2000 Astro Camperized Battle Van

TurnNburn · Aug 15, 2016

Hey all! I thought of instead of doing the standard intro where I say, "im a noob and I like turtles'', post some convoluted first post and then don't post again for 6 months because I wanted to show off how I changed my air filter. I thought I would make this as painless as possible and post my intro and my build thread in the same place.

Long story made medium length, I am a Master Technician at Nissan and have been a tech for about 10 years. Someone traded in an awd Astro and before the dealership gets to put them on the lot to sell I get to drive the cars and fix them up and whatnot. When I saw what I was driving in my head I was, "oh great... another crappy van''.

But by the time I was done I had 180 flipped my opinion of the van. And was impressed with the roominess, power, and AWD off-road capabilities. I have built MANY cars in my years of wrenching and so naturally, my mind started wondering...I stumbled across this site... and within 4 months my wife and I bought a bone stock 2000 awd Astro with leaking dutch door seals for a great deal.

Unbeknownst to either of us, we had both secretly dreamed of camperizing a van and driving down to central America (like 2 guys 1 van). And living in central Oregon offroading and Overlanding is very popular. So we sold our faithful Subaru outback and never looked back.

So let the upgrading and modifying begin:

Already done-

DIY 7'' lift- S-10 springs, adjustable rear shackles and adjustable rear spring hanger, 4-inch body lift, reindexed torsion bar keys, extended steering shaft, and extended rear brake line
2-inch drive train lift
NP233c 4x4 transfer case swap with manual linkage
31x10.5x15 BFG K02's
Rear U-Bolt flip kit
Nissan Titan Bilstein rear shocks with rear shock mounts relocated
Flipped control arm ball joints
Skip White distributor
MSD ignition coil
LED Headlights
LED light bar and light pods
All new Moog steering and suspension components
Red Head Steering gear
Eaton Detroit Truetrac
Custom front bumper
Custom rear bumper with swing-out spare tire carrier with 2 5-gallon jerry cans and full-size spare
3 row all aluminum radiator with Equinox e-fan
Hellwig rear sway bar

Camperization:

LED interior lights
Bed platform
Cabinets/kitchenette with sink
Hardwood floors
Roof vent
Wood walls with reflectix and insulation
12 gallons on board fresh water storage
2 6v golf cart battery pack
2000 watt 4000 peak pure sine wave inverter
Awning
Swivel seat
On board propane

There aren't a whole lot of before pictures(because everyone knows what a stock astro looks like). But here are what she has looked like through this transformation.

.

Consider yourself photo bombed, Lumpy style. Hope you enjoyed it. We have had our van on the road for about a year now and it's been a crazy trip. Let's keep those miles coming

markmitch · Aug 15, 2016

Welcome to the forum and great project! You may wish to look into some of the projects in the forum just for ideas.
I have an 89 Astro RS with a transplanted 5.7 TBI from a 92 silverado. I have kinda thought about switching gears and switch to a 93 or 94 AWD front frame and accessories.

TurnNburn · Aug 15, 2016

I think I have read just about all of the posts that are relevant to what I am doing, and reread a bunch of the good builds over the months. I thank everyone for all of their hard work and R&D with good descriptions and part numbers and insight and imagination.

I am contemplating the idea of mounting my house batteries (2 6v) under the body like cargo crawler did. Depending on how and where that goes down I really want to stick a fresh water tank down there as well. iv done the measurements I am pretty confident I can get at least a 10 gallon tank, but I am shooting for a 15 gallon tank. Moving the water down there will inherently make the water hotter then I think I would want my drinking water, but would free up a lot of room in the van. I suppose depending on how much insulation I wrap around it it might not be a problem. but I plan on finding out.

I have the GU6 or 3.42 rear end which has made it a little doggy off the line with the bigger tires but has given us relatively "good" gas mileage on our long trips. As much as I would like to do some 4.11's or something like that I most likely wont be messing with the gears, minus installing a locker.

I told my wife I did the t-case swap because 2 wheel drive would give us better gas mileage...so naturally i would love to v8 swap once I get the interior stuff dialed in using the mpg's excuse again.

Mmusicman · Aug 15, 2016

Actually, my V8 is giving me BETTER gas mileage than my worn V6 was getting in my 92!
So it's not that much of a stretch.

Those are some GREAT off-road camping photos of your van!
Very cool!

TurnNburn · Aug 15, 2016

Even if I got the same mileage out of the v8 swap but with 80 or so more torque I would be stoked. but the extra mpg bump would be nice as well. On a 230 mile trip back from the coast it 17 miles per gallon, but typically it is getting about 15 on road trips( this was pre distributor, msd ignitor, new plugs and wires. haven't done a weekend in it yet since the upgrades). which I know is pretty good for what it is, still trying to wrap my head around that...

I just thought all of the build stuff had be weeellllll documented in all of the other DIYs, how to's and build threads that it seemed redundant to include what I had done. but most peoples vans haven't been where ours has so here comes the camping site photos. Unless someone wanted some pics of what I have done, I would be more then happy to show you.

