Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Nice work as always Mark, steering on a van can be a tough fab with all the sharp angles!

Mark are you building your own headers??

Dave,
This wasn't all that bad once I got the rack tipped. That was enough to free up both joints and get the angles where they needed to be.
Charlie,
Nope, any header from an early Camaro or Chevelle will fit great. The mock up pipes are 20 dollar swap meet headers for a '69 Camaro with 2" primaries. I also have a "big" 2 1/8th set I got for 30 bucks but I doubt I need anything that big. 2" primaries should be fine.

I got the support bearing lined up last Thursday. It wasn't difficult. I redrilled the mounting holes in the firewall to the inside by about 5/8th's of an inch and the steering works great!
Really can't see any difference on the outside but you can see the old holes on the interior shots.
http://images46.fotki.com/v4/photos/...MVC001F-vi.jpg
Looking a bit from the front.
http://images61.fotki.com/v536/photo...MVC005F-vi.jpg
Inside shot. I am fabbing a backing plate to go in here
http://images61.fotki.com/v443/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
Here is the backing plate with all of the holes drilled. The pattern is the white piece and this is what the plate will look like when done.
http://images59.fotki.com/v255/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
I am thinking I will add a "top" to the bracket also to triangulate the front to the back.
Thanks for the comments.
Mark

Haven't gotten much done, Dad has been back in the hospital. Took him in Thursday afternoon. He is having Arteriel Fibralation issues and his BP went low during dialysis Thursday. We are hoping the Dr's will get this straightened out. He is back at the rehab center now and doing much better! A bit of a setback but he is doing okay.
I got the backing plate finished up Thursday before the run to the hospital. I was actually bolting it in when my wife came out and told me they were taking Dad. Anyway, here are some pics. Adding this plate REALLY stiffened up the bracket. I will try to get out to the shop tomorrow to get the top plate made.
http://images20.fotki.com/v1588/phot...MVC001F-vi.jpg
Bolted on the inside. I am going to weld some 3/8th's button head screws to the plate to simplify installation. It is a real trick getting this bolted in by myself...
http://images61.fotki.com/v440/photo...MVC007F-vi.jpg
I also added a full size nut on the bearing shaft. This will add structure for the threaded shaft and it also creates a double clamp load when I tighten the jam nut against it.
I'll get better pics tomorrow.
Mark
http://images55.fotki.com/v1604/phot...MVC003F-vi.jpg

Got some work done yesterday. Mel came out and we worked on a bunch of stuff. We made the top plate for the steering shaft support bracket and got that welded up. We also pulled the modified rack brackets and ran all the brackets through the blast cabinet. here is the blasted steering shaft bracket.
http://images59.fotki.com/v426/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
After paint. I did this in hammertone silver.
http://images50.fotki.com/v1570/phot...MVC017F-vi.jpg
The rack brackets were repainted with the hammertone black
http://images49.fotki.com/v630/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
http://images46.fotki.com/v524/photo...MVC014F-vi.jpg
While Mel was working on brackets I made a base to put casters on a new filing cabinet I picked up at a re-sale shop.
http://images55.fotki.com/v508/photo...MVC004F-vi.jpg
This is a nice cabinet. Full extension drawer slides and very heavy. I thought 28 dollars was a steal for this dude.
http://images49.fotki.com/v572/photo...MVC020F-vi.jpg
We actually started cleaning the engine compartment with thoughts of painting it bouncing in our heads... I will get the new wheel wells primed with self-etching primer and finish the seams but at least we are getting to that point!
The top of the cowl and firewall are pretty well ready for paint. We cleaned off 15yrs of grundge with degreaser and Scotch-Brite pads. Leaves a perfect surface for primer.
http://images54.fotki.com/v104/photo...MVC011F-vi.jpg
http://images57.fotki.com/v139/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
I even cleaned up the windshield wiper motor. I think this will get painted black.
http://images59.fotki.com/v420/photo...MVC012F-vi.jpg
We also brought the rearend in to warm up. I have some touchup work to do to it prior to assembly. I am going to try to get that done this week.
http://images108.fotki.com/v613/phot...MVC019F-vi.jpg
Today is my 35th wedding anniversary so I won't get much done out there today!
Thanks for looking
Mark

Spent a little time in the shop this afternoon. A couple of hours. Spent most of it cleaning out my Craftsman roll around work station (the rear end housing is sitting on it in the above post). I was using it mostly for storage but the new cabinet is getting that duty so I am turning the "work" station back into a work station...
I cleaned up the outer fender that we rebuilt and threw on a coat of primer.
After the rebuild.
http://images16.fotki.com/v378/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
Now with a coat of primer. I will give this a skim coat of seam sealer after the primer is dry.
http://images59.fotki.com/v255/photo...MVC019F-vi.jpg
I also got out my CPP tube flaring set. I hadn't used this since I bought it to do the brake lines on the old truck so I thought I would give it a try. I bought a 25' coil of 3/15ths steel line from Speedway so I cut off a short section to experiment with.
http://images50.fotki.com/v395/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
After getting everything set up I ran the first step with the adapter die to get the "bell" shape. Seemed to do a good job with little effort, the shape was concentric.
http://images16.fotki.com/v377/photo...MVC001F-vi.jpg
After that I ran the center down to close up the flare. Here the center is just touching the flare.
http://images50.fotki.com/v1559/phot...MVC004F-vi.jpg
With the flare complete and the center ran all the way down.
http://images52.fotki.com/v1565/phot...MVC005F-vi.jpg
Here is the flare with a fitting installed.
http://images60.fotki.com/v367/photo...MVC006F-vi.jpg
I think this tool works very well. I did another flare on the other end of this tube and it looked just like the first one. For the price I think this flaring tool is the bomb...

