finally joined the forum! in Winsconsin (on way back to OR)

[Spiffy]

well I finally joined the forum after having my van and being a member of the club for almost a year... but I haven't really had the time to tinker with it and now I might...

needs the usual brake work, and odds and ends here and there, like keys for the doors and filler door... complete interior... an oil tank... and who knows what shape the gas tank is in...

I'm currently in Wisconsin but will be moving back to Portland, Oregon as soon as we can... moved here to WI so the wife could be close to her mom after the birth of our first child...

you can see pictures from the trip we took to get the van here at my web site... yes, it was a hot 700 mile trip with a wife that was 8 months pregnant... she wasn't too happy about it... (:

I've only seen one other van in person close up, and that's the blue one with green bumper and wild interior in Portland, Oregon... real nice looking one too... I've seen the MPH sedan with the flames on the road as well...

so expect me to be asking lots of dumb questions and looking for parts... I'm a backyard mechanic and know enough to get me in trouble, but I take it to the pros when I'm lazy, which is a lot...



--Spiffy

[StevenM]

Welcome! I saw your pictures - your van has 64k miles on it-wow. That's the 2nd-most-driven 360 van I have heard of. You'll find this is a great place to turn to when you find yourself with any sort of question about your 360.

[J.Blakeman]

It looks like the oil tank is there at least. If it just leaks, you can fix that with a common soldering gun. As far as the other stuff, it looks like the parts van has TONS of good parts!

[2stroketurbo]

Hey welcome!

Wow, that van and the parts van came from a dry climate. Is the parts van still with you? The parts van looks very restorable or a gold mine of good parts....

Another Portland local van will be cool, I look forward to see you around. We'll have to figure out a special hand sign gesture or greeting should we pass van's on the road. If you need some help or ambition to get 'er going, just let me know.


Mark

[subaru360nut]

Spiffy - if among your spare parts you have a van wiper arm &/or the "under cover" sheet metal that bolts on under the oil pump area we have a mamber in MA that needs both, e-mail me and I will put you in touch with them.

Ed

[Spiffy]

sadly the parts van didn't come with me... I made the mistake of not taking the full-sized truck to pick up the complete one and thus only had room on the trailer for one... the parts van had lots of good parts, wish I could have kept it... floors weren't that great, and the back end was missing some parts underneath... I took what I knew I needed off it... spare clutch and carb mainly, and some little things...

they're both from central california... a very dry part...

I only needed enough for one van... I'm not greedy... (:

my oil tank is cracked like 4 times across... it's not in good shape... lemme see if I can get a picture.... *goes outside with camera*

got it...

as you can see there's about 3 cracks across the front, with more stress cracks between the lower cracks, and the top mounting stud broken off...

I've yet to take it off... heck, I don't even know where the line connects into the engine/carb... it's cracked and broken at the first routing point... the guy that I bought it from drove it around the block and onto the trailer using a can of mix directly into the carb fuel inlet...


--Spiffy

[subaru360nut]

Spiffy - see P. 380 in Vol. 2 of your Book of Reprints for professional repair of your oil tank (last article on the page) - he did one for me and it looks and works like new!

Ed

[2stroketurbo]

Spiffy, thats the worst one I ever saw.

[J.Blakeman]

That's the worst oil tank I've ever seen also! WOW! Mine had the mounting lug broken off also, and 2 or 3 other cracks as well. I repaired all of them with a hobby torch and a soldering gun. The nice part about the plastic on those tanks is that you can heat it up to melting point and it will re-bond back to it's self. If that were my tank, this is what I would do.....I would try to get it back into 2 halves, (cutting it on the original seam) get the 2 halves back into good condition, then re-seal the 2 halves back together. Or......find a member who has an extra. (Which is like finding a member that had an extra windshield) (before Billy had them remade that is).

