Chopped EK Van Project(recent pics Pg23)

[Sputzwagon]

Any new photos, Jeff???
I wanna see more of this'un..pretty please with sugar on top!

Scotty.

[Thommo]

Still plugging away slowly Scotty.
Same situation as before, slow but sure.
Moving on to flattening the floor in the passenger compartment,
then adding a chassis kit to it.
Most of the work of late has been under the car between the diff & rear bumper.
I'll post some pics when it looks different
Cheers
Jeff

[streetneat]

Gday All!
Just a quick thumbs up from another chopped EK van owner. Looks awesome Thommo! I sorta recall speaking to several of yourselves a few years ago regards the chopped screens. Im not sure what I ever said to upset ratbox to be copping the flak here --( maybe not giving the answer he wanted to hear about the chopped screens) however I guess you cant please all the folk all the time! Maybe my enthusiasm has been interpreted as arrogance. Who knows or cares - its about the cars not popularity contests! Anyhow apologies if I was having a bad day when you called ratbox.

I read through all the posts and just for the record - my EK van was never for sale. The chopped windscreens didn't happen due to overpriced and quite vague answers from the only glass manufacturers that seemed to do these one off jobs. In short I was doing the hard yards and the glass company stood to profit and keep the moulds I was paying for. Myself and good friend Bill McKee (now retired fibreglass expert) put a lot of effort into making a fibreglass screen template which I still have. The down side is as Paul from smooth customs has quite correctly pointed out - unfortunately there are a lot of ways to chop a car so no two chops will be text book perfect matches. The short answer is to find someone to cut a screen down to suit your car.

Bottom line is I am astounded to find so many other Custom FB/EK enthusiasts here. I have many of the pictures of the works of axeman, Dr Chop and the Purple van in question still on my computer files after all these years. Good to also see Rob Walker -(sunnyrob) and Paul Kelly -( smooth customs) here as well as Harko, Blacky and Marty.

Love your work Thommo!
Cheers streetneat-Andrew.
PS - I brought my EK van with me to NZ as well as a few other cars.

[Blacky]

G'day Streetneat , good to see you on here mate - now lets see some updated pics of your van

[Thommo]

Good to hear from you Andrew
Welcome to the forum

The van is still progressing slowly and doesn't look much different to the last pics,
but a lot of work has still gone into it.
It has a 202 5spd fitted properly with home made crossmembers etc
The upper tailgate is functional with modified stock struts,
The rear 3/4 panels are all fitted, including making new panels underneath behiend the rear wheels.
Next jobs are the fuel & brake lines.
We plan to make it drivable before its pulled down for painting
which will be done soonish.

You'll have to start a thread to bring everyone up to speed with your van.

Cheers
Jeff

[streetneat]

G'day Streetneat , good to see you on here mate - now lets see some updated pics of your van

Heya Blacky! Are you still in Kalgoorlie? The EK Van - well um-mm... Its been living in my container for the most part. It comes out occasionally for a quick and quite illegal drive to keep it running. About all Ive done is add a new Carter Carby to the 350 in a bid to make it easier to start. Unfortunately I think it needs an electric fuel pump to overcome the drain back during storage.
The most recent pics can be seen here:
http://gallery.oldholden.com/Streetneat ... g2_page=14
and here;
http://gallery.oldholden.com/Streetneat ... g2_page=15

Not much to be seen I'm afraid... after seeing Thommos van I'm inspired to get back into it. Moving has put everything car related on hold until I can establish myself a bit more.
I have just recently met a glass guy here in NZ who can cut screens down. I will take plenty of pics when the time comes to show how and hopefully help some others here trying to achieve the same.

Cheers streetneat-Andrew.

[Thommo]

I have just recently met a glass guy here in NZ who can cut screens down. I will take plenty of pics when the time comes to show how and hopefully help some others here trying to achieve the same.

Cheers streetneat-Andrew.

That would be very helpful Andrew
Dr Chop can do them here in Adelaide
Except he wont answer his friggin phone

[streetneat]

Good to hear from you Andrew
Welcome to the forum

The van is still progressing slowly and doesn't look much different to the last pics,
but a lot of work has still gone into it.
It has a 202 5spd fitted properly with home made crossmembers etc
The upper tailgate is functional with modified stock struts,
The rear 3/4 panels are all fitted, including making new panels underneath behiend the rear wheels.
Next jobs are the fuel & brake lines.
We plan to make it drivable before its pulled down for painting
which will be done soonish.

You'll have to start a thread to bring everyone up to speed with your van.

Cheers
Jeff

Gday Jeff! Hey I know what you mean with nothing much looking different and yet loads of work going on. Cars sorta reach that stage where all the small yet important stuff needs attention. It sounds like you will be finished before me - but it was never a competition lol... I look forward to the end result.
Just for the record- reading back on this thread Ive been misquoted somewhere along the lines of your van chop. Yours appears much more chopped than mine and definitely has more take from the windscreen posts. Some where I was incorrectly quoted as saying mines chopped more than yours- once again who cares as its not a competition!They all look good to me! The use of the original van roof works well and I have equal preference for both styles of chop. It seems my phone conversations with some guys have been taken out of context and posted here as different to what was actually said. You get that with forums...

A chop is what has been taken from the original overall roof profile - according to all the books and videos I have on the topic. Some will always measure it from what was taken from the pillars which is technically incorrect. Some chops use stock yet angled or laid back screens that havent removed anything from the height of the posts. ( some FJ chops come to mind) The Piersons 34 Coupe overcome SCTA rules by a radical chop that kept a windscreen that was severely angled back to meet up with the minimum height of 7-8 inches. My chops angle the windscreen posts inboard to avoid cutting the roof into pie pieces. That dosent make my methods better than anyone else's - just different.

Anyhow - not a rant and point taken - I should start my own thread!
Cheers Streetneat-Andrew.

[mrs ratbox]

unfortunately i do type before i think quite often and say things that are mostly just my opinion which upset people and alot is tongue in cheek also basically i can be a dik

hope that settles things a little as i don't want to clog up thommo's thread

[Harko]

christ I do some laughing when you post Ratbox
raoflmao

[streetneat]

unfortunately i do type before i think quite often and say things that are mostly just my opinion which upset people and alot is tongue in cheek also basically i can be a dik

hope that settles things a little as i don't want to clog up thommo's thread

All good - and yes its about thommos van here not streetneats van.
I did giggle when I read - hope streetneat dosent read this! I ve been invited to join up here a few times by members here that did apologise in advance for you ratbox Hell if I took offence at every little thing on the net about me I would be a sociopath by now! The internet is a big time soaking device so we should take Thommos lead and get back to buildin not just talkin about it!

Jeff- do you have any floor pan mod pics or chassis installation pics yet?

Cheers streetneat -Andrew

[ekute62]

Thumbs up, cant wait to see the end result....

[Thommo]

Jeff- do you have any floor pan mod pics or chassis installation pics yet?

The floor hasn't been modified as such,
we just copyied what is in the sedan to join the
3/4 panels back to the rear rails.
I can get a pic of the gearbox mount though.

Thumbs up, cant wait to see the end result....

Thanks ekute62

[Thommo]

Started trimming the front guards the other night.
I was going to just trim them off level with
the bottom of the stone tray, but we decided to go the extra yards
and blend in the wheelarch flare. to achieve this we cut out a larger piece
which will be repositioned to achieve the result.
The bottom of this area will end up parallel with the sills
I think it will look much better in the end.


Before


Mock up of end result.

[element5au]

looking good