Rick’s Site

Here is my Astro. It still looks stock on the outside but it is slowly drifting away from being a stock van. The current drivetrain is a 6.5L diesel V8 with a 4l80e transmission. It runs great and gets good mileage with this engine. The entire build is on this site. Here is a listing of the posts from start to finish:

Nov 12 2010 – Start of My 1 Ton Chevy Astro Project
Nov 18 2010 – Removed the old motor from the Astro
Nov 19 2010 – Mounted the new motor and transmission to the Astro subframe
Nov 20 2010 – Motor and subframe back in the Astro
Nov 22 2010 – Wiring finished up on the 6.5 engine
Nov 24 2010 – The 6.5L Diesel Astro Runs!
Nov 26 2010 – Exhaust Installed on the Diesel Astro
Nov 27 2010 – Found a Radiator that Fits
Nov 30 2010 – The 6.5L Diesel Astro is Now Complete.
Dec 11 2010 – Pictures and Video of the Completed Diesel Astro Van

My current mods so far on it are:

• AIR LIFT 59504 Ride Control Rear Air Spring Kit
• AIR LIFT 25592 Load Controller II for the air bags
• Two Hayden 679 Transmission Oil Coolers
• Indicator on dash for torque converter lockup
• Inverter mounted in wall behind passenger seat
• Dual electric fans
• Digital TV converter box
• Dual battery setup
• New TV

With the TV hooked to my Zune 120 I have tons of music and movies. I don’t think I am ever going to bother with a DVD player unless I just find one really cheap. This will do everything I need for now.

I am not really sure what all is going to be done to the inside of the van or the paint job yet. I would love to find someone willing to do a very large mural on the sides of it. But so far nobody has been willing to try painting it.

I don’t have any real plans for the interior yet. I want to make it interesting but not take away from it’s usefulness hauling people and things. So adding disco lights and more tv screens is likely. But mounting things in it that take up floor space will probably not be done so no water beds or fountains.