Ranch

Hello. Brief intro, when I was 14 (in the early 1980s) my dad brought home an old F-100. Over the course of two years we sanded, painted, riveted, repaired, updated the truck, brakes, clutch, king pins, tie rods, steering gears, generator, rebuilt the engine bottom up, together. Hardly a day goes by without thinking of that truck. Great lessons, but my dad is an old-school master mechanic. I am not, aside from those old lessons.

Now I have a 15 year old son, I brought home a 1984 Chevy G20 conversion van w/ 63k miles, body in pristine condition (not even a door ding) and the interior is flawless (it's got a sink, 2-way fridge, stove, little oven, dinette, bed). Paid an old lady $2500. Put brand new tires on it right away. Discovered that the fridge did not work, I got a new one wholesale $1000 for that, we had to hire a guy to help install it.

We will probably dabble with it a bit more then sell it. Around here, a really nice conversion van will fetch $6k+. My son likes to buy and sell stuff so this can be some experience in that regard.

Front brakes look brand new, but the back brake shoes are getting really low (not much left at all). So it would be best to repair those.

The old lady gave me half a dozen receipts indicating the work they had done on the van since around 2005. The transmission was leaking, they had a new transmission installed just a few thousand miles ago.

305 V8

The belts look fine, but the hoses are my big question. The receipts indicate that the hoses were replaced back in 2007 (since then the van was hardly driven) but when I look under the hood it looks like the hoses could be replaced. In fact I jiggled one a bit with the engine warm, and antifreeze started leaking until I tightened up the hose clamp.

How hard is it to replace hoses in an 84 G20? Also, I know I could just call the auto parts store and ask, but what is a ballpark estimate for hoses?

Any other hoses advice is greatly appreciated. Sorry for long story!

canucklehead

Hoses are cheap. Prob 20 bucks a piece. And easy if you have the tools. Might want to do the coolant and thermostat while you have it drained. What about the water pump. How old is it? Best to do things all at once while you are in to it.

The rear brakes are fairly easy to, but you have to de adjust the brakes to get the old drums off. I would take them somewhere to have them machined, or get new ones, or good used ones. Then check the wheel cylinders for leaking, and the rear axle seals too.
Again.....all at once....lol
You are lucky with the tranny being new. Its likely a 700r4, and I paid 2 grand for mine to be rebuild back in the 90's.....not cheap.

Vandeejim

One more the clean-out, of the radiator, please remove it and inspect the top-inlet from engine, are the tubes covered with calcium if so lay radiator on the driveway in the hot sun and add a half bottle CLR and hot water and rock back and forth for two days then flush out the minerals with hose you will see the difference in the temp gauge.
Good luck,
Jim