At this point I'm just about done with the chop job on the minivan, having removed everything of value that could be easily removed. There's always going to be small items that could be removed, going even deeper into the chop job but the amount of work required outweighs the benefits. Things like brake lines and fuel lines could be removed for later use but the difficulty involved with removing brackets and snaking the lines around things like frame rails and axles doesn't really exceeds the gains of a few feet of metal tubing. Anyway, in this session, the first thing that I had to address is the opening of the sliding door. Just like with the other doors I had to remove the interior panel to access the linkages in order to "manually" work the latch to open the door. Several screws and a few trim pieces later I was able to pull the entirety of the interior panel off. After working the linkages and pushing outward, I finally got the door open. Studying how the door opened I figured that I had to pull outward on the back of the door to get the sliding action started. The linkages were just fine, it was just this one little discrepancy keeping me from getting the sliding door open. Of course, I'll have to clean the tracks really good if I want to be able to open the door like normal. The next big thing I had left to do was remove the fuel tank. As is always the case with these damned things, the tank ALWAYS has fuel in it. I propped a jack under the tank and removed one of the brackets in its entirety, but the second bracket had one of the bolts break the thread clip. I had to bend the bracket out of the way in order to be able to move the tank down to the ground. I would later cut the bracket to get it out of the way completely. After getting the fuel tank on the ground I had to move the jack to the front and jack up the van at the lower control arm to raise it high enough to be able to pull the tank out from under the body. I cut the hoses going to the sending unit since they were attached with worm clamps anyway. As for the wire plug, after trying to trace where the male/female plug was at on the wire harness and not finding it after going down range for a couple feet, I tried to see if the plug was detachable at the sending unit. After that vain attempt resulting in the head breaking off in the sending unit, I went ahead and removed the sending unit completely. I found that it was just as well that the head was broken, as the sending unit was rusted all to shit anyway. The sending unit/pump ended up in the scrap can. As for the fuel tank, I still had the fuel to deal with. I gathered up some bottles with old motor oil and a couple old diesel cans and funnels so I could empty the old gas into these vessels. I started off with filling up the oil bottles, making sure to split the oil evenly between the couple vessels, so each bottle was half full of oil before filling the two with old fuel. A third bottle was filled completely with old fuel. With where the filler port was located, I was able to tip the tank to empty a large amount of old gas into a bucket before transferring it to the bottles and fuel cans with the funnels. With the majority of the old fuel emptied into the fuel cans and oil bottles, I relocated the tank to the staging area with the rest of the parts, especially since I had a fire pit going on the other side of the van. Last thing I need lingering near an open fire is an open gas tank full of old vapors. While I was under the van, I did take time to work the remainder of the exhaust system from the couple of hangers then work the pipe over the axle so I could remove the whole unit. At least I could cut out and sell the catalytic converter with the rest of the scrap and use the rest of the exhaust system in one of the other builds. With all this taken care of, the next move was to dismantle the front doors. Originally I planned on selling these doors with the rest of the salvaged removed parts but after finding out that I couldn't remove the body from the frame, I figured that I'll just reattach the doors and use them as walls, especially since they really can't be used as doors anymore. Funny thing, because I went ahead and chopped the bullshit welded door hinges. At this rate all I can do is hang the doors back up then weld them in place, never to open them again. It's just as well since I'll have access through the sliding door and the rear doors. With the front doors back on I won't have to worry about trying to make walls to fill those openings. Hell, I probably won't get enough selling them anyway to justify their removal and the hassle of making the replacement walls. I removed the already broken panel on the driver's side door, along with the switch panel. I ended up just tossing all this shit out since I don't even want to try and sell the switches on the hope they work. The interior panel and their associated pieces were all trashed as well so all that stuff went on the burn pile where all the other ratty interior pieces have been stacked. I removed the mirror, which was held with three nuts to the studs on the unit. Simple removal and mirrors are needed all the time. I cut out the wiring as well since the wire harness was routed around the window regulator and lock solenoids, both of which are riveted in place. Since the difficulty of removing these parts won't net me any real benefit, all this shit will remain in the door. Replacement regulators and solenoids can be had new for cheap anyway so I can't expect to be able to sell this shit for any real money. At this point the work to be conducted on the minivan is moving from what was labeled the minivan chop job to the doghouse construction job, as the very beginning of the doghouse build will be the reattachment of the front doors. The next thing will be cleaning the tracks for the sliding door so it can be opened more easily. I will also start gathering up components like electrical boxes and outlets and wiring along with some PVC pipe and fittings in order to start fitting out the body to be a doghouse. The same way I set up the car chicken coops will essentially be the same way this van gets set up. The obvious exceptions will be the removal of one of the side windows to make a mount for a window AC unit and automatic feeder apparatus. These obvious fixtures will be for long term use when we go out of town, allowing the dogs to be able to feed and drink on their own for a number of days. I will probably have the van completely fitted out as a doghouse before it gets moved to its new home next to the chicken yard. I have to get the FMT running first so it can be driven off its parking spot, then I have to lay gravel over the area. I also have to dig a trench and run a water line and a power line over to the site, just like I did with the car coops. Once this is done, then all I have to do is move the van to the spot, hook the water and power plugs up and we're in business, or more accurately, the dogs are in business.
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