Bad Ast Project

[astroracer]

Does anyone remember my Bad Ast Project from the old board? I finally got it off the computer this spring and have the chassis and suspensions 90% built. The van is on the hoist and has been gutted for the chassis install. if anyone is interested I can give you the updates starting back on Memorial Day weekend...
Here are a few pics as she sits right now.




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Thanks for looking at all of my stuff.
Mark

[astroracer]

This is one of the lower front shock mounts ready to be tacked to the arm

Mocked up and ready to tack. You can see the rear tab which wasn't as big because it didn't stretch out to the LBJ cup.

The uper towers took a bit of set-up to be comfortable with the location and alignment to the lower mounts.

After tacking. EVI will get the job of finish welding these dudes. I know my limitations...

I mocked up the shock (no spring) and control arms for thr RH side. What do you think?

The lower arm brkts are not in place here but they were next on the list.

The outer brackets are shown in place. The two inners , seen to the right in the pic, needed to be fit to the center angled tube. I'll get better pics if anyone is interested.

Body mounts prior to cutting the mount hole

Thanks for looking
Mark

[astroracer]

Here are some teaser shots of the van at approximate ride hgt. The front is too high as the van is level on the hoist and the actual stanch will have a bit of rake built into it.



What do you think? Look okay?
Mark

[Phantom]

Yes that lookin real cool ,, custom frame and suspension , very cool , what prompted you to go to such involvement? The appearance of your profile pic looks rather sinister ,, looks fast sitting still , is that the look you are going for in the finished product?

[astroracer]

Yes that lookin real cool ,, custom frame and suspension , very cool , what prompted you to go to such involvement? The appearance of your profile pic looks rather sinister ,, looks fast sitting still , is that the look you are going for in the finished product?

Yes sir, that is the look I'm going for and it's going to be very close to that. Going to such involvement was necessary to get the handling where I wanted it to be. This required a complete redesign of the suspension and the project just ballooned from there. I'm glad you like it.
Here is another styling pic. I used Silverado headlights and front bumper here. There is no cowl hood but the van will probably have one in the end.

Mark

[Phantom]

Very cool , yea the hood does give it a muscular appeal

[WoodButcher]

Wow. Just wow.

[astroracer]

Thanks for the kudos guys, here is where we stand as of last night.
One of the hurdles for this project was modifying the front spindles to hit the new outer tierod points. This was necessary not only to correct the geometry for the Corvette steering rack but fo inner wheel clearance with the deep positive offset (7 inches) wheels I am running.
I built a spindle fixture to relocate the tierod ends after cutting them off. This fixture was designed to do both sides, LH & RH by simply swapping it to the other spindle and bolting it back on.
The two base plates drilled and centered to the LBJ.

I had to do a bit of redesigning on the fly due to the actual steering arm being in the way of my fixture. You can see the arm running right thru my intended fixture arm.

I changed one piece to a 1/2" dia. rod and continued forward. This actually worked out pretty well as I was able to make the "hit point" bracket one piece (for LH and RH spindles) and simply bend it to the right angle and tack it on.

Hopefully this will make it fairly straight forward to get these dudes fit up...

The bottom of the aluminum tube spacer is where the top of the tie rod point needs to go. A little over an inch outboard and an inch upward. To fit the RH spindle the fixture simply bolts in place and we will use the opposite hole and angle to bend to.

Thanks for looking at my junk
Mark

[astroracer]

I talked with a few people about this and the end decision was cut and weld. Ideally I also needed to invert the ballstud (ballstud pointing down, rather than up, as the stock Astro was oriented) so cutting and rebuilding was beneficial. I also talked with the owner of Iron Mike's (Mike) in Flint and after looking at my situation he ultimately recommended the cut and weld solution.
This is what I worked on last weekend.

I had yesterday off so I broke out the sawsall and grinders and modified the two spindles.

You can see in thes pics I have ground the existing support ribs down to the base web thickness. I did this on both sides.

This will give the new support plates a solid foundation for welding. Everything has been ground down and chamfered for good weld penetration.
I did a LOT of grinding yseterday. It was hot and I was sweating and my arms were ORANGE...


