The BAD AST Project - Faze II

[astroracer]

What about a stingray style hood scoop? I think that might look good.

I think you're right bud... I have done a little sketching and the 427 Stringray scoop really looks good. I will try to get some finalized sketches but, at the moment, I am working in the shop making room for the "slug" to come back home.
The "brown slug" went to my buddies yesterday afternoon. It was quite an experience driving it over there. With no rear wheel wells I was tossing small stones and rocks around inside and it was VERY noisy.
We'll pull everything out from underneath that we don't need to get it home (roll back)and the front cradle will be loosened up with only a couple of bolts left in to keep it in place. I am chomping at the bit to get it back home.
I was in Toledo Saturday and picked up some 10" casters at Harbor Freight (on sale for $9.99) for the body cart build. Once the cradle and rear suspension are out I want to be able to move the "slug" around so I will be building a cart to set the body on. It will also raise the van up a bit to make access to the underside easier.
I will be working in the shop this week to get it ready for the slug to come back. I have a few new lights to hang and some re-arranging to do. I'll get pics as soon as I can.
Mark

[FoxGranadaChuck]

I think you're right bud... I have done a little sketching and the 427 Stringray scoop really looks good. I will try to get some finalized sketches but, at the moment, I am working in the shop making room for the "slug" to come back home.
The "brown slug" went to my buddies yesterday afternoon. It was quite an experience driving it over there. With no rear wheel wells I was tossing small stones and rocks around inside and it was VERY noisy.
We'll pull everything out from underneath that we don't need to get it home (roll back)and the front cradle will be loosened up with only a couple of bolts left in to keep it in place. I am chomping at the bit to get it back home.
I was in Toledo Saturday and picked up some 10" casters at Harbor Freight (on sale for $9.99) for the body cart build. Once the cradle and rear suspension are out I want to be able to move the "slug" around so I will be building a cart to set the body on. It will also raise the van up a bit to make access to the underside easier.
I will be working in the shop this week to get it ready for the slug to come back. I have a few new lights to hang and some re-arranging to do. I'll get pics as soon as I can.
Mark

I think that a 427 Stingray hood scoop would look really cool on the Astro. It would be even more cool if said hoodscoop was functional....

[astroracer]

I have done a few quick and dirty sketches and I LIKE it! Due to the short Astro hood the Stingray scoop looks a little caricatured but I think it will look good with a little more work on my part. I think I am going to order one of these from Unlimited Products and see what I can do with it. I think I can develope one out of foam core board easily enough and then redo it in steel...
It will be functional FGC...
Let me do some more sketching OR if anyone else is interested I am looking for ideas...
Mark

[sonofernest]

Two words: Center Exhaust. I think it needs a subtle chop and the cowl hood, its too boxy for a stingray hood IMO.

[astroracer]

Just an update here. As it sits right now, the "real" van is just a shell of it's former self. The motor, trans and fuel tank are history and it is waiting for me to finishing cleaning the shop to have the rear suspension and front suspension/cradle asms removed.
I am pulling together stuff for the rotisserie build and hope to start the design of that shortly. I had to rebuild my big computer last week, again.. and, in the process, the back-up disc was destroyed. This is a pretty big deal. I lost a TON of progress and am having to do a lot of back tracking and re-loading of data, let alone completely rebuilding the suspension arms and rear frame. Anyway I need to get the suspension designs back up to speed and this will take me a while... Not real happy with myself right now.:fun_84:
Mark

[FoxGranadaChuck]

Just an update here. As it sits right now, the "real" van is just a shell of it's former self. The motor, trans and fuel tank are history and it is waiting for me to finishing cleaning the shop to have the rear suspension and front suspension/cradle asms removed.
I am pulling together stuff for the rotisserie build and hope to start the design of that shortly. I had to rebuild my big computer last week, again.. and, in the process, the back-up disc was destroyed. This is a pretty big deal. I lost a TON of progress and am having to do a lot of back tracking and re-loading of data, let alone completely rebuilding the suspension arms and rear frame. Anyway I need to get the suspension designs back up to speed and this will take me a while... Not real happy with myself right now.:fun_84:
Mark

Oh dear! Sorry to hear about that happening! It is a real bummer when a computer hard-drive crashes.

[astroracer]

Yea, I was bummed, to say the least... I made a backup disc but something went way wrong somewhere and the computer couldn't off-load the files once it was back up and running... I haven't a clue.
I have worked late the last couple of nights to get my spindle files back up to speed and I am thinking now the loss of data was meant to be... In the rebuilding process I found a few other problems with my old data that I have now fixed and now am MUCH happier with. My original data was much closer to correct then I first thought and now, since I have gone through the data one more time, I am confident it is correct. I will be double checking everything again but this time, with dimensions taken from the actual dropped spindle and verifying my brake hub location, everything "looks" right and I feel much better about the end results.
I guess the old addage "third time is a charm" is correct... The first design was close, the second design was "way off" and this, the third design, is very close to the first with a few understandable discrepancies.
Mark

[FoxGranadaChuck]

Yea, I was bummed, to say the least... I made a backup disc but something went way wrong somewhere and the computer couldn't off-load the files once it was back up and running... I haven't a clue.
I have worked late the last couple of nights to get my spindle files back up to speed and I am thinking now the loss of data was meant to be... In the rebuilding process I found a few other problems with my old data that I have now fixed and now am MUCH happier with. My original data was much closer to correct then I first thought and now, since I have gone through the data one more time, I am confident it is correct. I will be double checking everything again but this time, with dimensions taken from the actual dropped spindle and verifying my brake hub location, everything "looks" right and I feel much better about the end results.
I guess the old addage "third time is a charm" is correct... The first design was close, the second design was "way off" and this, the third design, is very close to the first with a few understandable discrepancies.
Mark

At least there was some silver lining in this cloud. It could have been a lot worse. And you are getting your project back on track!

