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What have you done to/with your van today?

1M views 17K replies 709 participants last post by  bryancraftyhands 
#1 ·
The Jeep forum I'm on has this thread. Thought I'd bring it here. The idea is to post quick little things that really aren't special enough to have their own thread.

I go first.

Seven (my new parts van): Removed the rear drive shaft and mounted two donuts in the front. Then towed it to my brothers house.

Loaded up nicely, once Grumpy was used to shove it up the ramps.


Uhaul thinks we're moving a Dodge Neon. They won't rent tow dollies to move an Astro, they are supposed to be too wide.


The only good reason to use donuts on an Astro.


Plenty of room now.




We didn't bring Grumpy to the unload point and couldn't push Seven off the dolly. Our solution, set it's parking brake and pull the dolly out from under it. Worked beautifully. Unfortunately I didn't take pics or video of that.
 
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#9,877 ·
Hmmm...

Took the van to Discount Tire for a Tire Rotation and Re-Balance... 0$

One of my chewed up tires from off-roading got a nail in it's sidewall, wasn't leaking air until the nail was pulled. Got a brand new tire to replace the chewed up tire 26$ (mounted and balanced, with a new certificate)

:D

Life is good.
 
#9,878 ·
Power steering pump - completed
Oil pan gasket - completed
+ Installed Awning... :)



Now we figured out that Dual Battery setup would be nice as well. Hopefully will receive Optima Yellow top some time this/next week and will try to figure out where to mount underneath the vehicle... Van is going to be our home for next couple years, so mounting it inside I guess is not that good of idea. :)
 
#9,880 ·
Just spent the better part of an afternoon changing the thermostat on the Astro-Mino. Seems like that used to be a 1/2 hour job tops. Could GM possibly have made that job any harder? Cookie is on his 2ed year trying to change his. At least it didn't take me THAT long. :whistle:
 
#9,882 ·
Corsemoto said:
Tegnus, are you carrying a full size spare underneath? If not, I'd ditch the space saver and install the second battery under there somewhere.
Yes, I do, got rid of the space server when van was purchased as it wouldn't cut it in places where we sometimes go....
 
#9,883 ·
Got some new toys yesterday. 3-core aluminum:





I'm still having some rough idle issues so I messed around with the TECH2 last night seeing what I could F-up and discover. Today I'm back to driving with the snorkel on for part 2 of 3 data collecting. I wanted to do some hard PCU resets and relearns before my next tank of gas. I was also hoping to improve the idle. The idle is still rough, rpm's jumping around by up to 40 points. $285 in sensor ordering followed. Hopefully gonna nip it this time. New 02 sensors, cam crank and knock all on their way.

My van was sooooooo not happy this morning. All those relearns with the snorkel on...yikes. It wasn't your typical relearn. I reset pretty much everything in the PCU and it was like bringing Frankenvan to life. I think it started with one cylinder and slowly worked it's way up to 6. Last night I was shutting the injectors down one by one with the TECH2 to see if that was part of my idle issue (I have no misfires). I think there was some sort of relearn associated with that. I was a little worried I wasn't driving today, but after about five minutes the van was back to itself. Still gotta find that little bugger messing with the idle...but all good otherwise. I forgot how cool the growl from the snorkel was. Gonna be real interesting next week when I put the Gibson exhaust on too. New 02 sensors, snorkel, new exhaust....hopefully I get some mpg's and power back. Yesterday intake temps on the way home with OEM airbox were like 140*F. Gonna be a whole lot cooler today with the snorkel.
 
#9,884 ·
Finished the dual electric fan setup on the A-M today. C11 Dude from this forum found these on eBay for $6 apiece with free shipping and I sure can't make them for that. They come with a 1/4 pipe thread sensor hole and I had to offset bore them on the mill and thread 3/8 pipe.
 
#9,887 ·
A thermocouplecouple.

They're sensing out of the upper radiator hose?

I'm thinkin' they'll come on at virtually the same time. Thermostat opens at 195. I suppose it could stay at about that temp in cool weather.

Typical thermostat for fans senses in the radiator fins. Sense the water temp gauge in the hose.

But no matter how it's done, you'll sense a difference over the engine-O-fan.

