Herbie's Chevy Astrolander/ZMB Build Thread

[Herbie]

Here's a couple more close-up photos that I have. Hopefully the top-down shot clarifies how it works:

I started with this hinge from Lowes. I've replaced the normal hinge pin with the plastic handled 1/4" quick-release pin from McMaster that I had lying around from another project. I cut the hinge down to only using three "barrels", to match the length of the pin that I had. One half of the hinge is attached to the right angle bracket riveted to the door. The other half is screwed into holes drilled/tapped in the block you see welded to the rack. By pulling the pin, the "over hinges" will pivot around (parallel to the normal path of the door), but separated from the door. There's a bit of interference at about 30° opening, since my over hinges don't stick out quite enough to clear the "corners" of the main door hinge (look close at yours, you'll see what I mean). If I were doing it again, I'd experiment with making the hinges a bit longer so they cleared this, but when I originally made them, I was trying to keep everything tight to the door.

I'll try to get a photo with the pin pulled and the rack swung out slightly, that should clear up any questions.

 

[nobodyhome]

Ohh wow that's simpler than I thought...KISS, right.
Thanks that helps a bunch.
Shoo do I understand that the rack can pitch back towards you to open the glass?

Thanks again bud.

 

[Herbie]

No, it only swings through the same arc as the door. Everything is below glass-level, so nothing is needed to open the upper door. Probably easiest to see here:

 

[nobodyhome]

OK I see it now, I think I had your design confused with another in that regard, thanks for helping me correct my rectal retinitis.
I like this better, quite eloquent and perhaps with a notched bumper I could use this, still carry a spare, and be able to open the glass, kinda like this...



Jeep JKs have that so they can fit everything back there, only the notch is in the middle and not offset like I would have to do. Looks like I can't steal a Jeep bumper for the rear huh :-(

Thanks for posting all the details, like Doorman Pin PN and all, that's how I like to roll too, just makes it easier.

Gracias Senor.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

Nice setup you have. I cant believe the amount of work you have put into the van, it looks like it would be comfortable.

 

[Herbie]

Nice setup you have. I cant believe the amount of work you have put into the van, it looks like it would be comfortable.

Thanks very much! Luckily, I enjoy the projects. I've hit the project fatigue wall more than once, but the joy we get from using the rig makes it worth it. We recently finished our long summer roadtrip, and we have two more trips planned in the next three weeks!

Here's a quick video from our most recent trip (with a small amount of van porn included):

I'm actively bidding out the next project, since it's outside my skillset. As soon as our last trip in August is complete, I'll finally be re-gearing the van to 4.10s and adding a locker for the rear.

 

[nobodyhome]

Herbie sure does good work for sure! Been a great inspiration for me too.

BTW... Love the signature line!
I INTERFACE WITH THE @#$%^ CUSTOMERS... I HAVE PEOPLE SKILLS!

 

[Herbie]

Summer Roundup, Part 1

Well, I figured I owed the thread an update from the summer's events. All of the recent work has really paid off. The video upthread was from our big roadtrip up the CA coast. Wildfires in the SoCal area knocked out a few nights of camping (fire went right down to the El Capitan State Beach campground), so we spent a few more nights in Motels than I'd planned, but it was still a great trip.


A couple of shots from that trip that didn't make it to the video:

Managed to spot this late-model GTRV in Morro Bay! It had a kitchen but no upper bunk, and looked well-used. Wished I could have found the owners. I was out of cards or I'd have left a note on the window. Other than my conversion and T.Low's van, I think this it the only other GTRV I've actually seen in person!

We did manage to get a couple of fantastic nights of camping in at Kirk Creek, right on the bluffs overlooking the ocean. I don't normally prefer established campgrounds, but it's really hard to beat a view like this:

The nearby Elephant Seal rookery was also a treat for my daughter:

 

[Herbie]

Summer Roundup, Part 2

July was mostly about recovering from the roadtrip and lining up next-steps, (including collecting bids on re-gearing the diffs and getting a rear locker), but in early August we were able to sneak in one more trip before my daughter started school. I'm still collecting the media from that trip (Wife shot a lot of good material), but it was quite the adventure.

