Cutting Corners.. revisited

instead of adding these comments as edits to the original post, I decided to just start a new post.

I was given a full refund on the original door that I ordered and (bonus!) got to keep the door! so if anyone with a later model Astro/Safari wants a chrome fuel door cover, make me an offer! lol

Now, the other one I found at MnMmotorsports.com that looked correct, wasn't.... this is the pic they showed,

but the one I received was just like the other one, with the corner cut off.  urrrg.... So I have sent them an email explaining that what they sold me isn't the same as what they were advertising and that I want a full refund, including the shipping... so again.. we wait.  seeing as there as no "contact us" info on their website, and the paypal address was an AOL address... I'm guessing I won't be hearing back from them.  I'll give them till the end of the business day Friday before filing a claim with paypal.

booted

The rubber "boot" that covers the bottom of my shifter in the van has been in rough shape for a while.. dry rot set in ages ago.

Last week on a whim I decided to see if they actually sold replacement boots for it, and imagine that, they do!

so I ordered one from Amazon (love that site) and it arrived today, and I installed it.  Most people probably wouldn't even notice the difference, but I do, and that's all that matters.

As the Music fades....

the current head unit on my van stereo a Kenwood Excelon Z828, has been in service for 9 years and has been a kick ass stereo.  It has some issues that have developed over time due to age and wear, the latch that holds the detachable face plate in place is broken, and you have to jury rig it every time, and every now and again the face plate fails to work.. won't display anything, can't turn it on, etc.. usually re-seating it fixes it.
it hasn't done this to me in a while, but decided to start acting up again this week.  Minor annoyance, but something I want to get resolved.  I really don't want to have to buy a new head unit, this one does everything I need and I like it (that and I finally broke down and bought the direct Ipod control unit for it).
I'm hoping this one keeps working through the winter to give me time to save up some money.

I'm currently considering a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X995 (yes, I like Kenwood Excelon units!)
it's a good price, has all the features I want, and looks nice.. and maybe by spring time it will have an even better price!



EDIT... I tore the dash apart this afernoon... had a bad ground wire on the stereo. soldered it back together and it all works...

imagine that.. lol

cutting corners....

I see trucks all the time with the chrome fuel door covers, and always thought that would look kinda cool on my van.  I haven't seen a lot of Astros with them.  

The other day I was poking around on eBay for random van stuff, and to my surprise, there is a chrome fuel door listed, and the info says it will fit my van, great!  I buy it.

Today, my shiny new piece of van bling shows up, and I notice something as soon as I open it... it isn't for my year van.  it is for the 95 up models.  From 85-94, the fuel door was released via a cable by your feet in the van.  Over time GMC discovered these cables break, and you can't get the fuel door open, so they cut the corner off and removed the cable so you just had to flip it open by hand.  If you look in this picture, you can see that the corner is cut, but still see my fuel door under it... minor detail to some people, but I'm a little OCD about things like that, and that is enough of a detail to bug me... so I probably won't be using this piece of bling on the van.

The people that sold it had no idea there was any difference in the fuel doors, and said no one has ever said anything to them.  They asked me for pics.. hopefully they can come up with the correct one, or refund me.
I'll keep you posted!

EDIT 1 - still waiting for them to figure out what they are doing, but in the mean time I found one that was the correct shape in the picture, ordered it, hope it is correct!

What's in a name?

Many vanners name their vans... mine has gone through a couple.

When I first bought it, my first vanity plate for it was KAOTIC.. I had a thing for chaos and thought the van was perfect for that.  I had mulled over several names, never coming up with one I really liked.. I almost went with "Dark Passions".. (you can actually still see where I had written that on the paint on the rear window) -but that plan ended up on the back burner when a strange turn events gave the van it's own name.