Lump
 
#9,888 ·
I started cleaning some 12 V connections ,and took off some more trims , you cant see the brand but the can on the left is : M-16 , that stuff is by a miilion miles better than any stuff i ever used to unjam rusted nuts or whatever , theyr maybe better stuff that i never tried but this stuff is awsome :rockon:
 

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#9,892 ·
Tegnus said:
Corsemoto said:
Tegnus, are you carrying a full size spare underneath? If not, I'd ditch the space saver and install the second battery under there somewhere.
Yes, I do, got rid of the space server when van was purchased as it wouldn't cut it in places where we sometimes go....
Starting to think about placing second battery in the van, maybe between front seats and just getting vent tube. Probably will be easier than making whole new mount for battery under van without a welder... :confused:
 
#9,893 ·
Tegnus said:
Tegnus said:
Corsemoto said:
Tegnus, are you carrying a full size spare underneath? If not, I'd ditch the space saver and install the second battery under there somewhere.
Yes, I do, got rid of the space server when van was purchased as it wouldn't cut it in places where we sometimes go....
Starting to think about placing second battery in the van, maybe between front seats and just getting vent tube. Probably will be easier than making whole new mount for battery under van without a welder... :confused:
Oh come on, with an angle grinder, some angle iron, a few pieces of flat stock, and some nuts and bolts you can do just as good as a welder...
 
#9,895 ·
Removed my rear bumper because the shop wanted to charge me 2-3 hours more time to remove it and a taillight...

Guess I should throw in a little back story....

Was having trouble removing my rear door hinge pins, so I took it to a body shop, they said they could do it for less then 50$, I said that seems reasonable enough, well they got the top one out, and then realized how much of a bitch they were and that they couldn't get their tool under the hinge to pop out the other one, so they removed that piece of door cladding and called me to tell me that they would need more time and it was going to take 2-3 more hours to do the last pin, I said if you can't do it for the agreed upon price I didn't want it done, I said how about if I remove the rear bumper will you still be able to do it for the 50$ price? they said yea, so I pulled the rear bumper in less then an hour, sheared off one of the bolts fastening it to the frame... oh well....

I would have taken just the bumper off and not the whole bumper frame, but the bumper has a sizeable dent in it under the cover right on the left side mount, so I know if I was to pop those bolts off I would never get them back in, so just removed the whole bumper frame. :D

Maybe I should just junk the van now, that I sheared off one of the rear bumper bolts.
 
#9,897 ·
Tegnus said:
Starting to think about placing second battery in the van, maybe between front seats and just getting vent tube. Probably will be easier than making whole new mount for battery under van without a welder... :confused:
Even simpler would be to use an AGM battery that doesn't require venting. To install a vent, you'd have to run a tube UP, vertically (Hydrogen gas rises). That would mean 3 or 4 feet of hose running to ??? to exit. The work involved there would be harder than bolting in a battery bracket underneath. Plus you'd have a tube full of flammable gas, inches from your body... :eek:

Lump
 
#9,898 ·
I'm troubleshooting my A/C system. Compressor wouldn't come on this morning. Electrical all checks out ok. Appears to have lost some or all of it's 134a. Tried pressurizing it with shop air but had kind of a hard time getting a seal between the shop compressor and the car A/C system.

Sucking it down now for an hour or so. Then I'll let it sit overnight.

At least it's only 108 degrees today. It was 114 yesterday.

It's a Dry Kind of Lump
 
#9,899 ·
Lumpy said:
Tegnus said:
Starting to think about placing second battery in the van, maybe between front seats and just getting vent tube. Probably will be easier than making whole new mount for battery under van without a welder... :confused:
Even simpler would be to use an AGM battery that doesn't require venting. To install a vent, you'd have to run a tube UP, vertically (Hydrogen gas rises). That would mean 3 or 4 feet of hose running to ??? to exit. The work involved there would be harder than bolting in a battery bracket underneath. Plus you'd have a tube full of flammable gas, inches from your body... :eek:

Lump
No doubt, since you're going to be living in that thing on the road for the next long while, you're much better off with it outside the van or an AGM battery minimum. You also want to make sure that it's solidly mounted so it doesn't turn into a 35 to 50 lb ballistic missile.
 
#9,900 ·
Lumpy said:
Even simpler would be to use an AGM battery that doesn't require venting. To install a vent, you'd have to run a tube UP, vertically (Hydrogen gas rises). That would mean 3 or 4 feet of hose running to ??? to exit. The work involved there would be harder than bolting in a battery bracket underneath. Plus you'd have a tube full of flammable gas, inches from your body... :eek:

Lump
Unfortunately that is wrong assumption, even though AGM batteries are sealed (I am getting one) they still off-gas and require venting.

Lot's of articles out there, this is first one I found...
http://blog.boats.com/2012/03/sealed-ba ... d-venting/
 
#9,901 ·
Tegnus said:
Unfortunately that is wrong assumption, even though AGM batteries are sealed (I am getting one) they still off-gas and require venting.

Lot's of articles out there, this is first one I found...
http://blog.boats.com/2012/03/sealed-ba ... d-venting/
Hmmm. Thanks. I did not know that. I guess I'll have to get "a small pre-made chromed louver, available at most chandleries, in the end of the settee".

What are all the mega stereo guys using when they mount their batteries inside their cars?

Is a SLAB different in the outgassing characteristics from an AGM?

Lump
 
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