2000 Astro Camperized Battle Van

[grektokomus]

He has built roll cages in my last 3 race cars, so over the years and many dollars, we became friends. Now I trade my mechanic skills for fab work, its a nice trade off that works for both of us. He doesn't have a drill press or lathe, but with a tube bender, a plasma torch and 220v welder we can do just about anything.

The ride before was garbage, 200k miles on the clock meant a lot of loose steering/suspension components. I replaced EVERYTHING steering/suspension related (except steering box) and it drives totally normal now. the reindexed keys are critical to maintaining stock ride quality, but if you use those then you have to flip your upper control arm ball joints or your alignment will be waaay off. To much positive camber, and affects travel of suspension components.

Hi Blake,

I definitely have build envy.... Any chance your fabricator friend would be willing to do another bumper like yours (I have a 2" body lift)? Your front bumper is the most attractive option I've seen.

Best,
Greg

[TurnNburn]

Thank you, Greg. I can certainly ask for you. Shipping would likely be a bear though. Where are you located?

[grektokomus]

Thank you, Greg. I can certainly ask for you. Shipping would likely be a bear though. Where are you located?

I sent you a DM. I'm in Oakland, CA but can make a trip to Bend. LMK, thanks. --Greg

[TurnNburn]

Sorry Greg, i just realized you replied to my build thread, just got back into town after a 13 day road trip over the holidays. but i have not recieved a PM from you, are you sure you sent it?

I saw him yesterday, would have been a perfect opportunity to ask. I will get back to you about that.

[albrow100]

What brand swing out hinge and latch is that on your rear bumper.
I couldn’t find it in the post
Thanks
Alex

[WoodButcher]

first post Alex

Custom rear bumper with swing out spare tire carrier with 2 5 gallon jerry cans and full size spare

[albrow100]

Thanks maybe I’m dense but I saw that post, but didn’t see any brands listed
I can’t seem to find a hinge that looks like that kit

[TurnNburn]

Yeah I just went through were I thought the info would be and cant seem to find it either. Sorry about that, usually pretty good about posting that stuff.

Hinge. In that DIY section is the stopper pin I used on my seat swivel (included in the hinge setup)
http://www.4xinnovations.com/Swing-Out- ... p_109.html

Latch assembly
https://www.biscoind.com/Southco/A2-10-501-21

[markmitch]

Great project but Battle van? wheres the bullet proof walls and machine guns oh and what about the ballistic tires? Come on man ya gotta think a little more here, and you should put anti mine belly pans or as soon as you drive over a mine BAMMMMM! BOOM BANG! LOL Kidding my friend you have a great project there. 1st gen

[albrow100]

Yeah I just went through were I thought the info would be and cant seem to find it either. Sorry about that, usually pretty good about posting that stuff.

Hinge. In that DIY section is the stopper pin I used on my seat swivel (included in the hinge setup)
http://www.4xinnovations.com/Swing-Out- ... p_109.html

Latch assembly
https://www.biscoind.com/Southco/A2-10-501-21

Thanks so much! Your bumper is rad!

[TurnNburn]

Thanks! If I would do it again, I would make the beam of the bumper either stick out further away from the body or make the beam thicker (perhaps with storage in it?) because as it sits now, its not an ideal step. I mean its not bad, its just that with size 13 shoes, it would be nice to have a little more perch.

And I would move the hinge further outboard and perhaps more forward in order to get the driver side dutch door more open. Its not a big deal that it doesn't open all of the way, but with a bit more time spent on designing it I could have made it so that it would open all of the way. Just be careful about covering up the tail light housing with the tire.

[WoodButcher]

My apologies Alex, I didn't realize these were kit parts.

[sixsix]

Great project but Battle van? wheres the bullet proof walls and machine guns oh and what about the ballistic tires? Come on man ya gotta think a little more here, and you should put anti mine belly pans or as soon as you drive over a mine BAMMMMM! BOOM BANG! LOL Kidding my friend you have a great project there. 1st gen

Nice to see Mark has gotten up on the "Fun" side of bed today.



Mike

[DentManDave]

Beautiful van, Looks to be very pro work. I'm curious though when you put the 5.3in I assume that you used the harness /computer for it. How was getting it through emissions.? Simple? Hard? Paper work?

[WinnieVan]

Beautiful van, Looks to be very pro work. I'm curious though when you put the 5.3in I assume that you used the harness /computer for it. How was getting it through emissions.? Simple? Hard? Paper work?

Ain’t no emissions where TNB lives, I don’t think.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TurnNburn]

Correct, no emissions here, but with that being said, everything is wired and plugged in and could easily pass emissions if I hadn't had a bunch of codes deleted and actually plugged my rear oxygen sensors in.

[TurnNburn]

Update for those fallowing and attempting an LS swap of any kind in an astro. I have finally figured out my speedometer wiring. And although i know i havent spent a lot of time on here recently, i felt like it was my duty to fallow up with this key wiring issue.

The astro ECU sends out 2 VSS signals. 1 for the speedo, and 1 for the cruise control. While the LS ecu only sends out 1 VSS signal. Long story short, splice all 3 wires together and both systems will work without issue. for more details, continue reading.

A green and white wire from the LS ecu, which corresponds to the green and white wire for the VSS signal for the astro ecu. Its not indicated as to which is which, but since the colors were the same, those 2 VSS signals got paired together and i called it a day. which left a spare VSS signal to the cluster not hooked up. so my cruise control has always worked, while my speedo has not. I ended up with several wires on both ends of the LS harness and the astro harness that didnt have corresponding wires that matched (the astro gauge cluster speedo wire is, i believe all green, but didnt have an all green wire of the same color to match it on the other harness). after the mental fatigue of v8 swapping an astro in 2.5 days, i was just happy that it ran and drove.

And so it did, for 10k miles, and over a year . All with no speedo.

Eventually the squirrel brain took back over and i dove back into my wiring schematics and starting piecing things together. i figured out that the LS VSS wire can power each of those things when wired seperately. out of curiosity, i spliced all 3 wires (2 from the astro body side, and 1 from the LS ecu side) together, and low and behold, cruise control and the speedo now work normally.

Its a small step. but after all of this time it feels huge. so happy.

[markmitch]

Glad to see you on the forum again as well as getting your van fixed. Hope all is well, Mark

[TurnNburn]

Isnt it past your bed time Mark?

"im not back"

[sixsix]

Isnt it past your bed time Mark?

"im not back"

naaaw... he's just up early


Mean this Back...?

IveGotcherback.jpg (4.17 KiB) Viewed 714 times

LOL

Mike