We set out to find one of the awesome "Yellow Post" campsites in the San Bernardino National Forest. These primitive sites are sprinkled around various FS roads and are usually well apart from everything else, making them wonderful hideaways. We climbed FS 7S02 up to the top of Santa Rosa mountain and found a beauty of a spot right near the peak. At just about 8000ft elevation, it was appreciably cooler there, a wonderful change from the heat and humidity we'd been suffering through down below.

Unfortunately, that massive difference in temperature was about to become significant - just after we'd leveled the van and setup the awning, the weather turned. Here, in mid-August, in the midst of a 2-week heatwave, it started to sprinkle, then hail. I started to climb the rear steps to unload the roof rack when my brain clicked to what comes next during a summer hailstorm. We retreated inside the van and played a couple of rounds of Uno to see what would happen. Sure enough, within 20 minutes, I heard the first roll of thunder. My wife tolerates, but does not enjoy, the trail driving required to get to the top of the mountain (particularly the not-at-all-groomed and very tight spur we'd taken to get to that campsite) and wasn't too keen on leaving and repeating the day's driving to get back down the hill. After lightning hit the peak maybe 1/4 mile from us, though, she came around to my way of thinking and we quickly stowed the awning and picked our way down the (increasingly muddy) trail. One of my concerns was not knowing how long it would rain, and I wasn't sure how the "road" would fare if it went overnight. Between that and knowing that fetching half my gear from the roof rack could turn me into a lightning rod on top of a mountain, I figure we made the right call to bail out.

In the end, we spent a lovely night in the nearby village of Idyllwild. We found a cheap cabin and a restaurant that had good cocktails and live music, and the kiddo, who had initially been disappointed to the point of tears about losing a night of camping, was soothed. In the morning, we had breakfast in the village and re-packed our gear.

We set off to explore another trail, 6S13 at nearby Thomas Mountain. The weather looked clearer, and Thomas is a fair 1000ft lower so it doesn't create the same weather effect. As it happens, that road is much better groomed as well, so aside from a few white-knuckle moments on the edge of a mountain road, my wife's nerves were much more calm. We found this lovely spot right around noon:

My daughter and I took a short hike, following an overgrown jeep trail that lead away from camp. After that, we spent the rest of the day just relaxing and reading. And of course, at 4pm the bar opened.

I fried up some salmon on the skottle, and steamed some broccoli and a pot of cous cous. Fire restrictions were in full effect due to the ongoing crazy drought, but my propane campfire is still kosher so we had a wonderful evening under a very bright moon.

I'm really enjoying just getting to use the van, rather than work on it so much. That said, there's still a couple of jobs left to do: Re-gearing is the next item, and sometime soon I'll need skidplates and a few other goodies too...

 

[jdreier]

Thanks for the updates. Your build has been a source of inspiration for my recent install of a aerostar chinook pop-top. I finished installing the top, now i'm onto how I want to redesign the interior.

 

[Herbie]

Thanks for the updates. Your build has been a source of inspiration for my recent install of a aerostar chinook pop-top. I finished installing the top, now i'm onto how I want to redesign the interior.

Been following along on IG. Got a thread here too?

 

[Corneilius]

:beer::beer:

 

[jdreier]

Been following along on IG. Got a thread here too?

Not yet. Been meaning to post one. I'm really bad at documenting my build. I'm usually so involved with a build, I hardly stop to take photos of the process. Which is pretty bad considering photography is my day job.

 

[tequilasunset]

Nice write up Herbie............. good on you to start enjoying it!

 

[GuyS]

Great story about converting an Astro van to a camper

Herbie

Great write up! I not only enjoyed the narrative, but the evolution of the engineering that was involved in the conversion of your van. You had successes and failures but used the failures to help you reach your goal...., making it better.