Thanks guys! Today I fooled around with the wiring harness inside the cab. I’m lucky as the Fargo dash is far narrower than the S10, so I have plenty of wire length to work with (actually I have too much, but that’s far better than being an inch short). The biggest problem I often have is trying to visualize how stuff will fit. I used to take a million precise measurements and plan things out to fit perfectly, only to be disappointed when I tried putting it all together. I’ve since switched to simpler methods.
It’s Arts & Crafts time!:
To figure out where best to put the driver side harness pass-through, I simply traced the outline onto some craft board, allowing me to play with various orientations to ensure that it fit well without interference on both sides of the firewall. MUCH easier than trying to take measurements (especially up under the dash):
That cardboard box is just a replica of the battery (and much easier to lift!). I was at a loss as to where to put the battery, as under hood space is very limited and the usual spot on the passenger firewall will be taken up by the ECU. My first thought was to centre it high up like this:
I wasn’t too pleased with this though. In addition to being tremendously ugly, it's hard to reach for any sort of routine maintenance, and putting it in place would require a straight arm lift that my shoulders are no longer up to. I tried a few other spots (with that delightfully light weight cardboard battery) and nothing else worked. The Fargo battery was originally under the floor beneath the bench seat (which just lifted up) but my S10 bench will be firmly bolted down and there’s no way I’m ripping out a seat every time I need to deal with the battery.
There was however a nice spot behind the cab, under the bed:
This spot seems to solve all of my problems. I plan on using checker plate steel for the bed floor, so I will have to build a box to support the battery and some sort of hinged cover to access it through the bed floor. I will also need to put in a heat shield between the battery and the muffler. Assuming nobody points out a serious error in my thinking, I believe I will be going this route. More to follow!