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    1. #721
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Back to work on the Astro, sort of... Working with Craig at Bowler we have the PCS Shift Controller and Paddles on their way. PCS has downloadable files available so I downloaded an IGES file of the paddles and added them into my Steering Wheel File.
      Getting the paddles to work will require a fabbed adapter to go thru the paddles to pick up the steering wheel bolts. No biggie, I have a lot of 2 1/2" alum bar stock to make it out of.

      With the 2" extension, the .81 thick paddle assembly and the 1/2" thick cover I am moving the steering wheel about 4" in the right direction. This should work well with the moderate set back of the driver seat.
      Looking down the column.

      here is the stack from the passenger side. The little silver part is the adapter I have to make. Everything else I will have.
      This remote shifter thing was a bit spendy but it was something I needed to do to get the engine cover cleaned off. Too much stuff going on in too small of an area.

      Hopefully the PCS stuff will get here in a timely manner.
      Mark

      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/


    2. #722
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Got a big box from PCS yesterday! The parts look great. I'll get pics but I didn't have time last night. Mott Community College and Back to the Bricks are collaborating on a program they call Hot Rod High. This program allows high school and college students the opportunity to get their hands dirty actually building a car.
      I was asked to be one of the mentors in the program and we had a meeting last night. We are working on a '30 Model A 2 door coupe. The body is a pile and the chassis and suspension are from Speedway.
      It's pretty cool working with the kids. Some of them know a few things but most of them are clueless. It's nice to be working with kids that are there to actually learn and gain some knowledge.
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    3. #723
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Contents of the boxes that came yesterday.
      The Paddle Shifter Box


      The Remote Shifter Box.


      As you can see, the paddles have a circuit board right where I was planning to mount my fabbed adapter. No biggie, The adapter will be a bit diferent, that's all.
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    4. #724
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Been a while since I got any reportable work done on the van. Getting sick for a week put a real crimp on my energy level and I am just now getting back to a feeling good point.
      Went out today and finished setting up all of the rear stab bar components. Centered the rear housing in the chassis and got all of the links and brackets mocked up. Marked everything for cleaning up the weld areas of paint and broke out the flap disc grinder.
      With everything cleaned up I got the welder fired up and welded on the stab bar towers.



      With thos set I mocked the stab bar back up and got the rear brackets welded on.



      it all looks good with the links bolted back in.



      i also did some work on the steering wheel adapter for the PCS shifter set up. Cut a chunk of 1/2" aluminum cut out and marked to start making it.
      Got a lot done today, thanks for watching.
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    5. #725
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Got a bit more done tonight. Ran the front suspensions thru jounce and rebound and full L/R lock. Laid out the final positions for the steering stops and got those tacked in.
      After grinding the paint off I marked the positions with black felt pen.

      Checking the positioning and making sure everything is in the right spot. This is the passenger side as the frame is upside down on the rotisserie.

      This is the driver side front stop tacked on.

      I will pull the spindles out to finish the welding. I had everything wrapped in welding blankets while tacking but I didn't want to put that kind of heat into the blankets.

      I probably should have rounded those corners over before I tacked them on... Oh well the big grinder will get a work out.
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    6. #726
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Worked on the steering wheel adapters this past week. I was doing a test fit Monday night and found the wheel adapter I had in my stash was to small to fit the Astro column. I ordered an adapter kit from Summit. While I was waiting for that I got to work making the upper adapter plate. This is the piece that will go between the steering wheel and the PCS paddle shifter unit. It will use 5 #10-32 x 1 1/2" long SHCS to bolt the PCS unit onto the extension. The extension will bolt to the new adapter when it comes in. (hopefully)...
      I dug out a chunk of 1/2" thick aluminum plate and laid out the bolt circles on it. One for the 5 bolts that go thru the PCS unit and one for the three bolts that hold on the steering wheel and horn button asm. After clamping the piece in the mill I drilled a center hole for "zero" for the next operation.

      Using the bolt pattern feature on the DRO made drilling both of the bolt patterns easy. This feature sure does save a lot of time over hand laying out all of these holes. With the piece clamped in and zeroed all I have to do is plug in the both circle diameter, the number of holes, the start and end angles (in this case 0 and 360) and hit enter. The first hole location is a dead straight move in the X out tot he radial position of the first hole. In the pic that would be the one to the right in the picture.

      Every consecutive hole after that is reached by simply pressing the down button to move the next hole and twisting the mill handles until both X and Y are zeroed out. It makes doing this a no brainer...
      Here the five outer holes have been drilled and I am starting on the three inners.

      Once all of the holes are drilled I re-zero the cutter, which has been changed out for a counter bore tool and re-run the program.

      With all of the holes done I could get the three inner holes tapped for 1/4-20's.

      Chunking off the excess material so I can get the adapter turned round in the lathe.

