4wd Astro "Patches"

ihatemybike

Explorer
They'll fail, but you can repair them and end up with them being better than factory.

The rubber hoses age and they loosen up in aluminum crimps that hold them in place. Use a cutting disk on a rotary tool (Dremel) and remove the crimps. Replace the hoses using high pressure hose and replace the crimps with two hose clamps, high pressure hose clamps being better.

Every one of my vans have received this upgrade once I noticed the hoses starting to leak.
 
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zerskier

Observer
They'll fail, but you can repair them and end up with them being better than factory.

The rubber hoses age and they loosen up in aluminum crimps that hold them in place. Use a cutting disk on a rotary tool (Dremel) and remove the crimps. Replace the hoses using high pressure hose and replace the crimps with two hose clamps, high pressure hose clamps being better.

Every one of my vans have received this upgrade once I noticed the hoses starting to leak.
that's a good idea, I will try that with the lines.. I use to work at a shop that made hydraulic hoses and thought about making something, but I like your "serviceable" repair.. I'm going to run it for awhile without oil cooler and watch my temps with my scan tool. I don't work the van to hard and live in a cooler climate so may be ok without the cooler..
 

zerskier

Observer
finally got around to installing the fantastic fan.
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set some dental floss in before dropping vent in.. My hope is it will make it easier to cut out the vent when I needs to be replaced
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just to up the challenge I dropped my only tube of sealant, making it a lot more interesting and messy
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but ended up ok..
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The vent I have is the 1200 ( basic, one direction, manual lift) but I wanted to be able to reverse flow. So, I picked up a double throw, double post toggle switch
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mounted the switch toward front of van so I can now run fan from the vent and from the front of van.
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zerskier

Observer
with the vent so far back in the roof it came in contact with the rear ac duct, so I abbreviated it.. Cut it off after the first vent and used the other end as a cap, and hung it with some plumbers tape.
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zerskier

Observer
quick update.. The van ran flawless on my trip to montana, my loadout was heavy since I was packed for two month travel and had a fourwheeler. I did have to cut the trip short due to health reasons, but I learned a lot on what works and what needs to be changed.. Just before I left I installed S-10 leaf springs, and they helped carry the load a lot better. Since my last post I also replaced the motor mounts with poly mounts. The original mounts failed sending the cooling fan into the radiator shroud on hard acceleration. I don't really like the vibrations the poly mounts cause but I didn't want to do that job twice.

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nobodyhome

Adventurer
Awesome pics, thanks for sharing.
This settles it...I'm painting my wheels, looks better like yours.

How did the temp do without the oil cooler?
 

zerskier

Observer
Awesome pics, thanks for sharing.
This settles it...I'm painting my wheels, looks better like yours.

How did the temp do without the oil cooler?
I wasn't sure about painting the wheels either, but it seems to help get rid of the minivan look. I didn't notice any ill effects to not running the engine oil cooler. Engine temp gauge sat where it always did, and that's going thru some 100 degree weather and pulling some serious grades in the mountains. I also believe the body lift may help with engine temps too, not having body so close against the engine.
 

Mwilliamshs

Explorer
...I didn't notice any ill effects to not running the engine oil cooler. Engine temp gauge sat where it always did, and that's going thru some 100 degree weather and pulling some serious grades in the mountains. I also believe the body lift may help with engine temps too, not having body so close against the engine.

Seems silly I'm sure, but the engine oil cooler's job is to cool the engine oil, not to cool the engine, at least on a water-cooled engine, old VW and BMW stuff, etc notwithstanding. If the engine coolant runs at 210 you're good: no steam, no boilover, coolant is doing its job to keep the metal bits from warping, the exhaust valves from burning, etc. Keep in mind you have more coolant than oil though and that the coolant sees less restriction than the oil, which is why coolant runs are about 15psi and engine oil at upto 60 or so. Also, no part of the coolant's job is related to its thickness or its ability to cushion anything and that the coolant doesn't significantly change viscosity or any other physical characteristics due to temperature changes within its designed operating range. All those things are true of not engine oil though. There's less of it, so it heats up faster and more drastically, its job is to cushion and is related to its ability to maintain viscosity which does change considerably even within its designed operating temperature range and even more so if pushed outside that range. Everyday 10W30 goes from flowing like 10 @ -20C to protecting like 30 @ 100C, which means its viscosity is changing as much as 280% and that's all within range. Push it outside that range and you're asking for bearing trouble.

