Astro composite grill to Safari sealed beam grill Q&A

[AstroOafAdventurer]

Something I'd like to do at some point, and very little info I've found on this, typically it's the opposite.
I've gathered the grill swap itself is fairly straight forward, but not sure about going to SB.
I'm thinking I'll need the Safari grill, SB headlights, perhaps new turn signals, anything else?
What about the wiring, is this easy to swap from compo to SB? (this is what I haven't been able to find)
~T

[AlpineVan]

I need to start looking into this myself as well, since I want to do a composite grille conversion. Let me dig up some wiring diagrams and report back.

FYI: I believe the composite headlamps are part RPO code TL1 known as "special grille". The sealed beam headlamps are part of RPO code VN9 known as "fleet program". This may or may not help when researching parts commonality and electrical, or at the very least its a bit of trivia.

[AstroOafAdventurer]

Tons of info for SB to C, a little for what I'm doing, but nothing detailing the wiring.
If you find anything helpful, please post.
Edit: I see you got a Safari SB, you close to the DC area?! lol

[AlpineVan]

I pulled these headlamp diagrams for a 1995 van, that's just what I have. It's probably gonna be different from yours, because 1995 is a weird half-year. But I'm posting anyways in case its helpful. Let me know your van's year and I can look into it.

The first one is the composite, the second one is the Sealed Beam (SB)

I'm in Sacramento California, but my van came from Medford Oregon.

[AstroOafAdventurer]

Thanks for that, hadn't thought to check wiring diagrams.
I did find these:
SB http://www.autolib.diakom.ru/CAR/Chevro ... S/9293.pdf
Comp. http://www.autolib.diakom.ru/CAR/Chevro ... S/9292.pdf

The wiring difference looks very minimal, thinking I might just have to swap connectors, which if I'm going with LED headlights I may be fine.

[AlpineVan]

Beautiful! I'm saving those.

And here's the 1997 headlamp diagram, which I think even more clearly shows the difference between C vs SB on its own page. Best of luck.

EDIT: I can DM you PDF's of these if you like, they're much clearer and higher resolution.

[AstroOafAdventurer]

Nice, looks like it should be easy peasy.
I found my links in a post here from 2012:
http://www.autolib.diakom.ru/CAR/Chevro ... 0DIAGRAMS/

[Herbie]

Good thread. I pulled the Safari grill and sealed beams off the '95 Safari that was the donor van for my GTRV pop top. It looked like mostly swapping connectors/wiring ends to get things to work. I like the Safari grill, but didn't want to mess with the mismatch of GMC, Astro, and Bowtie badging all over the place.

[AstroOafAdventurer]

Well, this just got bumped up on the priority list after a minor spatial interference incident.
It's not terrible, but passenger side headlight housing, turn signal housing, and the strip in between need to be replaced.
The strip in between, looks to be molded into the main grill, so I figure this is a good time to brand swap.
I'll probably stick to the composite, but may switch to sealed beams as well.
The grill itself seemed easy enough with the reversal of a support beam, I'm looking into the headlights mount differences.
Also the hood got crinkled a bit too which I'd been looking at replacing anyway due to rust in the same area as the crinkle.
I'll post a pic shortly, need to run up and get a turn signal bulb in the meantime.

[AstroOafAdventurer]

Here's the damage, header panel/radiator support looks to be fine.

[stent]

sorry about your oww-ee.

[AstroOafAdventurer]

That's a nice grille insert stent! Link or brand? Most I've seen have a cutout for GMC.

Just waiting for my headlights, have all the rest now...

[dcsleeper]

I think you also need what is behind the sb. buckets or whatnot.

Is that a dink in your rad support in the middle of the label? damn

[AstroOafAdventurer]

I think you also need what is behind the sb. buckets or whatnot.

Is that a dink in your rad support in the middle of the label? damn

Yeah, having looked closer at it, nothing looks to be bent other than that dink, although the replacement hood is having issues releasing from the latch.
Are there measurements available/body shops use to check placement, like from the firewall to rad support?
Plus, looking at the picture, I'd have to think if it bent the rad support, the damage would be much worse to the plastic, the old hood is crinkled a bit as shown but really not all that bad, the headlight still works even further indicating to me not a very hard/deep impact.

[stent]

That's a nice grille insert stent! Link or brand? Most I've seen have a cutout for GMC.

I got it on ebay. the link below looks like the same or similar grill :
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fedar-Main-Upp ... %3A2334524

the grill itself is really nice but the supplied mounting hardware is crap. i went to ace hardware and made up some fasteners that work great. the link below should connect to my build thread on the page when i mounted the grill - it has more pics.
https://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.p ... 3&start=40

[AstroOafAdventurer]

Thread coming soon.