Chevy & GMC Vans

As some know, my son smashed the front end of his 92. Lucky for him I had the original 92 front clip left over from another project. First we had to rip all the smashed stuff off. Then we had to drill out all the welds for the rad support. I used the winch from the SPB to pull some metal that was mashed towards the rear of the van. Next was to position the new radiator support, again, tweaking metal from the inner fenders into shape. Then I welded it in place and used whatever paint I had around to cover the welds. Then just put the rest of the sheet metal on. To my utter surprise I didn't have to tweak a thing once the fenders were on. All the lines were good and the hood when right on. He no longer has any semblance of AC as the front end crushed everything and I had no willingness to swap it all out. Here are some pics. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics when it got real busy. Note the body mount in the one pic.

On a side note, I made my kid help A LOT since it was his problem. It was freakin' HOT! He had never sweat so much before. I had to send him to the pool cuz he was getting dizzy and sick in the heat. Hopefully he'll remember.

Cool !!! that came out great . i'll bet Jr is happy . great job as usual Bill .

2nd picture tells it ALL!!

he'll appreciate things like this many years from now and hopefully the both of you will laugh about it say forty yaers or so down the road.

Looks good! Any chance an AC unit will be installed down the road? Or is it gone forever?

astronut74 wrote:Looks good! Any chance an AC unit will be installed down the road? Or is it gone forever?

I have everything so it's not a total impossibility. It didn't work anyway. I'm just worried about heat and defrost since the unit by the fan is in pieces. If those won't work I'll have to do something.

Looks good Bill. The pic with your son's head down tells the whole story. Great jobs guys.

Great pics Bill, I hope that you made your son work hard next to you so that he gets a realization, of how it is in the "Real World"

Tough Love I know, But it raised me to appreciate the value of money....

Looks good Bill.I remember from NECO 07 you had
a electric fan.Were you able to save that??.

GREAT WORK! you make it look soooo easy. just like the swap to the newer front end ... sheesh you guys are amazing. how much time in total did the job take?

crash wrote:GREAT WORK! you make it look soooo easy. just like the swap to the newer front end ... sheesh you guys are amazing. how much time in total did the job take?

I'd say it took around 20 hours total. Boy, that sounds like a lot when put like that. I prefer to say "I did over the weekend".

dunedog wrote:2nd picture tells it ALL!!

he'll appreciate things like this many years from now and hopefully the both of you will laugh about it say forty yaers or so down the road.

Junior doesn't look too happy.

And insurance company would have written it off in a heartbeat!! Nice Job Bill! :-)

GEJ wrote:Looks good Bill.I remember from NECO 07 you had
a electric fan.Were you able to save that??.

Wrong van Gary.

Glad to see you guys get the van all fixed back up. It actually looks pretty damn good...just needs to be painted now.

Looking Great!!

Now you have to hand him the bill for the parts.
They were yours and you were saving them for something. You didn't wreck the van so he should pay you for the parts.
This was my dads theory as he made me pay him for the grill that was laying around the garage after I broke the one on his truck and used the one from the garage to replace the broken one....... I learned 2 lessons from that. #1. Everyones a comedian. #2. Wrecking yards are cheaper than "convenience" parts.

SoCalli V8 wrote:Tough Love I know, But it raised me to appreciate the value of money....

Back when I was younger every time I broke or wrecked something in/on my parents vehicles I had to A. Repair it or B. replace it. Man o man after a few months of spending every cent I had on all the crap I broke I started driving like a saint and definitely understand the value of money.

Like how it's wayyyyyy better to spend your money on taking a girl out then on replacing a front diff. Because you blew it up hammering the throttle in 4 in a diesel truck that's stuck in a snow bank and suddenly grabs pavement.

lockdoc wrote: I'd say it took around 20 hours total. Boy, that sounds like a lot when put like that. I prefer to say "I did over the weekend".

LOL.. yes, over the weekend sounds way better. also makes a 'swap' to the new style project sound less intimidating too!