      After a few minutes of trimming. Using the hold downs from a clamping kit on the saw makes this kind of off hand cutting a whole lot easier. Sure beats doing it by hand on the vertical. This way I can do other things while the H/V is cutting.


      I made this mandrel years ago for another project. The small pilot is sized for the .422 dia. tap drill for a 1/2"-13 thread. I drilled the center hole out to that so I could use the mandrel to chuck the adapter in the lathe.





      Spinning in the lathe. I use real light cuts here and take my time.

      After it was good and round I chamfered the edges and cleaned up the surfaces with some ScotchBrite while it still spinning.

      All cleaned up and ready for a test bolting. This will get painted satin black to match the rest of the column.


      With everything bolted together it all fits and looks pretty good. I know it looks tall but this will put it right about where it needs to be for the new seat placement.


      Gotten a lot done so far this week... Thanks for following.
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    7. #727
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Ma.
      Posts
      5,567
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice job, it came out nice.
      Wayne
      Car FINALLY home !!!!!! lol
      Project FNQUIK https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=FNQUIK

    8. #728
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks Wayne, It turned out nice but I think I will be making a new one. Once I got it all bolted together I think the mis-match between the wheel and the paddle unit is to great. That's all I see when I look at it now. I think a new piece is needed that will blend the two together better.
      I am also going to replace the convoluted rubber piece with a fabbed tubing cover to smooth things out a bit between the shifter and column. Everything is just way to busy for me in there.
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    9. #729
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Worked in the shop and on the computer last night. The steering wheel interface to the paddle shifter is 4.75" in diameter. That's exactly an 1" bigger then the first plate I made. I remodeled the plate and added a big chamfer around the perimeter where it mates to the shifter unit.




      The new, smooth shroud will be made out of an exhaust pipe reducer. 4" to 3 1/2" will work perfect. I'll be hitting the muffler shop tonight to see if they have any that size.
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    10. #730
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Took the column parts in to Dave's Muffler Shop in Durand this afternoon. We grabbed a chunk of 3 1/2" pipe and worked with the expander to get it to fit the parts. It took about 15 minutes to get the sizes right but this will work. It's bit rougher then I envisioned but it will smooth out with a bit of hammer and sander work.


      We made it long so I can fit the bottom then trim the top to length.
      Just mocked up on the column I think once this is finished and sprayed satin black it will look very nice.
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    11. #731
      Join Date
      Jul 2011
      Location
      Prescott, AZ
      Posts
      206
      Country Flag: United States
      This adapter setup is pretty neat. Good thinking on the exhaust reducer, it should look almost factory with a little sanding and a coat of paint. Keep it up!

    12. #732
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks! After some mock up work though I found the "shroud" to be pretty unusable. The expanding left it very unconcentric and trying to smooth it out was next to impossible with simple hand tools. 16ga is nothing to mess with when you can't get enough leverage to work it... I ordered a couple of 4 to 3 1/2" reducers from Speedway. I also bit the bullet and ordered a tubing expander kit from Lisle. This will come in handy for exhaust work anyway and it does have a role in this kind of fab work also.

      After dinking around with the shroud mess for a few hours I called it a lost cause. I set up the new, larger adapter plate in the mill and got some work done on that. Making the hole patterns, trimming out the blank and machining it round just like the previous one.


      Holes drilled and c'bored.

      I'll be milling an angle on the back side of the adapter to reduce the diameter to better match the shift unit.
      This is the back side I will be milling. The pencil line is the size of the shifter unit.


      Setting up the rotary table in the mill I needed an adapter to locate the plate concentric to the center of the rotary table. I machined this out of a piece of 1" diameter aluminum stock.

      The larger end pilots in the center bore of the table and the small end pilots into the center hole of the plate. I used a long bolt and a couple of spacers to mount the plate to the table.


      After getting the piece aligned in the mill I tipped the mill head so I could cut the 40 degree angle I needed. Sad to say I could only tip the head about 32 degrees because of the Frankenmills' questionable construction...


      I got both back angles milled. Not as steep as I was planning but I think they will work.



      I mocked up the adapter plate and I think it will look better then the previous attempt.

      It should look great after some cleanup and satin black paint.
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    13. #733
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
      Location
      The Netherlands
      Posts
      1,509
      Country Flag: Netherlands
      nice job!!
      1st 2nd
      Pro-Touring outside the USA !
      Martin's Camaro Page

    14. #734
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Ma.
      Posts
      5,567
      Country Flag: United States
      It looks slick to me, Nice job.
      Wayne
      Car FINALLY home !!!!!! lol
      Project FNQUIK https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=FNQUIK

    15. #735
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks Guys! It turned out real nice.
      A week ago Sunday morning I was in the shop at 9:00am. I worked out there for an hour or so and started not feeling well... Anyway, I got sick Sunday morning and was out of commission until Friday afternoon. You name the symptom and I had it. :( Stomach, chills, sweats, aches (even my hair hurt) and the dreaded I.C.B. (Irritable Colon Blow...). Wednesday thru Friday I couldn't keep anything in that went down. Literally, water would run right thru me. I think I lost about 10lbs. I started feeling better Friday morning and have been on the uptake ever since.
      I got out in the shop Saturday and got a lot of work done, trying to make up for the rest of the week I lost.
      Here are the reducers I got from Speedway. These look real nice, smooth with a clean, even transition. Compared to the "fabbed" one these will work very well.

