2001 OLV 4" Lift Start to Finish w/ Pics

[tanvanmanwithaplan]

Hi,

Second post here on the forums. I am fully committed to this thing now. I've ordered and received a full 100k maintenance, rear door seal stuff and an OLV 4" lift kit. I am going to replace the carpet with either aftermarket replacement, bedliner or VanMat/VanRug marine carpet and I'm going to be visiting pick and pulls to fix up the interior some. Finally I'm going to spray on bedliner for the front and rear bumpers and side quarter panels.

This thread will be about things related to the lift of this van.

Here's a before picture of the van:



Now that introductions are out of the way. I have a question regarding fan shroud trimming I think I'll post here before I bug the OLV owner.

The instructions state to "match mark the position of the hood latch to the radiator support". I find this wording to be sort of confusing. Where in this picture should I be marking?



I am looking around the fan shroud and with every attachment/bolt point I see, there can be only one way this would come apart and go back together. Maybe I haven't looked close enough.

Finally I am interested in opinions on electric fans. I found an electric fan kit on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CHEVY-ASTRO-SAFARI-VAN-ELECTRIC-TWIN-COOLING-FAN-KIT-MORE-MPG-HP-COLDER-A-C-/160781874497?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item256f58b541&vxp=mtr that claims to be very good.



$225 seems a little bit steep, but I can really see the benefit of having an electric fan as far as having working room inside the vehicle. I realize you can DIY this with a lincoln continental fan, but I have a lot of work to do, not much time, I'm over 100 miles away from the nearest picknpull, and I need to get most of this work done in the next two months or it will be too cold outside. Unfortunately, this VAN will only fit in my garage at it's current height (and barely that). After lift it won't fit through the doorway or inside the garage/basement at all.

Does anyone have any experience with the eBay fan kits? Do they have everything I need to work nicely? How are they longevity-wise?

[sfeaver]

I think that means just mark where the hood latch is before you unbolt it so it goes back in the same spot.

[Lumpy]

The part of the shroud you have to trim is the bottom half. If you can get the bottom half off without the hood latch cable being in the way, there's no need to mark or remove the cable. But if you do, it's as sfeaver suggests. Draw a line around the bracket with a sharpie or a scratch awl so you'll know where to align it when you put it back. It's moveable, deliberately so you can adjust it.


FF Dynamics fans. Better find the discussions here on their fans. They're not well spoken of at all. Didn't fit when the company said they would, horrible customer service. Take a look at their website (if you can stomach the red on black format). On their index page it says -

"We are currently moving our warehouse. If we miss or are delayed with answering emails or phone calls we apologize! "

That's been on that front page for 4 or 5 years.

Consider a new replacement Lincoln fan. Mine's a Dorman. My controller is from AutoZone. Add a couple things like a fuse or circuit breaker, a bit of wire, a switch, a couple of those zip through radiator mounts and you're there for a lot less than 225. And it fits.

Two fans move more air than one large fan. My one large, Lincoln fan moves enough air to blow the leaves off the driveway. It'll suck the tank top off a girl in the crosswalk on HIGH. I just keep it on low. Thermostat set to come on somewhere just below 195. Add a switch so you can turn it OFF when you're working on the engine and you don't want the thing to spin. Add an LED to tell you that you've turned it OFF so you don't forget.

Once you install the elec fan you can eliminate the fan shroud all together so trimming isn't a factor.

Browse through the various eFan install threads here. Lots of different approaches.


Lump

[tanvanmanwithaplan]

sfeaver,

I think you are right! Thank you for the quick response. I'm going to move forward with the fan trim job after work tomorrow!

Lumpy,

Thanks for your input and response. I've read a lot of posts by you already! Lots of great input and information. $225 isn't even the real price either, I forgot about $40 shipping. $265 is borderline silly. I did do a search and I can't find any threads containing FF dynamics. I must say the search function of this forum sort of blows since it can't do exact text searches. I've started just using google searches like this:

site:www.astrosafari.com "exact phrase string here"

Anyway, I think for now I'm just going to trim the fan shroud and leave the mechanical one intact since I have a lot of other tasks on my plate. I'm a network engineer and I work with electrical engineers and on the side lighting and sound systems and FM radio so that fan project sounds like fun to me anyway.

