Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Yeah Mark.You know long threads sometimes details get over looked or lost.Thanks.

I also did a LOT of work on the shifter housing this past week.
Last Sunday I made an aluminum "spine" to mimic the shape of the housing. I used the aluminum cover I got with the shifter as a study but ended up changing the shape a bit to get more closure on the handle to housing gap. The aluminum piece had a HUGEJASS hole in it so it couild be dropped over the handle... My cover is removable so I designed it to split around the handle slot which allowed me to close up that gap, aLOT.
http://images35.fotki.com/v1170/phot...MVC008F-vi.jpg
I also made up a plate to carry the Overdive switches.
http://images42.fotki.com/v664/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
The aluminum is a scrap piece of 20thou I got from a trophy shop. They scrap out a lot of this stuff...
http://images36.fotki.com/v1155/phot...MVC010F-vi.jpg
After I got the switches where I needed them I laid down a layer of duct tape on the doghouse to start laying up the mounting flanges
I didn't get any pics of the flange build... Things were going to quick and I didn't take the time, sorry.
After the flanges cooked off I hot glued more of that beautiful t-shirt material to the flange and the "spine". Once that was allresined up this is what I had...
http://images40.fotki.com/v1238/phot...MVC015F-vi.jpg
I laid this all up as one piece. Much easier to get things smooth and flowing. Once it cooked I added a few layers of glass and cut out the switch window.
http://images60.fotki.com/v661/photo...MVC016F-vi.jpg
The cover was then cut into two parts. The right hand side is the biggest. I will attach the left hand (switch) side with screws from underneath so the switches will be servicable.
http://images33.fotki.com/v1141/phot...MVC019F-vi.jpg
Here is the cover with the shifter bolted in.
http://images51.fotki.com/v731/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
And the bolt on piece removed...
http://images59.fotki.com/v255/photo...MVC005F-vi.jpg
This is coming along nicely. I have glassed in flanges to support the removable piece and to close out the gap between the two pieces.
One other thing I did was a mod to the shifter itself. I plan to use a small key to make the cable removable so I drilled a small hole thru the cable pin to insert the key into.
This is the key before I drilled. It just snapped around the groove in the pin.
http://images46.fotki.com/v1492/phot...MVC008F-vi.jpg
This is the fixture I made to drill the pin. A piece of 3/4 in scrap aluminum. I bored a hole in the end to slide over the pin and then drilled a hole down thru it to guiide the drill bit as I drilled the pin.
http://images55.fotki.com/v268/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
Worked slick and the pin drilled a lot easier then I thought it would.
http://images61.fotki.com/v52/photos...MVC011F-vi.jpg
Now I have positive retention for the key.
http://images31.fotki.com/v1052/phot...MVC013F-vi.jpg
Well, that's about it... Thanks for looking.
Mark