Astro van cat conversion

[Snowy Rivers]

Right hand drive can be an interesting experience.

I looked at an Outback that was RH drive.....That part was not a real deterrent ....but the RH side was beat all to rat crap (Old mail carrier probably) Gotta be a lot of Fubar'd mail boxes somewhere.....

 

[Pontoon Princess]

found this on Facebook market place in Bella Vista, California, $4,000.00 OBO, trades? they are wanting to make a deal asap.......V-6 running, needs a little work.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Cool.
These Astros do seem to find their way into all manner if different places for sure.

I have put a lot of time into the 2100 so far With the axles all done and the OC12 rebuilt and ready to go
I really do not want to totally bolt the camp and start over at this late stage of the game.

What is the cat chassis on this Van cat...did the ad say ???

 

[Pontoon Princess]

don't believe I said anything about abandoning the current project, I see it as, if 1 is good, then 2 is better....with your vast knowledge you could easily make it a real goer for this years adventures as you move forward with the original built...quite sure countless snow catters would love to meet you sooner than later !

Joseph is calling

Joseph is calling

Joesph is calling

the ad did not say what cat chassis it is, the seller is also willing to trade for camp trailer, really sounds like make any offer and it is yours

pretty sure the cute puppy is not included.

 

[m1west]

Cant hardly believe anyone would want to get rid of that.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thanks for posting the pics.
THE PUP IS A CUTE ONE FOR SURE...

It would be interesting to know the story behind the cat...

If I drag home any more goodies....I am likely gonna be sleeping in it somewhere ...

One of our members (Fatsquatch) and I have met and swapped some goodies between us.
I am always happy to entertain....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Hmmmmm
The other half was snooping around in the outback.....Comments made about fixing the dampener and keeping it for the Beater grocery getter.

There goes my cat cab..

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Outback off the trailer this morning without incident....

Runs like crap.....
A big oil leak in the front of the engine.
Warmed it up enough to check out things
Auto climate control....IT ALL WORKS....
Electric windows work....
Power drivers seat works.
Wipers work

Pulled a Car fax...
Never been wrecked....
6 owners since new

Gonna make a splendid cab for the cat...
Comfortable seating.....

Not much else to say at present
With winter coming on....Gonna be a catch as catch can as far as the dismantle goes.
Will get after as much design work as we can as far as getting the Roo To fit the cat.

Should not be a big deal....Some simple fabrication to anchor the body to the 2100 tub....Go from there.

 

[vintagebike]

But does it have seat heaters?

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I believe it does.
The holes are in the console but the switches seem to be MIA
Will need to sort this out at a later date.

I have a FACTORY wiring manual coming....Should be here today.....

Getting things sorted out with the wiring and such will take a bit of doing.....

I want to keep all the interior functionality up and working.
The annoying crap like the security imobilizer and alarm need to be removed (These can fail and leave your butt stranded)
The rig does not have a volt meter in the dash.
I will use the GM CS130D alternator that came with the Vortec engine and wire it up as a stand alone with its own volt meter and a single wire activation......

The factory dash tach may be able to be used with an adapter to run with the v8 engine.

These are so many questions right now........Just need to take them one at a time.

As I stumble across the various answers....I write down the data...then move on.

Having the factory tach work would be a nice perk.
The factory fuel gauge works....
Oil pressure is a light
Alternator is a light
For this high end of a car....I would have expected gauges across the spectrum.....This is the LL BEAN EDITION H6 3.0
But the cabin is sweet.....Gonna be a first class act for the cat.

Most of the work is going to be just wrenching....getting the drive train removed and then sorting out the wiring that we need as well as what we do not.......

I feel really good about this.
All this joy for $500

Good bet that the engine and tranny/drive train and suspension will sell easily for far more than the purchase price..

Was only 15 miles to get it (one way)

Old green Burb was quite happy to drag it home too.....
The Outback weighs 3700 ## (We run it across the scales on the way home)
That Boxer 6 cylinder engine is a strange looking duck....

I watched a video on removing it. Pretty much a piece of cake..

I can hang my air hoist on the bucket of the skid steer and lift it out......

I am just going to take my time and pick it apart.....

A good suds job with the hot washer will get the engine bay all spiffy....

Very roomy in the bay.....

May have to build some sort of wheel dolly to be able to move it after all the parts are gone......