Got a bit done last weekend. I am in the mock-up process with the front brakes. Measuring for brake lines and getting everything set up so I could measure for the front abutment spacers.
I am using a set of brackets I bought from a guy on the site.
http://images14.fotki.com/v1628/phot...MVC011F-vi.jpg
They fit okay but this combo needs an additional .22 inches to get the caliper centered over the rotor. To do this I cut a chunk of 1 1/2" diameter aluminum, cleaned it up on the lathe and bored a .563 diameter hole into it about an 1 1/4" deep.
http://images58.fotki.com/v450/photo...MVC006F-vi.jpg
I then cut off 1/4" long slices.
http://images14.fotki.com/v1625/phot...MVC011F-vi.jpg
After each cut on the H/V saw I would chuck the chunk back in the lathe and face off the cut. This made sure I had one good surface to weld to the original aluminum adapter.
http://images57.fotki.com/v1354/phot...MVC002F-vi.jpg
Bolted to the abutment with 14mm bolts and clamped down with a nut. Should work well enough to get them welded on. After welding I will hit them with a fly cutter in the mill to bring them down to .22 inches high.
I also worked on some brake/power steering fittings and got the painted steering bracket bolted back in to run the steering lock to lock to measure for brake lines.
http://images59.fotki.com/v419/photo...MVC017F-vi.jpg
While I was monkeying with all of that stuff Mel made a little close out for the right side inner fender. This whole side was junk from an accident in a previous life and we rebuilt this entire corner. This was the last piece we needed to get the fender well wrapped up.
http://images57.fotki.com/v283/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
After we got it welded in Mel spent some time prepping the engine compartment for paint. Once we get this top coated we can actually start putting things together!
http://images57.fotki.com/v1613/phot...MVC014F-vi.jpg
Do you have one of these little vibrator sanders? If you don't, get one... These things work great to get into those tight little corners and do a good job roughing things up for paint. ScotchBrite works well with them also.
http://images50.fotki.com/v1529/phot...MVC012F-vi.jpg
http://images15.fotki.com/v588/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
http://images46.fotki.com/v522/photo...MVC016F-vi.jpg
Once we got everything cleaned up I shot some Eastwood self-etching primer on the new metal. Once I get back out in the shop I will get the seams sealed and shoot on another coat of primer prior to top coat.
http://images46.fotki.com/v521/photo...MVC018F-vi.jpg
http://images58.fotki.com/v510/photo...MVC019F-vi.jpg
That's about it. Thanks for watching!
Mark

you many not want to weld that brake part .your going to take out the T6 heat treat up to mount ears . make sure there not 7075T6 they will crack at weld . your far better to copy them in steel then welded on the parts in steel . if made out of just 6061 T 6 after welding were it.s has been welded at that spot will be about as strong as lead there is really no need to welded them anyways ? as bolts will hold your spacers ?

Thanks Pat, didn't even consider the heat treat on the brackets... I will fab new ones out of steel. I'll model them up in UG and get some input before I start making them. Thank you sir!
Mark

Hey guys,
Haven't posted much in a while. My Father died on the 10th of this month after fighting a losing battle with a bad fall in early December and congestive heart failure. The last two months have been pretty tough around my house. Things are getting back to some sort of normal around here though. We miss Dad alot, that's to be expected I guess, but we all know he is in a much better place so we are getting along.

I have been picking away at a few aspects on the van. Throttle cables, rear diff brake lines. I just got an aluminum throttle pedal from Speedway.
Here are some pics of the brake lines and attachment clips.
I drilled and tapped for #10-24 screws for the Adell Clamps.
http://images60.fotki.com/v367/photo...MVC0181-vi.jpg
The piece you see sitting on the axle tube will eventually get welded there. It will carry the hard line to soft line bracket. I need to get my flexlines from Tobin before I weld the pieces on.
http://images20.fotki.com/v502/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
I bent the shape to go over the punkin on an ice cream bucket...
http://images57.fotki.com/v1613/phot...MVC010F-vi.jpg
Mel built some brackets to carry the relay box that will bolt into the drivers side fender.
http://images46.fotki.com/v374/photo...ackets2-vi.jpg
This is the project box from Radio Shack. Mel is holding it about where it will mount. We need to make a mounting plate that will bolt to the box and then to the fender brackets.
http://images14.fotki.com/v777/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
The box will get painted body color and it will house all of the fan and headlight relays.
I also did a bit of mock up on the engine. Just looking at fuel lines and throttle cable routing.
http://images50.fotki.com/v1558/phot...MVC021F-vi.jpg
http://images108.fotki.com/v1629/pho...MVC003F-vi.jpg
http://images46.fotki.com/v523/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
That's about it. Hopefully we'll get a lot more done in the next few weekends.
Mark

Hang in there. Sorry to hear about your DAD. This is one great project.

Sorry to hear about your Dad, Mark, I know what a loss that is. The project is coming along great, thanks for the update!

Thanks for the pictures, Mark. Always enjoy looking at your fabrication skills. Sorry to hear of your loss of your Dad.

Sorry to hear of your loss Mark.
But thanks for making time for an update esp. with pictures!

Realy sorry to hear about your dad.