Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Strutting my Stuff

so... many many moons, and more than a few brain cells ago, the sliding door fell off my van.
In a  flash of inspiration, I hinged it and poof! instant gull wing!  Sadly, it was held open with a big stick... and after 15(?) years of not knowing how to weld or being able to get anyone to weld on the cheap metal in the Astro.. my friend Matchstick from customvanner.com hooked me up!  He had just done this to his own Astro and had it all figured out.  He sent me a purchase order, I bought the parts, brought it all with me to the van nationals, and he took an hour and welded it all in for me!

Parts - https://www.customvanner.com/product-page/gullwing-kit





















5 comments:

  1. Very cool, do you know if it has been done successfully with a window door?

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    1. yes, my first door was a window door, it's done the same way

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  2. What type of hinge did you use?
    what is the length and capacity of the gas strut?

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    1. I used two pieces of piano hinge from the local hardware store... the edge is straight, so you can use one long piece across the entire top of the door (which I may do at some point) - I'll have to find the info on the struts.

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    2. this is the kit I used,
      https://www.customvanner.com/product-page/gullwing-kit

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