Astro Van (astro dragger)

Edited: 5/6/2009 8:20:52 PM by chamillion

Yo guys my buddy has a 1988 chevy astro van. He's wanting to bag it and lay frame on 22's. Thinking we're gonna do a 4 link in the back w/ boa (not sure yet).  Can someone give me a rundown on what we're gonna have to do in order to do this. Our main focus right now is the front and what size slams bags he'll need to get for for the front and back. Are we able to use stock arms ? If anyone can help we appreciate it alot.

the only frame it'll lay is the front crossmember, with drop spindles and stock arms you can lay on 18's. I have the slams that are like the 2600's (re7 i guess). If i had it to do over again i wouldve put a 2 link on mine just to save some floor

up front drop spindles maybe uppers and lowers if you dont want the balljoints to bind, tub the firewall, if your wanting it to just lay the frotn crossmember do the frontr first and rrear last if not it will sit up hill, if you want to lay body do the appropriate sized notch in the rear end and z the front subframe which is 10x as easy if you unbolt the front subframe from the van, you will also run into side door slider clearance problems

i lay 20's on stock arms and drop spindles, if you get a narrower rearend and get the rite off set you want have any sliding door issues. i have a 89 chevy 4x4 blazer rearend in mine and im inches away from my sliding track, you can lay it on 22" with stock arms but you have to modify them and i dont like to cut and weld on stocl arms, i didnt remove the subframe to Z it and mine dont sit up hill at all. i have pics on my profile and more on my computer and on my myspace http://www.myspace.com/tha1customizer you can put a re8 up front if you want 2 but it takes more cutting and bracing on the inside of them frame so they dont twist or bend. if you have any questions holla at me

So is it possible to run 22's in back w/out  narrowing the rear end?

you can run 22's in the rear but you can not use the factory rearend you have to find a narrower one like i did and you have to get the rite off set

if u dont wanna narrow the rear u may have to order billets with the right offset or if you can find a chrome wheel with a VERY HIGH OFFSET.its hard though.daniel and i looked high and low.those rear ends are wide as hell for what they are.

yea you can keep the sliding door track in there but if you shorten it past the track it looks like ass because the wheels are sucked up to narrow. didnt say you had to take the subframe off but it would be 10 times easier to do the frame work and reinforce it properly, also, i would imagine you could lay a 22 with stock arms if you cut and hack the hell out of the stock arm and the frame, but why when you could pay a couple hundred bucks for a set of  lower control arms and not have a frame thats hacked to hell.

so smith you saying my van looks like ass cause i changed the rearend so i wouldnt have to cut the sliding door track? and after you Z the subframe and put some plate back on the frame then you could take it out and do all the plate work you wanted to do and yes it would be easier that way. you can lay a 22" without hacking the frame, it depends on what tire size you were running but with a 30 series you shouldnt have to Z it anymore than 3 1/2 inches but granted you would have very little front door jam left and you can also cut a 1/2 inch on the bottom of the crossmember and that helps aslong as you replate it

i havent seen a shot of your van from the rear but i know on the one that we had to fix the rear ene was shortened so the track would work, and it looked like ass because it was so far underneath the body, gull wing the side door shave the track brought the wheel out and boom totally different truck