2000 Astro Camperized Battle Van

[TurnNburn]

I have thought about felt. I ruled it out as being to coarse and probably a pain in the butt to get all of the dirt out of it. I never actually went looking at fabric, but I suppose that if I found something that was really fine, perhaps speaker box carpet like Chevy Bow Tie did for his interior, which I like a lot. I just need to put some hands on some rolls and see what I think that would be better for our application.

Just picked up a couple of Interstate 210Ah 6v golf cart batteries. Im pretty positive this capacity is waaay more then we will need, but anything worth doing is worth over doing.

[WimpTech]

Speaker cloth sounds good too. I haven't had too much trouble with the felt, although it holds on to splinters and beach sand a little more than I would like.

Looking good buddy! Are you going to do the battery box ala CargoCrawler?
In case you aren't aware....
Running an inverter is always great, but some really suck, as is suck up power and suck at efficiency. Stay away from modified sine wave, which is basically alternating DC and the most common in retail. Pure sine is the way to go, but they are expensive. Check efficiency before you get anything and make sure it will meet your needs... like how long it will maintain surge current before overloading and shutting down, especially if you run an AC fridge (5 sec +).\

[TurnNburn]

This van makes it to the beach often and with the dog its going to get dirty. Being able to keep it clean and stop us from getting splinters will be the top priorities.

I like CC's battery box. I wish I had seen that before I layed my floors down... would have made this step a lot easier to figure out. But I will probably use some 1'' angle iron I have laying around and build a little cage for them and then bolt them to the subframe or something like that.

I have had some unfortunate experiences with cheap inverters in the past and know better then to go down that road again. Pure sine for sure and at least 2000 watts. I haven't decided on one in particular but its probably going to be in the $250-300 range

[WimpTech]

AMEN brudda! Please post which ever one you go with, I'm looking into making one now with something called a 'Bubba Oscillator'... no I didn't make that up haha

[TurnNburn]

Just picked up this yesterday from amazon for $199 shipped. Was by far the best bang for the buck, had lot of good reviews, has a lot of nice safety features, and should give us tons of head room for feature electrical additions. I should have a decent amount of juice on hand so the inverter had to be capable of running anything I might throw at it.

[WimpTech]

HOLY CRAP that's exactly the one I was looking at too, please let me know how it works out, probably be cheaper than my home build anyways.

[WoodButcher]

Hey Fluff!
I've been neglecting my welcomes,
Welcome! lol.
Nice work your doing and I like turtles too.

[TurnNburn]

Been a while since I have updated this and somehow missed your warm welcome woodbutcher. Been busy at work during the week and adventuring during the weekend. Finally got the bed situation figured out with some 3'' foam cut into 3 24x48 section with a kind of pillow case around them. And did the LED light conversion all of the way around. Plenty bright but are already starting to flicker as mentioned by others on here. Looking for a better option. And screwed on a lid with a latch for the driver side box, which is surprisingly roomy. And cut up the rear dutch doors and added some auxiliary space and cover up some of the bare metal. And added the extended rear brake like the corsomoto posted up earlier. That was a good excuse to flush the brake fluid. Holy gross fluid.

[WimpTech]

OUTSTANDING!

[happyhourtx]

nice build. cant wait to see pics of the inside finished. looking for ideas to build out my astro.

[Mr Cup]

Looks great. I like how you designed the bed/storage inside. I did something similar with my rear door and I think adding some mesh there will be a good quick place to stash a few things.

Quick question - Where did you find the headlights? I've been looking for some better sealed beams to put into my van. The ones I've got on there now are terrible. Are those decent at night? Thanks.

[MI_Ghost]

Quick question - Where did you find the headlights? I've been looking for some better sealed beams to put into my van. The ones I've got on there now are terrible. Are those decent at night? Thanks.

I always dump the stock sealed beams for a set of sylvania silverstars. They are worlds better than regular halogen bulbs.
A little pricey at approx $25 each but well worth it at night! IMHO they are the best you will find in a sealed beam.

