lol, well I sourced that subframe before you did your whole strip party, and while you were doing it, I did see some pics of nice looking vans, but with your time crunch, and it being impractical for me to get down there for months and months, I went with the repaired subframe I have. Didn't even bring it up at the time.

Ive been sitting on a lot of these parts for 2ish years waiting out the EPA.

This clutch pedal situation got a little more complex. Turns out that the stock pedal of this type comes with a torsion spring to keep the pedal at full height, and a stop where the pedal will sit under tension.

so rummaging around, I managed to find this big torsion spring, which originally was for a Mk2 VW brake pedal. I played with the spring rate by rebending the hooks to look like this-



So that it would actually catch on the pedal, I notched it up high-



I then notched the pivot piece I made to get the other side of the spring, here it is installed on the pivot/pedal, rest position for the pedal is approx level with the pivot piece now-



Now that the spring was installed, I welded in the pivot piece permanently, you can see here how the rest position of the spring kicks the pedal up quite far. Welds are a bit ugly, but plenty strong.-



next I made a little stop for the interim until I rig up a neutral safety switch. This is made again from a mk2 VW part, its actually a clutch lever bushing for a cable clutch, which works well enough as the interim stop-




Now apart from cleaning and painting the weld areas and bare metal, I have a working spring loaded clutch pedal with a stop finally!

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I found this Astro van Diesel swap on another Forum. Different type Diesel engine. member there is a member here under a different name.

Might be something of interest here.

NissanDiesel :: View topic - Astro Van with LD28

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Awesome! Thanks charlie. I had heard about that swap but had never found a thread on it. Definitely loads of useful info

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I understand your love for the Astro. My mom bought hers brand new in 1996 from a now closed Chevy dealer in Miami (while I was still in High School it was my car to borrow before I bought my Bronco) and it is STILL her daily driver. That car has been from Key West to Maine and out to Yellowstone. Last time I drove it which was about 2 years ago now it had about 350k miles on it. Still runs pretty good too.

Yes, that's me who did the swap. I still own it and love it. Get up to 26MPG. Average is about 24 MPG.

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Current Fleet:
'84 MB 190D 2.2L 5-Speed MT (Project)
'85 Astro Van powered by Nissan LD28 Inline 6 Diesel
Past rides:
'65 MB 190Dc fathers car maintained & driven by me
'66 MB L319
'59 MB 219
'58 MB 180D

what you did with reversing the oil pickup, genius in its simplicity!
I wish the 616 had an as easily modifiable pickup like that, would have resolved a host if issues with the steering ive been playing with.

awesome build.
looks like that 85 astro started out with a clutch, at least I see the master in one of the pics, did you have to install the pedal assembly, or did the iron duke have the factory manual?

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

No, i did not have a clutch pedal but it had the pivot piece All I had to do was to get the pedal. Luckily I could find an Astro with MT in the YJ.
Also the cut-out for the clutch master cylinder was also missing. I had to do the cutout myself like you did. I read that Chevy built only 4800 Astro's with MT until 1987.

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Current Fleet:
'84 MB 190D 2.2L 5-Speed MT (Project)
'85 Astro Van powered by Nissan LD28 Inline 6 Diesel
Past rides:
'65 MB 190Dc fathers car maintained & driven by me
'66 MB L319
'59 MB 219
'58 MB 180D

did you use the nissan slave and the GM master? How did you resolve the hydraulic issue?

The fact that your van is up and running has lit a fire under me to get this done, I should have both motor mounts done today and can finally mate the subframe back to the body at least by this weekend. I want to drive it!

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

two parter update, bunch of new pics.

Here are the finished position wise motor mounts. (later once Im satisfied with them, Ill take them off, do some finish grinding/welding if needed, and powdercoat them, and the driver side still needs an engine shock). So after waffling deliberation, I decided to go with the GM mounts because they are so much easier to remove, especially with the engine being in a van body and accessibility maybe being an issue for something like the mounts.

here is how the driver side turned out-




passenger-




The engine now sits with excellent clearance over the steering control arms. I have a high lift overland vans steering column connector coming which will compensate for the big lift on this subframe. To bring you guys up to speed, in order to fit the engine under the hatch and remove the valve cover, I did a 3.5 inch pipe lift on this subframe, which dropped the front suspension down that far to give the engine better above clearance.



a lock to lock test of that engine height looked good for steering interference. Though I did discover what looks like a bind issue with the tire hitting my aftermarket replacement sway bar, that might be a problem later. The bend is different than the OEM swaybar




