Chevy Astro and GMC Safari Forum banner

Dirty Girl

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  cammoguy 
#1 ·
**Cammoguy de-cloaking** Greetings to all my earth brothers and sisters from the Oregon coast.

I have a question for all y'all. I've owned 2 GMC Safari cargo vans in the past and just did some horse tradin' to get a 1998 Astro passenger van. It runs real good but the interior is trashed.

My first Safari was used for general hauling stuff around and going to work. I loved that van but gave it to my brother when he needed a truck to get a job. (Better to lose a van than gain a permanent couch resident.)
The second was a shorty ex-beer delivery rig that I bought for $1400, built a bed in it, rolled on a couple of coats of flat olive drab latex house paint and did a 10,000 mile trip around the USA, pulling a motorcycle trailer. Never a lick of trouble the whole way. Averaged 20 MPG and got a lot of interest in the paint job.

But I digress. I do that a lot as I'm getting to be an old guy...hell, I AM an old guy I guess. Let's see, where was I?
Oh yeah, the interior on my van is pretty grimy and I was thinking of pulling off the formed-plastic-impossible-to-clean-cup-holders-and-cubby-holes that are attached underneath the windows. I want to go old school (as you whippersnappers say) and put some wood panelling on both sides. I'm not sure if wood will fit in with the rest of the interior so I may use that gray fuzzy board stuff, whatever you call it.
If I manage to get all that stuff off, is there anything under there that will trip me up in my endeavor?

Thanks to that thread about the Amazing Folding Bed, I learned about deck covering and have decided to find some of that to replace the carpeting. (At least I think it's carpet under all the gunk.)

Also thanks to the thread about replacing the door armrest, I got a clue on how the panels are held on before they completely fall off. My driver side electric window sometimes doesn't work. The PO told me to just whack the door panel and she'll fly. It works but geesh....LOL!

I'd like to do another road trip around the USA this year so I guess I'll be camperizing the van but keeping the ability to snap in the back seat once in a while so I can carry my buds out to the shootin' range.

Anyhow, thanks in advance for any info and for all the info I've gleaned here over the years.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Hello ? Anybody home ? Gee, I can't see s______t !

Beam me up Scotty. There ain't nobody here but a decloaked Romulan Bird of Prey.

If there is anybody listening: Welcome, live long and prosper.

Uncle Bones Bob
 
#3 ·
Not to rain on your parade uncle bob but birds of pray are clingons (i think) lol , camo , you may find all the interior parts you need at pick and pull , the entire interior trims are pretty easy to remove/reinstall , you do need a good heavy duty clip removing tool , you may also take a small piece of trim bring it to any hardware store equiped to scan and mix paint , ask for a small sample if unsure , then if good paint the trims with a foam roller and brushes from dollar store .
 
#4 ·
The Drummer said:
Not to rain on your parade uncle bob but birds of pray are clingons (i think) lol , camo , you may find all the interior parts you need at pick and pull , the entire interior trims are pretty easy to remove/reinstall , you do need a good heavy duty clip removing tool , you may also take a small piece of trim bring it to any hardware store equiped to scan and mix paint , ask for a small sample if unsure , then if good paint the trims with a foam roller and brushes from dollar store .
NO that it has anything to do with Camo's question, Dan, but Uncle Bob had it right....The Bird of Prey was the original Romulan ship first seen in "Balance of Terror". Later episodes and subsequent cinematic and Next Gen productions had the Romulans using ships based on the Klingon design. However, earlier motion picture representations of Klingon ships were also referred to as Birds of Prey SO.......I guess you could BOTH be right.
Crewman Mike, NCC 1701 no blinkin' A, B, C, or D!
Ahead....full impulse!
 
#5 ·
Just after I asked my question, somebody posted a bunch of pictures of the interior with the back panels removed. Now I can see what's going on. Instead of messing with wood, I think I'll pull out all the plastic and borrow my brother-in-law's power washer. That should get all the gunk out of the cup holders. Maybe even have a go at the carpet with it.

RE: Star Trek. Dr. Beverly Crusher. Nothing else need be said.
 
#8 ·
Wow! What a job that was woodbutcher! Loads of good pics and info there. Both the Safaris I had previously were Gen 1 cargo vans.
This Gen 2 passenger I have now seems so...swanky. It even has a cool overhead console. I haven't figured out what goes in those little compartments but what I would have given for a setup like that in my 68 Chevy cargo, back in the 70s!

And Drummer, 7 of 9 is definitely awesome but I'm a fool for a redhead. What can I say?

I'm in a little town on the coast that only has one small wrecking yard. I'll have to drive over to Coos Bay (the big city) to see what they have over there. There's another big yard up the cost in Reedsport. I'll take your advice and bring a heavy duty clip removal tool.

The amount of info on this site is awesome!
 
#9 ·
Just in case someone wanders by this thread and wonders what finally happened....

I spent a day cleaning out the inside of Dirty Girl. It reeked of cigarette smoke and I'm not a smoker (although there's nothing wrong with smoking if one wants to) so I wiped everything down with Simple Green.
I did all the plastic, the seats and seatbelts and the floor. It didn't seem to hurt anything and reduced the smell 99%.
It also cleaned up all the plastic trim pretty well so I didn't have to disassemble anything.

Then yesterday I took a trip to the local junk yard where I scored a new driver-side sun visor and a cover for the hole in my dash. Looks like a switch or light would go in there.
I did think about leaving the hole uncovered and putting a fake eye in there but couldn't figure where to get a glass eye. I guess I could grab some kids dolly but I can't run any more so went with the cover. The option IS open though.

I'm still on the lookout for the 2 front door panels and a driver's seat though. That duct tape isn't gonna keep that new shiny look for long.

When I bought the van it had a set of 255/60 R15 tires on black painted Astro wheels all around.
I didn't like that lowrider look so went on Craigslist and **shazamm!** there was a guy selling an almost new set of stock Goodyears mounted on GMC Safari wheels. (He had just put them on his Safari, then his engine blew.) Plus he was located right next door to the DMV office I was going to. It was fate!
So I stopped by his place and he even put them on the van for me. 150 bucks! The ride quality and handling increased 1000%.

The wheels are the older Safari type painted silver (or is that argent?) which I really like. I added the small chrome Chevy hubcaps that came with the van and am on the lookout for some trim rings to finish it off in the wheel department.

She's definitely looking good (at 10 paces.) Next step is finding some carpet to put over the badly stained original. Since she's gonna be a camperized street rod (?) I'm not going to put heavy bucks into the project (as if I had some.)

I guess I need to post some pictures of my Dirty Girl. (I kind of like that name.)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top