Get it stripped out and sitting up on a big fat tire (Got a couple of smaller loader tires)

Lots of fun for sure.

I need to sell the Cab that is on the cat now....As well as the pickup box...

 

[m1west]

That shouldn't be difficult, l can imagine there is a good market for that stuff.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I am sure of it.
Engine
Tranny
Complete suspension...front and back (All of it)
Rear drive shaft.....

Craig's list will likely bring somebody sniffing around with cash in hand....
I sure do not need it cluttering up my space.....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Snooping about in the Subi....This thing has the bottom 4 inches of the windshield by the wipers heated....
I have never seen that before.
Heated mirrors...yes...heated rear window..yes....but I have never seen a heated front glass...Makes sense in the cold country...

Probably why the damned thing is cracked too....

This buggy has every option I think that was available....

Just gonna take a bit of TLC to bring her back.....but it will be cool.....
Going where outbacks have not gone.....Yeah right....

 

[Pontoon Princess]

white astro snow cat van creation, with a little TLC, you too could be enjoying the roomy and spacious astro snow cat well into the future,

phone number is

530-515-5725

again

530-515-5725

operators standing by

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet ....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

The saga continues....
Sunday we had to meet a client, and on our way we stumbled across what has to be the last yard sale of the season.
We rolled up and there is a 1991 S10 Blazer sitting in the yard....I asked the question and pointed "Wasssssup"
The little truck had rotted out a soft plug and lost coolant....Seazed up the engine...

Some quick listing of the Outback and the callers went wild...Blew up my phone until midnight last night.

Sold the Outback this afternoon...Doubled my $$$$ and grabbed the little Chevy 4x4


This is what I have wanted all along for the cat cab....
First Generation S10 Blazer.

Whats even better....The sellers even delivered it too.
Everything clicked and it's here......

Straight...Pretty good shape.....AND NO MOLD....

EVEN THE POWER WINDOWS WORK.

Paint is sketchy....Great candidate for a rattle can Rat Rod paint scheme...

This body will be a buttload lighter than the Outback too....

The rolling chassis on the factory alloy wheels will move out easily...
Finally....exactly what the Doc ordered.....

So we have what was desired and money back in the pocket.....The Blazer will bolt up to the mounts we made last fall for the single cab.

Has tilt wheel too....Nothing inside has been molested....

Will need seat covers to spiffy it up...... and may replace the carpet with rubber floor covering......

I could not be happier.....been a helluva last few days trying to coax this deal to fruition...

Strange to see the factory alloy wheels with the factory center caps still intact after all these years....
Dash pad is not cracked....Grille is pristine too....
Gonna look sweet on the 2100 chassis.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Weather was somewhat decent this morning.
We grabbed the little tractor and a chain and did some maneuvers with the little critter.

Some jockeying and a couple stabs at it and the little guy is all snuggled up next to it's new home...

The overall length is nearly perfect....
The one side shot looks like the front doors are nearly lined up.

The front cab mounts should be the same between the Blazer and the pickup...

As we go back....things will get different....no worries

Li'l Red doing the muscle this morning.....

Got some intimate time in the cab....A few things that need fooling with.

Heater temp cable seems to be stuck.....Not a big deal....Far easier that the electronic HVAC system.

And its stuck in this hot setting.....

Folks told me NO KEYS

Found them above the drivers visor.....Go figure....

So the door locks work.
Ignition lock has been gutted....PROPERLY....So a fresh cylinder can be installed easily......

Key does not work in the tail gate....Oh well....easy fix


Lots of cleaning up.....

Gonna get the garbage can and a mucking shovel.........
All in all...A great score......

Thinking about adding lift blocks under the mounts to get about 6" more height.....

Gonna need to add a veranda around the back....otherwise the hatchback gonna be worthless.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

UPDATE...
Not much happening....A few parts for the 406 Small block Chevy are trickling in.....
Soft plug kit and oil galley plugs.....
Been busy otherwise.

 

[vintagebike]

McCall Saturday morning cup of coffee , a Snowy update and snow in the forecast.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

SWEEEEEEEEEEET
That time of year....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Back in the saddle again...
Been a bit since posting.
Between the weather, health concerns and other crap....been unable to get at it.
With the weather closed in now....it's time to get to building the Cats permanent engine.
1980 400 small block chevy...bored .030" oversize 406 inches.

