Thread: 1985 Astro V8 "Ole Yellar" Project Van

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It was not his intention for better gas mileage as he wanted more power to pull a boat but he ended up with slightly better gas mileage,he used all junkyard parts except for a rebuilt longblock and had someone make two plates with two sets of holes to mount the 350 to the 4.3 mounts. A/C was retained along with all the original options and looked like it came out of the factory with the 350.

Although this post isn't really about Ole Yellar,it is related to starting it.I also own a 1994 LT Astro and it's intent is/was for it to be the daily driver.I owned this van long before I bought Ole Yellar and due to my own neglect I left it to become un- roadworthy.Still runs well and is on I think the 3th yr on a rebuilt tranny/tranny cooler.I have always considered it to be my comfort ride.It needs brakes,tires,rear shocks,and it think u-joints.For me to park Ole Yellar and get started on that and the vendor trailer,I need to make the LT my D.D. again.Once Ole yellar is done,I will be selling off the LT.So here is a pic of the LT:



So the front brakes are the worse and I started to get the parts to repair that.It is a RWD version van.I have since I bought this van complained the hydro-boost brakes where not as good as the vacuum brakes on Ole Yellar.

Here is the part you guys might find interesting.We found that the calipers from 1979 to 86 2500 series trucks have the same bolt pattern as the Astro's and have a much larger piston.So I got these Cardone's part numbers 184122 & 184123.







This allows for the use of the larger pads that a 2500 series truck use.I got Wagners part number SX153.They are aleast 20% larger and are atleast 1/3 longer than the stock Astro's as well.





I am still looking for a local aftermarket parts source for the rusted off dust shields.It is a open question as to which rotors I am going to use because of the increased heat possibilities and the fact I am going to sell off the LT once Ole Yellar is done.

This upgrade has been done on a Astro web site for over 8yrs and everyone has been very happy with the results.If I find I want more,there is also a upgrade for the rear brakes where Chevy Cop car/taxi Caprice-Buick roadmaster station rear brakes backing plate bolts onto the Astro rear end and they are 11x2 size.

Here is a nagging question.Has anyone ever heard of a performance exhaust resonator?I want this van to be super quiet without hurting the output of the planned 383 for it and I am planning to use the truck cast iron headers because I don't want to have to deal with some of the problems headers can cause and because headers to a V8 swap in Astro's are somewhat limited.

Maybe my last post got missed.I mean it happens and I know that.Any advise guys.Please and thank you.

I had 2 of these a few years back and you can't kill them ,tough as nails. There was one not far from here that had a 4" chop done to it, looked good too!
I hated the fiberglass rear springs, not bad to change, always seem to spliter at the axle mount.
Brian

The mod for the rear springs is steel main leafs which if I just wanted the OEM update it can be done by swapping out the front hangers and using 1996 Astro or later springs.With this van I am going to a custom spring set-up.A steel main leaf and secondary springs with center holes that shift them more towards the front than the rear.Mopar used to call them Super Stock springs.When torque is applied it act like a traction bar lifting up the body.

I am going to do a 3" front and rear lift.I will go into more detail on that in a little bit.We are doing that for a tire size increase to 29".Rear end is going to be a Ford 9" build by a outfit near Syr,NY.

So the conversion high top have to be taken off the shop van.To do that I have to remove drywall screws that are in a channel and hold the top down with sealer/glue.









I wanted to go slow to release the sealer/glue that over the yrs in the sun I suspected had harden.



There are block shims between the cut out roof bows to help give the top some structure and help give some strength.







They do leave some more metal over the windshield and don't touch the frame work for that at all.





I measured the cut to a common place found on both vans(the shop van and Ole Yellar not cut yet)



I found that the cut is real close to following the out side roof rib on Ole Yellar

I have more on this,but need to download and load Photobucket more.