Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Sounds kewl Mark, eagerly awaiting the next round of pics!!!!!!! I really like the direction your build is going, subtle and wild all at once!!!!

Very nice work, Mark, and your photos are well done, too. Makes it easy to follow your process of getting those details out of your head and onto the van. Looking forward to the next installment!!

Thanks guys! I aqm pleased everyone is enjoying this as much as Mel and I are! Roger, I find it is good to FINALLY get this stuff out of my head and onto the van!
We got a LOT done this weekend. Mel worked his ASS off on the floor patch. We had an issue where the two pieces we are welding together were mis-matched.
http://images12.fotki.com/v20/photos...MVC004F-vi.jpg
One section had floor ribs and the other didn't. Mel made a forming die from some 1/4" plate and made a couple of ribs that we welded into the floor to "terminate" the other set... Incredible. Here is the die and the 1st test "stamping".
http://images57.fotki.com/v1613/phot...MVC006F-vi.jpg
The lessons learned from that were applied to the die block. A little bigger radius at the back and some blending on the corners gave him the 2nd test stamping.
http://images16.fotki.com/v368/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
That's a winner!
http://images59.fotki.com/v111/photo...MVC021F-vi.jpg
He cut and fit them to the patch panel. Once these are weleded in you will never know.
http://images60.fotki.com/v778/photo...MVC005F-vi.jpg
Tacked in and looking good. Thanks Mel!
http://images51.fotki.com/v102/photo...MVC007F-vi.jpg

While MEl was finagaling with the floor stuff I was making patterns for the front of the Pass side wheel tub. Yesterday I got the back half done.
Pattern and wheel tub.
http://images45.fotki.com/v148/photo...MVC013F-vi.jpg
After a bit of rolling and hand bending I had it fitting well enough I could put a couple of cleco's into it.
[img]http://images51.fotki.com/v103/photos/5/904975/10358292/MVC022F-vi.jpg[\img]
Had to do a bit of trimming at the lower right front corner. Three pieces of steel came together here and the outer jamb for the slider protruded inside as well so there was some work to do....
http://images56.fotki.com/v362/photo...MVC018F-vi.jpg
Both halfs are fitting fairly well right now. I still have abit of forming to do but I will take care of that when I start welding them together.
http://images56.fotki.com/v371/photo...MVC017F-vi.jpg
I also made the rear inner piece that wraps around to the side. This piece will get welded to the old tub and I will build a flange to recreate the floor that was cut out.
http://images44.fotki.com/v220/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
http://images16.fotki.com/v369/photo...MVC014F-vi.jpg
Still have a lot to do to wrap up the passenger side. I hope to get this done next weekend and have a good start on the drivers side.
Thanks for looking!
Mark

Always a big day when the fitting is done and the welding begins!!!!! Some very nice work, ever thought of renting Mel out????????

As always realy nice work

Mel is retired and just wastes away waiting for the weekends...
Thanks guys.

I worked all day yesterday at the real job so we didn't get out in the shop until this morning. Mel worked on the floor sections, doing a lot of grinding and cleaning up (read that making LOTS of noise and dust...)
http://images61.fotki.com/v390/photo...MVC005F-vi.jpg
http://images51.fotki.com/v282/photo...MVC012F-vi.jpg
He pulled out all of the engine cover panels and cleaned those up, finished some grinding and welding and got all of them primed. They look pretty good with some paint on them.
http://images16.fotki.com/v369/photo...MVC019F-vi.jpg
http://images12.fotki.com/v335/photo...MVC020F-vi.jpg
I made the template for the RH front filler panel
http://images12.fotki.com/v335/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
http://images109.fotki.com/v785/phot...MVC006F-vi.jpg
and got that cut out and fit in. Put a roll in it for the corner and put a little dink in it to finish a rib that was in the old panel.
http://images60.fotki.com/v778/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
Got it tack welded in and did a little cleanup grinding. I need to pull the tub out to finish the "dink" but this is well on it's way.
http://images27.fotki.com/v990/photo...MVC017F-vi.jpg
http://images60.fotki.com/v361/photo...MVC016F-vi.jpg
http://images60.fotki.com/v661/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
Getting the LH side set up for fabricating.
http://images12.fotki.com/v20/photos...MVC018F-vi.jpg
After the set up I got the rest of the old tin removed off the inner wall. To mark the outline I ran a straightedge across the gap and marked out the cut line with a marker.
I made another template out of the greenboard.
http://images61.fotki.com/v390/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
Fitting it to the outer sheetmetal.
http://images16.fotki.com/v382/photo...MVC011F-vi.jpg
This is where we knocked off for the day. We went in the house, had some cake and Mel headed home. Thanks Mel!