Many of you troops are old hands at what I am going to write....But for those not well versed....we are getting into the innards of this Chevy Mouse motor.
A true FrankenMouse.
400 small block (1980 vintage) Stock Chevy 400 crank with stock 400 rods .030" OS silvolite pistons
Custom high capacity oil pan with high volume oil pump
1998 Chevy 5.7 L Vortec heads, water pump, intake manifold is different too and we will be using one for a Quadrajet spreadbore carburetor. (After market)
Large cap HEI ignition distributor.
In theory....406 inches with a touch over 9:1 compression ratio (Vortec heads have smaller chambers than the old 400 heads) Cam....still not decided yet
********************************************************************************************************************************************************
I had received the soft plugs and other goodies a while back....
I tapped out the oil gallery plugs in the front of the block behind the timing sprocket (Top) to eliminate having the cup plugs blow out....YES THEY CAN DO THAT....1/4" PIPE PLUGS WILL THREAD IN .

Care must be taken on the center oil passage to NOT tap too deep and cover the oil passage...THIS PASSAGE oils the front cam bearing and the front main bearing.

Piccy shows the oil passage with the arrow.

All the original rear plugs were replaced with Allen head type 1/4" pipe plugs (Some ass hat had worked over the old square socket type plugs)

New brass core plugs all the way on the water jackets.....BRASS DO NOT ROT OUT....

One piccy shows the water pump flange on the passenger side.....I am using VORTEC serpentine drive pump.
The lower hole was for the early block (Gen 1) this was the coolant bypass port

Must be tapped and plugged to avoid a huge leak...... GREEN EVERYWHERE.

The rear cam plug needs to be tapped in until the lips are just flush with the machined face of the cam bore boss.

Not to worry if you get it a tad too far in.....with the block bare...just slip a driver into the rear can bearing (Loose slip fit) and then use a length of pipe and the trusty club to nudge the plug back flush... (Yeah I DID)

Not paying attention to this detail can see a cam shaft chew the plug if it rubs and we do not need metal shavings in there....

A piccy of the top rear of the LH cylinder deck....1/4" pipe plug threads in to just below the deck...

I like Permatex aviation gasket sealer for the galley plug threads and the soft plugs.

A piece of scotchbrite will dso nice to polish the core plug bores....then use the brush on the sealer cap to brush a little sealer in the bores....THE CAM PLUG SHOULD HAVE THE SEALER APPLIED TO THE RIM OF THE PLUG...THEN INSTALL.

WE DO NOT WANT SEALER DRIZZLING INTO THE CAM BORE.....

When finished with the scotchbrite piece...GET RID OF IT SO IT DOES NOT WIND UP SOMEWHERE IN THE ENGINE.....

The steam holes in the cylinder deck are peculiar to the 400 small block Chevy.

Siamesed cylinders....4.155" bore (.030" oversized)

These holes allow coolant/steam to flow into the heads and out.

The Vortec heads MUST BE MODIFIED USING THE 400 GASKET AS A GUIDE and holes drilled into the coolant passage.

Without this procedure....OVERHEATING and real bad issues.

Notice the V BELT used to lift the block with the hoist.....Keeps things from getting damaged....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

More pics

Heavy garbage bag is top shelf protection during the build.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

LAST COUPLE PICS.

I hope to get more work done soon.
These is one internal oil passage plug that still needs to go in.

Here is the diagram....REAR MAIN AREA.....Little 1/2" cup plug.


This plug separates the oil passage from the oil pump to the filter from the line going to the engine bearings.

Many folks do not know of this plug.

It needs to come out when doing a major rebuild to allow cleaning fluid to clear out the nasty stuff..

 

[Snowy Rivers]

As far as the cam goes....
Some mitigating issues with the VORTEC HEADS.

The Vortec heads do not have a lot of room between the spring retainer and the valve stem seal.
a cam with about .450" lift is about it....UNLESS machine work is done, springs and retainers are replaced.

The heads I have are in great shape....For the application there is zero reason to spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on springs, retainers and machine work.

Decided to go with the stock heads and just clean then well, lap the valves and then drill the steam holes......

Summit offers a couple nice cams in the .443" lift arena with 218 duration.

Slightly thumpy idle with good power in the1600 to 4800 RPM range

Should work well.

