Bad Ast Project

[astroracer]

Put on a 2nd coat this afternoon. The paint looks real nice with a satin sheen after it dries. I stuck on the A/C bracket to get a pic.

This is the rear alternator brkt.

Front alt bracket and adjustable A/C brkt.


I've been fighting leg and back cramps the last couple of days so I haven't been out in the shop much. I should be back at it in a day or so. I want to have the front suspension together by this weekend.

[astroracer]

The caliper paint looks like it will work very well. It has a nice sheen to it so I will pick up a couple more cans to get the pulleys and some other parts painted.







Thanks for looking!
Mark

[astroracer]

Hit it pretty hard out in the shop today. Pulling together the front suspension stuff, I had to repaint the upper arms as they had a hard life during the build stage. Lots of scars and scratches from years of mock up and mock down...

Looks better with fresh paint.

Painted the upper ball joints as well and I am ordering Grade 8 bolts for the UBJ's instead of the cheap azz hardware that came with them...

Brake lines are all ran and terminated. Rear end lines are hooked up to the frame and soft line brackets. Front lines are hooked up and ready to go.



I got one of the lower control arms mounted but have to order more bolts to get everything bolted up right.


I got the frame leveled side to side and back up on jack stands so I can work on the LCA's and the steering rack.


Thanks for watching!
Mark

[xit]

Looking good, keep up the good work.

[sixsix]

Well, I guess it's been a few months... since I said, "Wow".
For the 17 time.

LOL, those UPJs look so small and cute, w/ it's 4 little bolts compared to the "Robustness" of the rest of the Hardware.

As always, Having Fun Thru The Years. Watching "The Build".



Mike

don't mind me, just bored...

[astroracer]

Well, I guess it's been a few months... since I said, "Wow".
For the 17 time.

LOL, those UPJs look so small and cute, w/ it's 4 little bolts compared to the "Robustness" of the rest of the Hardware.

As always, Having Fun Thru The Years. Watching "The Build".



Mike

don't mind me, just bored...

Thanks Mike, they do look a little undersized but they are a standard replacement ball joint for the Astros... The small, cheap bolts are why I am waiting for Grade 8 stuff from McMaster Carr. I'll have that stuff tomorrow so I can finish the front suspension install.
I did get the upper arms bolted on tonight. It will be easier to install the ball joints when I don't have to chase the arms all over the build bench...



I was going to start cleaning up the Corvette rotors tonight but ran out of attention span before I got to them.
Thanks for watching and saying "Wow"!
Mark

[scorean]

Man, that really looks sharp. Great work!

[WinnieVan]

You got some real nice skills there.

Looks great!!

[astroracer]

Thanks guys! I am having a pretty good time putting this together for the last time.
I got motivated after dinner and went back out to the shop and got the front rotors cleaned up. A wire cup brush on a drill motor and a D/A and we're almost ready for paint. I sprayed the rust I couldn't get off, like down in the vents, with rust converter. This turns the rust black and makes a good base for paint.
They weren't in real bad shape to begin with but knocking off the surface rust sure does help.



After some time spent with the D/A.

After a dousing with the rust converter. The inside face.

The outside was clean enough after sanding I will just wipe it down and spray it with the black caliper paint.

These cleaned up very nice and will look "almost" as good as the spendy coated ones once installed.

This is the rust converter I use.
DupliColor Rust Fix

I'll get these painted tomorrow and start working on the rears.
Thanks for looking!
Mark

[WoodButcher]

Well, I guess it's been a few months... since I said, "Wow".
For the 17 time.
As always, Having Fun Thru The Years. Watching "The Build".

Yeah...
I've been watching since 2010 "Wow" is about the only comment I can come up with,,,
geez, I'm an illiterate *******.

Standard w/ the moog UBJ are 1/4" non- hardened, aren't they? What did you go up to?
Also the mounting of the upper control arms, are you sticking with washers or will you change to the open end shims? (just curious as to your confidence in the geometry)

[astroracer]

Well, I guess it's been a few months... since I said, "Wow".
For the 17 time.
As always, Having Fun Thru The Years. Watching "The Build".

Yeah...
I've been watching since 2010 "Wow" is about the only comment I can come up with,,,
geez, I'm an illiterate *******.