Mark I use a retired guy too.


Oh wait......................that's me.LOL

Another good weekend's work Mark! Coming together quite nicely.

Thanks Dave, after a month or so of Over Time I finally got a full weekend off from the money job and got some stuff done on the van.
Saturday I worked on the front half of the left rear tub, getting that cut out and fit to the outer wheel well.
Here it is on the bench after I had run it through the rollers. I found it was easier to put a bit more bend into the panel then it actually needed and then sneak up on the fit by slowly unbending it...
http://images112.fotki.com/v386/phot...MVC001F-vi.jpg
Things went fairly smooth and it was clecoed in quickly.
http://images61.fotki.com/v390/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
You can also see the lower "skirt" piece is made and clipped in at this point.
Mel worked on the front brake hubs.... This was a job. He used the trusty sawzall to remove the rotor from the hub.
http://images16.fotki.com/v378/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
http://images60.fotki.com/v370/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
All cut down and ready for the lathe. These need to be reduced in diameter to 6" so they will fit in the Corvette front rotors. They will be shortened up quite a bit also.
http://images61.fotki.com/v390/photo...MVC017F-vi.jpg
Once this is done we will verify caliper positioning and drill out the spindle for the 7/16-20 bolts that hold on the abutmemnts.
http://images55.fotki.com/v659/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
Doesn't look like a lot but we made some progress.
Thanks for looking
Mark

Got to do some tack welding on wheel tubs today! Once we were satisfied with the fit to the outer wheel well all of the new panels were clecoed in place. On the underside I marked the cut lines to trim the new panels for butt-welding to the original wheel well.
Once all of the trimming was done we used those blade style welding clamps to set the gaps and hold the edges of the panels in alignment. You can see a couple in the top of this pic.
http://images51.fotki.com/v299/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
They work very well. After a few tacks they come out and we move on to the next panel
http://images51.fotki.com/v103/photo...MVC001F-vi.jpg
This is the right rear.
http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
The right front. We also made the piece to fill the hole from the slider door frame.
http://images54.fotki.com/v101/photo...MVC012F-vi.jpg
Once the tubs were one piece we removed them for finish welding.
http://images55.fotki.com/v659/photo...MVC017F-vi.jpg
This pic shows all of the contouring invloved working around the slider door track...
http://images16.fotki.com/v383/photo...MVC001F-vi.jpg
The finish welding will happen later. We were pretty well done in at this point. After a month or so off we lost some stamina...
Thanks for looking. More to come later.
Mark

Mel just sent me these pics of the hubs. He took them to a local automotive shop yesterday and lined them up on turning down the O.D. to fit inside the Vette rotors and they also pressed in new bearing races and swapped out the 7/16 lug studs to 1/2".
http://images61.fotki.com/v777/photo...nthubs2-vi.jpg
The bigger studs are Astro van pieces. The one on the right still had the spindly 7/16ths in it...
http://images56.fotki.com/v371/photo...nthubs1-vi.jpg
These will clean up nice in the blast cabinet and look great with some gloss black paint on them.
Thanks again guys!
I hope we can keep moving forward!
Mark

The wheel tubs came out great Mark! Looks like the brakes and hubs are going to be well up to the task of motivating the Van!

Mark, you're doing some great fab work and your pictures are well done to help understand your process. It's a huge project, but one that's gonna get lots of attention down the road. Thanks for posting all of the details.

Don't you just wish you had more time to put in on your project?