Chevy & GMC Vans

Applied AquaPel to the Windshield, Rearview Mirrors, and Glass Headlights.

Oh, And I also reduced the CD of the Van by reducing the Wiper Blade size from 18" to 17"

You know you can get a better CD by chopping the roof about 6 or 8 inches, eh?

Yes Mike, That is on the list. About Ten Years out.

Until then, I was thinking about removing my always deployed Drag Chute... First 2 pix.

Took my wife on a drive out on the Old Oregon trail south of town. Crawled up towards the Danskin Mtns so I could test the new brakes on the way down. They worked well, really worth the upgrade.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone...

The Gas Pumps gave me 19.1 mpg

Jim

wow- the old safari gave me just over 16mpg combined. new one cant be much better. it weighs more and has the tow package
btw, anyone know what the tow/ haul on button does on the shifting lever?

safari kev wrote:btw, anyone know what the tow/ haul on button does on the shifting lever?

I ran a little test of that feature a while back... Rather than try to remember what occurred, here is the link to my findings:

http://www.astrosafari.com/viewtopic.ph ... ton#p65351

Hope it helps, Jim

ok- so it makes it shift at higher rpms and shift harsher. mileage is ever so slightly better than normal. seems like its a push button shift kit! cool!
also, my vans steering seems dead. its about 2x as dead as my caddy fw brougham. when I turn the wheel, it handles ok, but the steering wheel must travel quite a distance before it starts to turn. the dead spot in the steering frankly kinda scares me (I like being in control and steering dead spot= not in control). It takes about 1/8 a turn of the wheel before the steering kicks in. I'm wondering if the dead spot is normal (given my van is a conversion van thats made for long highway trips) or if its something that needs to be addressed. I like that the wheel isnt super precise (i.e. I like being a "lazy driver" at times) but I liked my old vans steering better because I was always in control of exactly where the van went.

Kev,

Your steering response sounds as though you have some worn parts.

I would seek out a Specialized Front End Shop. Stay Away from the We Can't Fix Anything chain stores.

Good Luck & Keep us Posted, Jim

No need to be blue. No need to be blue.

The gas pumps have given me...

20.2 mpg

LOLz, Jim

I ran the AC Today...

And There goes my MPG.

Jim

well I almost got mine stuck yesterday. Well after about a month of rain ( no kidding ) yesterday was the first hot day of the year so I took the wifey and kids down by the river for a hike. I went down a gravel service road to where I have been many times before when fishing in the fall to park off the road next to the bottom of the bridge right next to the water. I never would take the car down because its a little rutted , bumpy and rocky but the van has been down the road a half dozen times or more and in the summer others park there as well. Well as I eased off the road into the gravel I got about 50 feet in on the downhill / sideways grade and the van started a gentle slide sideways ( wifey was not impressed LOL ). I straightened it out and let it roll on it's own to the bottom of the hill. The hill is only about a 30 foot drop over a hundred feet or so.
So to test the grip I put it in reverse at the bottom and it sucked down in about 4" of clay muck while moving back about a foot. With a little throttle in forward gear I got out of my rut but figured I was fooked. I got the van turned around and I had a greasy 60 - 70 feet to get moving and to build some momentum. I was quite surprised that even with summer tires keeping it just about 2k rpms the van just chugged its way through the grease and back up the hill ( with a little slipping and sliding near the top ). The AWD really came in handy yesterday. I wanted to go back down and park the van so I could climb back up but I was overruled !

I put LED bulbs in the back-up lamp position, which really make a difference. I replaced the rear running light bulbs; the polarity does matter, and these can be installed backwards.

The stop-turn signal bulbs failed. I already have a solid state flasher. When I slid the bulb in, it flashed nicely. When I rotated it to lock it in, the flashing stopped; the conductors and lock lugs were clocked wrong. POS.

van died when I got to work today. boss asked me to move so he could park closer to the door (since I had to ;pad stuff into his van today). went to fire it up and the dash went dark. :( the negative battery post had worked its way out of the battery just enough that it didnt have enough power. (kept my radio settings though). after work I tightened the post a bit and drove it home.
I also found out the AC system has a bad leak :( and the radiator leaks- alot. tow/ haul mode is interesting to say the least. the trans shifts pretty hard. it feels like it gives more low end grunt. it also takes off like a rocket about 55 mph. I like that it performs better, but the shifts are hard and not very nice. I think I'll keep the tow/ haul shift mode off from now. .5 mpg isnt enough gain to justify rock hard shifts in a van. also ordered new rear air shocks. I'll let my mechanic mess with the fronts (gonna go with HD monroe gas shocks in front.

mileage results from the St. L to chicago trip are in. 20mpg overall. I'd say over 3/4 of that was highway but my dad had to sit in gridlock related to construction and it took him over an hour to go 3 miles at one place. plus it really needed an air filter (changed that today too.). old one had a floating cloud of dust around it (like pigpen from peanuts)

I love Peanuts...

Yes, Hard Shifting is not my Cup O Tea either.

Congrats on the Mpgs.

Keep us posted, Jim