[Stu]

Anyone know anything about the Astro Vans? I have thought about getting one since I do a lot of trips.. Take out the back seats and put a bed back there in case I have to make any stops with the ladies. :naughty: How reliable are these vans?

 

[Dark Eternal]

we had like an 89 or something forever, put 160k miles on it with no major problems except had to replace the water pump I think. It was sold long before I could drive so I have no clue how it drove, not to mention it was an old model. I do know it held up damn good though, we arnt easy on vehicles at my house and it more than passed the test. It was replaced with a 98 fullsize van that has held up close to as good and has close to 100k miles on it now.

 

[Stu]

thats awesome! Ive even considered a fullsize van but I know they dont get that great of mpg..

 

[OrangeCrush]

my dads just got an 89 astro. 4.3L, gets 20mpg he says. We have done a lot to it in the 3 weeks hes had it, Wooden Panels on the interior waiting to be carpeted, carpeted teh floor. Hes lookin for a bench seat for the back now, hes got an mp3 player with 4X6's in teh doors and boxed 6X9s attached to the interior panels. Its lowered 3/3 or 3/4 something like that, and we just molded in a rollpan this weekend, hes got a billet grille for it too.

i think ive told you about it before stumeat, I'll post some pics shortly, i have no where to upload them to, my pc isnt online yet, and my parents one sucks:bawl:

 

[onyx]

is there alot of aftermarket for the astro's?

 

[OrangeCrush]

is there alot of aftermarket for the astro's?

suprisingly, yeah, most of the companies who make products for fullsize trucks, have similar products for vans

<<<Resident Van Expert:rotflmao:

 

[Blue02]

We had a 98 with the vortech v6 it really wasnt that slow. Me and my brothers abused that thing so bad we took it mudding and stuff. i say get one.

 

[ibrake4blondes]

My friend has a Safari (GMC version of the Astro) conversion van. It really rides nicely, gets good gas mileage, and has a decent amount of power. I think it's a year 2000 model. They haven't had any real big reliability issues. I say go for it!

 

[Whifflebat]

I read an article a while back that said they were really popular in japan...because they've got so much more power than the 4 bangers over there

 

[BuiltNotBought99]

I like astros personally atleast the ones with the 4.3lt my friend has one and it's lowered on 17s and it looks pretty good.

 

[03rado]

yep I was bout to say that built

 

[thecodeman]

I have a friend who has a custom painted and bagged astro on 18s, its pretty sweet

 

[Will]

i've got an astro... 170k miles on it. The paint looks like shit, but the car is still running strong. I get like 22mpg in it too. It keeps on chugging

 

[JJ]

i say get one thats fairly nice lookin and paint it black lower a little on some TT2's :rocking:

 

[Phil]

vans are awsome, id roll one if it was pimped out. theres this guy on my street who has a fullsize chevy van, its pimp. He has 17" rims, an aftermarket lower airdam and what i think is a gibson exhaust. he also has shades in the windows and katzskin two tone leather seats.

 

[nafortin]

I'm not into mini vans, but full size kick ass! We have had 2 astros a 93 sold with 150K on it with little major problems other than head gasket and tranny being replaced (mark 3 packwage was pretty sweat though). Now we have a 97 astro delivery van with no windows on the sides ... on 50k on it

I don't like driving them they feel to top heavy in corners to me. The 4.3 has power and the 4.3 ho has more, but I would much rather have a v8. Mechanical work on them is a PITA cause there is no room in the engine compartment and you have to pop out the cow to get to anything on the backside of the engine.

I have seen a couple of db drag astros and custom rides that look pretty sweet, but I still would rather have a FS.

Had a buddy that had a FS chevy van back in the day that was pretty sweet I labeled it a F*ck Truck for him.

 

[OrangeCrush]

my dads van has no windows, shits hott.

 

[Joakwin]

my parents has a 90 astro van with like 225k miles on it

stock motor, stock tranny, stock rearend

it has had little work put into, the tranny oil has only been changed like 2-3times and the filter one time
the motor has only had maybe 5-6 oil changes, also most of the time it has been ran low on oil, never changed the air filter aka stock

it has a small oil leak from the valve covers
its only had maybe 2-3 tune ups: ie. pugs, wires, cap and rotor
it has done alittle amount of towing on it, everything from my 1/2 ton to harleys in the back part, to my dj gear in the back also

my parents did a 12hour one way road trip with it when it had 210k miles
it just blew a head gasket not to long ago,
the starter went out one time, a few batteries and thats about it

it went thur4 teenagers learning how to drive with it
everything from burn outs to topping it out on the freeway
to off-roading

its been beat hard and it still runs good, my parents still will drive it even tho it needs a head gasket, the tranny slips when u give it more then 3/4 throttle
on the freeway it will get up to about 60mph no problem but then after that it takes a few miles to get up to 70-75mph
the motor doesn't miss but it doesn't have the balls like it did when it was new

my parents took it to a shop to get the head gasket done but the shop wanted to re-build the motor so they didn't get the motor done

its not daily drove anymore

 

[Will]

the bitch keeps on going and going. 170k miles on it, and it keeps going. Its replacement was bought about 70k miles ago. THe starter went out on it about 3 years ago, but thats the only failure its had.

 

[Dagolf06]

I remember the photoshops of that bad boy! :head: It actually looked pretty good