Disclaimer: :flipoff2: if you don't like stories.

Three years ago my parents were finalizing the paperwork for their place up in Amboy, WA my dad noticed the seller had an old 4x4 van sitting under the awning of their shop. Having always wanted a 4x4 van, he negotiated a price of $2500 with the house deal. Focusing all his time on his Jeep, the van just sat. Last year my brother (who turns everything he touches to shit) decided he wanted to make payments and buy the van. Before he makes his first payment he takes it out and wheels the hell out of it, leaving it in a mud pit in a field before going out of town for work. My dad gets the van back and again, it sits. Last week, while trying to figure out what we're going to tow our Scout with when we build it, it hit me - this van would make a perfect expedition/tow rig for us. I went up today to get some more info about it and my mom, knowing it was going to sit for a few more years, told me if I help them find a clean 2nd Gen 4Runner that the van was mine :smokin:

I don't know much about it other than it's a 1977 Ford Quadravan Chateau with 60,xxx original miles. My plan with the thing is to clean it up, lift it a bit to clear larger tires, go through the front end to address the very poor road manners, then begin the process of redoing the interior in such a way that we could comfortably live out of the thing for a week or two at a time.

Any suggestions, I'd love to hear em.

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan001.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan002.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan003.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan004.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan005.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan006.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan007.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan008.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan009.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan010.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan011.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan012.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan013.jpg

http://www.northwestfirearms.com/misc/quadravan/quadravan014.jpg

Cool.

LB

Where's the rust! Those things are cool, I did several 4x4 van conversions over the years and repaired many poorly done conversions. It seems the conversions using coil springs were the most chicken shit for no other apparent reason other than poor workmanship and a serious lack of understanding steering angles. The leaf spring jobs were generally better because it was more "bolt on" and a little harder to build "wrong" for lack of a better term. The angle your coils are sitting at looks a little suspect, you probably have 0 to negative caster so it will drive like a cow if that's the case. If it looks cock eyed, probably is, look for the obvious there, an alignment will tell you quite a bit. Good luck, cool old ride, what's the engine/probably C-6 trans?

I looked high and low all over the body and chassis, it looks like any rust is minimal! I'd say I got lucky, the previous owner told us it had been garaged and/or stored under that awning for most of it's life.

Thanks for the insight into the suspension. This was a factory conversion done by Pathfinder then sold through the Ford dealerships as new. From the factory I heard they were great, but I'm sure this is quite tired and the bushings are probably gone. I really don't have any knowledge of these coil setups. What are the pros & cons versus a traditional leaf spring setup? I haven't even done my research yet to see how you go about lifting rigs with coils, setting angles, etc. I'm equipped to convert it to springs if the benefits are there, but I'd rather keep it as it came from the factory if possible. Can I use a lift kit from a truck or Bronco of the same vintage to lift this?