95 Chevy Astro Build

[M_a_t_t]

Been Lurking for awhile, did a few mods. Now I'm having fun Ecomodding and would like to share.
I probably won't do much A-B-A testing, but who knows maybe someday

From the beginning:

I bought a 1995 Astro van back in Early 2014, it had some problems, but I only paid $500. It was owned by an older couple who eventually stopped using it and gave it to their daughter. They didn't need it and wanted to sell it to someone who they thought would fix it and take good care of it. That was my Dad's coworker.

The rear brakes didn't work, the heater core leaked, passenger door handle was broke, and passenger tie rod was worn out.
I didn't have my license so I just slowly fixed it, myself, and now it's been a great vehicle. I've put about 6,000 miles on it so far

I finally got licensed and insured around 7/20/2015 and started driving. I wanted to do aeromods but I wasn't concerned and didn't think I knew what I was doing so I didn't, but slowly when excuses came I tried, again no testing but conversation piece right?

Ecomod #1:
I pulled the van into the garage to do an oil change. Changed oil went to back out of garage and didn't think about the mirror. Broke it so...

I did a mirror delete. Eventually I got tired of not being able to see and just got it fixed and put back on.

Ecomod #2:
PIZZA PANS! I went to the junkyard and only finding 2 center caps to hack I bought 2 15" pizza pans. I went with putting both on the front. One bolt in the center


The passenger side eventually un-threaded itself and flew off somewhere on the road I kept the one so I have a Pizza pan on one wheel. I plan on redoing it using the method Pletby did on his Civic. Its on the list

Ecomod #3:
Mpguino! I have peak and hold injectors so I had to do some research and after reading someones success story I bought it along with some plugs. Ending up costing total around $88. The Jaycar module is a DIY kit and requires soldering together. I had some noob problems and after getting some leads from Ecomodder I figured it out. I missed a solder point on the Jaycar Module. After getting that fixed I put it in but the how it wires into the injector can be different, it says so in the manual, So I am now sorting out all the problems and am almost done calibrating. My tank value is at 17 mpg which is pretty accurate since I only do city driving.



I built the box out some wood we had sitting in the garage. It's cut to fit the little "hill" not perfect but it does a good job securing it.

Ecomod #4:
E-fan conversion. Bought a dual fan kit off ebay for $265. It has a lifetime warranty so far its been fine but its only been on for about 2 months since installation. I made a shroud for it removing the stock shroud, it provides more engine working space for repairs and the improvement in mpg also. Only thing missing in this picture is the air filter. I plan on doing a warm air intake to make it not so in your face and hopefully for some mpg's




EcoMod #5:
Grille Block I just finished this today, I didn't want to go to far and overheat so I only blocked half the radiator area. I couldn't get a good picture of it to show how the grille was extra wide so even though it looks like more its just the width of the radiator that is left open. I couldn't get a detailed picture of behind the grille but....




I was going to spray paint it black but I don't have any black paint for now

I have another project in the works but I'll wait until its finished, or I need help haha, to post about it.
Happy Ecomodding, Matt.

[Joggernot]

For some reason I can't see any of the photos.

[M_a_t_t]

How about now?

[Joggernot]

Yep. Thanks!

[ChopStix]

If you block the top half of your grill like your picture shows, you are on the fast track to a fried HEI ignition module. There's not enough cooling in Astro van's engine cavity's for blocking the whole top half like that. There's numerous posts both on this forum and on the Astro forums about this distributor overheating problem. You would be wise to carry an extra module with you for when it dies. I run no grill block for this exact reason.

Also there's a temp sensor on most years located on the side of the radiator. I would advise against blocking it as well. Its claimed online that blocking it makes your engine run extra rich.

Hope this helps.

edit:

PS - Write down your vin and call a dealer as some years have recalls on the stock computers. Which on mine was a note worthy MPG gain.

[M_a_t_t]

I'll have to check out the computer recall for it.
The way you mentioned it would overheat the distributor makes it sound like a lower block would work fine? Or just ditch the whole thing?
The temp. sensor your referring to do you mean the ambient temp or a coolant temp sensor?
Thanks for the pointers by the way
Matt

[ChopStix]

Sorry for the delay in replying I was out of town.

I'll have to check out the computer recall for it.
The way you mentioned it would overheat the distributor makes it sound like a lower block would work fine? Or just ditch the whole thing?
I would avoid blocking the grill center all together, top and bottom. Though I plan to try blocking the grill sides vertically with a hole for the air temp sensor to still get air to it. The idea being to block the areas of the radiator support wall that are exposed to direct frontal air. But not blocking any of the radiator rows at all to still allow full air through the radiator. I hope this explanation makes sense.

When the HEI distributor module fails your truck is dead until you swap it out. Which to me sucks, considering its a van and you got to pull the inside engine cover to get to the distributor. This is why radiator air flow is important on this vehicle.

The temp. sensor your referring to do you mean the ambient temp or a coolant temp sensor? They call it an "air temp sensor" which is an ambient temp sensor. There's a lot of claims made about this sensor online. I choose to believe most claims are BS as GM would not have used the sensor unless they needed it for a reason. So any changes to it would hurt MPG or else they would not have spent millions by putting them on millions of these vans and S10's over the years. This forum is about MPG not HP or ET's. So we want all the fuel control we can get by keeping all our sensors reading properly.

[M_a_t_t]

I was thinking I would leave the sides on with the center/ radiator area open.

Not quite sure about the sensor you're referring to tho. I've read threads about new overhead consoles being installed and needing an ambient temp sensor. Is that what you're talking about? I looked where they said it would be and I didn't have one (not my picture)


I loaded up the van to take stuff to the scrap yard on Sunday. Was going to take it Monday (yesterday), but I was driving and I just start getting this awful noise from the van. At first I couldn't figure it out. I could tell it was a wheel problem and after investigation I found this:


Now I get to drive around with a bunch of stuff in the back until further notice .

[ChopStix]

I'll take/post a picture of it. Its suppose to rain tomorrow. So it might be a day or two before I can post it. But there's a hole stamped in the radiator support for it to get direct air flow. Its on the side of the radiator about half way down when you are looking between the grill and radiator support.


Sucks on your wheel bearing failure. I just replaced mine earlier this year. I had the inners fail which causes a funky vibration at interstate speeds. Which for the record I didn't know the inners could fail without the outers failing at the same time. But it happened.... I'm OCD about these things!

Back story, I had a ford pickup years ago that the passenger front wheel bearings failed while on the highway. It launched the wheel off leaving me to skid to a stop on 3 wheels from 65mph. A bit of a "pucker" moment!

[M_a_t_t]

Took scrap to scrapyard last friday. 400lbs of steel= $14. I ended up putting it towards gas and bought me a gar from Jimmy John's.
I got 20 (based on uncalibrated mpguino) on the way there and 22.5 on the way back!


I also got a little something special