49 chevy truck booger

[joedoh]

gracias!


messing with headlight mounting, what a colossal heiny pain. I originally wanted to trim the buckets so the larger headlight guts (it has an H4 headlight and H1 foglight and 5w light all in one) would fit. these lights came with their own adjusters but I didnt like how far they stuck out. well trimming the buckets didnt make the rear protection any better and worst of all they stuck out just as far.

so I rear mounted them. worked perfect

also got the park/turns wired up and installed. cheapo me bought just the LED lens instead of the entire assembly, and they fit super loose because I didnt buy a new gasket (dont need it, the LED is a sealed unit) so I VHB'd a piece of rubber to the back and they fit great now.

you can see how nice the headlights sit in there now, I only need the ring from the old bucket to mount the chrome trim. the fogginess on the headlight lens is just offgassing from the styrofoam they came packed in, it wipes off (albiet from the inside) and is then crystal clear.

 

[joedoh]

I cut the bucket rings today, easy peasy with the grinder with a cutoff wheel.

a couple self tappers through the headlight mount

popped on factory tight

rinse and repeat for the drivers side

I got a lot of cleanup done under the hood, the latch panel is mounted, the bussed electrical distribution panel is wired and mounted, the brake lines are tight and the master is mounted to the booster. I need a battery mounted and the radiator mounted and hooked up and I will try starting.

 

[jfg455]

I will have to look into the way you did your lights. I'm at the same point and was using a replacement lens with a halogen bulb but there were no adjusters that work with the old buckets. I bought later adjusters (60-66) but I haven't been able to get the time to see if it will work. [P

 

[joedoh]

yeah these worked amazingly, I would and will use them again

I love the front plate holders on these trucks, I want to eventually get personalized YOM plates for them but for now I will just look for weird ones that strike my fancy. I looked for a 1776-1976 bicentennial pennsylvania pewter commemorative plate I remember my dad had on every car he owned, and tripped across this one. rusty, green, non standard size, wacky, all check.

I was mocking up the battery location and decided I needed to know where the HVAC system would line out (literally)

so I picked up some stuff today, ordered the carpet to match the seat (the jute pad was in stock) and picked up a 98 fullsize HVAC setup.

on the last truck I had to use an ebay underdash unit, which worked well but was a fiddly mess to install with pass through hoses and I never did get the right fittings for the dryer. I would have liked to use the factory S10 system but most of it (the blower and the AC evaporator) reside outside the firewall and it was just 5 inches too wide, it would have occupied the space of the hood hinge and still needed a hood bulge on the side. I needed something that would be all inside. I thought about ordering a VA MKV system for the interior, but that is pretty big dollars and I would still need to adapt all the fittings to my compressor.
I have researched this a bit, the reason s10 trucks AC systems cool down so well is that the condenser and evaporator are the same capacity as the fullsize trucks. the 98 system is 100% inside the firewall, and being a design engineer in the past who made these decisions, I figured most of the connections would be simliar.

this is the firewall side, right away its too wide, the vents occupy the gas pedal space.

this is the seat facing side, I took the distribution vents off, they are modular and just unbolted. now the width is right and I can use duct valves with bowden tubes to send defrost/vent/floor. the big connector on top pins out exactly the same as the s10 resistor, and the blower uses the same plug as the s10 too.

it almost fits right up in there. the glovebox will be shallow, but I only need to make a timed output for the blend hot/cold actuator (or a manual lever, or make the factory s10 vacuum actuator adapt!) and another for the fresh/recirc. The big square hole on the right is the fresh air intake and I will plug the top and open the side, it will be ducted right to the existing fresh air hole on the side of the truck. I need to trim the dash ever so slightly to get it up in, then cut the firewall holes from a pattern I will make. easy peasy rice and cheesy.