Standard w/ the moog UBJ are 1/4" non- hardened, aren't they? What did you go up to?
Also the mounting of the upper control arms, are you sticking with washers or will you change to the open end shims? (just curious as to your confidence in the geometry)

Thanks, I appreciate you guys sticking with me through the years!
Yea the standard fasteners are 1/4" "hardware store" bolts and nuts. I left them 1/4", just going to better quality Grade 8's.
I will leave the washers in place until I have the van ready to roll. I can't do anything about the alignment until I have the full weight of the van on the chassis. I will do a preliminary alignment, swapping out the washers for shims. I am fairly confident the alignment will be close but you never know on a fully custom build like this. That is why I designed it with the gap that I have... Just in case.
Mark

[astroracer]

Got a lot done tonight. Front rotors painted, rear rotors cleaned up and rust converted, upper ball joints bolted in and the RH steering knuckle hung. I think the rotors look pretty good and I am really leaning toward black calipers as well...









I also got the v-belts length figured out. Both Alternator and A/C belts are 51.5 inches long. The PS belt will be about 32 or so.



Mark

[Leeann_93]

I like black brake components, personally. Not fond at all of the yellow ones and just meh on the red ones, but black is good.

[astroracer]

Yup, black is the new red...
I got the rear rotors painted tonight. It was raining yesterday, not painting when the humidity is stupid high...
Hung in the sun to dry they set up pretty quick.



Waiting for the rotors to dry I started hanging the LH Lower Control Arm. This bolted up easily as well as the shock.



The only snag is I couldn't find the LBJ boot... Looked for a while but no boot. So, off to the auto parts store... I'll find it AFTER I get a new one.

Thanks for watching.
Mark

[astroracer]

Ordered the LBJ boots through O'Rielly's last week and got the left front suspension together.

With the rotor installed.

Sunday morning I got out into the shop early, before it got to hot, and blasted the brake abutments and got them painted. I went with the silver caliper paint.
Before and after blasting.


The silver paint went on great and it baked in the sun all day...



Here are the "grey" Grand Sport calipers.



I got these and the Hydro-Boost cyl. painted with the black caliper paint today. I'll post up pics tomorrow. I have all week off for GM Shutdown. I hope to have this chassis rolling around by the end of the week...
Thanks for following!
Mark

[astroracer]

Worked on the front brake corners this morning. Everything is bolted up and it looks like they will work. I will still need to blow everything apart for grease and thread locker but it's much easier to work with clean parts if I have to take it apart for any reason. And I still need to throw some more paint on the hubs. The van is a still a long way off from drivable. I should have a rolling chassis tonight though.
I'll get back out into the shop later when it cools off a bit.
Right front assembly.


Left front assembly.


Thanks for looking!
Mark

[astroracer]

Back out in the shop this evening after it "cooled off" a bit. Still damn hot and muggy...
I assembled the right rear brake corner tonight. Just bolting things together for the umpteenth time... I like the black rotor and caliper. I think it will look good behind the polished rims.





Also got the left front tire and rim bolted on... What do you think?





Mark

[xit]

Such fine work, looks like a million bucks. Keep up the good work.

[astroracer]

Such fine work, looks like a million bucks. Keep up the good work.

Thank You! Very much appreciate the kind words and I hope to keep up the work.

I've had a few people asking about the aluminum abutment adapters. I got those from someone on the Pro-Touring site back in 2011 or 2012. I have no clue who made them.
With the modified spindles there was no room for a bolt head on the upper adapter mount so I used 1/2-20 x 2" LG socket set screws.


Adapter brackets mounted to spindles. You can see the clearance between the nut and the caliper. I had to use short lock nuts on the caliper side to clear the caliper bracket.


All of this was figured out during mock up so it was a simple matter of bolting everything up.

The Corvette abutments take metric bolts and I ordered these flange head bolts (14mm-2.0 x 45 long) and, as with every other part on this van, I had to do some modifying to get them to work.

I had to turn the flanges down by 0.2 inch to get enough clearance between the bolt head and the spindle. I spun them in the lathe and cut 0.2" inches off the OD of the "washer" to let the bolt pass by the spindle as the caliper bracket is bolted on. A stock bolt is at the bottom.


The spindles are highly modified 2" drop Astro pieces. Leaving as much material around the bolts as possible I still had to grind out a bunch to get bolts to fit during the mock up phase.
I also ground a full thread off the length to give better clearance to the rotor.

A bit of a trick getting the Corvette stuff to work but it all bolts up and the calipers align with the rotor so I think we are good to go...
Mark

[astroracer]

Worked on the rear brakes this morning. The RR was mostly done, bolting up the brake hose was the only thing to do. The LR needed to be assembled but that didn't take long, and with everything put together, mounting tires and wheels was a most do...
To get the front wrapped up I need to take the front tires and wheels to Discount. The valve stems are on the inside of these rims and the stem is too long. It hits the caliper as it rotates, not a good thing. I will not set the chassis on the ground until that is done... I may take them in this afternoon.






Thanks for looking!
Mark