Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Okay Pat, I'll see what I can do to get these cut out this week.

Well... The battery is back in the BACK... I mocked up the radiator, which is 19 x 31 and it drops down well into the frame. The white stuff is the foam spacers from the rad shipping box. Perfect height to set the radiator on. You can see there is no room between the radiator and the rack
http://images20.fotki.com/v422/photo...00_5284-vi.jpg
THEN once I mocked up the electric fans, I had even less room. SO, the battery is in the back. I reconciled myself to that today and built a set of brackets out of foam core.
http://images57.fotki.com/v300/photo...00_5282-vi.jpg
I also built a tray for the box to sit on.
http://images46.fotki.com/v530/photo...00_5281-vi.jpg
With the box in place.
http://images109.fotki.com/v150/phot...00_5277-vi.jpg
Let me tell you I am not real happy with this location but there is nothing else I can do.
http://images52.fotki.com/v728/photo...00_5292-vi.jpg
I will make the brackets out of the left over .090 aluminum from the tank.
I modeled the parts up in UG and detailed them tonight. I will start making chips tomorrow night.
http://images15.fotki.com/v587/photo...RYBRKT1-vi.jpg
I could probably have the shop laser cut these but I need to make them with my own hands... Know what I mean?
Mel was working on the seat frames. He got all of the new mounting holes drilled and made up the spacer/washers for under the floor.
http://images107.fotki.com/v67/photo...00_5274-vi.jpg
We can actually bolt the seats in now!
Mark

No sitting on the job

Looks good Mark, and it's the builder right to go back to the original plan, or change his mind again, or whatever!!!!!! It's in the rule book!!!!

Thanks Charlie, Thanks Dave,
Charlie, the problem isn't the sitting... It's the getting back up after sitting for a while...
And Dave, the original plan isn't what I want to do but, when it works out to be the only option, I guess I have to run with it. Building the foam core brackets yesterday commited me to that plan though. The only other place to put it was in front of the right rear tire but, sinking it into the floor would block the route for exhaust.
It just amazes me that, even though this is a van, there is no room for anything when you start throwing big tire and motors at it....

I've done a bit more design work for the van. Once I had the radiator mocked up I figured I may as well measure it up and design some brackets. I worked on the lower brackets and got those modeled and detailed Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
These will bolt to the new body crossmember that runs between the front body mounts. These are some snapshots from UG.
http://images20.fotki.com/v233/photo...ORBRKT1-vi.jpg
The radiator will sit on some rubber cushions in the three saddles.
http://images45.fotki.com/v153/photo...ORBRKT2-vi.jpg
Here are a couple of pics with the radiator in place. This one is from the front. I have the trans cooler in place and will design some brackets for that shortly. I still need to get the power steering cooler modeled and get that placed before I start on the brackets.
http://images58.fotki.com/v696/photo...ORBRKT5-vi.jpg
This is a rear pic. You can see the beginnings of the fan shroud design here.
http://images57.fotki.com/v505/photo...ORBRKT3-vi.jpg
I got out in the shop this morning and got the three saddles pieces bent up and made the two end brackets.
http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photo...00_5304-vi.jpg
Three saddle brackets. These are made from 3/16ths x 2" steel strip stock
http://images45.fotki.com/v153/photo...00_5306-vi.jpg
The support brackets were made from some 16 ga sheet stock.
http://images59.fotki.com/v111/photo...00_5296-vi.jpg
I trimmed the back with the stomp shear but had to rough out the inside cuts on the verticle bandsaw and finish up with a flap disc. The roto-broachs did a nice job cutting the lightening holes.
http://images18.fotki.com/v438/photo...00_5298-vi.jpg
This is how the end pieces will weld on.
http://images20.fotki.com/v1534/phot...00_5309-vi.jpg
Tomorrow I will get the lower sopport piece made and hopefully sandblast all of the pieces and get them welded together. Have a shindig at the in-laws early afternoon so I will try to get out in the shop early.
Thanks for looking.
Mark

