Grumpy the Astro van - One man's delusions, a love story.
- Thread starter ihatemybike
- Start date
ihatemybike
Explorer
Made it to Harrisonburg, VA for Rally Night 0. First tank netted 20 mpg for mostly highway driving, second tank netted 17.6 mpg for twisty two lanes. Made it to Harrisonburg, VA for Rally Night 0.
The E rated tires are definitely helping this thing handle the curves, I've found 10 mph over the yellow speed warning signs is comfortable, 15 over and my dad grabs the oh-crap handles. Had some fun chasing an Evo down a 7 mile stretch.
There are some rather crap cars here for the rally. I'll post pics when the rally is over, but this is too good to wait.
Team members state it gets 9 mpg, tops out at 50 mph, is burning 2 quarts of oil every 30 miles and they currently have to tilt the cab to add more oil. They'll go through over 12 gallons of oil before the hit New Orleans, but their rally truck is so awesome it's worth it.
The E rated tires are definitely helping this thing handle the curves, I've found 10 mph over the yellow speed warning signs is comfortable, 15 over and my dad grabs the oh-crap handles. Had some fun chasing an Evo down a 7 mile stretch.
There are some rather crap cars here for the rally. I'll post pics when the rally is over, but this is too good to wait.
Team members state it gets 9 mpg, tops out at 50 mph, is burning 2 quarts of oil every 30 miles and they currently have to tilt the cab to add more oil. They'll go through over 12 gallons of oil before the hit New Orleans, but their rally truck is so awesome it's worth it.
ihatemybike
Explorer
I do dumb things.
For four years Grumpy has sat parked sideways in the driveway, front suspension torn apart, transmission pan slowly leaking, radiator leaking. Hadn't bother to start it in about 3 and a half years.
Its battery had originally been sitting on a maintenance charger in the garage, but somewhere along the way it was disconnected. Probably hadn't been connected to anything for 3 years. While playing with other things in the garage, I hooked it back up to the charger on a whim. Next day I unhooked it, let it sit for an hour or so, then tested the voltage. It held charge.
This led to me stuffing it back into Grumpy and checking the fluids. Oil, good. Trans, still on the dipstick. Coolant, meh. Turned the key to on, dash lit up, fuel pump whirled. Fuel gauge shows almost full. Turn to ignition, starter did absolutely nothing. Pull the starter out, test it, nothing. Ordered the cheapest starter I could get off eBay.
Attempted to turn the engine by hand while the starter is out, could not get it to budge. Pulled the plugs (extremely easy to access with the 2" lift on the van), try to rotate the engine again and it moves. Not the easiest, but it moves and I don't hear anything interesting while doing so.
Install the new starter. With the plugs still out, hit the ignition switch, motor spins nicely. Install fresh plugs. Hit the ignition. It takes a couple seconds till a rumble starts and then it catches. The engine is running and doing so on four year old gas! A horrendous squealing has filled the air though, I knew immediately that an accessory or pulley isn't happy with the re-awaking.
Pull the air box, fan, and serpentine belt, then start rotating the accessories. First one I laid my hand on did not move at all, the alternator. Continued checking the rest. Idler pulley, AC bypass pulley, tensioner pulley, water pump, power steering pump, they all spin fine. Hoping the alternator isn't dead, I attempt to rotate it using a wrench and whatever was holding it easily breaks free. It does sound a little gritty, so while rotating it by hand, I blow compressed air through it. Much better sounding afterwards.
Put everything back together and fire up the engine again. Sounds like a pretty normal GM 4.3L V6.
Rock and Roll!
I'm now planning on putting Grumpy back on the road, foolish as that is.
Major items that need to be addressed:
Upped and lower control arms, replace with new.
Cracked radiator, I have two good radiators laying around, a stock used and a new one with a thicker core than stock.
Radiator core support rusted terribly, hardest thing for me to do, but I do have a good one in the garage to use.
For four years Grumpy has sat parked sideways in the driveway, front suspension torn apart, transmission pan slowly leaking, radiator leaking. Hadn't bother to start it in about 3 and a half years.
Its battery had originally been sitting on a maintenance charger in the garage, but somewhere along the way it was disconnected. Probably hadn't been connected to anything for 3 years. While playing with other things in the garage, I hooked it back up to the charger on a whim. Next day I unhooked it, let it sit for an hour or so, then tested the voltage. It held charge.
This led to me stuffing it back into Grumpy and checking the fluids. Oil, good. Trans, still on the dipstick. Coolant, meh. Turned the key to on, dash lit up, fuel pump whirled. Fuel gauge shows almost full. Turn to ignition, starter did absolutely nothing. Pull the starter out, test it, nothing. Ordered the cheapest starter I could get off eBay.
Attempted to turn the engine by hand while the starter is out, could not get it to budge. Pulled the plugs (extremely easy to access with the 2" lift on the van), try to rotate the engine again and it moves. Not the easiest, but it moves and I don't hear anything interesting while doing so.
Install the new starter. With the plugs still out, hit the ignition switch, motor spins nicely. Install fresh plugs. Hit the ignition. It takes a couple seconds till a rumble starts and then it catches. The engine is running and doing so on four year old gas! A horrendous squealing has filled the air though, I knew immediately that an accessory or pulley isn't happy with the re-awaking.
Pull the air box, fan, and serpentine belt, then start rotating the accessories. First one I laid my hand on did not move at all, the alternator. Continued checking the rest. Idler pulley, AC bypass pulley, tensioner pulley, water pump, power steering pump, they all spin fine. Hoping the alternator isn't dead, I attempt to rotate it using a wrench and whatever was holding it easily breaks free. It does sound a little gritty, so while rotating it by hand, I blow compressed air through it. Much better sounding afterwards.
Put everything back together and fire up the engine again. Sounds like a pretty normal GM 4.3L V6.
Rock and Roll!
I'm now planning on putting Grumpy back on the road, foolish as that is.
Major items that need to be addressed:
Upped and lower control arms, replace with new.
Cracked radiator, I have two good radiators laying around, a stock used and a new one with a thicker core than stock.
Radiator core support rusted terribly, hardest thing for me to do, but I do have a good one in the garage to use.
