70 Jimmy--Rusty Rebuild

[toomany]

Waiting on quite a few parts to show up now. Front accessory drive, radiator, misc. hoses/fittings and some steering stuff.

Condenser was the first thing to arrive so I got that into the core support. The paint is actually in decent shape, enough that I'm not going to bother redoing it...just dusty from sitting around the shop.




Was thinking about sticking some sound deadening behind the HVAC box before it goes in but I can't find where I put it when I was done with the other truck. I'll look again tomorrow as I still have a few days before that will go in.

 

[toomany]

Accessory drive came in today. Went with LsxConcepts High Mount system. It includes 180amp 4 pin alternator, power steering pump, VintageAir AC compressor, idlers and tensioner. Got the black anodized finish on the brackets and pulleys.





To go with the steering system, I got a PSC reservoir. It has an additional fittings for returns from the box and hydroboost. I've seen some people have problems with a T in their line and this should eliminate the potential for that.




In general I'm not a fan of blacked out everything. Especially modern stuff that is black everywhere....hood/trim/wheels/bumpers, it's just lazy and unoriginal. That being said, some of the parts I'm using are only available with a black finish. Mixing and matching finishes looks worse in my opinion than keeping with a theme. I'm trying not to over do it and this stuff should be the last of it I think.

Working on laying out what fittings I'll need to complete the AC plumbing. Core support will probably go on along with a fender. I'll need it on sooner than later as that's where I plan on mounting the steering reservoir. Radiator and cooling fans are supposed to ship out tomorrow, so those will get mounted as well.

 

[toomany]

HVAC box is back in. I had done almost all of my fitting with the dash removed. I should have made up the AC lines and heater lines while it was still out. Turned out to be a colossal pain in the ass to do with the dash in the way.

It's tight, but they all fit. The suction line had to make a loop around because the 90 coming off the bulkhead would get into the back of the box otherwise.

Wish I would have been able to get the heater shut off valve tucked higher up, but those 90s would hit the box if turned anymore too. It's not bad as it is, and it's better than having it in the engine compartment.




With the box back in I can start with the wiring harnesses. There are some circuits that need to be added yet and a few loose wires to deal with still. Odds are it will be coming back out (or mostly out) to wrap it once everything is accounted for.

 

[toomany]

Wiring harness is mostly back in, will finish up with it tomorrow.

This is all the wiring for the entire truck, minus what I haven't ran yet. Body/chassis and Terminator harnesses are integrated together. The Terminator wiring can be separated, it has 1 Weatherpack connector that ties it into the body side. I chose to leave it all as one to keep its shape.




Had I not been the one to build the harness and remove it...I wouldn't have thought it went to this vehicle. I don't know how it got so twisted and tangled up in itself. When I pulled it, I literally picked it up from one end and set it in a box. Never touched it after that until tonight. Eventually figured out how to straighten it out and got it it in.

Wires coming out of the ash tray will be removed, they are left over from when I shortened the Terminator wiring and go to DBC sensors I don't need. Plan to start at the passenger side and work my way across.




Called on my radiator again today, was told maybe it'll ship tomorrow. For something that was "in stock" on their website it's sure taking them a long time to get it moving.

 

[toomany]

Dash is taken care of for the most part.




Hooked up the engine side.




Went to fire it up and that's where I ran into problems. It'll start and run for a second then die. Handheld is reading "Low Err" for the MAP sensor. Doesn't matter if I use the internal one or the one on the intake.

It ran before I pulled it apart, I made sure of it after I shortened the harness. I'm hoping (not really) it's an issue with the ECU. By the time I got done messing with it, it was too late to call Holley about it.

I've seen where people get the "Low Err" message on the AFR and CTS and that gets diagnosed as a bad ECU. I haven't found anyone out there yet that has had it come up on the MAP.

 

[toomany]

Finished off the AC lines. Decided to run the soft lines all the way to the condenser/dryer instead of having another connection inline under the battery.

I'm happy with how it came out. However if I were to do it again, I'd probably go through the fresh air vent/along the fender. Would have made coming out of the evaporator a lot easier.



Steering shaft is assembled. The factory one was starting to tear at the rag joint. Rather than replace that I upgraded. I cut the DD shaft so that even if the set screws back out, the joints can't fall off. Did drill and locktite them though.




I found another Terminator ECU and harness to borrow. Trying to narrow down where the issue is. Be middle of the week before I can get to that though, so I might have an answer from Holley by then.

 

[toomany]

Steering reservoir mounted to the core support. It should clear everything in this spot. If not, I've got enough -10 hose to remake the line and move it somewhere else.