I got the lower panel made this morning. Cut a piece of 22ga and laid out the hole patterns for the plug welds and lightening holes.
http://images108.fotki.com/v1623/pho...00_5314-vi.jpg
I used the bench mounted hole punch to make the weld holes and my 1 1/2" diameter rotobroach to cut the lightening holes.
I clamped the piece to the table and used the Milwaukee drill to cut them.
http://images59.fotki.com/v683/photo...00_5324-vi.jpg
The thin sheet cut real quick and I had all six holes cut in about 10 minutes.
http://images51.fotki.com/v423/photo...00_5331-vi.jpg
After I did a bit of de-burring I broke out the Mittler Bros. flaring tool. These are sweet!
http://images107.fotki.com/v780/phot...00_5325-vi.jpg
http://images60.fotki.com/v778/photo...00_5327-vi.jpg
http://images18.fotki.com/v60/photos...00_5328-vi.jpg
I had these all flared in just a few minutes.
http://images9.fotki.com/v174/photos...00_5330-vi.jpg
Putting on the first bend. The piece was pretty flimsy until I put this first bend in. It got pretty strong with this and even stronger with the second bend.
http://images52.fotki.com/v726/photo...00_5334-vi.jpg
I had to sweeten up the middle of the bends with a hand seamer but it didn't take much.
http://images9.fotki.com/v174/photos...00_5337-vi.jpg
Now that all of the pieces are made I mocked them up for a look see
http://images108.fotki.com/v1623/pho...00_5341-vi.jpg
This is the right hand side
http://images107.fotki.com/v780/phot...00_5342-vi.jpg
An overall shot
http://images107.fotki.com/v70/photo...00_5343-vi.jpg
I ran out of time today so I'll get the pieces blasted tomorrow, welded together and at least a coat of primer on them. I have tomorrow off so I can play in the shop.
Mark

looks good

Nice work Mark, fabricating IMO is sill the best part of any build, and when a product is "space challenged" like your van it always becomes even more interesting!!!!

Thanks Guys! Appreciate the compliments!!
I had yesterday off and got out in the shop early. Mel came out and we hit it pretty hard. I got the sand blaster set up and ran all of the radiator brackets thru the box and got them primed with some Eastwood self-etching weld-thru primer.
http://images9.fotki.com/v174/photos...00_5345-vi.jpg
http://images50.fotki.com/v1526/phot...00_5346-vi.jpg
http://images108.fotki.com/v191/phot...00_5347-vi.jpg
While I had the blaster set up I also ran the seat brackets thru it.
http://images20.fotki.com/v502/photo...00_5351-vi.jpg
If you have ever worked with hot rolled steel you'll know that sand blasting is about the only way to clean this stuff up. A grinder will do the job but that leaves you with more finish work then it's worth. Blasting leaves a nice even surface ready for primer.
http://images61.fotki.com/v440/photo...00_5352-vi.jpg
Of course, once it's blasted you have to get some primer on it. It will start rusting almost immediately if you don't...
While I was doing all of the dirty work Mel was having fun building the battery brackets...
http://images28.fotki.com/v126/photo...00_5353-vi.jpg
Yea, I let him do it. I'm kind of worried about him though, his eyes are bothering him, sounds like Macular Degeneration. Not good, he goes to the eye doctor Thursday.
These pieces are made from 16ga sheet.
http://images50.fotki.com/v1523/phot...00_5355-vi.jpg
We did all of the flaring in the arbor press. Much easier on the tooling AND our arms.
http://images16.fotki.com/v388/photo...00_5357-vi.jpg
http://images12.fotki.com/v236/photo...00_5358-vi.jpg
We were doing the flaring while my primer dried on the radiator brackets. Once I got back too them I jigged them up and got them welded together. I didn't take any pics while I was doing that. Things were moving fairly quickly and I didn't think to stop and snap a few...
I cleaned up the welds a bit and reprimed them and once that was ready I shot the bracket with some "Hammered" Black.
http://images49.fotki.com/v572/photo...00_5360-vi.jpg
Doesn't look to bad. So sad it's buried under the radiator...
http://images109.fotki.com/v144/phot...00_5361-vi.jpg
http://images55.fotki.com/v1617/phot...00_5362-vi.jpg
The camera died as I was going to take picks of the seat brackets all painted and the battery bracket all mocked up. I got holes drilled in the rear tub for the mounting plates and will bolt the plates in before I tack the bracket together. That way there is no second guessing as to if it will fit or not.
Mark

Nice work Mark, those punch and flare tools add a ton of strength and look really nice, too!!!! I keep looking at the hydraulic powered arbor press setup, lots of different dies and flare attachments available for it, too!!!! A bit spendy, but what isn't??

Yes, it is suprising how much strength the flares add. I would like to pick up powered metal working tools but, like you say, they are just to expensive to justify for the limited fab work I do...

Haven't gotten much physical work done on the van. I have been designing and detailing all of the coolpack stuff, Shrouds and brackets and pulling together parts for the fuel system.
I posted this in the engine forum so it would get more views.
I just wanted to get these fittings out there incase anyone else is wanting to run steel lines. I know aluminum is the norm but I am nervous using aluminum when I know fuel quality is for shit and the percentage of ethanol is cause for worry. I will be running 1/2" diameter by .035 wall steel hydraulic tubing for all of the van's fuel and return lines.
I will be using YOR-LOK compression fittings from McMaster Carr. They go from the 1/2" steel line to any size pipe thread you could need. I will be using the 3/8th female NPT and running 3/8th NPT male to -8 AN adapters to get from the pump and out to the engine.
McMaster-Carr
These are designed to work with gasoline and have dual ferrules to provide a leak-free seal. No worries running these, they'll work great and they are not expensive.
Mark

