Chevy & GMC Vans

Finally some construction pix. I did some bodywork on the "Gray" before I joined AstroSafariVans, So lets take it from the beginning.







Okey..okey....... maybe not that far back...

What I have done before the AstroSafariVans is. I have replaced the very rusty rockerpanels with "home made" ones.
Then I replaced all door skins, also "home made", mostly to get rid of the handles. Replaced the front window frame, it was alot of rust there too.
Now I got an idea to make the rear doors to one door that opens upwards with hidden hinges.
That is what this first building post will show.

Here are a few pices of steel, to fabricate the hinges.



The loops are welded on.



And tested in the van.









Pieces that will enhance the door frame and the portion of the hinge that will be sitting there.



Hole to make room for the nuts.



Welding and grinding.











Welded hinge parts together and some reinforcements. Better safe than sorry.



To fix the doors, I welded two plates on the inside and two on the outside.



The ugly hinges are gone, cut them a bit rough just to make it possible to open the door. I remove the rest later.



First test opening.







The hinge in action.





Good clearance between the door and the roof.



After much measuring and testing (seven different locations), the gassprings are in place. They have a pressure of 630N each.







And with the door closed.



Function test, I open the door about 6-8 ", then it slowly goes up by itself.





That's what I've done so far. The next step is to replace the door skin to a large one, without windows.

To be continued..................

Very cool...

I'm not sure what to say but.... WOW!!

That is amazing!

I am totally impressed. That is a well thought out, awesome project!

I'm with Bill...AWESOME! =D>

I agree with everyone. This is custom fabrication at it's best.

that is truly another impressive mod

all i an say is wow! those hinges are artwork all there own! my vote for best fabricator on this board!

Awesome pictures Dude, how did you calculate all the bends and the fabrication with your hinges? I went though soo many design fabrications of hinges when I was working on my gullwing slider, because it ain`t easy.

Do you have a mechanical engineer working with you? If so that`s cheating! haha! ( Because I had to figure out all this ch1t by myself )

I Love your updates, and I get all your emails, Thanks Dude.

Thanks guys. No cheating here, no one work with me, not even a friend to keep the door up when I mounted the gas springs.

There was a lot of calculations, Mostly bent welding rods to find the best place to mount the hinges. The hinges was easy, the gas springs was worse, seven different locations before I was satisfied.

Check this video:
Astro door vid

Man that is smooth! I assume you are going to sell kits...right?

I'm pretty busy with work and the Astro. If I get time, maybe.

that's is a kit i can see a couple people buying for sure

if you do decide to make kits to sell hit me up i need 2 of em!

Some measures.

The hinge is bolted in the reinforcement plate for the rear belt, (there was already a bolt and a nut there), with the hingeaxel as close to the roof as possible (see 3rd hinge pic). That make the door go up over the roof. If you mount it lower, the door will go forward in to the roof before it lift and go over it.

Here are some measures

The loop is 30mm long 20mm in diameter and the hole is 12mm.



This is how I mounted the gas spring. The red line is from the hinge axel to the lower point of the spring. If you get the upper spring point to close to the "line" you lose the pressur and the door will slam when you close it. To far away, you have the door in your teeth when you open it. How close/far from the "line" also depends on what pressure the gas springs you are using has, I use 630N each. I mounted them 75 mm from the door frame. We'll see if it is enough or if I have to mount stronger springs when the door is finished.