1 Ton 94 Astro. 6.5L, 4l80e, 14 bolt swap project complete.

[Coyote X]

Been drivng the van for a week with no problems or issues. Everything is running good and smooth. The weather is good enough today that I brought it out and got some pictures and a video of the final product of this swap.

So here it is. It almost looks stock the way all the hoses and wires are ran.




The last picture shows where I mounted the Glow Plug light and the Water in Fuel light. Those are the only things I needed to add to the dashboard.

Here is a video put together showing how it runs. It has more power and better mileage than the stock 4.3L engine. I am very happy with how it has turned out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnEJJGLhVLs

[1Gary]

Very nice.Interested when your going to do the rear end.We have a member Mr_Roboto that found the early Ford Econolines has the same offset and with either drilled or custom alloy axles you could get the same bolt pattern.It's only a 1/2" total wider I think. :-k

I've never hear of Mosier or Currie making axles for the 8 bolt you have,but that doesn't mean they don't.

[astrozam]

Well done Coyote X =D>

[Coyote X]

I still am not really sure what I am going to do with the rear end yet. The G30 is a limited slip 4.11 gear 14 bolt semi floater. But it looks like it is 3 inches wider hub to hub. So my best idea so far is to just keep it that wide when I put the front suspension on it then I can just get new wheels with a 1.5 inch difference in offset. I would really rather have an open diff 3.54 gear to keep the gearing where the motor is happy at and the speed I want to drive it.

But really until I get some decent weather to get the front and rear out of the G30 and have time to measure and figure something out it is all just wild guessing. Hopefully I will catch a few days of nice weather that I don't have other stuff to do and will be able to strip it down soon.

[Coyote X]

Today I put it up in the air to try and get the exhaust a bit quieter. I figured I must have a few bad leaks in it since it was kind of loud. There were a few minor holes in it but nothing major. While I was trying to figure out what was so loud over 2000rpm and I tried revving it under the hood by pushing on the throttle figuring maybe one of the exhaust manifolds was leaking. Turns out the noise coming out of the air cleaner is unbelievably loud. It is pretty much deafening at high rpm. So I dug out all the stock cold air ducting from the Astro and all the G30 ducting from my junk pile. The G30 has a muffler on the intake piping

Right now I put the stock astro air ducting on it to get the noise out from under the doghouse. I just duct taped it to the air cleaner housing for now. I will try and incorporate the muffler onto it in the warm weather sometime. But for now it is quiet enough.

But then again a turbo would block all that intake noise....

[mdmead]

Yeah, a spooling turbo is a much nicer noise anyway!

[Mr_Roboto]

Very nice.Interested when your going to do the rear end.We have a member Mr_Roboto that found the early Ford Econolines has the same offset and with either drilled or custom alloy axles you could get the same bolt pattern.It's only a 1/2" total wider I think. :-k

I've never hear of Mosier or Currie making axles for the 8 bolt you have,but that doesn't mean they don't.

14 bolt should be able to get axles for it. If he's going to convert to anything it should be a Dana 60 or 61 in my opinion. You can get em out of Econolines as well and the fit is good (Ala Dean's) and if you converted the front end to 8 lug you could use the same wheel pattern and spare. A definite plus in my book. Right now I'm stuck with a bastard child combination of 5X5 and 5X5.5, I am thinking of going to a 61 as well; they're more efficient than a 9 inch and they're more durable. Even though it's heavier it would probably only be about 300hp mark before you made up the difference in weight with the saved power based on what I've heard of them. The 14 bolts have a good rep for durability though, if you got an axle cut for one and then cut and welded a tube I don't think you could go wrong with it.

[dvil]

Wow, what a great project. Congrats!

That piece of iron is quite heavy (and one extra battery too). Do you notice any problems with that?
You could make the weight distribution better by moving your batteries to the rear. I've done that, and driving on slippery roads during winter got easier.
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Batbox-02a.JPG

[MountainManJoe]

Hey that's a really nifty idea. The battery doesn't take up any room inside, yet it's not exposed to the elements outside. How does that jive with your spare wheel?

I'd prefer mine further up front. Hmm... I wonder where else you can put a floor box? ...

[dvil]

Thanks. I've installed a tad smaller diameter spare wheel.
You could have another box behind your drivers seat. I've got that too.
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Batbox-01a.JPG
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Batbox-03a.JPG
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Box-01a.JPG
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Box-03a.JPG

[Coyote X]

I did measure from the fender lip to the ground before and after. It dropped an inch with the new motor. With the 4000lb springs I already had in the back it made it sit with a huge rake to the front. So I just put in some spring expanders for now. It now sits about 1/4 inch higher in the front than it did stock.

I would like to keep the 14 bolt rear and just have it resized to fit that way it is easier buying parts in the future. But really I won't know what I need to do until I get the front suspension figured out.

I first thought of swapping out the entire front crossmember by cutting away the suspension on the stock subframe and welding the G30 crossmember in it. But I don't think that would work out well after thinking about it for a while. If it is possible my best bet would be to swap spindles and keep the astro A-arms with the G30 spindle. That way I could have the good brakes off the G30 and the 8 lug wheels. I could probably just use the G30 springs to get the front end a bit stiffer. But I have no idea what sizes the ball joints are or what it would take to get the G30 ball joints on the Astro arms. I need to take everything apart and measure it since I can't find a listing of ball joint dimensions anywhere online.

Once I get the front end figured out I will know where the hubs are and what kind of offset I need for the front wheels. then I just have to get the rear axle size the same. If I don't keep the wheels the same width it is very hard to align it at most shops. Since I plan on driving it forever like this I need it to be easy to work on. My kit car has so many random parts from a junkyard it is near impossible to figure out what to buy when something breaks. I have always tried to avoid doing that with any projects I have done since then. I really want to keep the entire drive train G30 that way I know if it is a body part it is Astro if it is Drivetrain it is G30.

That battery box looks nice but I will probably end up with a second gas tank where the spare is. Bio is so cheap to make I don't want to have to fill up at a normal gas station if I don't have to

[crash]

awesome!! .. great to see some of these crazy dream builds all thought out and posted on the net on so many forums I'm on and yet, they never come to fruition... and then there's coyote x =D>

that should be fun to drive! it sure sounds sweet!!!

I miss my 84 k5 blazer with the 6.2
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/c ... 91_IMG.jpg

[MountainManJoe]

Thanks. I've installed a tad smaller diameter spare wheel.
You could have another box behind your drivers seat. I've got that too.
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Batbox-01a.JPG
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Batbox-03a.JPG
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Box-01a.JPG
http://home.gethome.no/espeng/Box-03a.JPG

Those area really helpful photos, dvil. When you're composing your message, please highlight your image link, then click the "Img" button. Then we can all see them.


PG

[dvil]

Those area really helpful photos, dvil. When you're composing your message, please highlight your image link, then click the "Img" button. Then we can all see them.

Sorry. I thought "one click away" would be okay. I'll do my best next time.

[Mr_Roboto]

Goofy question of the moment, have you taken any dimensional measurements of the spindles on the G30 to compare to the M-vans? I was curious if you think they would swap in at all.