Astro van cat conversion

[Snowy Rivers]

Yeah...gotta take care of the kidneys....I only have one of those thanks to a big AZZ tumor ...We got that bad boy (Entire kidney) out back in April of 2013
A rare and slow growing cancer.....Tumor was apple sized....

The issue now the Dr's say can't happen.....Well bet me....
They put me on One of the Statin drugs to get my cholesterol down....My vascular system is clean.....But after the stroke in 2012 they insisted we do this drug.

Less than a week after starting the Statin I could barely walk from the car into the grocery store.....I complained bitterly ....

They changed the drug and things got worse.....I really howled.....Then they told me I needed to get used to the drug.

After about 2 months I took all their poisons and tossed them in the trash.

Things improved for a couple years and then started a slow spiral down....Muscle weakness and fatigue....
Last summer I was able to go slow and rest when I needed and keep going.

Now it is pretty much a no go as far as trying to get anything much physical done....

The canned answer is that this does not happen.....Before I started the drugs I was walking 2 miles a day at the school track (4 blocks from our gun shop) within a few days the few blocks was impossible...Let alone the 2 miles........

A pharmacist friend agreed with me that ...IT CAN HAPPEN....And does...

Auto immune response that there is little help for......

THIS SUCKS....

Oh well....

 

[PJL]

Take care of yourself first. Snowcat or not you are always welcome here.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thank you very much
We will see what shakes out....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Cleaning up and rearranging my "World Headquarters" and was looking through some snow cat parts..

Came across the new oil pump for the 406 SBC that's for the cat.

Pawing through the goodies is a new Melling high volume oil pump with the intermediate shaft and the oil screen assembly that came with the Kevco 7 quart oil pan (Gated pan...Rear sump)

This stuff came in quite a while ago and I had looked at it briefly before putting it away until needed.

I am trying to document everything that goes on this "Mutt" of an engine as it is an amalgam of various parts to get the Vortec heads on the old style 400 block....1991 S10 water pump to use with the old style block and work with the later serpentine belt drive.

All the electrical stuff to interface with the cat.
The hydraulic steering control adaptation using the power steering pump to supply the oil at 400 psi

Main drive shaft assembly
Rear outboard disc brakes
Plus getting all the wiring connected to the rear cabin from the single front cab....
1991 S10 FACTORY GM wiring manual in hand....Great find.....
Building the tracks using a single row of the 41" J grousers....
Pretty much all the knowledge base to finish the build.....

So much materials I have put together over the past few years of working with this 2100 just want to be sure it does not get lost.......

A computer crash could be devastating..... Little travel drive to keep a copy seemed like a smart idea...


Anyway....

Decided to assemble the oil pickup tube to the Melling shark tooth type pump.....

It is a tap fit and has one bolt that secures the tube in the pump body and a tab that goes under one of the cover bolts.

As soon as the pickup was getting close it became obvious that the one cover bolt was going to hit the pickup screen body.....Plus the tab that is welded to the screen body was out of line by half a hole.....

What a POS.....Soooooo

Down to the shop to see what could be done to rectify this mess..

Had to heat up the screen body RED HOT and massage the area near the one bolt head and get things a bit more roomy...

Then with the screen in and the retaining bolt hole workable.....Warmed up the tube and coaxed the tab over so the hole lined up .....

A few pics

Discovered that my Torch fuel tank was nearly empty.....But had enough to gitterdone..

So the unit fits now and will work.

Just need to bolt it onto the main cap and make sure the pan will have the proper clearance on the pickup screen...



A little recap.

Last fall the 406 short block is together.....At least the rotating assembly is all in.....

The Vortec heads are all done and on my shelf all wrapped in plastic.....
We modified the heads to work with the 400 block.....Added the 6 steam holes per side and also added the coolant bypass hole in the pass. side head so the coolant passage to the early style block and early style serpentine drive water pump is compatible.......

A real mutt....but the combination of parts will give us the best of new and old......

Still lamenting on if I want to use a roller cam in this build.

Flat tappet lifters/cams went out of OEM use back in the late 1980's due to the newer oils without ZDDP

Anyway.....

 

[m1west]

HI
I have been lurking.
Fooled with the shotgun stuff for the grand kid....
My health has headed down a lot since last summer.
The dream is still there but the old bones just says enough......

I am not going to lie.....chances are not good that I can finish the cat....

I have a few projects planed for this summer and they are all domestic stuff.......

The 406 short block rotating assembly is together ....Heads are done and lots of the needed parts are on the shelf...

Not much more to say.....
I had hoped I could get this wrapped up before the body gave out.....

Ah well....Been fun though....

Thats not what I thought I was going to hear when I asked where Snowy was. I have been super busy with work and haven't checked in much. You take care, and we will pray you get better and finish the cat. Until then keep us posted.

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thanks for the well wishes..

I am still very interested in the cat and it is not far from my mind..
At 72 in July and having had a half dozen strokes a few years ago plus dealing with the damned cancer that caused the issues in the first place.....All this has finally caught up with me.

Some days I get really excited and want to get to work.....So I go at it and then pay for it for several days....

It sucks....but that's life......
I was probably foolish to have started this major project with all the health issues lurking..

But it has been a helluva ride and a lot of fun......Met a lot of very great folks along the way too.....That alone has made the journey worth every step......

