Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

Tweet

Mark.... Been a long time man! How have you been doing ?

Hi Tony!
Yea, it's been a while hasn't it! Time flies you know... I've been very well thanks. Working a ton of O.T. the last few years and am now able to slow down a bit to get some "STUFF" done at home! I hope you and yours are doing well.
Your timing is impeccable bud. I need to talk to you about the rear suspension on this van. I am in a bit of a pickle with leaf springs and what not. I knew the stock Astro springs I had were too long but now I need to decide what I want to do to fix it. We need to talk and I am open to options. Can I give you a call?
Thanks man
Mark

The spindles turned out better than I had hoped. There is no way in hell these things are going to be an issue. Like Iron Mike told me when I dropped them off for welding, "the tierod itself will break before these arms will", and he is right.
Yesterday afternoon I hauled the rearend housing up to McCarthy Performance in KawKawlin (an hours drive north of me) for narrowing and rebuilding with new Moser 31 spline axles, Nodular center section and new gears, True-Trac LS, HD pinion support and new bearings and seals. I will put in fill and drain plugs when I get it home.
Thanks for doing this for me Pat. It was great to finally meet face to face and I will get you the rest of the info we talked about yesterday. I look forward to picking up that housing.
I talked to Tobin at KORE 3 about their 9 inch C5 caliper brackets. I will hold off ordering them until after I get the housing back from Pat.
Mark

Originally Posted by astroracer

Hi Tony!
Yea, it's been a while hasn't it! Time flies you know... I've been very well thanks. Working a ton of O.T. the last few years and am now able to slow down a bit to get some "STUFF" done at home! I hope you and yours are doing well.
Your timing is impeccable bud. I need to talk to you about the rear suspension on this van. I am in a bit of a pickle with leaf springs and what not. I knew the stock Astro springs I had were too long but now I need to decide what I want to do to fix it. We need to talk and I am open to options. Can I give you a call?
Thanks man
Mark

No problem....drop me a line or an email anytime.

Originally Posted by Tony@RideTech

No problem....drop me a line or an email anytime.

Hey Tony,
Check your emails at work. I sent you something yesterday!
I have come up with a parallel 4 link design that gives me a 50% anti-squat and full adjustability from -14% to over 100%.
I just need to figure out coilovers and panhard bar designs now.

Hey Mr. McCarthy!!!
I have a set of 4 link brackets designed for the 9" There is going to be a lot of welding to do on the housing to get these dudes attached. Is that something we should do before you weld the ends back on? To keep end use warpage to a minimum?
I need to make the brackets so let me know what you think bud.
Mark

yes if there is alot of welding they will move

That's what I thought. I will post up some pics of the design tonight. I will be making drawings of this stuff and pulling in the material to make them this weekend.
Thanks Pat.
Mark

ok then i will hold up on cutting it down for now. i will order parts to day .with a 375 gear your going to be at 2788.RPM with a 27 tire @60 MPH sound good ? or you want to use a 350 gear ? it would be about 2617 RPM @60MPH

I will be running a 700R4. That makes a big difference in Final Drive Ratio.
A set of 3.90's will be spinning the engine at 2276 @ 70mph. 3.75's will be @ 2189 and 3.50's will be spinning @ 2043.
I think I like the 3.75's. What does that do to the cam numbers?

yes i do under stand that you have a 4 forth gear so that was the chart at hand. as one to one i was looking for you to post what RPM your wanted to be @60MPH cam pick will come in to play the lower RPM you go to . like the talk we had at the shop cam can be worked out so your in the TQ power band so less gear for HI way miles

Okay, got'cha. At 1:1 @60mph the 3.75's look pretty good. I think that is what you are liking, right?

i like the 4l60 trans first is not as tall as the 700. 4 is abit more then 1.7 in the 4l60? if we put a 390 gear in it you will carry good MPH on the hi way but 1.2. gears may be useless to hook it with street tires .if you go to a big cam you many never lock the stall up in forth gear .so that.s were i was thinking a smaller gear if your driving this on the hiway and want more of a driver abit better MPG (well we can hope)...then Pro street deal with a big cam so i am thinking smaller cam and 3.70 gears and your stall going to blow the tires off but hopfuly not as bad as with more gear

For this 5 minutes I think I want to have it a bit more sedate to make it managable (read that "drivable") for working out the bugs. If I want to go bigger on the cam later I will have to look at gearing it different anyway so, lets keep things low key to begin with then, when I want more, I'll have room to grow.
You have the specs for the current cam. Lets work up some numbers with your recommended cam and lifter package and we'll go from there. Sound like a plan?

yep you will need good vacuum to run any thing power booster other stuff ??i do know of some nice grinds i used that may not have alot of idle sound (choppy)in a 500CID engine but will work very good for this build and come off idle with good power