I'll look for this van on the tour. I'm hoping to have the 40 on the first 3 days.
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I'll look for this van on the tour. I'm hoping to have the 40 on the first 3 days.
Cool! We'll have to hook up and grab some food together.
Sounds good to me! If you need a place to stay while you're in Newton, I have a camper I can park at my house and you can park, shower, stay, eat there. I'm only about 15 miles or so from the track they'll be using. If i had a spare room, I'd offer you that. The camper will be quieter I can promise you that. :LOL:
Just may do that! We'll have to swap phone numbers before it comes around.
So a friend of mine says,"You're going to go through all the hassle of pulling the engine out of this thing to put on new heads, intake, headers, a manual trans swap and your going to put the 307 back in when you have a roller cam vortec 350 sitting there that just needs a few parts and will give you probably 100hp more?" Ok, guess that doesn't make much sense. So I ordered the engine rebuild kit and a GM Performance roller cam today and got the block cleaned up.
I'm sure you'll never think it needs more horse power ever again:LOL::LOL:
Hah! Give me a few weeks; I'll come up with some reason to change something again.;)
Santa came in April!
It wasn't Santa, He doesn't send bills after the presents:eek:
That must be the credit santa you're talking about. Cause no one sends stuff to me without the bill being $0 first. :LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5
I think it's the same Santa that use to come for my kids; I had to pay his bills, too! Made a little progress today.
:lol: :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by falconvan
Luckily GM put in the the mounts and cutouts for the clutch pedal and master cylinder. Finding a manual transmission Astro to get the pedal assembly is pretty rare so I cut down this Jeep pedal I had laying around. A few more adjustments and it should work fine; the clutch master cylinder was still available from Rock Auto.
First prototype didn't work so well; ended up right in the way of the steering column. But the second one worked good. Pedal assembly and clutch master are in. Also sold the 307 and 700R4 today.
Looks good. I've done a couple of pedals, it can take some patience to get them right (and even more just to get the pivot pin in sometimes :LOL: ).
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I hear that! I've had that struggle on some dual disc diesel conversions I've done. :LOL:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike P
Nice work on those pedals. Hurry up, I might need to borrow your van in a month or so. LMAO!
Never seen an Astro with a manual, didn't know they made such a thing. Your using the Plymouth to get parts aren't you ? You better be **)
The first generation Astros were available with a 2.5/5 speed combo but they are pretty hard to find. Haven't been able to get the Plymouth out much; it's been two solid weeks of rain around here.
Motor's together and frame cleaned up and painted; should be dropping it back in early next week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by falconvan
I'm surprised you didn't start on an ark as close as you are to the Mississippi River. Altogether we had close to 10" and I really feel sorry for the farmers.
Luckily nothing near my house but I couldn't get to work Wednesday because all the highways were closed. Oh well, just had to spend the day in the garage assembling an engine. It's already gone down quite a bit around here. it seems to happen every few years; residents and businesses are used to it and usually are prepared.Quote:
Originally Posted by NTFDAY
Got the motor sitting in place, i need to modify the crossmember, cut the hole for the shifter, and start getting everything hooked up this week. Unfortunately the headers I got won't fit so I'm just going to save a few bucks and put the exhaust manifolds on it. Hopefully it'll be ready for a test drive in a couple of weeks.
Got my crossmember lined out and hole cut for the shifter. I need to build a different shifter handle angled more toward the driver but it looks like it's going to work out good. I think I'm going to be able to make the headers work after all; just need to cut off one tube on the drivers side and re-angle it.
I like the shifter, gonna be cool once it's sorted out.
Will the headers be wrapped? I'll bet that dog house gets HOT!
...
Can't you put a thin, shiny nut on the shifter shaft below that handle, then as you thread on the handle snug up the nut from below to position it where you want it?Quote:
Originally Posted by falconvan
Actually I meant the shaft rather than the handle; need to get rid of that forward slant and make it a little longer.
That will be one of the coolest driving vans in the US!! :LOL:
Thanks! Hoping to make the Power Tour with it; 29 days to get it finished up.
I wish you luck! It is crunch time. Haha
Got the headers to work; not much clearance but there in there.
You'd do well to put some heat wrap on those. It'll keep your feet cool.
There's a pretty good layer of heat shield material under the floor plus I've got some to put under the carpet. As far as going through pulling that header back off; I don't think I could force myself to do that. Lol!Quote:
Originally Posted by firebird77clone
I'll have you know that I was at our salvage yard last Sat and I seen the Astro van line up, I smiled and thought of yours. I like different builds like this.
They're not the most stylish looking things but they're cheap, plentiful, have an enclosed hauling space, AND you can easily put a V8 in them. All good shop truck qualities.
My buddies laughed at me when I got my wife a mini van...... I guarantee I've hauled more stuff in that thing than they have in their pick ups in the last 6 months or since they've owned them. :LOL: It will not get a V8 though. :LOL:
Oh, come on! I know you own a welder, lets get mama's minivan converted to RWD and V8 power! Just tell her it's going in the shop for a tune up and surprise her.Quote:
Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe
Fired right up on the first try; that don't happen very often!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l565YgJbLrA
That's awesome, can't say I've ever heard an Astro sound that good!
That is awesome! Congrats!
19 days to Power Tour!Quote:
Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe