Super Blue

[gringoloco]

Nice pieces and super clean work!

[thor]

Those aluminum spacers you used look like the tubular nut/screws that we use to secure our plan sets together at work.

[Portmod7]

Originally Posted by BucksSS

Waytek is a good source, n2billet turned me onto them. Next time I do a LS swap I am going to load up an orderf rom them. The relay/fuse block is what i was asking about, glad you knew what I was thinking!

Ha ha, the electrical terminology drove me NUTS when I was looking for all this stuff. I still don't know if what I'm calling all of it is right

Originally Posted by NewType72

Awesome job brother I tackled my steering column the other night and I must say even for plug and play wiring is such a pain it took me forever. Anyway I always love having updates on your truck keep at it!
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You can say that again... It's not my favorite thing, but it's still higher on my list of "things I like to do" than rust repair and body work. Lol

Originally Posted by gringoloco

Nice pieces and super clean work!

Thank you sir!

Originally Posted by thor

Those aluminum spacers you used look like the tubular nut/screws that we use to secure our plan sets together at work.

I love the "Hard to Find" drawers at places like Home Depot and Lowes... I just happened to come across the "well nuts" (the rubber pieces) and the aluminum spacer tubes and thought "you know, those would be handy for mounting things blind. I used the same thing to mount my ignition coil to the firewall. Turned out pretty sweet!

[Portmod7]

Made a little progress this last weekend. It seemed like 1.5 steps forward, and 1 step back all weekend long.

Out of all my brake lines, I had one connection that leaked, which meant building a new section of line because one of the flares was bad. It was only about 10" long, and right at the LF flex line connection, so not hard to get to. But I ended up making it twice trying to get a flare I had confidence in. My problem is when I prep the end of the line to flare it, I still haven't perfected the deburring after the cut.

I then moved to installing my gears. I got them in the housing, bolted up, ready to go. Well, there are some seal housings with seals that fit in the ends of the axle tubes inside the pumpkin. I went to slide my driver's side axle in and the seal fell out of the housing into the pumpkin. So I had to pull the gears again, and put the seal back in. But, in the end, got my rear end all put together, sealed up, and full of oil. Also got a yoke put on my driveshaft, and got the driveshaft installed.

I had an oil leak somewhere near the timing cover and oil pan junction. So I dropped the pan to investigate, and ruined the pan gasket that was brand new and installed shortly before I put the motor in the truck. Had to scramble around town to find the correct gasket, which I found at the local Chevy dealer. It was $71 dollars before they let me out the door with it... OUCH. Put it all back togeter, leaked as soon as I started putting oil back in it... Sigh. I had used plenty of "The Right Stuff" RTV on it, so I figured it had to be an anomaly with my timing cover. So I pulled the timing cover off, luckily without having to drop the pan again. What I found is that I did not get any silicone where the timing cover seal and the pan gasket do not seal. I put some sealant in that area, got the timing cover back on without dropping the pan, and confirmed last night that I fixed my oil leak. Victory!

Last night I swapped out the shocks that came with my Hotchkis kit for some KYB's, Gas-A-Just's. The ones that came from Hotchkis for the rear were too long. They will work if you got some of the drop from a block, but not for an all-spring 6" drop. I notified Hotchkis of this, not only did they seem to not care, but they weren't interested in helping me find a solution. I also had issues with the trailing arm mounting brackets they send with the kit, they didn't want to hear about that either. I am really disappointed with my Hotchkis experience, which is too bad because their control arms are a work of art, as are many components of the kit. I will have a hard time spending money with them, or advising anyone else to spend money with them in the future. For what their kit costs, it should be right or they should at least care to make it right, but it wasn't right on my truck.

The only issue with the KYB's for the rear is I had to get a SAAB shock to get the correct length (recommended by KYB). So the mounting eyes weren't quite right, and I had to use a little ingenuity to get them mounted up.

It's getting REAL close to test drive time. I need to get the front end aligned, cowel panel on, and bumpers on, that's basically all that's holding me back. I MIGHT get it on the road this weekend, we'll see how that goes.