Got a bit done this morning. Mel came out and we mocked up the lower rad support. He went junkyarding yesterday and picked up a few radiator mounting rubbers. We used a couple under the radiator and cut two up for the upper mounts.
The radiator sets nicely in these two. We drilled 1/4" diameter holes in the cross-piece to hold them in place with the little rubber nipples.
http://images51.fotki.com/v731/photo...MVC020F-vi.jpg
http://images16.fotki.com/v220/photo...MVC018F-vi.jpg
Radiator in place on the rubbers.
http://images28.fotki.com/v134/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
We cut up two rubbers to fit into the upper radiator channel.
This is the passenger side.
http://images18.fotki.com/v458/photo...MVC016F-vi.jpg
The drivers side. These will get clamped into place with upper radiator brackets.
http://images58.fotki.com/v448/photo...MVC017F-vi.jpg
Once we had the radiator sitting at the correct height, we could design the upper radiator brackets.
http://images57.fotki.com/v256/photo...MVC004F-vi.jpg
http://images54.fotki.com/v625/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
We measured everything and took into account the foam strip and shroud at the back of the radiator. We will use a piece of closed cell stick-on foam rubber to seal the upper and lower shroud flanges and this is what the upper brackets will pull into place and compress to get some clamp on the radiator. Rubber strips on the support side will give something to clamp against.
I didn't get any fab pics of the brackets... But we laid these out on some 16ga steel and stomp sheared, rota-broached and press braked them into shape.
http://images16.fotki.com/v363/photo...MVC007F-vi.jpg
http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
We need to pull the corners together, weld them up and drill the holes but we knocked off for the day and will get that done tomorrow.
Along with mocking up the battery bracket in the truck and getting that welded.
We will start fabbing the shrouds tomorrow also.
Mark
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work work work its never none.. Nice work though

Thanks Charlie, yea it never seems to end.

We hit it pretty hard today. Mel started setting up the battery brackets to get them welded and I started figuring out how to cut the holes in the aluminum panels for the radiator shrouds.
Here are the brackets as Mel was figuring out how to clamp this mess together for welding.
http://images58.fotki.com/v696/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
He made some small angle iron brackets to get everything clamped up. Once it was clamped up we tacked all of the pieces together so we could mock it up in the van.
Here are the tacked brackets set in place on the fender mounted straps.
http://images108.fotki.com/v1623/pho...MVC020F-vi.jpg
http://images55.fotki.com/v585/photo...MVC021F-vi.jpg
Once we got everything squared up I tacked the brackets to the fender straps.
http://images58.fotki.com/v132/photo...MVC005F-vi.jpg
It's amazing how strong these little guys are! They shouldn't have a problem holding up a battery.
http://images51.fotki.com/v1586/phot...MVC007F-vi.jpg
While Mel was building stuff to build stuff, I was building a top for my router table. I used a piece of 1/4" plywood and clamped it to the top of the table. I used this to spin the aluminum panels around a center hole to cut out the fan openings.
http://images55.fotki.com/v605/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
I used some Castrol stick wax to lube the 1/4" carbide cutter in the router.
http://images108.fotki.com/v613/phot...MVC010F-vi.jpg
In order to "keep" the center of the hole from falling out, I had to stop short on 3 of the cuts. You can se the end of the first cut at the top of this pic. The bit is set in the next hole and the stick wax is spread on the cut line.
http://images49.fotki.com/v1511/phot...MVC016F-vi.jpg
I drilled 1/4" starter holes at 4 points and ran the router up till it was a 1/2" or so shy of the next hole.
This was pretty noisey but it worked well and I got both openings in the radiator shroud cut along with the one for the trans cooler.
http://images15.fotki.com/v792/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
Once I got the holes cut I worked on the trans cooler shroud. I laid out the shape and bend lines and did some off hand cutting on the verticle band saw.
http://images59.fotki.com/v426/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
http://images16.fotki.com/v220/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
I bent the .090 aluminum in the 3 in 1 tool. It was kinda tuff but it did the job.
http://images20.fotki.com/v422/photo...MVC011F-vi.jpg
All bent up and sitting nice and flat... I like it when it comes together like planned...
http://images108.fotki.com/v1623/pho...MVC013F-vi.jpg
I had to set the mating components in place just to test the fit. Perfect!
http://images15.fotki.com/v1626/phot...MVC017F-vi.jpg
http://images108.fotki.com/v1623/pho...MVC018F-vi.jpg
http://images109.fotki.com/v144/phot...MVC020F-vi.jpg
I'll try to get out in the shop after work this week to get the rest of the trans cooler shroud pieces made. They are pretty simple and shoud go quick.
Thanks for looking!
Mark

Lots of neat stuff, great work as always Mark!