Someone has scabbed together a McPherson strut front suspension that was not that great, but the wheels were located correctly fore and aft. We measured from the body mounts (under the cab) forward to the center of the spindle, and cut the the front clip accordingly. The truck frame was way narrower than the van, so we had to leave it long and cut it at an angle. Also the truck frame kicked up at the firewall, so we had to cut a long skinny triangle out of the side of the frame rail near the top in order to make it match the van clip. After tacking the Astro van suspension onto the truck frame, the boys then made some doubler plates/fish plates to beef up the splice. Many thanks to Bob Pease for the Astro van clip. I will get the wheels to you ASAP, Bob I promise!!

The springs on the Astro van are way too stiff, so it may require airbags on the front. Oh darn. Then we can put it down into the weeds if we want. We have pretty much decided on a Y-block engine with an old cast iron T-10 four speed that was under my pile of treasures. I do need a shifter for it if someone has one, let me know! Also I saw Red's Headers has some cool looking headers for 225 bucks that go outside the frame rails on a truck. They would be perfect for this one.

This is a shot underneath to show how the van clip is attached to the body mounts.











This shows the doublers that go from the truck frame rail to the astro van clip. We wanted to make sure that it is plenty strong, nothing would be more embarrassing than the welding class truck project, snap in half the first time it encounters the evil speed bump.









So here it is with the front tilt nose sheet metal set back onto the new frame. We have to design the hinges to make this part work, but it is coming together. I need to research an airbag rear end now too...