I will keep y'all apprised of any work that gets going on with the project.....

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Hi all.

Not dead yet......Summer sucked....But feeling better of late.
Weather is lovely for a couple days and I have gotten itchy to fool with the cat.
The biggest part of the structural stuff on the chassis is done (Summer 2023)
Trying to sort out a few things that I want firmly in place and the design all worked out and the parts MUST BE off the shelf stuff..

Steering is the game.
We need a reliable steering system that can use readily available parts.

The OC-12 steering system on the Thiokol 2100 uses two small hydraulic cylinders that were fed with individual valves that were mounted in front of the operators seat.

These valves used return flow from the main hydraulic system via a flow divider....
The pressure is either ON or OFF

Unlike the systems used on the Spryte and other small machines that use a simple master cylinder with a hand lever to control the bands in the differential the 2100 uses a full pressure "400psi" ON/OFF system to make sure the steering bands do not slip...

The big tracked groomers are tough on the bands....

So the adventure began a few years back to find a way to replicate something close to the original system.

Sadly the original controls were a custom design and no longer available.

So .....Using the power steering pump on the engine and reducing the pressure waaaaaaaaaaaay down and adding a priority valve to keep from stalling the pump......
Then a series of pressure reducers to get a working pressure of 400psi to the OC-12 band actuators.....

I had looked into air controls and decided that the extra equipment (Compressor and tanks etc) were just more added baggage that I did not want....

The existing power steering pump on the engine became a very inviting choice....

I explored the electric solenoid actuated valves.....Again....more extra baggage that can fail when it would be a serious safety issue.....
Switches, relays, wiring, fuses....Yada yada yada.....

Looking at the various hydraulic components suppliers and the same type of valves can be had with a simple lever control.....

I have been loathe to put live hydraulics in the cab.....But overall it will solve several issues and make things a lot simpler.....

All the components are off the shelf tech...

D03 type manifolds (2 place) and a pair of D03 valves with AO type spools.
These are designed with single acting cylinders in mind.....(The OC-12 uses single acting spring return cylinders)

I have saved the steering column and wheel in the S10 CAB to allow all the functions that are controlled by the multi function switches....

The plan now is to cut the steering wheel on the RH side to allow a nice bracket to bolt to the wheels center spoke and provide a mounting pad for the hydraulic manifold.

The Steering wheel/tilt column adds a nice touch and gives the operator a place to hang on in rough running.

We will see how this all comes together....

Things are looking promising ......

 

[redsqwrl]

That serms like it will be fun.

Welcome back

 

[Pontoon Princess]

welcome back

seems like you are going to, git r dun !!!

the forums are better with you

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Thanks guys
Just got tired of seeing the project just sitting.....


Sadly.
The cat has to come all the way apart to finish it.
The drive shaft needs to be completed and married to the OC-12
Diffy is done except to marry the axle tubes on and put the axles in.

The son in law grabbed the winch.....No biggy.....He is using it on his large car hauling trailer

A lot of loose ends to work on.....But the bulk of stuff is getting close.

The engine short block is assembled.
Heads are done..

I grabbed a very nice TH-350 tranny summer of 2023.
It needs to be gone through....It came from a roadster with a 350 v8
Looks great....but with the amount of work to get the gear box in/out I want to go through it first.

I just wish the cat could be inside...

Ahhh well

 

[Snowy Rivers]

I got the bracket made to mount the hydraulic manifold.....Was able to use the same bolt hole as I had drilled in the steering wheel for mounting the electric joy sticks.....

Cut the steering wheel off and removed the top loop.
Still leaves a nice grab spot for getting into the cab.
The steering wheel lock is annoying and the plan is to add a retention bracket at the base of the shaft and secure it real solid to take the rock out of things .

I will get a piccy of the new bracket today and post it.

The one thing about adaptation (Cab conversions) is getting stuff to all fit where it can work with existing "EVERYTHING ELSE"
The ignition switch in the column was junk....so decided to add a mounting bracket to the new shifter assembly and use a universal ign switch.

With the top portion of the steering wheel removed it really opened up the view of the dash gauges (A good thing)

With the hydraulic valves mounted there will still be adequate room to access the factory heater controls.

An S-10 cab is a cozy little place.....If I could go back I would have gone with the club cab.....With the seat back against the cab rear wall it leaves a bit of WANT as far as room goes....

Ah well.....It will be fine.......

The hose connections to the hydraulic manifold will fit well and not cause any issues.
Hoses will go out the back (Facing the dash) and also on the end facing the shifter....

SAE fittings to JIC # 6 will be adequate and will allow good flex to allow the steering column to tilt up and down.

Sitting in the cab and sizing things up ....Tilting the column down as far as it will go puts the controls in a decent place...

Left hand across the Factory horn button cover looks like it will be in a great place to run the steering levers.

The valves are small (D03 size)

Some cab shots of the controls....Hydraulics mount on RH side of center of wheel.


Sidewinder shifter...Cable goes through the floor and has a nice sweeping bend to the trans....
Steering wheel tilted down and up out of the way for ingress and egress.....

The manifold assembly ready made to bolt in place...Uses SAE fittings

 

[m1west]

glad to see you back on it

 

[Snowy Rivers]

Short lived I'm afraid...Winter wet weather has made outdoor work impossible....

Thanks for the