the return of the illuminated chin!

for several years, I had bullet lights across the front spoiler that worked with the parking lights, and the outer bulbs on each side were tied into the turn signals.

the type of filament in these bulbs didn't stand up well to road use and they were constantly needing replacement.

about 13 years ago I had to swap my front bumper, so I had to remove all the lights and wiring, and never bothered to put it back after.

I couple of years ago I bought LED versions of the same lights and put them on my "to do list" for the van.

well, today was the day..  ran all new wiring, soldered and shrink tubed everything.. only to find it didn't quite work...

with the parking lights on, everything appeared the way I wanted... lights would blink with the signal, etc...  but if I turned the parking lights off, they didn't do anything.  testing with a regular bulb showed the circuit was doing what it was supposed to.

if I reverse the polarity on the LEDs, they work with the turn signals as long as the parking lights aren't on.. but didn't work at all with the parking lights.

ok.. conundrum time..

I solved the problem by adding a relay on each side..

the pulse from the turn signal/parking light trips the relay, which then feeds 12VDC to the LEDS from the battery, so it's always the correct polarity.

now they work as turn signals if the parking lights are on or off.

I did have two bulbs that didn't work at all, so I used the old filament bulbs till I get the LED replacements in the mail.

lighting up the night.

one of the things I never liked about my astro was the headlights.
they were just standard sealed beam lights, but no matter what brand I tried, I was never satisfied with the amount of light and road coverage.

In 2003 I bought and installed some APC crystal clear lamps that used H4 bulbs.

these looked fantastic and the light coverage on the road at night was 10 times better.

flash forward 14 years..  one of them has yellowed horribly over time, while the other still looks bright white/silver.  the difference between the two really bugged me.

I had looked for another set, but APC parts like these seem to have all dried up.
I tried a couple of different things off of ebay... glass lenses, guaranteed not to yellow... well, the glass didn't, but the plastic chrome reflector inside it did..  and I would put the APCs back in.

I have had a set in a box out in the garage for some time, and finally decided to give them a go, so I installed them yesterday.
they have the LED surrounds on the sides of the lamp, I tied these into my marker lights/turn signals, so they will come on with the parking light, and flash with the signal.

hopefully they won't yellow over time, at least not quickly.

maybe next time I will go with LED headlights.

Spring Cleaning

the astro didn't see a lot of road time last summer.

for the first time ever, I didn't drive it to the nats.. didn't have enough time off from work to drive there and back again, so I rode down with a friend and flew home.

This spring I decided I needed to invest a little time and money into it...

installed a new battery, old one eas 6 years old.

swapped out my rear wheels from 15x8 to 15x10, something I have been wanting to do for years.
I kept the same size tire though, 275/60/

now the tires look right, and fill out the rear wheel wells nicely.

Also upgraded the shocks... I had Tokicos that I had installed 15 years ago, I went with Bilstein this time

I still need to change the spark plugs.. anyone with an astro knows this is a pain, add to that the fact I have headers, it's even more a challenge.  hoping to get that done, as well as a few other much overdue tune-up items soon.

One thing leads to another...

2 weeks ago I swapped out my 15 year old shocks and installed Bilsteins.
I also did my oil change (amsoil) and installed my new 15x10 rear wheels, still running 275/60 tires.

Friday I took the ghost out for it's first official outing, and I discovered that the driver's side door wouldn't unlock, so I put that on my list of things to fix for Saturday.

Saturday comes, I get the door apart, and after a bit of checking, I realize the lock/latch just needs a little lubricant, and it's good as new.

I figured, while I have the doors apart, I should do more troubleshooting on the passenger side power window.  I can open/close it from the driver's side, but not the passenger side. I changed both switches last year because of this with no change in how it was working.  After quite a bit of testing, I'm pretty certain the replacement passenger switch is bad, so I ordered another.

Next, I figure since the panels are off, I should really replace the window sweeps/seals.  (you can use s10/Jimmy sweeps, just have to trim them about 1/8")

Now I really go nuts.... I decide to change the spark plugs.
Anyone with an astro knows this is a pain.  Add to the equation the fact I have headers, it's a royal pain in the ass.  I also replaced the hei module while I was at it.

Since I'm already under the van, I might as well change the transmission filter... Only been 15 years since it was last done. The pan wasn't as dirty as it was the last time, that is a good sign. New filter and 2 gallons of amsoil ATF and I'm back in business.

And lastly, I installed new LED taillights.

Took it out for a 40 mile drive, so far so good!

I had hoped to also drain the rear end and put in new lube, but ran out of time for the day.   That is easy enough that I can do it after work some day this week.

I also need to fix my fog lights, and several other little things still.
It's never ending.

a place to lay my head..

The first bed I put in my van was built like a couch, it went along the driver side wall, you could open it for storage, and oddly enough.. my couch cushions fit it perfectly.

when I ended up putting in sub woofers, I rebuilt the bed to go across the back of the van to hide them, and it looked a lot more symmetrical to me, and that's the way it stayed for the past 17(ish) years.
it was a little cramped, but I could sleep in there if l lay diagonal across it. I liked it because it was always setup, had a foam mattress, never had to mess with it when I got to an event.


I have found that in recent years, trying to spend a week sleeping in there at the nats was getting a little tough, and after last year with m fiancee in there, I needed to make a change.

I have had a couple of ideas, so today I spent some time in the garage with some power tools and a sheet of plywood.
the bed platform looks about the same as before (I built over the existing bed), but I can now pull it out and it extends to the back of the front seats. it's big enough for a full size mattress, but that's not practical to leave like that all the time, so from now on it's an inflatable mattress.  the bed will take a little to setup now, but will be a lot more comfortable.

I need to get some more black carpet to cover the plywood, and some trim to dress it out a little.  Will see how well this works at LOST ad the Nats.


pics are kinda crappy, hard to shoot inside the van.

new tech for old lights

Several years ago I swapped out my cab visor from a lighted Lund, to one from Hank @customfiberglass in CT.
I missed having the lights on it, I think they help give the van shape at night, so I shopped around and found some APC flush mount marker lights that looked great! It didn't take long for me to discover they had some flaws however... the 197 bulbs would melt the housings (making it impossible to get the bulb out if it blows) and discolor the lenses.

I had been shopping around for similar marker lights that used LEDS (the original style is no longer made) and had not been able to find anything to my liking. Recently I spotted 2 sets of them on eBay, and snagged them both, and picked up some LED bulbs to put in them. hopefully these last longer and won't cause the melting.

 I took an afternoon and swapped them out recently.

the old ones were pretty trashed.

I had to clean these up.

nice and shiny!

all lit up... but there is more to come.

this lighting project isn't over.. anyone who remembers my van, knows there were a lot more lights on the front, and they are coming back.



UPDATE 5/2017:
the LEDs didn't hold up, and I had to replace them.  I found a different bulb that seems to be better built and sealed up against the elements, and is WAY brighter.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0Y4LTA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

they are just short enough (2cm) to fit in my cap lights and allow me to snap the covers back on.
instead of just the center lighting up like in the picture above, the whole lens lights up now.

we shall see how they hold up after a couple of years.

the other issue I noticed was one of the marker lights and broken around where the rivet was holding it to the visor. I didn't have any more bases to replace it with, but luckily found some on ebay.. I made sure to order extras for future spares.

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