New Shop Truck

[Dirtyrat]

Sounds like a winner to me, I had an astro one time, was always a solid vehicle and did the job!

 

[falconvan]

For some reason my picture didn't turn out but it should be ready to fire up this weekend. Motor is all hooked up; just need to get the exhaust crossover pipe on it before I fire it up and do the cam break in. Pretty uneventful so far; the 4.3 and the V8s are so close that everything just about bolts right back in where its supposed to. As long as my throw-together-from spare-parts engine turns out ok, we'll be good to go.

 

[falconvan]

Got the motor fired up today and did the cam break in; it sounds good other than a leaky water pump and an alternator that's not charging. So I need to fix those things, build an exhaust, do some serious cleanup on the interior, and it should be roadworthy.

 

[jfg455]

Awesome![P

 

[Old Iron]

That ride should be great!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[billy]

i like vans for the simple reason all my crap is out of the weather.
my wife hates minivans so hard she gets mad when she sees one

 

[jfg455]

my wife hates minivans so hard she gets mad when she sees one

Sounds like my wife with station wagons...hates em. Even all the new "suv's" or "Cross overs" are just short station wagons in her eyes...[S

 

[falconvan]

I got the exhaust done over the weekend, put it all back together and did a short road trip today. I just did a 3" single exhaust to make it easy and use up my leftover exhaust parts. Not bad; about as much power as you'd expect from a small cube V8. A little more cleanup and it's pretty much done. Easiest V8 swap I ever did.

 

[05snopro440]

Awesome!

It needs some 80's Chev 1/2 ton Rallye wheels. My dad had a set on our Astro when I was a kid (painted brown to match the van, with wide beauty rings and the Chevy truck center caps). They fit it really well. Would look great on yours.

 

[falconvan]

I've had two weeks of driving without a glitch; got it cleaned up pretty good and legal. I'm thinking about taking it on the Power Tour this year since it's got A/C.

 

[soltz]

[cl[cl[cl[cl

 

[jfg455]

That Astros is simply awesome! Especially with the tan/brown dog dish caps combo![cl

 

[Country Misfit]

Looks good--handy vehicle to have.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Looks good! [cl

No V8 swap is complete... until you do a hairy burnout and post the evidence...

.

 

[Old Iron]

Looks good! [cl

No V8 swap is complete... until you do a hairy burnout and post the evidence...

.

YEP ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[falconvan]

Looks good! [cl

No V8 swap is complete... until you do a hairy burnout and post the evidence...

.

Hmmm......let me get past the engine break in period before I try that.

 

[Bamamav]

Bleach makes a lot of smoke [ddd

 

[440shorty]

looking good

The van looks good. I was also thinking about doing the Power Tour this year.

440shorty

 

[freezerburn]

sbc in a mini van that is awesome holy smoke! In the dog house and basically stock looking except.. when you fire it up yeehaw!
'freeze

 

[falconvan]

Thanks! I just put a chip adapter in the TBI computer so I can burn a chip for it and do some tuning. I've been driving it quite a bit without any issues except for it running rich and an EGR code. Should be able to fix both of those issues with some programming. I'm about ready to hit it with my buffer and see if I can wake up the oxidized paint a little.