Lowering the front of van too much will screw up the steering geometry, an inch or two is about it. It will go back to the something close to the original bright red. Roanoke City was the original owner when it was part of the Life Saving Crew on Elm Ave. iirc. My grandfather bought it from them in '66 and used it as a work van for several years. Interior wise it will be as it was originally; front seats, head liner, and arm rest on the doors. Doesn't weight much more than an A-body Mopar and with 3.91s in the rear end it has embarrassed a few people over the years. My grandfather had it up to 100mph on I-81 once and said it didn't take long to get to that speed and he never did it again. 90" wb makes it interesting on the highway.

The doghouse is insulated and the mechanical fan does not have a clutch, so it doesn't get terrible hot. Been a while since I have run it around, mostly idling during the summer as I was fixing so issues that arose from it sitting.

 

I dig the van! Different in a good way...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMy1AjemMWs My SD card never got shipped,so I told them to eat a dick and went to Best Buy and bought one today.Also got the LCD Bacpac.
recorded in 1080 and uploaded in full resolution after editing in Windows Live Movie Maker.I also figured out that you can upload directly to Youtube in the MP4 format the GoPro records in.

My license plate bracket just barely rattles at idle/low throttle.Of course,with the camera next to it,it's all you can hear.Dirtbike tomfoolery to come this weekend.

 

That van is a great project, and I hope that you create a thread once you really get going on it.

 

Looks good, Chris. You happy with it so far?

The rattling noise (though your license plate bracket may rattle and make noise) is actually the internal mic on the camera. Record something holding the camera with your hand and you will pick up that same noise. I guess it's squeaking around inside the case? An external mic is a good solution, and you can get a cheap stereo mic with a 3.5 plug for under ten bucks to dramatically increase the sound quality and eliminate that aspect of your videos.

 

Yeah,I'm happy with it for sure.Got my HDMI cable today,haven't watched any video directly on the TV yet,although I did watch the video I uploaded to Youtube on my TV,and it looks awesome.
That sucks about the microphone!I had planned anyway to use an external mic at the track when the camera will be inside the car.Kind of limits your options with external car filming though,unless you drape the mic cord back into the car.One of the selling points of the Hero2 is the improved sound recording,so I'm kind of dissapointed in that aspect.I mounted the camera where I did in that video because it was right next to the air filter,so I thought it'd sound cool.What's weird is that all you can hear at idle/low throttle is the vibrating sound.At WOT everything just gets quiet,including the rattling going away.I guess I could do a wired mic and run it inside the engine bay,haha.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but in my experience that's the mic. It can be noisy in the housing. The audio is MUCH better than it was.

Also, there are various cheap stereo mic's you can get. One of them plugs right into the port and doesn't have a cord.. The mic is attached right to the 3.5mm plug. I've been warned that you can cause additional stress to the mic port though in high wind environments, so that's something to consider.

Otherwise, why not just tape or attach the mic to the housing on the opposite side of all of the wind? I'll let you know how it goes for me when I do that the first time.

I just picked up three additional 1400mAh batteries and an external charger for $31 shipped

 

We have run Go Pro's at Summit drifting and going off track/all sorts of crazy noise and haven't run into that rattle from the mic at all. Are you sure that's what it is, Adam?

 

Looking into a new mic now.
Recorded some dirtbike kookery today.1080,medium FOV(not sure what the actual angle is).Camera is aimed down a bit too much(the LCD screen is no help when you can't see it,haha).
Was going to get some more stuff with the M3,but the weather was kinda shitty,so I drove the truck down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5cQAEjJAlk&context=C3863c15ADOEgsToPDskLGnsHN0fplxI-eHGfQfP7_

 

Mine doesn't make any noise, nor does ferg's. I've only tried it one the car once though..but all my snowboarding video came out great.