Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Sounds like a productive weekend! Anxiously awaiting the pics!

Glad somebody is making progress, I'm on that piddly stuff where you work all day and can't see where you did anything!!!!

Hey Dave,
Thanks, progress has been good all along but, as you know, the little things take time.

Mel and I hit it hard again this weekend! I got the new battery for the shop camera Thursday so I got a few update pics from last weekend.
This is a pic of the housing panhard bracket tacked in place. With the panhard bar mocked in.
http://images108.fotki.com/v205/phot...MVC008F-vi.jpg
Another angle.
http://images54.fotki.com/v627/photo...MVC006F-vi.jpg
Here is a pic of the whole suspension hanging in the chassis.
http://images57.fotki.com/v256/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
This is the outer gusset for the panhard bar frame bracket tacked in place.
http://images58.fotki.com/v132/photo...MVC001F-vi.jpg
The upper shock xmbr tacked in. I will be making gusset plates for this to tie it into the rail better and it will also carry a set of down tubes for the cage.
http://images39.fotki.com/v1291/phot...MVC003F-vi.jpg
Mark

This is a pic of the custom decals I had made for Bad Ast Motorsports.
http://images108.fotki.com/v191/phot...MVC002F-vi.jpg
I am putting the stickers on all of the suspension parts as they are finished.
http://images44.fotki.com/v301/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
Storage for the 4 link and panhard bars.
http://images59.fotki.com/v684/photo...MVC004F-vi.jpg
Today and yesterday the chassis saw the light of day AND the underside of a certain Astro Van... We started marrying the chassis to the body Saturday. Cleaned out a LOT more of the crossmembers (all of them to be exact) made a few notches in the forward rail sections and got the chassis shoved up in there...
http://images54.fotki.com/v77/photos...MVC012F-vi.jpg
Making way for the new chassis... There were 8 of these "tabs" left, spot welded to the old rails that we cleaned off today
http://images15.fotki.com/v235/photo...MVC012F-vi.jpg
After hitting them with a plug cutter and chisel...
http://images54.fotki.com/v627/photo...MVC016F-vi.jpg
Cleaned up with the grinder...
http://images50.fotki.com/v1523/phot...MVC014F-vi.jpg
Rail notches for frame clearance. I will plate these in over the winter. The drivers side is a bit more "notchie" then the pass side.
http://images44.fotki.com/v301/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
http://images59.fotki.com/v683/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
After a couple of days worth of cutting and grinding we got the frame up in a near semblance of it's actual position.
http://images59.fotki.com/v683/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
http://images57.fotki.com/v221/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
http://images59.fotki.com/v684/photo...MVC011F-vi.jpg
I found this...
http://images54.fotki.com/v627/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
INSIDE the right hand rail section... WHY would a bird want to get in the rail? Probably to make a nest but it couldn't get out... Sad, very sad.
Thanks for looking.
Services and funeral are next Thursday at 11:00AM.

Nice work on the project, good to see them come together finally, isn't it? Neat looking decal, too!!! Should draw some interest.

PS--Is there a prayer service for da bird prior to the funeral, I have an appointment Thursday.....

Thank you Dave. There is no planned prayer service but you can send money to the "Birds the Words" charity.
I hope your grand-daughters are okay... Sorry to here about the strife.

Any body mods planed??. Chop top,channeling,etc??. Given that,now maybe you start the roll bar/cage tacking it in and then remove the body to finish weld it all around.

Originally Posted by astroracer

Thank you Dave. There is no planned prayer service but you can send money to the "Birds the Words" charity.
I hope your grand-daughters are okay... Sorry to here about the strife.

"Granpa's Girls" just keep gettin' better every day!!!!

\Sent a great big cheque to the "Birds the Word" charity, gonna be a big funeral I bet!!! Was the bird Irish, thought maybe there might be a wake!!!! Irish wakes are fun!!!