[NewType72]

Holy update batman great work on running down the issues with the leaks wish I could do the same but maybe a new crate motor will fix that for me. I'm bummed to hear about your hot kid experience since I've always wanted to put their system under a road racer project. One question tho I'm familiar with the disc brake on the driveline but what is it called exactly and the function I'm spacing right now on what it entails
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[Portmod7]

Originally Posted by NewType72

Holy update batman great work on running down the issues with the leaks wish I could do the same but maybe a new crate motor will fix that for me. I'm bummed to hear about your hot kid experience since I've always wanted to put their system under a road racer project. One question tho I'm familiar with the disc brake on the driveline but what is it called exactly and the function I'm spacing right now on what it entails
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Ha ha, I get carried away with the words. I can never decide if it's too much detail, or not enough. I would assume for most people it's way too much. Thanks for powering through it!

The disk on the driveline is just a parking brake. Because of the hub setup on my "racing" rear end and the brake calipers I wanted, I couldn't figure out another way to put a parking brake on the truck. This deal will have to prove itself to me, I'm not really sure I like it. It's easy enough to eliminate, so I'll cross that road if I need to. I got it here. It's the same people I got my Watt's link from.

[NewType72]

Oh no I love detail I do the same with my threads usually its more about asking questions than answering them for others though and that's a neat setup I remembered seeing it before in the local circle track when I was slumming around there for a few years with my father. Can't wait to hear about the upcoming test drive you have
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[C10_ustacould]

Originally Posted by Portmod7

Ha ha, I get carried away with the words. I can never decide if it's too much detail, or not enough. I would assume for most people it's way too much. Thanks for powering through it!

Great update, keep them coming!

[gdavis]

looks great and everything is so neat and clean. I love to see trucks like your. Keep up the great work.

[Rusbuilt]

Nice work sir! Love it!

[67cheby]

that brake is such a cool touch !

[thor]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

that brake is such a cool touch !

me too. lovin' that p-brake!

[gdavis]

I don't know if I like the new e brake or not. It is a little different. Has it been out in the market for a while? does it work good?

[Portmod7]

Originally Posted by BucksSS

Great update, keep them coming!

Her's another for ya, lol.

Originally Posted by gdavis

looks great and everything is so neat and clean. I love to see trucks like your. Keep up the great work.

Thank You!

Originally Posted by Rusbuilt

Nice work sir! Love it!

Thank You!

Originally Posted by 67cheby

that brake is such a cool touch !

Thanks! It'll be even cooler if it works like it should, ha ha.

Originally Posted by thor

me too. lovin' that p-brake!

Thansk!

Originally Posted by gdavis

I don't know if I like the new e brake or not. It is a little different. Has it been out in the market for a while? does it work good?

I think this style of brake has been around for a while. I think a similar setup was used on Rockwell axles for the MAIN braking, and if you look on a monster truck I seem to remember their brake setup being similar. I haven't really got to try it yet, I've got my fingers crossed.
_________________________________________________________________

I made some more progress last week, and this weekend. I kinda threw a weekend day with the wife away on Saturday because I thought I could have it on the road pretty easily, no such luck.

I got most of the loose ends tied up and got her on the ground for the first time. I was really excited until I stepped back to look at it, I don't think the front is sitting low enough. I went to align the front end, and it's got a ton of caster in it according to my gauge, 13.5 deg is the least I could get it to. So either my gauge is jacked up, or I've got some issues in my suspension. I hope it's the suspension, because if I can get some caster out of it, the front should come down a little.

I did get to move it back and forth under its own power in the shop, so that's a good thing, it felt good for it to move finally.

My fans don't work for some reason. They are controlled by the ECU. I haven't had time to dive into that yet. And when I have my ECU set to control the fuel mixture off the O2 reading, the engine surges really bad. If I bypass the O2 and just run off my volumetric efficiency table it seems to run pretty good. So I've got a couple bugs to work out before she hits the road.


SO CLOSE!

