Bad Ast Project

[WoodButcher]

I don't recall you mentioning Mel being ill, is he ok?

[astroracer]

Yea, I didn't post about it. He started not feeling very well late summer/early fall of 2013. Cancer of the Prostate. It was a 2nd go 'round for him and the last. He fought it for a while but we lost him in June of 2017. He had moved to Florida to be close to family.
I think about him all the time when I am out working in the shop... This project would not be what it is without his help and knowledge.
Got this done tonight with the help of another friend.
Not gonna do a lot of talking here... The van will be dedicated to Mel when I get it running.






















'Nuff said...

[xit]

Looks good to see all of this coming together. I have watched this thread from almost the begining & I have admired the workmanship & craftsmanship. Just remember, I am 71 years old, so, work accordingly as I want to see the final product.
All in jest, a marvelous project.

[AstroWill]

Bad Ast is definitely the proper name for this project!

[WoodButcher]

Sorry to hear, completion and dedication would be a fine gesture. R.I.P. Mel.

[sixsix]

Sooo sweet !

Sooooo Jealous !



Mike

the motor sitting there... geez, had to run to the john

[astroracer]

Thanks guys!
I haven't gotten a lot of "physical" work done in the last couple of days. I have been chasing down parts to wrap up the rear end assembly and working out bracket designs for the A/C Compressor.
Here are some screen shots of my CAD design for the brackets. I have DXF files out to a local metal shop to have them laser cut out of 1/4" plate steel.
This one is the stationary bracket. It is two pieces and will bolt onto the front of the block and over the fuel pump block off plate. What you don't see are the welded on bungs that the compressor will bolt to.

This is the pivot bracket. It will bolt solid to the compressor and pivot around the top bolt boss to tighten the belt. Tightening the bolt in the slot to lock it down.

As they will be when bolted to the engine.

This is a knock off of the Alan Grove 108R brackets. I had to reconfigure the design to get the compressor a bit higher and father out. One to clear the frame and the other to make room for the lower radiator hose to pass thru.
I have been doing a lot part gathering. I need to order springs for the front Vari-Shocks so I have an email out to Alston that I am waiting for info on and a couple others to various suppliers. I knew this was coming when I started the build and now that it is here I find myself a little impatient when I get slowed up...
Mark

[sixsix]

... Here are some screen shots of my CAD design for the brackets. I have DXF files out to a local metal shop to have them laser cut out of 1/4" plate steel. ...

Nice 3D work - what CAD prog / app do you work with?

Seems we have come a long way since the 1980s $1000 Autocad days ...
- to now the "Free days" of Draftsight, a prog. I use right now and ...
- just as powerful as a $3000 seat in a LISP supported dinosaur.

Amazing and Fine. ( AND I miss my XP Pro )



Mike

[astroracer]

Thanks Mike,
I have a very old copy of Unigraphics NX. It is out of date but it does everything I need it to do. I've been running UG since '93 so I am very familiar with it. I'm running UG NX V11 or something like that at work right now...
Mark

[astroracer]

The compressor brackets are being cut out as we speak. I got a good enough price that I ordered 6 sets and will have enough to play around with and possibly make up a few kits for sale.
Ran into a bit of a roadblock Sunday out in the shop. I was squaring up the rear end and getting the coil overs ready to install and found I didn't have enough adjustment in the Johnny Joints to get the rearend pulled forward where it should be. I spent most of the afternoon going thru files trying to figure out where I calculated wrong. I need another 3/4's to 7/8th's of an inch to get the housing in the right spot. The bars (all four) are that much too long... Now I am going to shorten them by 1 1/2 inches just to make certain I will have the needed adjustment. The shank on the Johnny Joint is plenty long to allow for this. I am just lost as to how it happened... Oh well, I just need to git her done...
Mark

[astroracer]

Lopped off all of the bushing ends with the band saw last night.
I was going to wait to do this but I got to thinking that this would be the oppotunity to go with adjustable rod ends on both ends of the bars. Why I didn't go this way to begin with I don't know. Having both ends adjustable sure will simplify getting the housing squared. Of course, once the bars are rebuilt...



I ordered all of the rod ends, weld bungs and jam nuts from these guys.
https://www.ballisticfabrication.com/collections/ballistic-joints-accessories

They have some beautiful stuff and are quick shippers.
I need to have the end of the upper bars (1.5 x 1/4 wall) machined out to fit the weld bungs. Neither of my little lathes are up to the task...
This was a big mess Sunday when I found the problem. Now it is an opportunity to make things better so I am moving forward with it.
Mark

[Mmusicman]

Your project is coming along AMAZING!
Words don't begin to describe!