Disclaimer: the above comments are also the reason I have no time! Too many hobbies!

[Lumpy]

Arrrgh. The search engine here sucks. I know.

Edit my above post. My fan is a new, Dorman TAURUS not a LINCOLN. Might actually be the same size/part etc. Whatever it is it blows the **** outta things. It was $100 from RockAuto. Controller/thermostat was $30. Switch, relay, wire, fuse etc maybe another $20.

I would do what you're considering. Just trim the shroud now. Do the eFan later. One big project at a time is enough, for me at least.

Here's my electric fan install -
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=14873


Lump

[chevymaher]

Arrrgh. The search engine here sucks. I know.Lump

I google "Astro......................whatever" And it brings your right to this sites post. But use the sites search engine and it is lost. What up with that?

[Lumpy]

Arrrgh. The search engine here sucks. I know.Lump

I google "Astro......................whatever" And it brings your right to this sites post. But use the sites search engine and it is lost. What up with that?

It's in need of a break job.


Lump

[tanvanmanwithaplan]

So this is pretty far down the rabbit hole at this point, but it's a limitation of phpBB. phpBB indexes words into a table and that table doesn't know which words are next to others. When you do a google site search it uses the full automagical power of google to index the site properly. Other forums do not suffer from this issue, like suzuki-forums.com (based on the commercial vBulletin product) where I get help with my Suzuki Sidekick.

AAAANYWAY... I'm going to trim my fan shroud and start on the body lift this afternoon. I will post pictures tonight!

[Lumpy]

AAAANYWAY... I'm going to trim my fan shroud and start on the body lift this afternoon. I will post pictures tonight!

A simple way is to REMOVE the bottom half of the shroud, do the lift, and THEN test fit, trim, test, trim etc.

Oh Boy. Lift Pics..


Lump

[SilverBullet1997]

AAAANYWAY... I'm going to trim my fan shroud and start on the body lift this afternoon. I will post pictures tonight!

Hopefully you see this before you cut....

fanshroud.jpg (35.54 KiB) Viewed 4386 times

Cut 2" out of the bottom lip, leave the upper connector pieces of the bottom of the shroud on though, just start your cut at the curves below where the two pieces bolt together. You will keep more structural integrity doing this.

Sorry for the crude drawing, did it quick and to the point.

[tanvanmanwithaplan]

Thank you very much for the drawing! Very good illustration. I am probably just going to remove and trim when done but that is a good guideline.

What is the best cutting tool to use for this? I am thinking sawzall but jigsaw, dremel, regular hacksaw have crossed my mind. (blowtorch? lol)

[SilverBullet1997]

Thank you very much for the drawing! Very good illustration. I am probably just going to remove and trim when done but that is a good guideline.

What is the best cutting tool to use for this? I am thinking sawzall but jigsaw, dremel, regular hacksaw have crossed my mind. (blowtorch? lol)

Sawzall or jigsaw, the plastic 'melts' pretty easily so a dremel would just make a plasticy mess. Blow torch is what you use after it has pissed you off.

[Philly758]

AAAANYWAY... I'm going to trim my fan shroud and start on the body lift this afternoon. I will post pictures tonight!

Hopefully you see this before you cut....

fanshroud.jpg

Cut 2" out of the bottom lip, leave the upper connector pieces of the bottom of the shroud on though, just start your cut at the curves below where the two pieces bolt together. You will keep more structural integrity doing this.

Sorry for the crude drawing, did it quick and to the point.

Here are a few pictures of my fan shroud when I cut it. Hope this helps. Good luck with the build!

