89 caprice big block powered sleeper (hate to say, but it's alot cooler than my van!)

update 4-5-09: She blew up and went to that big scrapyard in the sky. it did have 268,000 miles on it though! having had a decent experience with this van, having so many miles on it too, i wouldn't hesitate to buy another one with lower miles if the price was right. besides, i still really wanna build an aerostar vruck!

i made this vruck concept with paper, scissors, and glue. its pretty close to what im gonna do with her in the spring. i loweredit a few inches too, tell me what you think in the comments.

some shots of the driver's side exterior. Not bad for 100 bucks, eh!

the rear passenger side

the first thing i did when i got her home was to pull the back seats out of her. it helps me feel like it's less of a soccer mom vehicle. it's filthy in there and needs plenty of cleaning.

spacious though, huh?! this happens to be the longer version. i figure if i need to haul passengers, the can sit on the floor(after a much needed cleaning!), or the seats do just click right back in.

the front of the van

plenty of ice in the winter in the thumb of michigan.

the only bad part of the body. both rocker panels are almost completely rusted away. otherwise this old girl is as solid as a rock.

(2-28-09)this is the short ram intake i put together my self, considering nobody builds one for these things! works real good.

my plans as of right now are (in order of importance to me):

1. get the motor running on all six cylinders (update:1/24/09, i've completed step 1, she now runs great with no smoking or leaking or anything. just really needed plugs and wires bad. i'm as surprised as you are!)(update: 2/21/09, repairing blown head gasket, blue devil works wonders!)

2. clean her out (the former owner had a toddler, love the kid to death, but the back of this thing is disgusting!)

3. change the oil, she hadn't changed it in a year cuz she thought it was dieing.

4. remove the stock air box and creat an adapter to use a pod filter aka a "cold air kit."(update 2-25-09, i recieved my  pod filter from ebay, had to find one that was at a 45 degree angle, to clear the core support, but wouldn't deviate from my 20 dollar budget. its an accell kool blue.)(update 2-28-09. i finished my short ram intake, wasn't able to use my accel filter, took an apc off an older project and used that, works AWESOME!)

5. A) get the side door working properly, it'll only work from the inside with a set of vice grips.

   B) get the back hatch to close with out a bungie strap.

6. fix the rocker panels.

7. paint it either flat or satin black.(update 2-20-09, its been sprayed in a 10 dollar rattle can paint job)

8. find a set of old cheap mags off e-bay or out of the junk yard. the stock aluminum wheels are the ugliest things ever.( update 2-13-09, i painted the rims black and left the centers plain, looks a little better, but still not what i want)

9.fix the radio. ive never had a ford where the radio wasn't broken in one way or another, i'll probably replace it with a cheap aftermarket head unit.( update 2-25-09, got the back speakers working.  apparently the middle seat passenger has their own controls, which can turn the rear speakers on and off. they were off. lol!)

10. change the stance in some way, stock is far to boring.

11. Duals!? maybe even side pipes? 6 cylinders sound very unique with a set of twice pipes.