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I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83929 January 24th 2006 9:11 pm
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 199
cp0ff Offline OP
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 - (post edited- more pics at [url=http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2239358]my cardomain page[/url]) having caught the van bug hard, I decided back in aug. 05 to sell my trusty 4cyl S10 and get an Astro van. honestly I never liked astros untill I saw an "early"-style panel shorty... and I wanted one. convieniently it fit the bill for a daily driver in all categories and almost three and a half months later, with a budget of $2000 I bought an astro for $500 1994 RWD "Z" vortec 149k former pool co. van no leaks, smoke, or otherwise ominous issues so far... cut out shelves,bins, and dividers scraped off those bastard decals sanded,primered, roller-painted whole rear interior w/rustoleum drilled and retapped intake manifold heater outlet threads after connector broke off on me while working under the doghouse (!@#$%^&*) radiator flush and prestone fancypants coolant and waterpump lube k&n filter, new belts all synthetic - oil,gearoil,powersteering fluid, and brakefluid (still looking for synth tranny oil locally?) removed ac 2 new rear tires utility seat covers lots of scrubbing new fuel filter full-size spare indoor/outdoor carpet and 2 layers of padding made replacement brushed-aluminum chevy logo in grill made wood panels for rear doors panel slider from JY still workin on headliner... I LOVE THIS LITTLE VAN! way more powerfull, smoother, more relaxed and WAY more roomy than the S10 it's maiden voyage (besides work and the autoparts store) was 10 hours to Cato NY over the holidaze and performed beautifully, finished another 9 hour round trip last week wihtout a sputter or whine. By far my favorite daily driver I've ever had. I put the shelves and bins from the back in my workshop and used the steel sliding drawer unit that was in it, along with a few wheels from shopping carts, and made a rolling, locking, modular tool chest also used some $ left over to get more tools and ... synth brake & PS fluid, all new shocks all new brakes k&n carpet padding keyed kill switch additional horn and the stuff to seal my bay windows for my Dodge!!!! me and both my vans won on this deal!!! got lots of ideas about what all I could do with it... but it will probably be very utilitarian forever. it has some paint issues in numerous places and the decals left ghosts I havent tried to buff out yet. the DS rear door is banged to hell, I would love to have panel rear doors and a little B+W camera on the rear leading to an small lcd monitor up front. if keeping the rear doors, I thought of using diamondplate aluminum plates on the doors and painting them to match. love it! Chris Poff [ January 24, 2006, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: cp0ff ]

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Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83930 January 24th 2006 9:15 pm
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Chris,
You'll have to check out http://www.astrosafari.com as they have a ton of ideas for these babies! I have two myself! Had a third but after 240K it decided it was time to retire! lol enjoy your ride as they are a great deal and will give you miles of pleasure!
B.W.

Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83931 January 24th 2006 9:25 pm
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cp0ff Offline OP
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yeah!
Im a member @ AS...

PRICELESS!!!
just like here.

c.p.

Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83932 January 24th 2006 9:54 pm
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cp0ff Offline OP
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oops!
problem fixed...

<small>[ January 24, 2006, 10:26 PM: Message edited by: cp0ff ]</small>

Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83934 February 10th 2006 9:01 pm
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Posts: 199
cp0ff Offline OP
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> That Astro better not be stealing away attention that could be turned toward your Dodge </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I will have to admit that in the beginning I did focus on the astro alot because I needed to get to know it and make sure everything was in good, reliable condition, and try to stop the clorine induced cancer in spots.

unfortunately that did steal some attention in a way,
but fortunately the trade-off was getting to use some of the $ left over in my budget for the Dodge, and although the going has been slow, I've replaced
rear brakes, wheel cylinders, and lines,
all shocks
front brakes, hoses, and wheel bearings (done DS, workin on PS now)
all synth. grease
dual horns
and painted all the interior wood door panels
and subfloor pieces with thick, outdoor oil base paint (just to seal the wood).

the Astro is a daily driver that I will tinker with and work on periodically that might end up
something a litle more spicy in the future, but
the initial comfort and contiued maintainance
are all she's getting for a while, maybe some
painted plywood wall skin in the back...

but the Dodge is a sentimental relic that
I've taken responsability for keeping around.
I've needlessly replaced parts for the sake of
longevity.
it is the first real automotive project I've
undertaken and, along with everyone here, it has
taught me alot and given me the confidence to do
major things to my vehicles, but since it has been a first, my time-frames have been absurd
and unrealistic for me, but having seen MAJOR progress over time I've decided that I'll get her done SOMEDAY and am not going to speculate anymore on when.
this site got me desperately itching for a van faster that I realised the Dodge was going to happen and since my aging s10 was in need of replacement..
DING DING DING
ASTRO!
it's quickly getting a sentimental element of it's own, but when I've got the Dodge and the VW
rockin and inspected, I'll put some mojo on
the Astro.

<small>[ February 10, 2006, 08:09 PM: Message edited by: cp0ff ]</small>

Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83935 February 10th 2006 11:22 pm
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Congrats, Chris.
Glad to hear that you're happy with it. I'm also looking right now for an Astro as a daily driver while SS gets done. (*gasp* a CHEVY??) I've owned a couple of them, never customized one.
Have fun with it!

Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83936 February 25th 2006 4:59 am
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Hey Chris, Your Cargo van is begining its "New Customized Life" much cleaner than mine ever did!.....haha! Your Van was a >> "Nice" pool cleaning company van.... And my Van was a >> "Beat-up and dented" Pizza Delivery Van!  -  - However,My van has transformed further with a highly modified 350 V8 swap, utilizing ported and polished heads, with larger valves and an EdelBrock MPFI system (staying smog legal here in CA). Plus a New-style front-end body-swap, and a rear new-style dutch-door swap, shaved handles, gas filler and rear license plate, plus I added a custom roll pan. I lowered my van with BelTech -2 drop spindles on the front with KYB "stock height" shocks, and a BellTech flip-kit in the rear with some extra lowering blocks. My rims are 18 inch Chrome 5 x 5 Custom chrome IROC`s, with 245/45/18 Pirelli Tires. I have Caddi-Tails, Gullwing Sliding door, plus many other shavings..... Hopefully I will get my Van painted soon.  -  -  -  -  -

Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83937 February 25th 2006 8:32 am
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cp0ff Offline OP
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Boot- I had to look for quite a while to find a no-window here... even then I had to get a panel slider from the JY. even once you've got the SS rockin' it's good to have something to use to put to work... and why not another van!?!? good luck man, Im sure you'll have to do SOMETHING to it.... SoCaliV8- does your van have a permanent scent of cheese and pepperoni? [Big Grin] ... because, despite the fact I've cleaned, brushed, primered, and painted every square inch from the seats back, it still has a slight chlorine smell... I guess it could be worse, it could have been a sewer excavation co. van! also, maybe you're tuned for performance mainly and don't care as much about mileage, but I've heard that putting a v8 in an astro barely changes mileage, infact I remember someone at astrosafari.com saying they got BETTER mileage with a v8... what is your experience with mileage and this swap? and by the way, I do have a few dings and scrapes and the rear doors are pretty bad but the real nightmare was inside, it was filthy and the dash covered in old tape where notes had been posted. I should have taken pictures, but I didnt want anyone to know what it had looked like inside untill after I had cleaned it up and painted.

Re: I LOVE MY ASTRO!!!
#83938 February 25th 2006 11:50 am
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Smoke a couple of good cigars in that Astro and the pizza/ chlorine smell will disappear [Smile]

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