[Leeann_93]

I get slightly better life from the Phillips X-Treme Vision headlights than the Sylvania Silverstars. The Sylvanias only last a year for me; the Phillips last closer to two.

Pep Boys carries the Phillips where Advance carries the Sylvanias - at least around me.

[MI_Ghost]

I have never been able to find the Phillips X-Treme Vision in a sealed beam bulb.
I will have to give them a try when I change over to the composite lights.

[TurnNburn]

Thanks! Just got back from camping up in the Eagle Cap wilderness for a few days and then another few days over in Hells Canyon area. We have spent several camping trips for just a couple of nights, but this was the first time we spent a week in there and there is definitely room for improvement. We really just need to find some totes that fit under the bed platform so we can make better use of that space. But so far so good.

I got the lights off of Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/GENSSI-Headlight ... headlights

BUT BUYER BEWARE....
These are wired for japenese cars. IE. they work off of switched power to control high beam, low beam function. And the Astro is wired for switched ground. So I had to spend a couple of hours adding my own pig tail and 2 relays per light. Once everything was said and done, low beam and high beam switch when they are supposed to and when high beams are on the dash light comes on. I can no longer turn them off with the switch anymore, but that's ok with me.

They are great at night! Pretty bright even in low beam, and high beam is just ridiculous. A huge improvement over stock but took some head scratching to get them to work. Perhaps there is a more bolt in application that doesn't require the modification but when I was looking couldn't find any info out there regarding this problem.

[TurnNburn]

I recently discovered that I did not include enough space for a mini fridge like I have been planning all along. when designing the interior I focused on maximum bed space and storage as possible and unfortunately just assumed a mini fridge would fit in the left over space. So I ended picking up this cooler for $60 new in box off of craigslist. I have seen a few of them on here, I think I saw wimpy has one? I wanted a real fridge but since that plan was out, this was the next best thing. I was a little apprehensive about it, but wow, this thing rocks. Leaving plugged in(12 volts) all of the time except at night while we slept (for energy usage, not because of noise. Its actually very quiet) for 7 days and the ice packs we put in there from home were still half frozen!

Aaaaand it happens to fit in the left over space where the fridge was supposed to go. I like that it can be placed horizontal as a cooler or vertical like a fridge. I like the fridge idea but just holds so much more as a cooler, so I think I will keep it that way.

https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Quart-Po ... +TE+cooler

Will post some pictures of it in camper mode later, Misty is out at my buddies house getting her new bumper and swing out tire carrier mocked up for install. Cant wait!

[TurnNburn]

The weather here has been pretty wet the last few weekends, so no camping for us. But there is a flip side, more wrenching on the van! And we have been busy. Did the wimpytech front bumper mod to get rid of the mini van look from the front and finally finished the rear bumper and swing out tire carrier. Spent more time mocking things up and measuring then the actual cutting and welding but it is simple and functional. A 2x6 beam with some 2x2 square tube and a DIY rim plate. With 2 5 gallon jerry cans for, well, more fun!

[WimpTech]

That is frickin AWESOME Blake! (Thx for the shout out too).
I am a fan of the jeep style bumper carriers over door mount, the offset will also let tippy pip the glass open workout swinging the tire out...well played sir.

[TurnNburn]

Being able to open the glass without opening the swing was critical! The glass clears by several inches, even if there weren't plans for Jerry cans and the tire was pushed forward so that it was flush with the bumper it would still clear. And in the 110 degree open position the left door opens all of the way to the check strap. It's a pretty simple setup but keeps the practically of the Dutch doors intact and is pretty stout. Last night just to make sure it was as strong enough I sat on the tire and my wife swung the gate open, no problem.

[Lumpy]

I always dump the stock sealed beams for a set of sylvania silverstars. They are worlds better than regular halogen bulbs...

Silverstars. Plain, old, regular bulbs with a blue coating that reduces some of the light output. Pretty well described, tested and documented over the last couple of decades or so.

Yet the ad hype lives on. Sexy pics of long legged loca's swooning around gang banger guys with Silverstars in their ricers. Parked somewhere with their headlights on.


Lump