Also we named her Misty, because between the mountain mist, ocean mist, river mist and so on, this van is getting wet.

And since we resealed the leaking dutch doors... that's ok!

Mmusicman · Aug 16, 2016

Here's one of my "camping" photos (literally before I set up campsite)...
...kind of the EXACT OPPOSITE of yours! lol
But I'd be happy to trade you just one time for dirt road and a nice mountain shot!

Sunshine Key, Florida

Rmac · Aug 16, 2016

Looking good TurnNburn, looking forward to seeing what's next.

Mr Cup · Aug 17, 2016

Looks great. What did the DIY lift cost of ya don't mind? That's the height I'm looking for and it looks good. Trying to decide which type of lift to do.

TurnNburn · Aug 17, 2016

-2" Tall x 3" Wide Body Lift Blocks, $3.00/ea x Qty 6 = $18.00 + $12.15 shipping = $30.15
- M12-1.75 x 150mm CL 12.9 DIN 912 Plain Socket Head Cap Screw, $3.92/ea x Qty 4 = $15.68 + $5 shipping $20.68
- M14-2.0 x 150mm CL 12.9 DIN 912 Plain Socket Head Cap Screw, $7.44/ea x Qty 2 = $14.88 + $5 shipping $19.88
- 1995-2004 Chevy / GMC S10, S15 Sonoma Pickup - Leaf Spring (Rear - 3/1 Leaves), $115.95/ea x Qty 2 = $231.90 + $39.39 shipping = $271.29
-KEY-X-ASTRO-30 ASTRO-LIFT-30 1985-2005 Torsion Keyways pr Small 1.5" $133.50 a pair+ $32.19 shipping=$165.69
-SHA-AS8400A Shackle Raise 2" 3.00" Wide Multi-Leaf $103.50 a pair + $34.25 shipping = $137.75

drum roll please............. about $635.44 not including rims and tires

WimpTech · Aug 17, 2016

...and the award for best "right-out-of-the-chute" intro goes to....

WOW, very impressive! Great photos too. Thank you very much for posting PNs for the DIY lift, very helpful.

OK, for the front bumper, depending on the look and functionality you are going for, I highly recommend going full size Jeep JK bumper. With a custom bracket (or some ghetto engineering like mine), you can mount a sweet Jeep stock or aftermarket front bumper and add things like winch, bush bar, etc.
Build up here: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=100130&hilit=+jeep#p991226

TurnNburn · Aug 17, 2016

A tip of the hat to you good sir! My name is Blake, and you guys will be seeing a lot of me on this site.

I am a fiddler and a tinkerer at heart and I just cant leave well enough alone. And im not afraid to get dirty. All of which I think makes me a good tech.

LOTS of thread reading, cross referencing, comparing and deciding what was going to work for me lead me to pick those thing. But honestly, if I knew then what I know now, I would have done 3'' body lift with a longer steering shaft so I wouldn't have to crank on the torsion bar keys as much to get the lift I want. At full 6'' lift in the front the cv's bind up under hard exceleration when the front of the van lifts, and during sharp turns. I have since replaced what I assumed were the stock CV's as I suspected the worn out components weren't helping, but haven't lifted it back up to verify if that helped or not. I did my alignment a couple of weeks ago and am not looking forward to messing with the ride height again so soon. idealy I would like to do a sub frame drop, but for now I just lowered it till I stopped having problems, so its at about 5 inches of lift in the front.

I have contemplated the JK bumper swap. Looks pretty nice for a $50 bumper on craigslist, they are plentiful around here, or free if I waited long enough. but my metal fab friend is going to whip up something like an ARB bumper from scratch. But smaller overall size and complexity. KISS. As much as I want to do the front bumper first the rear bumper will take precedent, as of right now, we don't have a full size spare. So rear bumper is in the shop right now getting mocked up, and before it gets put on the car we are adding a swing out tire carrier/jerry can holder.

WimpTech · Aug 17, 2016

LUCKY! Wish I had a metal fab friend dude guy..person thing going. Cool, welcome Blake, can't wait to see all your cool builds n adventures n stuff. PLEASE post build details n TONS o pictures n stuff so we can STEAL your ideas! muhhahahahaaaa

One thing to consider (which you probably already did)... when doing the rear tire, might want to add a way to open the rear glass without having to swing the tire out, real PITA. I've seen many ways of doing that, like tilt out n such, but since you are doing full custom rear bumper... might do a notch-out rear and drop the spare under the glass height, kinda like this...

Herbie also has a rad idea for the rear swing-outs here (to get the creative juices flowing)...

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...rtal.com/forum/threads/42263-Herbie-s-Chevy-Astrolander-ZMB-Build-Thread/page20

....can't wait for the next update....

Mr Cup · Aug 17, 2016

Thanks for the details on the lift. Wonder if I can find some of the items locally to make it even cheaper. Love how your van is looking. How does it ride?