Jon

[subaru360nut]

Just noticed the question about how oil gets to the engine - there is a nipple on the front lower end of the oil tank, a line goes from there to the oil pump which is direcltly below the distributor and bolts up the the same clutch cover. Read P. 50-52 in the BOR and other articles indexed POWER UNTI/OIL PUMP.

ed

[Gunnersmateguns]

Just a question. How hard would it be to have the oil tanks reproduced? It seems like there are quite a few parts that are being reproduced for the van/trucks and the sedans, why not the oil tanks. It seems like these become fragile with age, and most have been fixed at least once. Just a question.
Mike

[subaru360nut]

If you have Jim B. fix yours it will be like new. In the meantime you could do what lots of truck/van owners have been doing as a temporary measure for at least the last 25 years - get the generic radiator overlow bottle that is close to the same shape, and has the nipple at the bottom (rather than the siphon setup) - you will have to keep an eye on the oil level because you will not have an oil lite but otherwise it will do what the original does - hold oil and dispense it thru a tube by gravity to the oil pump.

Ed

[StevenM]

no reason why the oil tanks couldn't be reproduced. The same guys that make the lenses could do it no problem (easy for ME to say). Cast and mold each half, glue together - viola! Of course it's a big job, and the prospective manufacturers would have to see a market to make it worth their time, effort and up front cost. On the other hand, I see that a pair of repro red lenses cost $80, so there's no telling what the cost of the much bigger tank would be.

[StevenM]

looking at the way the T/V oil tank sits, on a little shelf of sorts, I wonder if it wouldn't be less stressful on the thing if there was a horizontal strap holding it in, rather than by tieing down those two little tabs with the little brackets. The strap would just have to keep the tank from falling out of it's cubby-hole.

[Spiffy]

well I've got the moving truck almost fully loaded and will be driving back to portland tomorrow morning...

I already drove my '82 GL wagon out there last week and am towing the '00 forester...

I'll probably drop my little '69 van off at mark's (MPH) to have him check my wiring and give me an overview of the condition the van is in... mark, I'll give you a call from the road... I should be there friday...

it sure was fun getting the van into the back of the moving truck using just 4 people, atv ramps, and planks... (:

[2stroketurbo]

Good for you. Moving just in time for a great Portland Summer! I'll be on vacation next week...in Georgia for the National Microcar meet, then, "oh so slammed" finishing an Isetta and a 360 for our very own NW show.

Can you make the big NW show ?

I could take your van after the dust settles a bit in mid June.


here's the skinny:


This years GPNW microcar-minicarshow show is just a little over a month away. Please register so we can get an idea of who is coming. Last year we had 67 cars show up. We are hoping to break all records with this year's new 3 day event venue. This should be the largest and best Northwest event yet!!

Come find out!


5th annual Great Pacific Northwest Microcar/Minicar Extravaganza.
A celebration of minimalistic motoring.
June 5-7th. 2009
Microcars-Microbrews-Vineyard tour drive

McMenamins Grand Lodge Hotel, Forest Grove, Oregon.

http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=59&id=464

(A block of reasonable rate Queen hotel rooms reserved for group. Full and bunk rooms are offered.)

Spa-Disc golf-Eat-Movie theater-Microbrews-Microcar prizes.

June 5 > Friday night meet-n-greet
June 6 > Saturday Vineyard Microcar drive
June 7 > Sunday Microcar show with awards in "Willow Grove" hotel grassy area.

Microcar festival sponsored by MPH Specialties.

Free admission. Registration is now open, register here: http://WWW.MPHSPECIALTIES.COM

Microcar drive details TBA

E-mail MARK@MICROCAR.ORG

503-703-6220

Video of last year's fine GPNW microcar-minicar event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGPR_CdO ... annel_page


Rules and fine print:


· All Hotel reservations for the GPNW show must be called in to the Hotel front desk and Microcar show mentioned (503-992-9533) No camping is allowed by city code. No outside food or beverage allowed on Hotel grounds. (The Hotel food is EXCELLENT, and reasonable) No RV parking available at hotel. Elks lodge nearby has RV parking with permission, call 503 357-2440 or 503 357 2440 for Elks Lodge.



Driving microcars while under the influence of microbrews is illegal and may cause you to spill your drink. Please be responsible and drink microbrews while admiring the cars. All sponsors are not accountable for participants actions

[Spiffy]

I'm going to try to make it to the micro-meet...

I love McMenamins... was married at the Kennedy School...