 

[joedoh]

lined out the holes and drilled them, then installed the battery tray once I knew it wouldnt be in the way

I sealed a piece of kydex to the firewall to cover the multitude of holes. welding them shut looks better but that can be for the next guy to do. this is functional and works as well.

fits like it was made to be there

you can see the wiring harness poking through, I had to use a 2" hole because the relay socket. I was able to install the s10 resistor on the fullsize blower, and I think even the blower motor will fit. I even pulled the wiring harness apart far enough to get the wiper motor plug routed inside too, so if I put an electric motor on it the factory stalk will make it work.

put the AC evaporator in to check the fit, almost perfect. I will need to bend the top hose to point more to the center so that the dryer will fit next to the battery tray. there are three points where the blower box is held to the firewall, passes the bump test

next is the heater core and hooking up the hoses, battery, pcm, and moving into the cab!

 

[akatao]

sweet I like new stuff in old chassis

 

[joedoh]

thanks, thats my favorite thing too.

installed, wired.

did the rest of the wire routing on the dash I had been waiting to do HVAC

underhood got the majority routed and the pcm installed

I think tomorrow I will pull the ac evap again though, I was having a tough time bending that line out the top, I may want to use the vise.

 

[joedoh]

I found out a 3/8 socket extension would fit in the pipe and keep it from collapsing, and I used my long 1/2" extension for the leverage. works tout suite!

and it the world of cosmic alignment, I found the s10 heater control panel and turned it over

turns out there is ONE electrical actuator on an s10, the blend door, the one I needed. I thought they were all vacuum. the tahoe box I bought is electrical everything, I researched an found I could make the tahoe blend door work with a 10k potentiometer. so when I turned over the heater control and saw that 3 pin pot, I almost woke the neighbors with my whooping. the blend door will PLUG IN to the existing harness, as long as I set the door correctly. score one for the big guy upstairs.

heres a problem, the female inverted flare fitting was missing from my radiator.

I looked around found it local, went to pick it up and it was just the line end. crap. I jumped on craogslist and I am not making this up there was a month old listing for a brand new 98 S10 v6 radiator for 25 BUCKS. did he still have it? he did.

got the mounts made after a trip to "the yard".

had to drop that fancy mount I made to let the rad hose by. cant believe I didnt check that, but only took a minute.

still tidying up under the hood. goofing with the radiator took all day.

 

[harley rider]

nice work joe. gotta love "THE YARD " huh.

 

[joedoh]

I love that place. I used to work next door to it a million years ago and we went there almost every day. my father in law would just walk around and find something to build. you may know him, vic mccart.

 

[harley rider]

I love that place. I used to work next door to it a million years ago and we went there almost every day. my father in law would just walk around and find something to build. you may know him, vic mccart.

yea cool place. nice family run business. the owner is a car guy. I've worked on a couple of his cars. If I'm in the area I stop, you never know what you might find. where and when was it you worked all them years ago? no don't know Vic.

 

[joedoh]

it was victor's auto sound in the old phillips 66 next door. I worked there till maybe a month before victor was murdered, then a year later when it was mobile connections. we did all kinds of crazy crap with stuff from the yard, loved that they had abs plastic and lexan, adel clamps, velcro, everything

 

[joedoh]

I bought a trailer. I looked at a tilt trailer with 5200 lb axles but it was literally 2.5 times the cost of the one I bought and I can put up with a lot of baloney for that kind of money. I looked at new ones but with sales tax and driving 400 miles round trip for a wood floor trailer that would get torn up, I decided to go visit my new friend who I got all the trucks from recently.

look at the winch on this guy. its a sasgen derrick winch from the 20s. I bet I could pull down a house or maybe even detach kissing teenagers with that thing.

it has at least 7k lb axles, they may be larger because it has a lunette ring for a pintle hook (you can see it under the slide in tongue). he is loading up the two half trucks I still have on his property and I will pick them up this coming week. at first I was worried about having two half trucks (especially the heavy halves) on the same trailer, but he said he hauled an old deere tractor with a loader from new york on it.

