southern wisconsin AWD astro driver

[C11MAN]

Figured it was time to introduce myself a bit after stalking the forum for awhile. So I have a 2002 AWD LS Astro with currently 117,000 on the clock. the van's been in the family for all but about 10,00 of those miles and its been an amazingly reliable vehicle for us. Currently its basically stock except for a Viair 400c air compressor and that I mounted above the jack storage.

and now some pics for the fun of it (I have always loved this color blue...)





no pics of the compressor setup right now as I had the back loaded up ready to go back to school and could not access it, but I will grab a picture or two later

[okie1]

You have a very nice van, & I like the color too.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

That is a nice clean van! I like the color too.

[C11MAN]

Thanks guys. And this weekend I am going to be turning what normal is a 1 1/2hour drive into a 4+ one by taking all the backroads. not all are paved so it might not be so clean when I get done with it though....

also I cant wait to get started modifying the van more!

[C11MAN]

As promised, more details on the onboard compressor, comes in quite handy





I had also notice a few weeks ago that the top of the plastic cove on my running boards was pulling away and there was rust behind it. Fearing it was rocker panel I had left it go until I had more time. But today I took the boards off and to my surprise it was just a separate bracket that was disintegrating .

here's was it looks like under there, guess this is what all that salt on the roads does


so I decided to make up some of my own and this is what I came up with





it bolted right up and work quite well. Ran out of time so driver rear and the passenger side will come in the next week or so





looks a little different without the running boards on

[mdmead]

Welcome! Very nice van! Your onboard air system is pretty slick.

[T.Low]

What agreat idea, to put the air compressor in the jack cubby! I've always thought about the wasted nooks and crannys behind the interior panels, but never that.

Congrats on finding a late van that isn' Pewter like too many of us!

[C11MAN]

with the air compressor I was told to keep the compressor hidden and that's just were it worked out! it would have gone on the driver side where the tank would have fit in with it except the rear a/c took up too much room. that space is not reserved for the future power inverter.

in other news, I got the van dirty again, and found the Mississippi.

[icebrrg3rd]

Welcome from someone on the lake side of the state. Nice looking van. Was that rust only the bracket or had it starting rusting the rocker? If so, did you treat it with anything? Hate to see a nice van rust away.

-Andrew

[C11MAN]

Welcome from someone on the lake side of the state. Nice looking van. Was that rust only the bracket or had it starting rusting the rocker? If so, did you treat it with anything? Hate to see a nice van rust away.

-Andrew

fortunately it was just the bracket and the rocker appears to be fine. I didn't do any treatments yet but I will this weekend when I take it back off. I'm thinking spaying the bracket and panel with a bed liner or something to prevent this again. not sure what to use yet but im open to all suggestions!