I am looking forward to seeing more pics of the BadAst.

[astroracer]

Well, I have gotten a few things done on the computer the past week or so. I spent the last couple of days verifying my points are correct and redesigning the upper and lower control arms.
Here are a few pics of my 3D Data.



Everything looks good right now. I need to rebuild the motion file to check clearances but this suspension isn't far off from the original so I'm not real concerned...
I also need to rebuild the front cradle and rear frame in the computer but those are pretty straight forward now that the front is complete.
Thanks for looking,
Mark

[formula98]

That looks great! What program did you use to generate the pictures?

[astroracer]

Unigraphics. It's an old version but I run this stuff all day at my real job so it's second nature at home... things go pretty quick once I get them conceptualized.
Mark

[formula98]

You do great work! You are a master! I spent 20 years with AutoCad and have played with a few 3D programs, but do not get the time anymore to devote to drawing. Maybe some day!

Ron

[syborg tt]

?? does the factory upper and lower control arm get used on any other production gm vehicle

[astroracer]

?? does the factory upper and lower control arm get used on any other production gm vehicle

The stock Astro arms? I am not sure if they are reused anywhere else. They have some pretty extremme suspension pick-up points and I have not seen them anywhere other then on an Astro...
The bushings, spindle, wheel bearings, calipers, rotors and upper ball studs are all "B" body stuff (mostly). The spindle takes a larger 5/8ths inch ball lower ball stud then "most" "B" bodies. The '94-'96 Impala SS, Caprice Wagon and 9C1 police optioned cars were switched over the the larger Astro LBJ due to breakage of the small LBJ.
Mark

[syborg tt]

The stock Astro arms? I am not sure if they are reused anywhere else. They have some pretty extremme suspension pick-up points and I have not seen them anywhere other then on an Astro...

Morning Mark,

I was just wondering if someone alse made an arm that you could buy in order to save you time and money on your build. Have you ever thought about an AWD conversion using the syclone drivetrain. I've seen it done a couple times as a matter of fact there is a astro van with a syclone engine in it on ebay right now.

[astroracer]

Morning Mark,

I was just wondering if someone alse made an arm that you could buy in order to save you time and money on your build. Have you ever thought about an AWD conversion using the syclone drivetrain. I've seen it done a couple times as a matter of fact there is a astro van with a syclone engine in it on ebay right now.

No aftermarket arms would work like these do. I have completely redesigned the entire front suspension around a C5 Corvette steering rack. The arms I have designed are completely one off and wouldn't be reproducable without my geometry points.
As far as saving money is concerned the only thing I have tied up in these is the stock hardware I've purchased to design around. Bushings, cross shafts and ball joints. The tubing I am using was given to me so, basically, I have about 60 bucks into each arm. Of course I am not including the MANY,MANY hours I have worked on them on the computer but what is a guy to do?

[syborg tt]

yep people forget about the planning part - man does that get expensive

[astroracer]

Exactly... I've already used up a bunch of tubing...
I have gotten a lot done in the past week. Getting the front suspension done was top priority and, with the completion of that, I moved on to the front cradle and rear frame designs. I finished those up (to a point) last night so I snapped some pics...
This is the front cradle as it sits right now.


I plan to add some triangulation between the upper and lower rails but haven't decided how to do it yet.
This is an overall shot with the left front suspension in place.

And a close up of the cradle/suspension assembly...


I am hoping my back eases up a bit so I can get back out into the shop this weekend...
Thanks for looking
Mark

[formula98]

Hey Mark Looks great. I hope your back feels better. Looking forward to the updates.

Ron

[astroracer]

Well Ron, I don't know if I would call this an update or, for the lack of a better term, a back-peddle.... While responding to Scott in this thread...
https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=24504
I got myself to thinking about the end use of MY project... While it would be cool to do everything I have been planning for the front suspension mods, I am starting to think it is really a waste of time. The van will never see any track time and I think it will still handle well enough with a rebuild, a 5" drop and some better bars. I can get a 5" drop on the Astro front with the 2" spindles I have and a set of 3" springs. I can make the C5 brakes work and the rear suspension mods can continue on with no impact from the front "back-peddling" as you will.
I MAY have to build some custom arms to fit the 17x10's up front but I'll check that out.
The other (and probably most important) "reason" I am talking myself out of this is the steering situation. My custom front suspension is designed around a C5 Corvette rack. The rack would work fine, the issue is getting from the bottom of the Astro column to the C5 racks input shaft. The orientation of the rack to the column positions the rack "rearward" of the bottom of the Astro output shaft. The "cab-over" design of the Astro van cockpit really hinders getting down to the rearward mounted rack. I have this all laid out on the computer at home. I'll shoot some pics tonight so you all can see what I am talking about.
ANYWAY... This all boils down to how far do I want to go with this van and what "improvements" will I see over a rebuilt and slightly tweaked stock suspension? I am going to plug the Astro van stock geoemetry points into my Suspension Analyser program and see what it tells me...
That's all...
Mark