At one point, many moons ago, I was a step-dad, and one day at a fair, I won this little alien doll in a black robe, which ended up riding shotgun in the van.  So along comes the next show, and I leave the doll on the seat.
The next thing I know, I start finding more alien stuff in the van, or being given to me... and combined with the comments I heard about my van looking like a spaceship when all my lights were on.. AREA 51 became the name/theme.  That plate was already taken, so I went with UFOVAN. I ran with that plate and theme for several years.
now comes the monkey wrench in my vannin life... I got laid off.
When this happened I moved to Maine, and got the plate VANNIN, and then the van sat for a year.
Over the next several years, I wasn't able to attend many events, and was basically concerned with just keeping the van running. I ended up removing a lot of my lights, as I couldn't afford to replace them all, the van became "a van" again... and it wasn't seen a whole lot... becoming the ghost of what it was.  As time went on and I wasn't showing it, I decided to retire the whole alien theme.  The past couple of years I have settled on calling it "the Grey Ghost", as it has been in primer since 1996.
I figure until I paint it, this will be it's name, and I think it is a fitting name.

Once I paint it.. I'll have to give the van time to name itself again.

Who knows.. maybe I will paint it grey?

where were you when the lights went out?

so.. this van has been the best vehicle I have ever owned.. only had to have it towed home once, and that was due to a short and running out of fuses before I figured out the problem!

well, on the way home from the van nats this summer I was bragging about just how great it has been to me.
I should have kept my mouth shut.
after driving 1800 miles round trip, I'm 20 miles from home, it's 10:30 at night... and I suddenly realize I have no dash/tail lights...

GREAT!  I can't figure out what is going on, I have been driving for 14 hours, I'm tired.. I want to go home.
I run with it.. I ride the brakes enough to trigger the brake lights and just keep going.
it worked, because the state trooper that past me shortly thereafter didn't bat an eye.

The next day, after a good nights sleep, I go look, blown fuse. easy enough, I replace it, everything works.
job well done.

A week later, I drive it to a friends house, and when I leave, (after dark) I get a mile away and POP! fuse goes.
and every fuse I tried immediately popped as well. so.. again with the brake lights for the 13 miles home.

the next day I start tearing into the wiring, and am able to trace the short to the back of the van, and then it stops blowing the fuse.  I figure it must have been something lose, and all the jiggling of wires resolved it... as I wasn't able to get it to short again after that.  I drove the van for a week with no shorts (talking about the wiring, I was wearing shorts you perv).. I'm thinking I'm all set and start putting things back together.

3 days before I am supposed to drive to Connecticut, the fuse starts popping again. Thankfully I had a slow day at work and was able to really tear into the wiring, and was finally able to trace the short to its cause.
when I had the plate box removed from the rear door, they just left the wire for the plate light hanging in the door, and after 15(?) years it finally chafed through and was shorting... got rid of that entire run or wire and presto! no more shorting out.

since I had torn the wiring apart so much, I figured this was a good time to do a little clean up and change a few things around.  I added a dedicated accessory fuse box to the rear batteries, and started moving all the toys in the van from the main battery to that. Stereo, lights, etc.  I also cleaned up all the wiring in around the rear doors that was such a disaster for years and got it all put in a loom and wire tied and secured.  I'm actually not embarrassed to have the rear doors open any more!

this past weekend I ran lights and fans all weekend and had no issues with power, and the starting battery was 100% the entire time.

I still have a lot of wiring cleanup to do.. next part will be the wiring in the overhead console... then under the dash.. and then under the hood.. but as do these in this order, it will make each next step a little easier.

something old, something new...

While I was at the nats, I acquired a new hood!  so the old hood with the scoop on it has been retired to the parts bin in the basement, and the van is now sporting a new (old) louvered hood.. took me a little to get used it after having the hood scoop for 10plus years....

and this past weekend, at Super Somer in CT, I picked up a chrome stealth grill.  These pics don't do it justice.. it was quite the change after the van having the original grill for 21 years... but the more I look at this, the more I like it!

I also picked up a set of dutch doors to replace the barn doors on the back.. I need a bit more hardware before tackling this project.

I have been trying to find a solid, no window slider to complete my gull wing with, and finally found one.. but it is a 20 hour round trip to get... trying to work out the logistics of meeting it's current curator at a van run somewhere, or getting someone else to vanner express it for me.

there will be some major changes going on over the next year if I can get these new parts all installed!  I can't wait!