 

[joedoh]

my motivation has been a little less than a pulse, my neighbor was in a hurry to sell his extra car after his niece trashed it for him.

this was the mess inside, he had hacked into the harness for a radio and a bunch of kmart add ons and blew the big fuse under the hood

this is how he fixed it, just ran an unfused battery line to the fuse box and plugged it in with an earring.

its still pretty stinky but I fixed the big miss it had and it runs good enough to chase old truck parts with at 35mpg




but I did get the battery wired today.

everything works, dome lights, ignition switch, headlights, starter, HVAC fan (more in a second). check it out, 79k miles. its why I gave all the dollars for this donor. the oil pressure is pegged because the sender is broken

the hvac fan blew and everything works per the dials, but its not a strong air current. I need to see if the blend door is blocking air flow or something like that.

I am not a fan of the LED front lights. they look ok in the picture but in person it looks like two rows of spaced leds. I actually dug out the old lenses to see if I could get them over the LED but one dropped and broke. :/

 

[joedoh]

more final assembly, brakes are fluid tight and so are all the coolant hoses. coolant added no leaks!

fixed the oil sender, no more pegged gauge

fuel fliter replaced, I need a distributor hold down bolt and a gas cap to push it outside and start it.

and my theory on the blend door actuator working from the factory controls was 100% right. you cant see me turn the knob but you can sure see it move in response




I have a bunch errands in the morning, shipping some parts, tag office, getting the gas cap and some gas, picking up the carpet, but I hope to push it out, start it, bleed the brakes, and get the seat and seatbelt mounts done. we will see!

 

[joedoh]

well I bought that 4.3 and trans in a rolled s10 that didnt start (broken column). I took a chance because the odo said 79k miles and it looked clean. I hoped it would run ok but like everything else there always seems to be a curveball. I dont know what to say, it doesnt run ok.



it runs AMAZING. started right up. no key relearn or anything. no sputtering, coughing, grinding, wheezing, sparking, no baloney, NOTHING. hasnt run in the year I have had it and in who knows how long since it was wrecked. I had my camera in one hand and a fire extiguisher in the other, with the hose nearby. so quiet, I cant wait to drive it to the muffler shop for some duals and glasspacks. I am gobsmacked. I am over the moon.

60lbs oil pressure, nice idle, temp in range, alternator charging. wooooooot


believe it or not there is only 3/8" difference in height side to side. :/ I will fix it. I noticed the upper bushings on the shocks were cracked so I will replace them too. the only things left under the hood are the air cleaner, ac lines, and mounting the cruise module. then I move inside!

 

[soltz]

Outstanding [cl
Some time things do work out.
Enjoy the heck out of the first drive [cl

 

[Old Iron]

Gettin close [P [P [P

 

[joedoh]

yeah I should get the interior knocked out except the gauges tomorrow.


I put the driveshaft in, perfect amount of stickout (in the picture it is still on jacks, it goes in about an inch) it clears the center bearing crossmember too with plenty of room but I may trim it in case the truck goes on a lift.

the damn yoke on the rearend has a broken bolt :/. so no yard drives.

rolled outside it was enjoying the sun but I sure wasnt, it was abnormally hot and humid

I was actively looking for a table saw to make the bed wood kit and tripped across a parts 46 truck that I ended up cleaning the guy out on. he asked if I needed bed strips. he showed me the custom 1/2 ton flatbed that was on that truck and said he wanted the rest for bonfire wood. I flipped him 30 bucks and took the whole thing

xibit says "yo dawg I hear you like flatbeds heres a flatbed on your flatbed"

yes the ragweed stayed on for the whole trip.

you can see in the background I poached the core support and rad while I was there. waste not want not!

 

[jfg455]

and my theory on the blend door actuator working from the factory controls was 100% right. you cant see me turn the knob but you can sure see it move in response

I hope you weren't running the actuator without it attached to the box. If you did it is now junk. Always have it on the box so it doesn't go willy nilly and break itself....[P