Thread: Bad Ast Astro Van Build

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Naps are an important part of every build

Originally Posted by cffisher

Naps are an important part of every build

Yes they are. Especially when yer tail is draggin and you just had a big brunch at the inlaws...

It's a quiet weekend around our neighborhood. This is the 6th anniversary of my brother-in-law's death in a car accident while visiting his brother in Tennesee. The accident was 6 years ago today and he died early on the 7th. Just keep in mind that life is short, don't take anything for granted and give your loved ones a hug... You never know what can happen.
We got a bit more done on the enclosure today. Actually we got quite a bit done. All of the frame work for the enclosure is in and we got the two outboard ends of the top made.
Last week saw both top bars done and we had mocked up the rear pencil braces.
Today we made the front and rear pencil braces out of some 1/2" square tubing I had laying around.
We made some "feet" out of 16ga sheet, cut some 45's on the tubes and welded the feet on.
http://images60.fotki.com/v661/photo...MVC003F-vi.jpg
After we got the floor feet on we cut the tubes to length and welded on another foot to bolt the brace to the bottom of the cross bar.
http://images59.fotki.com/v255/photo...MVC008F-vi.jpg
Two braces bolted in.
http://images61.fotki.com/v1609/phot...MVC013F-vi.jpg
The drivers side.
http://images20.fotki.com/v113/photo...MVC014F-vi.jpg
The passenger side. These little guys add a lot of support under that cross bar. You would be surprised...
http://images58.fotki.com/v448/photo...MVC015F-vi.jpg
You can also see in the pics that I got the front panel templates done. These fit fairly well and will seal up nicely with a little black RTV when the time comes.
http://images52.fotki.com/v8/photos/...MVC010F-vi.jpg
On that note, I have decided to make the enclosure panels out of the Roswell patterned Carbon Fiber. I ordered a 4 x 8 sheet of aluminum to use as a lay-up table (nice and smooth you know...).
I want the forward top corner to have a nice radius so we will bend up a length of that thin flashing on the big bender to lay the carbon fiber into to get a nice smooth finish.
We also got the forward pencil braces built and welded in the front bar and both braces. We built some feet for those also to weld to the side of the tub. We simply welded the brace to the top tube at the upper joint.
http://images51.fotki.com/v278/photo...MVC022F-vi.jpg
http://images56.fotki.com/v1599/phot...MVC017F-vi.jpg
During the week I made templates for the rear corners where we had to fit the plates in and Mel cut the parts out on the stomp shear and bandsaw today.
http://images56.fotki.com/v1298/phot...MVC005F-vi.jpg
The passenger side.
http://images15.fotki.com/v792/photo...MVC002F-vi.jpg
The drivers side.
http://images51.fotki.com/v278/photo...MVC009F-vi.jpg
These will get riveted in once everything is painted.
I got the removable rear bars painted and put back in after Mel left. Looks pretty good and the bars are strong.
http://images14.fotki.com/v219/photo...MVC014F-vi.jpg
http://images54.fotki.com/v461/photo...MVC016F-vi.jpg
The two end panels will get covered by carbon fiber eventually...
That's it for today. Tomorrow I am replacing the water softener at my daughters house. Don't know if I'll get out on the van.
Thanks for looking
Mark