 

[toomany]

Made up the rest of the power steering/hydroboost lines. Apparently I never looked at the kit that well from CPP when I got it. It only has 2 braided lines and 2 rubber ones. Not happy with how the two rubber ones came out, will probably change those out for braided stainless eventually.

Went to fill the system up and immediately got leaks from both ends of the -10 hose feeding the pump. Like as soon as the hose filled up it started dripping from between the hose and fitting. Pulled it apart and the Teflon inner is hard and brittle. I just got the hose a week or so ago from Summit. Going to try making it again and see what happens. For the time being I just hosed clamped the ends to the fittings.

Tried another Terminator ECU, first with my harness as installed on the truck. It powered up just fine but couldn't get it to do a TPS Autoset (which you need to do before it'll fire the injectors). My old one would Autoset just fine with my harness.

Swapped out the main harness and it still wouldn't Autoset. However with my original ECU on the new harness, everything works correctly. Truck fired right up and ran perfectly.

My harness ohm'd out fine and had continuity when I checked it. I'll pull all the loom and tape off to see if there is a bad connection somewhere. For now I'll leave the longer one in place.

While it was running I finished bleeding the steering system. None of the other hoses I made leaked on that.

Put the tires on and moved it outside to turn it around. No real reason other than I wanted to move it under its own power.

Radiator shipped out today, once that's in I'll be able to run it for longer than a couple minutes at a time.

 

[toomany]

Replaced the binary switch with a trinary in the AC system.





New thermostat and GM water neck.




Radiator finally showed up. Nearly a month after I ordered it. Each time I would call on it I'd get "it's scheduled to ship tomorrow." It's an Entropy with their fans and shroud. Guaranteed to cool up to 700hp according to them. It's a nice unit.




This thing was supposed to a "drop in replacement," well it wasn't. The upper mounts were a couple inches narrower than the factory one and it is about 1/2" shorter. Doubled up the lower rubbers and drilled some new holes for nutserts to hold it down. Not a big deal overall, but for claiming to be direct replacement...it wasn't.




Adding this much weight to the core support I thought it was a good idea to toss the fenders back on. Reinstalled the running board too because I was tired of tripping over them in the barn. I was going to need atleast the driver's fender on to finish the wiring anyway.




Found some hoses that should work for me, Amazon will be delivering those tomorrow. Should be able to finish rest of the wiring this weekend. Fans and alternator are all that is left for running new wire. Still need to terminate the exterior lighting wires too.

 

[bp71k5]

Replaced the binary switch with a trinary in the AC system.

View attachment 455529



New thermostat and GM water neck.

View attachment 455530


Radiator finally showed up. Nearly a month after I ordered it. Each time I would call on it I'd get "it's scheduled to ship tomorrow." It's an Entropy with their fans and shroud. Guaranteed to cool up to 700hp according to them. It's a nice unit.

View attachment 455531


This thing was supposed to a "drop in replacement," well it wasn't. The upper mounts were a couple inches narrower than the factory one and it is about 1/2" shorter. Doubled up the lower rubbers and drilled some new holes for nutserts to hold it down. Not a big deal overall, but for claiming to be direct replacement...it wasn't.

View attachment 455532


Adding this much weight to the core support I thought it was a good idea to toss the fenders back on. Reinstalled the running board too because I was tired of tripping over them in the barn. I was going to need atleast the driver's fender on to finish the wiring anyway.

View attachment 455534


Found some hoses that should work for me, Amazon will be delivering those tomorrow. Should be able to finish rest of the wiring this weekend. Fans and alternator are all that is left for running new wire. Still need to terminate the exterior lighting wires too.

Which model entropy did you get? Mine was pretty direct fit, though there’s different mounts for big block and small block I think.

 

[toomany]

Which model entropy did you get? Mine was pretty direct fit, though there’s different mounts for big block and small block I think.

It's their LSX swap radiator. They offer two other ones which have the house outlets in opposite corners for an SBC or BBC.

I got the 3 (2 7/8") row mounts as that is what was originally in there. The hold downs physically fit great, the tabs are just in the wrong spot.

Did yours come with a cap? Mine didn't and I thought the website said it was supposed to.

 

[bp71k5]

It's their LSX swap radiator. They offer two other ones which have the house outlets in opposite corners for an SBC or BBC.

I got the 3 (2 7/8") row mounts as that is what was originally in there. The hold downs physically fit great, the tabs are just in the wrong spot.

Did yours come with a cap? Mine didn't and I thought the website said it was supposed to.

