I bet "crusty" in your area is more like "nearly rust free" in my area..

I'd keep that if I were you...looks a lot better than mine does..
I've often been tempted to convert a van to 4wd..one "does it all" vehicle--party bus,off road camper,driveway plow,people hauler..
I've hung onto my van since 1990,when I bought it for 500 bucks with a "blown tranny"--it was just a stripped govenor gear,had only first gear and reverse..had 138,000 on it but the old man I got it from took good care of the oil changes,the camel humper straight 6 still ran nice,but I stupidly desired more power and swapped in a 307 from a '73 Chevelle--poorest choice I could have made,(115 HP in '73!

)...the 250 had 130 HP and about 10 ft/lbs more torque..
But it was about the only carbed small block I could get for cheap money,or at all in my area back in 2002--I think the 250 six had more low end--2:73's I put in it after the 3:08 original diff made for sluggish takeoffs and the ability to wind up to 75 in second gear..it was good on the highway,a dog around town..
I like the floor cutout job you did--you must be good at measuring,if I tried that I'd have a 3x3 foot square area hacked out and still would have missed the sending unit !..