[NewType72]

Try bouncing in the front end a little bit they're new springs and shocks so all the goody they have is holding the truck up right now my truck ended up dropping about a half inch to inch within a 15 mile drive
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[gringoloco]

Agreed on the settling, but that is a ton of caster. Looking good!
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[Portmod7]

Well, I've been out driving her around the last two evenings, trying to work all the bugs out. It's got a pretty bad miss between 2200-2500 RPM, something in the ignition, or the ECU control of the ignition is giving me fits. Other than that it doesn't run too bad considering it's just a base tune to get me running. Definitely have some tuning work ahead of me, but that's ok, I'm looking forward to it.

I fixed my fans, I managed to burn up a couple transistors in my ECU by hooking up my fan relays wrong the first time. But it was an easy fix. Now the next problem is(I was worried about this when I wired it) that because I wanted to retain the function of my ammeter I didn't upsize the charge wire from the main junction at the LF of the truck to the battery. So before the alternator starts charging, that little 12ga wire can't support the rest of the truck and 2 electric fans. It can support 1, but not 2. So I think I'm going to have to ditch the ammeter, upgrade the charge wire to the battery, and put gringoloco's voltmeter upgrade in the dash. For now I'm getting along fine with 1 fan. Summertime will probably call for 2.

I haven't had it on my buddy's alignment rack yet, but soon hopefully. As it is now, it drives straight and true, I even managed to get the wheel straight-up just by "eyeballing" it. No pulling in either direction. I've had it up to 65mph on the highway, and it's smooth as glass, just cruises.

The ride is a little rougher than I was expecting. It'll probably smooth out a LITTLE as the new suspension gets broke in, but it's definitely on the sporty side.

Like I said, I've got some tuning issues to work out, but just the little I've driven it so far it's been very enjoyable. I've only stopped at the carwash and the gas station and have gotten compliments both places

Here's some pics. I was pretty excited that it fit in my garage ok. I live on a golf course, and I am NOT parking outside. Then the other is out front of RWB-713's ski shop about 15 miles from where I live.

[builtbyKane]

That's a good looking stepside.
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[RRC]

Good looking truck!!! That's the color mines supposed to be, can't wait to be able to drive mine.
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[Russ.W.]

Congrats on getting it back on the road.

Do have a question I've been dying to ask, but couldn't until you drove it: How did the morse cables for your column shift linkages go? Smooth gear changes? Fast. Slow?

[NewType72]

She looks killer brother! glad to hear how well it runs and those are pretty minimal fixes considering how far apart the truck was great attention to detail when putting it together nice work
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[sgaylord]

Cool project

[Portmod7]

Originally Posted by builtbyKane

That's a good looking stepside.
Posted via Mobile Device

Thank You!

Originally Posted by RRC

Good looking truck!!! That's the color mines supposed to be, can't wait to be able to drive mine.
Posted via Mobile Device

After all of the work, it's definitely a nice feeling! Just gotta keep plugging away!

Originally Posted by Russ.W.

Congrats on getting it back on the road.

Do have a question I've been dying to ask, but couldn't until you drove it: How did the morse cables for your column shift linkages go? Smooth gear changes? Fast. Slow?

I meant to put that in my update. The jury is still out on that one. The shift from 2nd to 3rd is pretty tricky right now, but I think it's something that can be worked out by adjusting the cables. I definitely need to do a little work there. But I think when I get it adjusted properly it's going to be sweet. I thought I had them right on, but evidently there's just something different about it when it's going down the road compared to sitting on jackstands.

Originally Posted by NewType72

She looks killer brother! glad to hear how well it runs and those are pretty minimal fixes considering how far apart the truck was great attention to detail when putting it together nice work
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Thank you! I'm pretty excited that none of the wheels tried to fall off or anything, lol!

Originally Posted by sgaylord

Cool project

Thank you!

[knomadd]

Wow, I just read through all 5 pages of your build thread. Great work! I'm impressed with all of your EFI and the ingenuity of everything from the rear modified watt's link and your different electrical mods to the 4-on-the-tree.

[Portmod7]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Wow, I just read through all 5 pages of your build thread. Great work! I'm impressed with all of your EFI and the ingenuity of everything from the rear modified watt's link and your different electrical mods to the 4-on-the-tree.

Thank You, glad you liked it!