Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Originally Posted by astroracer

Yea, a good friend of mine has it held hostage in KAWKAWLIN of all places! He is building it into a runner... And I think it needs to be painted a hammertone med silver. Will look real close to aluminum if we do it right. I have three cans of it here at the shop. When do you want me to bring them up?

there was a sale on deer green i pickup 3 cans of that just for you ??? . short block will be ready for paint this coming week end

Originally Posted by pat mccarthy

there was a sale on deer green i pickup 3 cans of that just for you ??? . short block will be ready for paint this coming week end

LOL! That would go great with all of the Chevy engine orange parts! I will call it the JastRO-Lantern!
That's pretty funny Pat! I will bring something with me when I come up to paint the block Saturday... You will get a kick out of it.

Originally Posted by astroracer

LOL! That would go great with all of the Chevy engine orange parts! I will call it the JastRO-Lantern!
That's pretty funny Pat! I will bring something with me when I come up to paint the block Saturday... You will get a kick out of it.

hey a chunk of ply wood abit of body filler could tastefully craft up a stem to mount on the roof???

Here is a bit of an update on build progress after almost a month... What with a few car shows, running back and forth to Kawkawlin and pulling together all of the wiring stuff, actual progress as been slow
We built an upper crossmember and have been picking away at the rear floor closeouts around the tank.
This is an overall view. The xmbr bolts in between the wells and the closeouts sweep up along the inside of the wells.
http://images14.fotki.com/v219/photo...MVC020F-vi.jpg
This one of the tapping plates we made to hold in the xmbr.
http://images60.fotki.com/v361/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
The other side with the 1 x 2 tubing fit in and ready to weld
http://images15.fotki.com/v587/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
These are closeups of either side of the close out panels.
Right side
http://images52.fotki.com/v8/photos/...MVC016F-vi.jpg
Left side
http://images20.fotki.com/v681/photo...MVC019F-vi.jpg
We need to make the rear filler panel yet. I won't weld any of this until that is ready.
I also got that left front wheel well welded in and primed. Haven't seam sealed it yet. Will wait and do that when I finish up the rear panels.
http://images52.fotki.com/v640/photo...MVC005F-vi.jpg
Most of this we got done in a day about a month ago. The last few weeks I have spent WORKING ON THE WIRING!!!! I'm sorry, was I yelling?
Mel has been doing some serious camping. He has a 27' trailer and has a membership at one of the camp grounds out by Davison.
The next post will touch on a bit of the wiring for this dude.
Thanks for looking.
Mark

Now! On to the fun stuff! Actually wiring isn't that bad. I kind of enjoy it. Sorting through decade old harnesses... Fingers covered with YUCK from the old tape wrap... Yummy... This is where I've been spending a lot of time. Sorting through this stuff with wiring diagrams and actual harnesses.
Anyway, I will be combining the original '88 harness with the '95 donor harness. The '88 didn't come with power locks or windows and I will be throwing the '95 doors on Bad Ast to get those amenities.
Here are a few pics as i jumble my way through the wire jungle.
This is the '95 harness and column. I will use the '95 as the '88 didn' have tilt...
http://images107.fotki.com/v159/phot...MVC021F-vi.jpg
This is the '88 before i stripped off the loom and tape.
http://images16.fotki.com/v378/photo...MVC022F-vi.jpg
The '95 also has a lot of stuff I am not going to use. The computer wiring is not needed neither is the airbag stuff.
I am stripping all of that junk out and trying to maintain the ignition/start, neutral safety and HVAC systems. EVERYTHING is tied back into the ECM... See that pile of wire at the upper right? That's all airbag stuff I stripped out...
http://images15.fotki.com/v792/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
That's where the '88 harness comes into play. It is a little less complicated and has the HVAC stuff so I am pulling all of the power lock/window stuff out of the '95 incorporating it into the '88 junction block.
http://images54.fotki.com/v627/photo...MVC001F-vi.jpg
I have also traced the turn signal, hi beam and brake light circuits to the cluster connectors and will use those to power the new led's in the rebuilt cluster.
I work on it for a couple hours and I have to walk away... It all starts looking the same for some reason.
I took a break tonight and started building the center stack gauge harness.
I loaded the gauge panel.
http://images56.fotki.com/v701/photo...MVC004F-vi.jpg
Flipped her over and labeled all of the gauges. (helps me keep things straight).
http://images60.fotki.com/v662/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
First up was tying all of the illumination bulbs and grounds together. I simply butt spliced the wires into two different circuits with a long pigtail for the remote connctor
http://images60.fotki.com/v370/photo...MVC010F-vi.jpg
Then I got the ignition side done. I haven't shrunk any of the heat shrink tubing yet and I will wrap everything up with cable ties when it's done. Should look pretty good.
http://images12.fotki.com/v532/photo...MVC012F-vi.jpg
I knocked off here tonight. Tomorrow I will finish the ground side for the gauges and run the sender wires. At that point I can install one half of the 12 way molex connector I will be using and this harness will be complete.
http://images108.fotki.com/v1629/pho...MVC013F-vi.jpg
It was a good break. Got something done.
Mark