YEG'R Bomb - Bagged E100

[Wirepuller]

I seem to have become the leper of the van world...lol...I've posted my progress on a few van/hot rod sites, but if it isn't true to original or "the way it has always been done..."(BORING!), then they don't want to see it. So, hopefully I've joined the right outcast crew for my build!! (Please note I am 2 years into this build by this thread posting)

About 5 years ago, I sold my slammed 79 Ford crewcab with the desire to build a full custom, but retain original body. After looking around, I fell in love with the slammed van scene that came outta nowhere. Eventually I settled on a 61 E100 from Spokane, bought it through a van forum and then struggled, for a year, to get it across the border into Canada.







So started the gutting and removal of anything not the body.





Ready for the frame!!



Originally I planned to use a Crown Vic IFS, as I saw great success in the truck crowd's usage. After what I thought was careful planning, drawing and measuring, I thought it would fit, albeit tight, I thought it would work. So, I bought a complete IFS from a wrecker, brought it home, slid it under the van...and to my disappointment, it was too big.





As part of my original plan also, was to graft in a TBird(MN12) IRS to my frame rails. Once I got that home, and laid out, the fabricating necessary was beyond my skills. So I turned to the world wide web in search of a kit to adapt the IRS subframe to the frame rails. I found a guy, team321.com who built such a kit. While talking to him, I found he also make custom subframes for the exact IRS I had and after the CV IFS failure, I felt I would get the IRS subframe and buy a Mustang II IFS kit as well. Safety first, as I do want my kids to ride in this thing.

With all the parts safely in my garage, I started to fabricate.







Levelling out the IRS and tacking it down.



Once the IRS Subframe was tacked in place, I cut opposing notches into the frame so I could narrow it to accept the IFS crossmember.





And the finished product.



Marking out the crossmember to fit the frame



Tack and test fit



Notching the top hats



Tacked into place.



Time to do the first dry fit!!



Once range of motion was checked and rechecked, it was time to weld it down.



Gotta stop to make some supper...more to come shortly.

[2.3Turbo_T]

I like it!!!! Keep the pics coming!

[alaska gasser]

Dare to be different!

[Wirepuller]

From this point, I had to measure up the cavity inside YEG'R Bomb........if I may interject here....in case some were wondering about the name of my van. YEG is the airport designation of the city I live in...so that is how YEG'R Bomb came to be....once I measured up the front to back and side to side opening, I had to center up the frame to fabricate the "wings" for the frame to attach to the side body, and rough cut in front of the IFS. My plan with the rectangular openings created by the "wings", is to put one 5 gallon air tank in each opening, and I want to plumb the air ride vent lines into one of the outer tube frames, filled with a sound deadener(rags/insulation/spray foam, etc), so that when I air down, there is no noise.

Also at this point, I mounted the IRS gear, checked for range of motion clearances to the frame, finished welding it into place, and then cut out the excess.



The first mating of frame to body! Here you can see it is just about in place.



In place, now to check for plumb, level and square.





The frame rails were only rough cut to length at this point. I had to do some position cuts and welds for the final pieces front and back.







Once weld up was complete, it was time to slap on some wheels to see what it would look like. I would like to point out at this time, I was overcome with excitement and not really paying attention to load capacities of the spindly little jacks under the van. In fact, they aren't even jacks, they are 200 pound rated fab stands from Canadian Tire. Just after this picture was taken, I just about lost the whole thing. The stands started creaking, van started moving and thank Christ I got my 5T stands under a few points just in time to save it! Lesson learned....or so I thought.



Next on the list was to fabricate the shock mounts. I am still not very happy with the brackets I was provided, and maybe someone can chime in here. Did I weld them at a bad angle? Should the shocks be more upright? They don't bind, but the motion does not seem very fluid.



Peek-a-boo!!



The crossmember the kit came with was a universal type and meant for a vehicle where the R&P output shaft points towards the firewall. Vans are not setup this way. I had to cut off the existing R&P mounting brackets and rotate them so the R&P pointed forward. My plan to join R&P to steering wheel is with a combination of u-joints, heim joints and my Vanagon steering box.





This is the steering box I need to fabricate into place yet.



And the R&P mounted into place.









It was shortly before I took these pictures and after I stitched the body to the frame that I had my second incident. While I was jockeying the frame underneath the van on my vehicle dollies, and the body was not properly suspended above it, I had my second near devastating mishap. I had my hands on top of the frame rails only to about where my fingers meet the hand. It was at that point the body fell completely off the stands crushing both my hands. Were it not for the fact that the frame was on dollies, I would have lost all my fingers and part of my hand behind the last knuckles because as the body came down on my hands, the frame rolled out and my hand only got severely squished between the frame and the body. I was also working by myself at this point, and had to manouver the frame out enough so I could pull my hands out. Thank the lord, I had mechanics gloves on as I only recieved 3" cuts across the tops of my hands down to the meaty parts, no broken bones but hands so swollen and tender that I could not pick up a pencil for about two weeks. If there is anything I can pass along to all of my fellow fabricators, please make damn sure your work is secure before doing any work on them, especially if you are crawling underneath it.

Back to the build.