TurnNburn · Aug 17, 2016

He has built roll cages in my last 3 race cars, so over the years and many dollars, we became friends. Now I trade my mechanic skills for fab work, its a nice trade off that works for both of us. He doesn't have a drill press or lathe, but with a tube bender, a plasma torch and 220v welder we can do just about anything.

The ride before was garbage, 200k miles on the clock meant a lot of loose steering/suspension components. I replaced EVERYTHING steering/suspension related (except steering box) and it drives totally normal now. the reindexed keys are critical to maintaining stock ride quality, but if you use those then you have to flip your upper control arm ball joints or your alignment will be waaay off. To much positive camber, and affects travel of suspension components.

WimpTech · Aug 17, 2016

DAMN SON... GET SOME!!

Is the seat for on-road use?

TurnNburn · Aug 17, 2016

That is actually the frame/plateform for the bed. Hopefully tonight the fabbing and mechanical parts done and I will have it installed. It will make more sense tomorrow when I post it all done.

AllOutofBubblegum · Aug 17, 2016

Very cool build man.

How did you seal the dutch doors? I have an ongoing water/dust problem. Did you tighten them somehow?

Thanks

TurnNburn · Aug 17, 2016

i took off the old seals and silicone/glued them back on. My top seal was the main culprit... looked something like this

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=11532&p=123463&hilit=leaky+dutch#p123463

It is riveted in place with i think 6 rivets. i just drilled them out. cleaned up that weather strip and glued it back on so that it could not leak past the back of the weather strip.

The big u-shaped seal on the perimeter of the doors were also pretty nasty so i did the same thing with that. removed it, cleaned all of the debris from the channels and glued it back on. in the future if i ever have to take them off again, i will be screwed, but for now, no leaks.

I also drilled some holes in the bottom and built up a "dam" to keep water out like noted in the bottom of this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8972&p=155228&hilit=hatch#p155228

tequilasunset · Aug 17, 2016

Me likey where this is going..................

WimpTech · Aug 18, 2016

VERY Cool!

OK, where to start...
Consider felt for covering the wood. OSB will hold on to felt with little to no glue on the surface, so bonus there. It's also very cheap at your local fabric store and looks good in a few different colors (I usually go dark grey).

I like the nesting table layout, very clever. Consider adding some storage to the small nesting table, hold blankets n pillows n stuff like that.

Digging the awning, a much simpler rendition of the design I came up with a while back, probably easier to use... DEFINITELY easier to build for sure... well done sir, hats off to ya.

TurnNburn · Aug 18, 2016

I have thought about felt. I ruled it out as being to coarse and probably a pain in the butt to get all of the dirt out of it. I never actually went looking at fabric, but I suppose that if I found something that was really fine, perhaps speaker box carpet like Chevy Bow Tie did for his interior, which I like a lot. I just need to put some hands on some rolls and see what I think that would be better for our application.

Just picked up a couple of Interstate 210Ah 6v golf cart batteries. Im pretty positive this capacity is waaay more then we will need, but anything worth doing is worth over doing.

WimpTech · Aug 19, 2016

Speaker cloth sounds good too. I haven't had too much trouble with the felt, although it holds on to splinters and beach sand a little more than I would like.

Looking good buddy! Are you going to do the battery box ala CargoCrawler?
In case you aren't aware....
Running an inverter is always great, but some really suck, as is suck up power and suck at efficiency. Stay away from modified sine wave, which is basically alternating DC and the most common in retail. Pure sine is the way to go, but they are expensive. Check efficiency before you get anything and make sure it will meet your needs... like how long it will maintain surge current before overloading and shutting down, especially if you run an AC fridge (5 sec +).\
:2:

TurnNburn · Aug 19, 2016

This van makes it to the beach often and with the dog its going to get dirty. Being able to keep it clean and stop us from getting splinters will be the top priorities.

I like CC's battery box. I wish I had seen that before I layed my floors down... would have made this step a lot easier to figure out. But I will probably use some 1'' angle iron I have laying around and build a little cage for them and then bolt them to the subframe or something like that.

I have had some unfortunate experiences with cheap inverters in the past and know better then to go down that road again. Pure sine for sure and at least 2000 watts. I haven't decided on one in particular but its probably going to be in the $250-300 range

WimpTech · Aug 20, 2016

AMEN brudda! Please post which ever one you go with, I'm looking into making one now with something called a 'Bubba Oscillator'... no I didn't make that up haha

TurnNburn · Aug 30, 2016

Just picked up this yesterday from amazon for $199 shipped. Was by far the best bang for the buck, had lot of good reviews, has a lot of nice safety features, and should give us tons of head room for feature electrical additions. I should have a decent amount of juice on hand so the inverter had to be capable of running anything I might throw at it.

WimpTech · Aug 31, 2016

HOLY CRAP that's exactly the one I was looking at too, please let me know how it works out, probably be cheaper than my home build anyways.

2000 Astro Camperized Battle Van

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