This engine does not need to scream at 6 grand.....4500 RPM should be "NUTS TO THE BAR"

 

[m1west]

As far as the cam goes....
Some mitigating issues with the VORTEC HEADS.

The Vortec heads do not have a lot of room between the spring retainer and the valve stem seal.
a cam with about .450" lift is about it....UNLESS machine work is done, springs and retainers are replaced.

The heads I have are in great shape....For the application there is zero reason to spend $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on springs, retainers and machine work.

Decided to go with the stock heads and just clean then well, lap the valves and then drill the steam holes......

Summit offers a couple nice cams in the .443" lift arena with 218 duration.

Slightly thumpy idle with good power in the1600 to 4800 RPM range

Should work well.

This engine does not need to scream at 6 grand.....4500 RPM should be "NUTS TO THE BAR"

Watch you lobe centerline, the rumpity rump usually comes from tightening the lobe center from a stock centerline of around 114 degrees. You are saying you are around 9:1. is the chamber cc on the new heads the same as the cc on the original heads ?? If it is the same you still are going to have to watch you lobe center. I would not go any tighter than 112 degrees with the duration you are stating or you will be running premium fuel or worse.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Yeah...good stuff

The original heads (Stock 400) had 8:1 comp ratio

LOBE CENTERS ARE 106 DEGREES

I have had this cam in stock 5.7 engines.....Works great.....The Vortec head config seems to really help.

Stock 400 with 8:1 and a similar cam are a bit of a Turd....
Never had detonation issues....

Stock 400 heads are 76cc chambers and the vortecs are 64cc

Pistons have a big azz dish in them...Soup bowls...

If we have to run good fuel....so be it..We have 91 octane alky free stuff at the cardlock...

Detonation on these Franken engines can certainly be an issue....We will just have to see what shakes.

Without going to flat top pistons to get more quench area there is the risk of rattle.

I wanted to keep comp ratio in the low 9:1 area.

The soup bowl pistons make quench a real ??????

The piccy is the actual pistons going in.

These are stock 400 SBC +.030" pistons.

The 400 SBC is a forgotten bastard child.

I am running the stock 5.565" Rods too...along with the 3.75" stroke stoke crank.

There are certainly better combinations of stroke, rod length and piston pin height.

But....the crank and rods are in nice shape.....and for this toy....it will be a fair runner..

Good torque beast....

The low gear ratio in the cat is likely not going to load the engine heavily....WE shall see...

 

[m1west]

Yeah...good stuff

The original heads (Stock 400) had 8:1 comp ratio

LOBE CENTERS ARE 106 DEGREES

I have had this cam in stock 5.7 engines.....Works great.....The Vortec head config seems to really help.

Stock 400 with 8:1 and a similar cam are a bit of a Turd....
Never had detonation issues....

Stock 400 heads are 76cc chambers and the vortecs are 64cc

Pistons have a big azz dish in them...Soup bowls...

If we have to run good fuel....so be it..We have 91 octane alky free stuff at the cardlock...

Detonation on these Franken engines can certainly be an issue....We will just have to see what shakes.

Without going to flat top pistons to get more quench area there is the risk of rattle.

I wanted to keep comp ratio in the low 9:1 area.

The soup bowl pistons make quench a real ??????

The piccy is the actual pistons going in.

These are stock 400 SBC +.030" pistons.

The 400 SBC is a forgotten bastard child.

I am running the stock 5.565" Rods too...along with the 3.75" stroke stoke crank.

There are certainly better combinations of stroke, rod length and piston pin height.

But....the crank and rods are in nice shape.....and for this toy....it will be a fair runner..

Good torque beast....

The low gear ratio in the cat is likely not going to load the engine heavily....WE shall see...

106 on the centerline is pretty tight, 64cc chambers and .030 overbore, your build not mine. There are free compression calculators online to see what your static and dynamic compression ratios are before you build it. I would take advantage of that before you find yourself using race gas at $15.00 per gallon.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

The calcs come up at 9:1 using a few of the online calculators....
My only concern is the lack of quench area with the dished pistons....but with only 9:1 this likely will not be an issue.

This basic build has been done many times by a lot of builders....The most talked about items seem to be rod length.

Stock 400 rods are at 5.565"
For the RPM range the stock rods are fine....Many builders want to go to the 5.7" or 6" length and use a piston with the pin height raised.

