1977 P10 Step Van Rebuild

[mattdmeyer]

Well here we go! The can of worms is open. I'm just about to start a 1977 P-10 Step Van restoration. I picked this van up from a guy in Phoenix. It's lived its entire live in AZ so there is very little rust, and all that can be seen are surface stains. I'll just have to give the frame a little bath in light scrub, then paint to seal it.

This truck will be used as a catering/dessert truck used to supplement my wife's bakery business. I hesitate to call it a food truck because it will not be used to prepare food, but only vend. I will have fresh croissants, cookies, scones, eclairs, espresso, and pour over coffee. I only have about 42 sq ft inside the back that will be used for the work area. This will need to fit the refrigerator, hand sink, counter for espresso machine and storage for the day's pastry items. I will have the option to also pull a small trailer if it ever required.

This truck has the original 1977 I6 292 with a SM465 4-speed manual transmission. There has not been any previous restoration work done, so no modern luxuries. No A/C, no power steering, manual shifting.

My plans for the restore are as follows:

Replace the 292 with a new engine. I have a few options here. I could swap it with a small block 350, but I really don't want to spend a lot of time cutting/welding the frame if that would be needed. I really don't need a lot of speed, and I sure don't want to lose on towing ability. The back will have only a few hundred pounds of gear so I think a 350 would still do the trick. It was also suggested to me to look into a 383 Stroker which would give me the speed of the 350 and still have quite a bit of torque that the 292 had. I dunno. I'm still on the fence on swapping the motor. I know the 292 works and would be a direct replacement. The faster this is in service the faster I'm making money, so I'm weighing that with this decision too.

Next is to replace the tranny with a 700R4 automatic. I'm not always going to be the one driving this baby, and I want to make it as easy as possible for anyone that is working the truck that day. Since it won't always be me, and all the current staff doesn't know how to drive a standard transmission, this is a must. I decided on the 700R4 for the overdrive to save a little on gas. Since I won't be pulling and stumps out of the ground or hauling bricks, the 700R4 would be up for the job.

New radiator/transmission cooler. If this is needed, I'll be adding this since I'm swapping the transmission to automatic.

New drive shaft. Will need to be shorter since the new transmission is longer.

New steering column. I will cover up the hole in the floor where the shifter once was and will move the shifter to the steering column.

Power steering. This will be interesting since I've never added power steering before or even know where to begin for this. This will be fun.

Air conditioning. I will install an RV A/C unit to the roof of the truck. This way it can run without the engine running if I have A/C power available at the vend site. I will also have a couple portable generators. It would be nice to be able to run the A/C driving for hot summer months in TX, but not 100% required.

We'll I think that is about it. If I can think of anything else I plan to do, I'll update the thread along the way. I'm also open to any suggestions or opinions you may have!