noob from W. Mass

[ryan13]

Hello all, I am 22 and live in the Springfield, Mass area. I just got myself a Blackish 94 AWD Astro Van with 249,900 on the clock for $500. I got it as my winter car so that I can put my Subaru STi away for the winter. It def isnt the prettiest looking van but it will do for now. Surprisingly the only problems that I have found so far is that the air bag light stays on on the dash and I have a pretty bad power steering leak. The whole reservoir empty's out over night.

Anyways, looks like there is a pretty good following for these things so I look forward to learning some new things. I will post pictures as soon as I get it repainted...(rattle canned of course! :lol: ) This picture is from the add:



-Ryan

[ryan13]

Since I have got the van a few weeks ago I have done a few things to it. I have repainted it ALL black via rattle-can, fixed the PS leak by replacing it and I have started a 3" lift.

here are some progress pics










I put some wheel adapters so that I can run a much common bolt patter 5x4.5 (Jeeps)

[ryan13]

I had a little mishap after installing the front body lift. The shift linkage was off so that van thought it was in REVERSE... long story short...it slammed into the back of my garage twice, blowing out the back window....

So it I am currently designing a front rear shackle since I now have some steel leafs. I got just the leafs really cheap so I need to make some new brackets to mount the front of the leafs properly...which will hopefully fix my funky angle that the rear end has now.


Here is my new bracket that I just made a prototype of tonight...what do you all think?

I am going to leave the mono-leaf front shackle mount in and make a new lower plate. I am going to make it push from the body another inch as well as move the axle back 1 1/2" to re-center it like it should be.

This is my current stance which is not good at all!


This is caused by me using the "pinch" mount that the mono uses....with a steel leaf. Before you all get scared, I am smart enough to not drive this the way it is haha. It was simply to move it around the driveway.

here is the new prototype mount that will use the existing 4 bolt holes to mount up







soo....WHat do you all think? I'm going to try to have it made up before thanksgiving

[snapple]

Welcome Ryan! Sorry to hear about your window!

[kamenz]

Ryan,I see you have your priorities right,the can of beer is more expensive then the paint.Can't blame you. Welcome

[ryan13]

Ryan,I see you have your priorities right,the can of beer is more expensive then the paint.Can't blame you. Welcome

haha...30 rack of PBR was under $20 and the paint was $0.97 a can...nice and cheap friday night haha...not so great saturday morning

Thanks for the welcoming guys!

[crash]

welcome to the site. great job so far.... and awesome awd find for $500

btw... where'd you find the wheel adapters? where they $$$ ?

[ryan13]

welcome to the site. great job so far.... and awesome awd find for $500

btw... where'd you find the wheel adapters? where they $$$ ?

I found them on Ebay slightly used for $55 shipped. Otherwise they go for about $60ish a pair new. Its a really awesome idea and fairly inexpensive, but just know the dangers of running spacers... use a lot of locktite.

[Smiliesafari]

Welcome, Ryan. If there's an up side to blowing out the garage window.....at least it wasn't the back window of the Subaru. The more you drive this van, the more you're going to like it. They grow on you.

[Rebel]

You shouldn't have any issues with adapters and yes.,use the strongest Locktite and torque to 95lbs. Check um after running 20 or 30 miles. I'd also wait at least a day for the Locktite to dry. I run 1 1/2 wide adapters on my Vette rear. Thay are from 4.75 to 5 on 5.