What did you do to/with your van today?

[97CargoCrawler]

The pump is made by Carter:

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDeta ... 52&PTSet=A

Looked every bit as good as the Delco pump I took out. The catch is the quality of the motor. Would have to take them both apart for a real comparison, but how many companies could there be out there making the dc motor for these pumps? Everything (probably even the Delco) is made in China these days, or at the very least using Chinese parts. The pump has a one year warranty. I will be tearing my old pump apart to see what makes it tick. If the motor is a generic size, I will do some research into finding the highest quality replacement motor to rebuild all future pumps. I build custom electronic crap as a career and hobby so I do this type of thing daily.

My van has a thick protective coating of grease and oil since the oil cooler lines are leaking. Keeps things from rusting and freezing up. And living in the desert probably doesn't hurt either. I feel so sorry for you guys in the wet regions. I could never stand to have any rust on my vehicle, it would drive me nuts.

[GEJ]

The pump is made by Carter:

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDeta ... 52&PTSet=A

Looked every bit as good as the Delco pump I took out. The catch is the quality of the motor. Would have to take them both apart for a real comparison, but how many companies could there be out there making the dc motor for these pumps? Everything (probably even the Delco) is made in China these days, or at the very least using Chinese parts. The pump has a one year warranty. I will be tearing my old pump apart to see what makes it tick. If the motor is a generic size, I will do some research into finding the highest quality replacement motor to rebuild all future pumps. I build custom electronic crap as a career and hobby so I do this type of thing daily.

My van has a thick protective coating of grease and oil since the oil cooler lines are leaking. Keeps things from rusting and freezing up. And living in the desert probably doesn't hurt either. I feel so sorry for you guys in the wet regions. I could never stand to have any rust on my vehicle, it would drive me nuts.

As I do research for my 1985 Ole Yellar van,I am finding there isn't a in tank pump for these carb'ed Astro.Maybe you can on later yr vans use a pick-up from a 1985 and a in line pump that way.

[d3athm3talh3ad]

aaron--looks like it's in the underhood fuse/relay panel, there's 18 fuses clustered in the middle, horn is the 20A fuse in the middle of #11 ecm-b (20a) and #12 a/c comp(10a)...i can e-mail you the fuse box diagram if you need it...

[tbhager94]

i took the pass rear tire off to get patched , it has a a couple leaks .

tire is fu*ked so i put the dount on till friday when i can get a used one.

[ihatemybike]

Gwen, I must have been cold and tired yesterday, cause I read your post went to go look and there it was on the label. Fuse was blown, but even after replacement the horns don't work, but I hear clicking.

[kings-x59]

97CargoCrawler, that is probably the cleanest tank and underbody I've ever seen in a vehicle that age (mines a 97.) But I live in rusty Michigan. I have had my tank down twice both times praying that the bolts would come out. Anti-seize is my friend. It won't be much longer and I will be under there replacing all the lines.

I was thinking the same thing, and I live in Texas. Sand crabs crawl off the top of mine every time I drop it.

Nice work Gwen, I so want to drop the rear on my shorty! Damn composite springs!

[d3athm3talh3ad]

thanks for the compliments everyone...

Nice work Gwen, I so want to drop the rear on my shorty! Damn composite springs!

keep a sharp eye out for a flip kit...i got mine used for a pretty decent price...

today, i drooled over my new-to-me steering column that just arrived...tilt, cruise switch, steering wheel and ignition with keys, shipped out to me for $50...now i'll be able to swap over all the cruise control components from my blazer also looked at some schematics/vacuum diagrams and all the cruise components look to be the same between my s-10 blazer and van..the colors of the wires, connectors and all, only difference is which fuse is used for power!!!!

[ihatemybike]

Nothing, I can't find the wrench I need anywhere. Auto stores, hardware stores, specialty industry stores, nothing. Makes me glad I ordered one on eBay this morning.

[kings-x59]

I'll bite, what kind of wrench?

[ihatemybike]

Torx E14 box end. No problem finding Torx E sockets, just can't use them next to the U joints on the front drive shaft. Searching for them online this morning I found them on Sear's website, but they didn't have any in store. Calling around to everything I could think of resulted in nothing, but the loss of anytime minutes. While searching online I did discover that a few mfgs make a Torx E12 x E14 combo labeled as a driveline wrench and wouldn't you know it those are the two sizes that the front drive shaft use.

Here's the wrench I'm watching the mail for.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0332830059

[kings-x59]

I couldn't tell from the pic, is that different than a 12 point box wrench?

[ihatemybike]

Yeah, it's a 6 point star. Reverse the normal Torx set up, the bolt has the star shape on the outside and the wrench has it on the inside.

[d3athm3talh3ad]

took out my old column, and replaced it with my new-to-me steering column with tilt...now if i can figure out how to swap the ignition switch lock cylinder so i can keep my original key...

[crash]

van looks good gwen, i look at the stance now and think *that's better* .. it's coming along

moved the 99 ahead 10 feet, shovelled, moved it back 10 feet. the positive is, it's a winter of not being exposed to the salt. YAY!...
I'm really reallllllllllly getting tired of this snow. it's the longest winter we've had in years. very cold, fresh snow between 1 - 3 times a week. we usually get a week or so of warm temps every january... not this year. we still have at least another month of this crap. too cold and miserable do anything outside, other than shovel.

[kings-x59]

Rob, that's global warming.

Gwen,
you should be able to switch out the key cylinder. removing it is a particular sequence of events that is remarkably simple if you do them in the right order. However, I found this post at the end of two rum and cokes, so that brain thread is inaccessble at the moment. I think that is one process I totally skipped over when I did the post on my tilt column tear down. I'm pretty sure the info is still resident in my brain. I'll post up as soon as I locate the info.