[Lumpy]

You could cut the shroud with aviation tin snips. It's not particularly tough. Jig saw works pretty well. But sawzall gets a little out of hand, for me at least. The cut piece flaps around with the blade movement. I imagine a finer tooth blade would reduce that.

BTW - If you save the cut off piece you can weld plastic with it. I use a regular Weller soldering gun. Melt plastic to plastic just like I was soldering. Plastic wire ties work too but they're a little tougher to melt. Maybe they're nylon or something. Softer plastic works better. I've welded cracks in my plastic front grille, radiator overflow bottle, etc. with that method.


Lump

[SilverBullet1997]

AAAANYWAY... I'm going to trim my fan shroud and start on the body lift this afternoon. I will post pictures tonight!

Hopefully you see this before you cut....

fanshroud.jpg

Cut 2" out of the bottom lip, leave the upper connector pieces of the bottom of the shroud on though, just start your cut at the curves below where the two pieces bolt together. You will keep more structural integrity doing this.

Sorry for the crude drawing, did it quick and to the point.

Here are a few pictures of my fan shroud when I cut it. Hope this helps. Good luck with the build!

Cut looks great! Good job! The fan should never hit it even when the engine torques around.

[tanvanmanwithaplan]

No pictures today. I decided to use some of my time to go pick up an air compressor and ratchet extensions. I busted my knuckle up on the bolts holding the two halves together and decided I'm going to try to avoid gray hair and buy what tools I need .

I got the top and bottom shroud out. I'll trim it when it's ready to go back in. Tomorrow comes the body lift. One really cool thing about working on a van is you really have a lot of space to throw your tools when you're done working!

[Lumpy]

No pictures today. I decided to use some of my time to go pick up an air compressor and ratchet extensions. I busted my knuckle up on the bolts holding the two halves together and decided I'm going to try to avoid gray hair and buy what tools I need .

OK. Now you owe us pics of the lift AND pics of the new tools.


Lump

[tanvanmanwithaplan]

Fair enough. I am cheap so I buy "Bob the builder tools" as the electricians at work say. I can't afford all Klein DeWalt and SnapOn like some people.

[Lumpy]

... I can't afford all Klein DeWalt and SnapOn like some people.

I've never held a Klein tool I liked.

I own some DeWalt rechargable drills and saws. The old style were great. The newer versions are crap. I'll buy Harbor Freight before buying new DeWalt, at 1/3 the price.

SnapOn is ridiculous. There's absolutely no need in anyone's universe to pay $65 for a pair of dikes or $350 for a socket set.

Nearly all of my tools are Craftsman, Lowes (Kobalt) or Home Depot (Husky). I own some very old SK socket tools and Vacco drivers that are fabulous. But I'll never buy another Klien or a new DeWalt. And I'll never buy a SnapOn unless it just happens to come with a tool box or some garage sale guy is selling it for a sane price.

Best warranty on tools today is Sears, Lowes and Home Depot. And for those with a Chinese fobia, yes Sears/Craftsman still makes-sells US made tools as well as their chinky versions. But every one of them is guaranteed for life. Just take it to the store and they replace it. Doesn't matter why the tool broke. You could have been using a screwdriver to pry open a man hole, they'll replace it. SnapOn doesn't do that. They have to judge was there a manufacturing defect before they replace your 50 dollar screwdriver.


Lump

[tanvanmanwithaplan]

It's been raining and the van won't fit in the garage. Today I had a bunch of commitments so by the time I got back from the parts store it was 6 but I'm just gonna keep on truckin into the night beause it's going to rain Sunday-Tuesday.

So I didn't get much done before I found this:



HOLY ****! I was thinking it was diving a little too much on the driver's side during right turns, but DAMN! My impression was that snapped sway bars are not very common, but here it is. I'm pretty sure it's been like this since I bought it. I had just chalked the wobbly turning to how largeish vans are and that it had old steering/suspension components.

I guess it's time to find a new sway bar!

EDIT: after a quick search it is apparent that this is somewhat common after all.