I found a use for those pallet jack wheels I had lying around (originally was going to use them to space the subframe, but just too dangerous for something like that), they make excellent transmission mount spacers-

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

part 2-

time to reattach subframe to unibody and see how all this measuring and tweaking fits on the van-



lowering, the stock MB fuel filter head location had to be removed to fit-



mated, the only interference are these brake lines luckily! If the engine went any higher, id have some issues with the MB power steering pump hitting the GM brake booster



From the inside, everything lines up nicely, the stick handle is just a tiny bit to the rear, but still came right up to position. The engine will definitely fit under the hatch without issue, and it looks like I should have no major problem removing the injection pump if I need to. The access actually seems better than in the 240 in some areas-



On the passenger side, looks like there should be just room for a turbo, there is actually a little more room than this picture suggests, but exhaust clearance might be interesting here. I have to look into the fitting here soon-



Up front I can use either the GM or MB radiators, actually both are very new. Lots of room up here fortunately. (angle appears weird, but the actual pic is on a tilt)



above, this is the valve cover clearance available-



there is just room to get the cover off! Huge hurdle jumped with this development. It has to be pulled into the passenger cabin to clear the front, but it comes out without too much difficulty, so i will have to remember that when im routing lines later-





On the subframe, I had some concerns since this was a rusty subframe originally out of a later van, I was worried it might not fit right. Fortunately 5 out of 6 bolts fit perfect. One is totally off, by maybe 3/4 of an inch. I also stripped the thread on that nut as well (I had threaded it first a little, and once the others were in, that bolt got so jammed it ripped out the threads)
Fortunately for me, its just about the best place for this problem with plenty of access. God forbid it was a center bolt. My plan is to open up the unibody above, drill up through the body using the bushing as a guide where it actually sits, and weld in a new nut in this new position, then close up the unibody.




and after all that, here is the tradeoff in body height-



Thats a bit too high, after I get it running, ill be looking to drop it about 2 inches. Right now it looks preposterous, with the rear dragging, and the front reaching for the sky

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Looking good - I quite like that height actually.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

lol, well I could get some beefy tires and be one of those guys with a barely driveable in the winter mock 4x4.

I really need to get a pic from the side outside (can't get far enough away in this shop) to show the difference in front and rear.

This particular van has fiberglass rear leaf springs which are showing their age. My plan is once done with the engine, do a 2 inch lift in the rear with replacement steel springs, and drop the front by 2, which will give me a nice nose barely perceptable nose down rake.

This was the original stock ride height on worn out front springs (before paint and being hit again !@#$%). I found it a little low, but I did like the way the body sat, a little higher to the rear-

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I think you could be missing out on that "useless in the snow" look.

I'd be tempted to go a bit Scooby Doo



Combined with fast 'n' loud



But then despite my age - given half a chance I'd be a hooligan.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

lol, well eventually this will be commercial plated and company lettered, so my goal is nondescript boring old gen 1 work astro. This way it blends in and I can go about my business without undue attention on the vehicle. The plan is it doesn't stand out apart from audibly, and for that I would love an angry buzz.
Here is the donor engine running before I pulled it from the car in the video for rust and accident reasons. It was straight piped and I like the note-

1980 MB 240D straight pipe - YouTube

so Im definitely going with the stock astro radiator. the vane part not including side tanks is 42.75 cubic inches, over the MB stock 38.25 CI without top/bottom tanks, so its actually larger even though its thinner, and the inlet and outlets are on the same sides to boot, conveniently. That knocks the whole radiator mounting issue on its head.

Three primary systems need to be resolved before the test start. Cooling, oiling, and clutch hydraulics

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I too had the Astro bug, and enjoyed being bitten. I bought an '88, and then a '99. Both blue, and both new from the dealer. The '88 was wrecked (rollover), and I gave the '99 to my brother with a bad trans. He fixed the trans and then sold it. As far as I know, it's still on the road (was sold AFTER the Cash for Clunkers was over). They are great vehicles, and I would have one again if it was a Diesel. Someone ought to put a Diesel in one, That would be cool!

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All Diesel Fleet
1985 R107 300SLD TURBODIESEL
2005 E320 CDI (daily)

LOTS of parts for sale!


EGR block kit
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/355250-sale-egr-delete-block-off-plate-kit.html

1985 CA emissions 617 owners- You Need This!
Sanden style A/C Compressor Mounting Kit for your 616/ 617 For Sale + Install Inst.

Sanden Instalation Guide (post 11):
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/367883-sanden-retrofit-installation-guide.html