My point is this, don't let the coolant temp gauge tell you whether or not you need an engine oil cooler. Let an engine oil temp gauge tell you if the engine oil max temp is always between 230 and 260 (conventional) or between 230 and 300 (synthetic). You want it well above the boiling point of water to prevent condensation which leads to increased crankcase acidity and to prevent sludge accumulation but any hotter than that is reducing the ability of the oil to protect your engine and shortening its useful life.

Body lift is probably helping coolant temps not only due to increased air space around the engine but also giving hot air more open escape paths. Just make sure all your inlet air is going through, rather than around, the radiator.
 
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zerskier

Observer
Seems silly I'm sure, but the engine oil cooler's job is to cool the engine oil, not to cool the engine, at least on a water-cooled engine, old VW and BMW stuff, etc notwithstanding. If the engine coolant runs at 210 you're good: no steam, no boilover, coolant is doing its job to keep the metal bits from warping, the exhaust valves from burning, etc. Keep in mind you have more coolant than oil though and that the coolant sees less restriction than the oil, which is why coolant runs are about 15psi and engine oil at upto 60 or so. Also, no part of the coolant's job is related to its thickness or its ability to cushion anything and that the coolant doesn't significantly change viscosity or any other physical characteristics due to temperature changes within its designed operating range. All those things are true of not engine oil though. There's less of it, so it heats up faster and more drastically, its job is to cushion and is related to its ability to maintain viscosity which does change considerably even within its designed operating temperature range and even more so if pushed outside that range. Everyday 10W30 goes from flowing like 10 @ -20C to protecting like 30 @ 100C, which means its viscosity is changing as much as 280% and that's all within range. Push it outside that range and you're asking for bearing trouble.

My point is this, don't let the coolant temp gauge tell you whether or not you need an engine oil cooler. Let an engine oil temp gauge tell you if the engine oil max temp is always between 230 and 260 (conventional) or between 230 and 300 (synthetic). You want it well above the boiling point of water to prevent condensation which leads to increased crankcase acidity and to prevent sludge accumulation but any hotter than that is reducing the ability of the oil to protect your engine and shortening its useful life.

Body lift is probably helping coolant temps not only due to increased air space around the engine but also giving hot air more open escape paths. Just make sure all your inlet air is going through, rather than around, the radiator.

I have to admit I my theory's do lie in my background in vws and bmws.. On acvw the oil cooler is vital as engine oil absorbs heat and transfers the heat to the cooler, and I figured chevy ran the engine oil cooler to reduce engine temps due the tight packaging of the astro engine compartment. Everything is a tradeoff, Higher engine oil temps and quicker oil breakdown to me is worth the piece of mind of not blowing a cooler or hose and causing a oil starvation. I normally don't operate in very warm climates so hopefully I wont melt down anytime soon. I'm back home in northern Wisconsin now and its a hot day for me. 78f lol
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nobodyhome

Adventurer
I wasn't sure about painting the wheels either, but it seems to help get rid of the minivan look. I didn't notice any ill effects to not running the engine oil cooler. Engine temp gauge sat where it always did, and that's going thru some 100 degree weather and pulling some serious grades in the mountains. I also believe the body lift may help with engine temps too, not having body so close against the engine.

Agreed, certainly helps, but if you reeeeeally wanna shed the mini van look, try this....

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/153438-Newbie-AWD-Astro-Overlander-Build/page11
 

zerskier

Observer
started a reconfigure of the little astro. I wanted a sleeping platform to allow better use of storage. The platform is 48" long by 30" wide by 15" tall with a sliding extension to give a overall length of 77" to fit my therm-a-rest xl mattress. The frame is made of 1" thin wall steel square tubing to keep down weight. I used .75" maple plywood for its strength but had some isssues with tearout, I'm no woodworker. I way wrap the plywood with speaker box carpet to pretty it up and keep noise down.


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Snowgeek135

Observer
Great to see your build! It looks great and is cool to see a few new ideas. I like the np233 with manual shift you did. I am about to go 4x4 I pull the t case this week!!!

Good job

Ryan
 

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