Once I was fully recovered, I installed the air bags, plumbed in the temporary air lines, threw on the O.G. tires and YEG'R Bomb was a roller!!!













My goal for this year was to have it in the local fall show and shine. In typical snooty, "this is a 'proper' car show attitude", they did not appreciate me showing up with van on trailer looking for somewhere to dump it and roll it into place for the show. They tried to stick me out in back along the street where noone really goes and after much "discussion", I ended up just rolling it off the trailer and put it right next to the gates where everyone walks in. It was classic. The feedback I got from the people was everything from WTF is that POS doing here, to OMG, that is the craziest vehicle here. Overall, it was an absolute hit, and it was a great day.

Since then, I have been researching, collecting parts and planning the next steps. Sorry, not much else to post at this point, other than my plans going forward and would love to hear some feedback. Below is a pic from a photographer who snapped a good one of it.



To Do:

Fabricate brackets for rear disc calipers. Installing 11" wildwoods.
Get 13" big brake kit for IFS
Complete fabrication of steering setup.
Fabricate "bomb" fuel tank. Not sure who's truck this is, but I love the fuel tanks.



Ultimately I would like an exotic type engine, as I feel big domestic V8s have been done over and over and over and over and....whoa, record was skipping. I love diesels, but there is a guy who already put one in his E100. Right now, I'm leaning towards a 1JZGTE or a 2JZGTE with the upgraded turbo. For those who don't know, it's an I6 from japanese sports cars. No I'm not a ricer, no I really don't care for Fast & FUrious, but I love the appeal of a japanese motor in my van.

I have waffled on every type of wheel, from 22/20 Delmo's, to 22/20 Detroit Steelies, to some one off Bonspeeds and even some big wire wheels. With the Canadian dollar in the crapper, and our economy not so hot right now, I'm thinking I might try to salvage some 20" winter steelies and widen out the rears and mod them to fit the van.

Well, the list is quite long, as you can tell by where it's at right now.

Thanks for reading, I enjoy the feedback, and I'm going to keep checking out everybody else's builds for some more great ideas!

WP

[Kcrain]

Sorry to say I'm not a van person. But your thoughts and design is killer. Good fab work I'm likin this. Keith

[lowbudget50]

Ive always thought these little vans were cool. Ypu just took it to another level! A diesel would be cool in there. Im a cummins guy so id aim for a 4bt, but anything puffin black smoke would do! Keeo us updated and welcome!

[purp47]

Cool build man!! Want some thing different for an engine? How bout' a Mazda rotary! They can make some sick power just a thought.

[SideBurns]

What about a Boxer 6 from a Porsche or Subaru. Or an Italian motor like a Ferrari?

[Wirepuller]

As cool as Italian muscle would be....it might just be a little bit beyond my budget....lol

WP

[Wirepuller]

So a couple things have happened since the last post! There was a huge automotive antique swap meet in Red Deer last weekend and I found a '34 speedometer and some cool auxiliary gauges, which I have no idea what they came out of. Any ideas? I gave them the quick fit over the existing gauges, they are slightly larger than OEM, so it should be relatively smooth to make the switch. My plan is disassemble the speedo, clean/polish it up and cut new glass for it. I bought an extra gauge to pilfer the brass face to put into the fuel gauge, and give them a spit polish as well.



I also, by gosh by golly, found an original service manual for YEG'R Bomb. It should make a cool accessory thrown on the doghouse or dash when I show it.



And most exciting of all!!!! My steering parts have all finally arrived and been purchased. Borgeson U-Joints, heim joints, flange bearing and some 3/4" cold rolled steel. For now I am going to use the existing steering column mount as I haven't decided what I want to fabricate.



Fabricating should start within the next two weeks!! Pictures to follow. :)


WP

[bstory]

Man wirepuller that is awesome. Do a big nasty diesel...I am a diesel nut. If you don't do a diesel I agree a 2jz with a huge single turbo would be awesome. I saw a model a pickup with a 2jz on YouTube...bad to the bone.

[Wirepuller]

Man wirepuller that is awesome. Do a big nasty diesel...I am a diesel nut. If you don't do a diesel I agree a 2jz with a huge single turbo would be awesome. I saw a model a pickup with a 2jz on YouTube...bad to the bone.

Ha!! That's awesome Bstory!! Appreciate the comments!!


WP

[Wirepuller]

No fabrication updates yet, I've been pretty focused on my wife's upcoming elective(not life threatening) surgery this Monday, but I did manage to score a really cool, old shop air compressor for my air ride system. I plan to mount the whole thing in the van, minus the handle, next to the doghouse. I'm going to take the valves out of the air compressor and then tie the AC electric motor in parallel, with my real air ride compressor hidden below the floor, so that when my air ride compressor kicks in, the AC motor will turn the old air compressor, to give the illusion that it is supplying air to my tank. It's so cool, it is so slow and makes that pooka, pooka, pooka sound as it operates...LOL

[lowbudget50]

Thats awesome, it looks exactly like the old one my dad has. Works pretty good

[Wirepuller]

Yeah! My dad had the identical one to this one...perhaps that's why I think it's so cool!

WP