      The two, side by side... No brainer, right?

      I also got the pipe expander kit I ordered off Amazon. This worked very well and was worth the coin. This will get a lot of use in the shop.

      Expanding the 4" end to slip over the cover bell that came in the adapter kit. This took about 5 minutes once I got the kit set up.

      I didn't have to go far, maybe an eighth of an inch.

      Once it was a nice slip fit I slipped it all together on the column. I think this will look much cleaner then that convoluted boot.


      Thanks for looking!
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    16. #736
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      I got out this morning and finished up the cover. Got it trimmed "almost" to length and mocked up the wheel and paddles.
      Cut to length.

      With the paddles and steering wheel adapter attached.



      With the wheel bolted up.



      I think I am going to paint the column and new cover with a satin black. I have to paint the column because there will be an open wound after I remove the shift lever lump...

      That's all for this week... Thanks for following!
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    17. #737
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Moving on to other things...
      I dug out the trans and GV unit tonight. I was curious to see how much of a tear up I would have. I designed and built the K member and trans cross member around a 700R4, not figuring on finding a gear vendor unit for as cheap as I did. I took some measurements off the mock-up 700R4, the TH400 trans and the GV unit.
      The 700 was 22.31 from the engine face to the trans mount bolts.
      The 400 WITH the GV unit measures 27.31 inches to the trans mount bolts.
      Subtracting the 22.31 from the 27.31 ='s 5.00 inches. That is how far I have to move the trans cross member rearward to pick up the trans mounting bolts in the gear vendor unit.
      I don't have 5 inches in the cross member tabs welded to the chassis BUT I can flip the cross member 180 degree to move the trans mounting tab to the rear. Doing that gets me 3.50 inches. (the tab WAS 1.75 inches in front of the cross member centerline so, flipping it 180 moves it 1.75 inches BEHIND the centerline. 1.75 plus 1.75 is 3.50. So now all I have to move the cross member is 1.50 inches... Easy. And the GV unit fits in the loop comfortably. No changes ! YA HOO!





      Now, granted I had planned to use the loop as a driveshaft loop so I will have to think about that one. I may end up moving just the loop...
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    18. #738
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Los Angeles
      Posts
      592
      Country Flag: United States
      The Column looks great, And its a good day when things work out on changes!
      The rule is measure twice and cut once. My problem is I still measure with a mic and cut with an axe!

    19. #739
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by Protour_Pinto View Post
      The Column looks great, And its a good day when things work out on changes!


      Well, I got bit by the measure twice cut with an axe bug Saturday afternoon... Working on the front stab bar, I got it designed and detailed and started doing the bends. The tubing is 1.25" x .125 wall 4130 so it is not cheap... I had 6 bends to do and got the first 4 correct. The 5th bend I got out of position by 2.75 inches. I went to the wrong side of the tangent line by that amount so now I have a piece of useless spaghetti standing in the corner...

      Anyway I have another 100 dollar piece of tube standing next to the bender so tonight I will give it another shot. I did take the "opportunity" to redesign the bar a bit and make it simpler. Now it just needs 4 bends so, if I can keep my record going I should be able to do this...
      Pictures will be forthcoming, good AND bad.

      My local steel supplier can't get 4130 or 4140 in any tubing sizes smaller then 3 inches... I ordered this from Online Metals Monday morning and it was delivered Tuesday afternoon, not to bad in my book.
      Mark
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

    20. #740
      Join Date
      Mar 2004
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      2,764
      Country Flag: United States
      Here are some pics of the ruined stab bar...
      Everything was looking good as I got these 3 bends completed.

      Even the forth bend came out in the right spot. BUT, if you look at the tube where it is exiting the bending die, you can see a silver line wrapping around the tube a couple of inches out from the bender. That is the tangent line where the bend I am doing in the pic NEEDS to be... Heavy sigh.

      The new design eliminates the two 90's at each end of the bar. I widened the bar about 2 inches and moved it forward a bit.

      I have made some progress though. I got the lower stab bar mounts made that weld to the lower control arm.



      This is a piece of 1" x 1/4 wall DOM that I beveled on one side to sit on the arm and provide a good welding surface.
      Mark:
      "Bad Ast" Astro Van. Just because I did it... Doesn't mean it's possible...
      This my Bad Ast thread...
      https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...roject-Faze-II
      This is my Fotki album...
      http://astroracer.fotki.com/

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