Ah ok makes sense. I can’t remember if I had to move mounts on the top or not.

Mine did come with a cap, but I didn’t use it cause it didn’t have a pressure release lever on it. I still have it on my bench.

 

[toomany]

Front end is mostly wired. Have ground to run for the fans and that will be it. Front signals/markers work, but they ground through the socket to the grill.




The hoses I ordered showed up. One of them is completely wrong, the other I can work with for a lower. I've got a plan B if I can't find something that will work as an upper.

Ah ok makes sense. I can’t remember if I had to move mounts on the top or not.

Mine did come with a cap, but I didn’t use it cause it didn’t have a pressure release lever on it. I still have it on my bench.

I looked at their website again and could have sworn it said they come with one of their billet caps.

Grabbed a lever style from the parts store when I got coolant this morning so it's not a huge deal.

 

[toomany]

Radiator plumbed in. Napa didn't have anything that would work for a hose so I cut what I had and used some tubing. Lower got the same treatment because I wasn't happy with the twist in the hose.

Can see the relays and fuses for the fans, also from Entropy.




Filled system with coolant and let it idle. Temp climbed up to 180 pretty quickly, then 190 eventually got to 220 before I shut it down. Fans came on like they were supposed to. Feeling the hoses, I wasn't getting any flow through the heater lines.

Thinking I needed to get the shut off valve open, I dug out the factory heater controls. VintageAir includes some fancy things to convert the mechanical movements to electrical signals that the HVAC box needs.




With the heater valve now opening I started it back up. Still wasn't getting any flow through the heater core. Rev'd it up to 3000 for a couple seconds and that was enough to push the air through and get coolant flowing everywhere.

By this time it was back at 220. Left it idling with the fans running and they brought it back down to 180 in a few minutes.

 

[bp71k5]

Radiator plumbed in. Napa didn't have anything that would work for a hose so I cut what I had and used some tubing. Lower got the same treatment because I wasn't happy with the twist in the hose.

Can see the relays and fuses for the fans, also from Entropy.

View attachment 455733


Filled system with coolant and let it idle. Temp climbed up to 180 pretty quickly, then 190 eventually got to 220 before I shut it down. Fans came on like they were supposed to. Feeling the hoses, I wasn't getting any flow through the heater lines.

Thinking I needed to get the shut off valve open, I dug out the factory heater controls. VintageAir includes some fancy things to convert the mechanical movements to electrical signals that the HVAC box needs.

View attachment 455734


With the heater valve now opening I started it back up. Still wasn't getting any flow through the heater core. Rev'd it up to 3000 for a couple seconds and that was enough to push the air through and get coolant flowing everywhere.

By this time it was back at 220. Left it idling with the fans running and they brought it back down to 180 in a few minutes.

Those fans are loud huh?

 

[toomany]

Those fans are loud huh?

Yeah you definitely know when they come on. Move some air though.

 

[toomany]

Loaded truck on to the trailer.




Took it into work to use the AC machine. Wanted to vacuum it down and charge it before I continued on with assembling the dash.




Held 29.8in of vacuum for 30min so I called that good enough to charge. Once charged, everything worked like it was supposed to. Fan comes on when compressor kicks in, idle bumps up a little bit. Nice frosty air coming out of the vents.

 

[toomany]

Spent the morning cutting and buffing the bedsides again.

Hit it with a wool pad on a rotary buffer and a more aggressive compound...which is where I should have started the first time. Followed up with polishing w/DA the a final coat of ceramic wax. There are a few spots that could use a bit more work but for now this is good enough. I'm not going for show quality. As it is now its better than the paint on our 2020 Cadillac.

Pictures don't do it justice how much it improved this go around.

 

[toomany]

In an effort to keep my windshield frame where it's supposed to be, bent up these guys.




They go here with some tabs that will get welded on the top tube.




I may add more dimples and I might even add a second layer to them. Probably will bridge between the two with something as well for some kind of dome light too.


In just over a month we are going to the sand dunes. I'm doing a big push to try to get this ready to go. There are a few things that must be done before then and a bunch of others that can wait. Things like the unpainted sheet metal can wait till later (an ideal winter project). Stuff like shocks and clearancing one of the crossmembers for the driveshaft are a must do. I'm not going to rush the important items, so if it's not ready we will take the 86 like I was planning.

Bought some seats today and ordered some stuff for an air filter setup.

About a week or so ago I picked these up. I had been keeping an eye out for a decent set and these are the exact size I was looking for. They are a 33x17. I'll have to swap out the 8 lug wheels.

 

[centexk5]

You should change axles instead.