I had to drive Rusty to a friend’s equipment yard for storage for a few weeks because reasons, and I was determined to have it be a more civilized experience. I got the engine cover cleaned off** and placed, plus rigged the precursor to a temporary fuel cell*. The ignition and starter circuits are now the rudiments of a wiring harness and the van is largely driveable, though still has issues.
This was not a finely crafted vehicle when it began life. I’m just going to put that out there. But we’re making progress.
* The fuel tank hangs in plain sight under the back bumper, just waiting for someone to rear-end me and send gasoline everywhere. There’s also a dent where the previous owners backed into something or drove down off a curb. The tank is completely exposed. As well, I do not know the condition of the interior of the tank, such as how much rust or other debris might be there.
Option 1 is to install a trailer hitch, and use that to craft something to add protection to the tank. Option 2 is to replace the tank with something later that’s inside the frame rails. I haven’t done much research on that yet. Option 1 seems more accessible to me. As for the temporary fuel cell, I’ll cook up something that closes off the gas can opening so it’s not free to slosh gasoline out when going over bumps.
** The engine cover had insulation stuck to it with some kind of black plasticky goo that even the wire wheel of death struggled to remove. But most of that is gone now.