Making the fishplates to support the new tie rod position. The plates are 3/8 inch thick and will be plenty stout when welded in.

If you look back at the first couple pics you can see that the old arm "hung" out in space. I am taking the new plates all the way in to the lower ball stud area. I think these will be plenty strong.

I dropped the modified spindles off with Mike last nite after work. He was fairly impressed with my work and said these things will weld up beautifully. He said once this is all welded together the modified portion on the spindle will be stronger than the unmolested part... As you can tell I left the plates a little oversized. After the welding I will grind everything down and make it look purty.

[Moosejuice]

You are building a very impressive Astro, it looks like you have put alot of planning into the suspension. I didn't check the old boards but what kind of drive train are you planning on?

[astroracer]

Thank you, yes, lots of planning. I have been planning this build ,off and on, with a few false starts, since 2005...
The planned drivetrain is a BBC with a 700R4 and a narrowed 9 inch with 3.90 gears.
This is a pic of the engine as it sits right now.

Thanks for looking.
Mark

[astroracer]

Thanks guys! It's good to know SOMEONE is looking at this thread.
I am still working through the spindle rebuild. The welder is taking his time with them. There is no rush of course as the van is still a long way from rolling.
Mel And I got a lot done this weekend though. On the van and on the old 49 F1 I was building last year. The guy I bought the 49 from stopped out to the shop last weekend and actually bought the truck back. Mel and I pulled the frame off the rotisserie and stabbed in the powerpack and rear end so he can haul her home... The cab will go on next weekend and the rest will fit in boxes. I am a happy camper here. Makes for more room in the shop, the rotisserie is empty now and I will have some extra coin to through at the van.
We got the front driveshaft loop and K member built and tacked in Sunday. I used 1 5/8's and 1 1/4 dia tubing and will finish weld everything when it's on the rotisserie.
Here is the loop getting fit to the 1 5/8 dia crosstube.

here is the crosstube and loop tacked into the frame.

Fabbing the K member.


Side view showing the 15 degree angle the loop is on.

Thanks for looking
Mark

[astroracer]

This where the 49 ford frame is at.
just after we rolled it into the shop. You will notice the Astro frame is off the tables and the tables are rolled outside.

Off the rotisserie and hanging the rearend.

Engine and trans stabbed in...


Got a lot done this weekend even though we only had Sunday. (Saturday was Back to the Bricks in Flint).

[Phantom]

Lookin Good ,,nice to see a BBC going in , will surely be a real wakeup call to many unsuspecting onlookers

[astroracer]

Yea, He.. he.. He... (Done in my best Snively Whiplash laugh). Especially with a pair of quiet mufflers and cut-outs...

[ProStreet_LS1]

astroracer, where are you located? I am a little north of Kalamazoo.

[redfury]

You obviously work in the trade to even think of going this route with an Astro van. Looks like it's going to be one sick set up when finished. Kudo's. I could never pull off work that required that kind of precision...just isn't part of who I am.

[astroracer]

astroracer, where are you located? I am a little north of Kalamazoo.

Byron, 20 minutes west of Flint. You have any pics of your van loaded?
Mark

[astroracer]

You obviously work in the trade to even think of going this route with an Astro van. Looks like it's going to be one sick set up when finished. Kudo's. I could never pull off work that required that kind of precision...just isn't part of who I am.

I worked at GM as a contract puke for 10 yrs. I designed the suspensions for the STS/SRX, the Solstice/Skye and did a lot of work on the Cavalier SS/HHR SS.
I had a little help with the vans suspension points from an engineer who worked at Art Morrison. He helped me nail down the roll center and anti-dive and said the numbers for this design could generate 1G on a skid pad. We'll see when it's done.
Mark

[icebrrg3rd]

That would be interesting to see a van pulling 1g around a corner and not roll over. That full frame looks great, how much weight does it add to the van? Or are you going to have the van lose weight in other places? Course, that BBC will help move it out quickly either way. Very nice work and keep the pics coming as you go along.

-Andrew