[astroracer]

Your project is coming along AMAZING!
Words don't begin to describe!

Thank You Sir, very much appreciated! The 4-link bar fiasco sort of threw a wrench in the mix but I think it will be a far better suspension when I get it rebuilt.
I picked up the laser cut compressor brackets today. They sure do look good and it looks like they will fit as the were designed to. The first bracket needs a bend where the two black lines are but I should be able to get these put together tomorrow night.


The pivot bracket fits nicely to the compressor.


Compared to the cad models these look pretty good.

[astroracer]

Got sidetracked fixing my daughters boyfriend's G6 after a deer hit. Neither of them have a lot of money so getting used parts and doing the work ourselves was necessary. We got it back together yesterday except for a couple of small things but it is drivable and it was a good learning process for him.
Anyway, I got all of the new hardware for the 4-link redo Thursday and had time to work on the bars today.
These are nice and beefy.

The new stuff and the old ends they will be replacing.

I ran a couple of 9/16ths bolts thru a 2 x 4 to hold the joints at 27 1/4" apart.

That is the bolt to bolt centerline length with the rearend positioned in the chassis. I had to trim about three inches off the length of the bars to get the new adjustable ends in there.

You can see how much I need to trim off the old bar.

Cutting the bars off at 20 1/2" will give me enough room for about 1 1/2" of adjustment. Should be plenty...

The lower bars look good.


The upper bars will need to be bored out to except the weld bung. I will take them into work tomorrow, my little lathes won't pass the 1 1/2" bars thru the chuck.

Once that is done I can clean up and chamfer the ends and get them welded up.
I hope to back on track this week!
Thanks for looking!
Mark

[astroracer]

Finally getting back to the van! Spring is just not a good time for MY projects... Yard tractors and everything but the kitchen sink take precedence over shop time...
Anyway, I got the new bungs welded into the shortened tubes. A co-worker bored out the top bars on the big lathe at work (a few weeks ago!) so, with a bit of chamfering and clean up, and we were good.
I stripped the old paint off and resprayed with self-etching primer and Rustoleum Hammered Gray.


All four bars painted and hung out to dry.

Everything turned out great so I hope to be back on assembly duty this weekend. Barring a car show or two if it's not raining...
Thanks for looking.
Mark

[astroracer]

I got the bars back into the chassis. They look good, FIT WELL and have enough adjustment I could get the housing pulled in to the wheelbase dimensions and get the pinion angle roughly set. Of course that I won't be able to set correctly until the van is on the ground with weight on the springs.










Mark

[astroracer]

I will be running a "mostly" stock C5/C6 brake set up on BadAst. I picked up a used set, complete, off eBay years ago and that is what I used for mock up. Used rotors, used red PBR calipers, basic stuff.

The calipers need to be refinished but are in good shape otherwise.


Here is where my conundrum starts:
I just started looking for "real" parts yesterday. I found these black coated rotors from Brake Motive and really like the look!

They are black zinc coated and I am wondering how long they will look nice before they start to wear and the steel itself starts to show... Anyone with experience?
I also have a set of brand new black Grand Sport calipers. What do you think? Black everything out?
The van itself is going to be white w/ black interior. All of the engine fittings will be black as well...
What do you all think?
Mark

[90safari]

I'm willing to bet they'll stay black until you really get on them hard. IDK how thick the black coating is, but it's probably not very deep into the base metal.
As for black calipers or red, that's up to you. You'd almost have to set up the combo, then mount a tire and rim to get a better visual on it. I say that, because it really depends on how much shows thru the rim.

[astroracer]

Put some time into the A/C Bracket build. Spent around 3 hours getting the compressor lined up with the pulleys and set at the same angle in the chassis.

Trimming the laser cut brackets and making the spacers so everything lined up correctly took some time.

I used an angle finder to make sure the pulley matched the angle of the engine, so it is square. A straightedge on the pulley let me line it up fore/aft.

After a bit of welding I have a functional bracket.

The bottom bracket in place with it's spacers.

I'll run it and the alternator pulleys thru the blaster tomorrow and get some primer on them.
Now, with this done I can start getting the front suspension installed.

[astroracer]

Ran the brackets through the blaster this morning. Wiped down with Prep-Sol, primed with etching primer and sprayed with VHT black Caliper Paint.

We'll see how they turn out. I use the silver for painting intakes but have never used the black.
The alternator brackets primed and painted.

The A/C brkts primed and painted.



This paint dries to a semi-flat so we'll see how it looks later today. If it looks okay I'll probably use this for all of the pulleys as well.
Heading out to open houses this afternoon.
Thanks for watching!
Mark