Hey Gary,
There are body mods planned, but those will wait until the van is running good and all of the suspension is sorted out. I hope to have it drivable by spring and will spend the summer working out the bugs.
Cage work is already planned and will progress as soon as the body mounts are in (this week). There is a lot of work to do to the front inner fender structure for tire clearance and the dog house area around the engine. I will be building a whole new dog house and will be re-building the entire floor to accomodate.
The cage will be built inside the van while it is off the chassis. I built a body cart to hold it over the winter and that is where I will build the cage. The cage will actually drop down thru holes in the floor so I can finish weld all of the tubes. It will then be raised into position while the chassis is re-installed this spring.
There is still butt-load of work to do. We have actually just scrapped the surface so far...

The cage finish weld I was talking about are the ones by the roof.Often those are welded as best you can considering the ceiling.I was suggesting a cage height adjustment given a top chop.

Originally Posted by 1gary

The cage finish weld I was talking about are the ones by the roof.Often those are welded as best you can considering the ceiling.I was suggesting a cage height adjustment given a top chop.

"The cage will actually drop down thru holes in the floor so I can finish weld all of the tubes. It will then be raised into position while the chassis is re-installed this spring."
No top chop. I've talked about this before. The vans are too wide to make a chop look good unless it is very minor chop. Not worth doing in my opinion.

I worked on trimming down body mount bushings during the week and got the chassis centered up and aligned so Mel and I could get the mount brackets finished up and tacked on today. We got all of that done AND pulled the chassis out and put it back on the rotisserie AND took the van off the lift and rolled it over to the cold side of the shop so I can putter with it this winter. I hope you enjoy the pics.
Trimming the mounts. I set them up in the horizontal bandsaw and trimmed them down to one inch high.
http://images41.fotki.com/v195/photo...MVC006F-vi.jpg
This is 7 of the 8 mount bushings I did. I still need two more to finish them up.
http://images109.fotki.com/v146/phot...MVC008F-vi.jpg
After squaring up the chassis we measured how much we would need to notch the body mount brackets. 1" by 2" was the magic number.
Running the tubing through the verticle saw.
http://images51.fotki.com/v94/photos...MVC009F-vi.jpg
After getting all of the brackets ready I tacked them to the frame. We re-used the 6 old cradle mounts and added 4 new (two per side) towards the rear.
http://images108.fotki.com/v205/phot...MVC013F-vi.jpg
http://images15.fotki.com/v2/photos/...MVC019F-vi.jpg
We fabbed up the rear mounts from 1/4" plate and some short sections of 2 x 3 tube.
http://images108.fotki.com/v360/phot...MVC014F-vi.jpg
These are just tacked right now. I am going to start the finish welding tomorrow.
As they look in the van.
http://images53.fotki.com/v249/photo...MVC007F-vi.jpg
http://images58.fotki.com/v154/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
We got the van off the hoist and onto the body cart. It sure did roll around nice.
http://images109.fotki.com/v146/phot...MVC020F-vi.jpg
My wife had a good time taking us for rides...
http://images108.fotki.com/v205/phot...MVC018F-vi.jpg
Once we got it rolled back in the shop we raised it up off the cart and set it on some jack stands.
http://images51.fotki.com/v103/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
http://images109.fotki.com/v779/phot...MVC006F-vi.jpg
The chassis is back in the shop. With body mounts! Have a few additional brackets to make and finish the welding. That will be tomorrow.
http://images57.fotki.com/v256/photo...MVC001F-vi.jpg
Thanks for looking
Mark

I like the looks of the 8 wheeled van body, but isn't that going to be kind of tough to steer??????

Really nice work as always Mark!!!! I'd say you had a very productive week!

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

I like the looks of the 8 wheeled van body, but isn't that going to be kind of tough to steer??????

Really nice work as always Mark!!!! I'd say you had a very productive week!

Thank you sir, yes, got a lot done this week and we still have tomorrow so I hope to have most of the welding done by end of the day.
Actually, the cart steers very esily. The first six sets of casters are swivels so it doesn't get "locked" up.

So Mark short of a different cut-out for the flooring and dog house for the on center drive train,are you retaining the stock flooring and not tinning it??.BTW looks really good bud.

Nice work on the chassis and rear suspension. Lookin good.......Im watching this build with a close eye....Im also learnin a few things from watching you too.