High RPM application....yeah......4200 (Stock engines can handle 5000) I am not at all concerned....

I owned a 79 GMC with a 400 sbc ....ran the wheels off it.....Stuck a bigger cam in it.....It was OK.
Decided on a big block....the 454 was hard to find back then...I went with an OLDS 455

Stump puller....

I am going to look over the data on the build and see if there are any issues that are going to grab me by the butt....

It never hurts to look at things several times before the hammer is dropped

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Pulled up one of the dynamic compression calculators and input all the data I have (Checked the numbers)
With the cam I mentioned ...Static comp ratio at 9.4:1 the dynamic comes out at a 8.9:1
I rechecked the numbers to get the comp ratio (Static) I am not real keen on the calculators...the one I used did not have the head gasket bore in the mix...Yeah it is only a tiny thing...but given that the bore is a bit bigger than the cylinder....it is going to add some volume and likely reduce the actual numbers a tad.

These calculators are what seem to be a good yard stick......
I measured the deck height on the block before I started screwing with it.
I dropped the crank in and one of the stock pistons and rods (Junk)

The pistons were at ZERO deck.....

The Silvolite 1443 that I have are machined with the compression height of the pistons .020" in the hole to allow for machining the decks... (Stock in 1.560"....New slugs are 1.540" )

Decks are good......so no cuts there...

So we lost .020" in the stack up and this will cut a bit off the ratio.
Felpro gaskets for the 400 are .039" compressed
Piston dish are 22cc (Soup bowls)
Bore of 4.155"
Stroke 3.750"
Rod length 5.565" (Stock 400)
Head chamber volume 64cc (Nominal production run stuff for L31 Vortec heads)

With what I have as far as numbers goes is pretty close.....We are not going to end up with a10.5 or greater comp ratio and need AV GAS.

Slightly over 9:1 static and dynamic will usually run less.
We can play with cam timing a bit....I did the calcs at 0

I do not see any real issues here......

Again...my one worry is the lack of quench area...... The soup bowl pistons have a small rim on them is all

But at this point.....time will tell.......

Thanks for bringing this subject up.

Any time ya start building a Franken motor.....things can certainly get interesting depending on what ya toss together...

 

[m1west]

Pulled up one of the dynamic compression calculators and input all the data I have (Checked the numbers)
With the cam I mentioned ...Static comp ratio at 9.4:1 the dynamic comes out at a 8.9:1
I rechecked the numbers to get the comp ratio (Static) I am not real keen on the calculators...the one I used did not have the head gasket bore in the mix...Yeah it is only a tiny thing...but given that the bore is a bit bigger than the cylinder....it is going to add some volume and likely reduce the actual numbers a tad.

These calculators are what seem to be a good yard stick......
I measured the deck height on the block before I started screwing with it.
I dropped the crank in and one of the stock pistons and rods (Junk)

The pistons were at ZERO deck.....

The Silvolite 1443 that I have are machined with the compression height of the pistons .020" in the hole to allow for machining the decks... (Stock in 1.560"....New slugs are 1.540" )

Decks are good......so no cuts there...

So we lost .020" in the stack up and this will cut a bit off the ratio.
Felpro gaskets for the 400 are .039" compressed
Piston dish are 22cc (Soup bowls)
Bore of 4.155"
Stroke 3.750"
Rod length 5.565" (Stock 400)
Head chamber volume 64cc (Nominal production run stuff for L31 Vortec heads)

With what I have as far as numbers goes is pretty close.....We are not going to end up with a10.5 or greater comp ratio and need AV GAS.

Slightly over 9:1 static and dynamic will usually run less.
We can play with cam timing a bit....I did the calcs at 0

I do not see any real issues here......

Again...my one worry is the lack of quench area...... The soup bowl pistons have a small rim on them is all

But at this point.....time will tell.......

Thanks for bringing this subject up.

Any time ya start building a Franken motor.....things can certainly get interesting depending on what ya toss together...

Somthing doesnt seem correct. I built a stock stroke Dodge 5.9 magnum. factory 9 to 1. Comp cam custom grind. 110 degree lobe centers installed straight up, 500" lift and 218 degrees of duration @ .050. Timing is all in 34 degrees, 180 degree thermostat. Premium fuel is mandatory and if I don't let it idol for a minute before shutting it off, I have to stall it off or it tries to run on.