70 Jimmy--Rusty Rebuild

[toomany]

You should change axles instead.

This is staying 6lug. If I break the Sf14 that's in it, it's getting a 9".

On the plus side, if I don't get this truck ready in time the paddles will bolt right onto my 86.


Edit: I guess I could do 6lug hubs on a 14BFF but that is a lot of axle/weight that I don't need for this.

Edit again: I guess I could also swap in 8lug shafts which is probably what you were referring to.

 

[83ChevyK5Blazer]

A first gen on paddles

 

[toomany]

Still need to figure out a way to secure the tube from flopping around, but the air filter is on. Drilled a hole and screwed the IAT sensor into it as well. Snuck a coolant recovery tank in next to the battery too.

 

[toomany]

Ever since I put the LS in I haven't been able to use the bottom half of the engine crossmember. It's a Diy4x4 along with his swap mounts, these aren't designed to work together. Moving the motor forward a few inches and having to spread the mounts out a little meant getting the bottom half in wasn't happening.

Had planned to cut the plates off and build off of those. The solution turned out to be much simpler after I actually put it up there and started some bolts.

Cut some matching plates out of 3/8".




They slide in between the two halves. It's really close on the passenger side but it doesn't touch. I may still pull it back off and give it a ding or two.

 

[toomany]

Shocks were up next. Came across too good a deal to pass up from someone's abandoned project.

Fox 2.0 Performance Series. The rears are the correct length I needed. The fronts could be a tad longer but they'll work.







Curious to see how these perform compared to the Bilsteins on my other truck. I've honestly not been all that impressed with those, but I think that is more of a spring issue than anything on that one.

Tuesday I've got an appointment to get a windshield put in. Need to trailer it to them so I might stick the doors, top and tarp the front as they are calling for rain.

 

[toomany]

Doors and front end are back on. Had to pull the fenders to install the doors. Nothing is really shimmed right now except for the B-pillar gap.




Grill got installed for the first time. I think when I got the truck, it was kind of hanging off and not really attached. All the holes lined up once I persuaded it some.




With glass getting installed soon I had to make a decision on what to do with the top of the dash. Either polish the paint or do something else. Decided to go with matte black. Body color wouldn't have been correct for the truck anyway.




Going to try getting this plated and insured sometime this week. Even if I don't get everything done to take it to SilverLake, it's close enough now that I can get some road miles on it soon.

 

[Truckman4life]

What's the plan? Get it together and driveable then blow it back apart and finish painting everything?

 

[toomany]

What's the plan? Get it together and driveable then blow it back apart and finish painting everything?

I think so. My initial plan was to get it running and driving before any paint went on it. Realized I didn't want to tear it back down that far again if I didn't have to.

The bolt on stuff only takes a few hours to remove so it's not a huge deal to pull those parts when the time comes. I haven't started any of the body work on those parts yet either.

The driving season for this is coming to an end before too long. I'll have 6 months or more of time to work on it before the weather is decent again.

 

[toomany]

Installed the fuel filler neck then put top on before heading out to get the windshield put it.

Unfortunately I'll have to go back again on Friday because they cracked it trying to get the top corner in.




This morning I put insurance and got a plate for it. Having the cracked glass wasn't going to stop me from taking it out for a drive. Tossed the taillights in real quick and zip tied the plate to some magnets.




Got about 40 miles on it. It drives great, way better than my 86. It rides nicely firm but not harsh. Doesn't wander or vibrate at all.

Got enough run time on that I was able to transfer the learn table to the base fuel map to clean that up some. It still needs quite a bit of work.

Biggest issue is that you really can't get it into 3rd gear. It goes but you have to wait for the gears to match speeds before it'll go in, synchroizers are gone. I had never driven this transmission before I got it. It'll have to come back out, not sure if I'm going to go through this one or try finding another to put back in.

 

[toomany]

Surprisingly I never test fit the tailgate before painting the tub. I didn't see the need to as everything matched my measurements. It went on without much hassle.

Actually wired in the rear lights correctly with the new harnesses. LMC had the parts I needed. I was actually impressed with the quality of everything. New lenses and upgraded to deluxe side markers.

 

[CT-BLAZER]

Shocks were up next. Came across too good a deal to pass up from someone's abandoned project.

Fox 2.0 Performance Series. The rears are the correct length I needed. The fronts could be a tad longer but they'll work.

View attachment 456969

View attachment 456971

View attachment 456972

Curious to see how these perform compared to the Bilsteins on my other truck. I've honestly not been all that impressed with those, but I think that is more of a spring issue than anything on that one.

Tuesday I've got an appointment to get a windshield put in.

Need to trailer it to them so I might stick the doors, top and tarp the front as they are calling for rain.

Fox makes some nice shocks..... Nice find

 

[toomany]

Fox makes some nice shocks..... Nice find

I'm more than pleased with how it rides on the street so far. I'm into these for about 1/3 of retail cost...$400 is what I paid.

 

[toomany]

Right around 18 months and 112 miles is all the fuel pump had in it. Left me stranded about 15 miles from home.

Took the truck out to get some more miles on it and some data logs. Left HomeDepot and it died after I turned the corner. It'd try to restart and barely idle, any throttle would kill it. Used the starter to move it off the road and into an empty lot. Checked a few things and everything seemed normal. Looked at the fuel pressure and there was nothing there. I had put 12 gallons in it before I initially started the motor then another 20 after that once I could drive it. Gauge showed just under half.

I had been doing some "spirited" driving to try and hit some of the higher cells so I figured maybe I could have ran it out and the gauge was off. Banging on the tank it didn't sound empty, but it couldn't hurt to add some more. Walked to Walmart to get a gas can, then to the gas station and finally back to the truck. Still nothing.

Couldn't hear the pump priming when turning the key either anymore. Changed the fuel pump prime shot from 5sec to 999sec and banged on the tank again. Now I could hear the pump faintly. Still nothing on the gauge. At this time the wife had shown up and gave me a ride home to get the truck and trailer.

Once the tank was out I checked for power at the wires and it's good. With the sending unit out I also checked the gauge by moving the float...it works as it should too.

Not sure I'm going to go with another Walbro (TiAutomotive now) or try something else. I know there are some knockoffs out there that aren't as good. Was hoping to avoid that by buying this one directly from the manufacturer.

 

[toomany]

Got another fuel pump installed. Went with another Walbro again. This time a 450 vs the 255 I had before. Had to splice on a new connector, other that that it dropped right in place of the old one.

I think the old one was getting weak before it died. Around 5500rpm and above sometimes it felt like you hit a wall. I figured it was in the tune, not having enough fuel in the base map. Now it pulls hard all the way to the 6800rpm rev limit.

 

[bp71k5]

Got another fuel pump installed. Went with another Walbro again. This time a 450 vs the 255 I had before. Had to splice on a new connector, other that that it dropped right in place of the old one.

I think the old one was getting weak before it died. Around 5500rpm and above sometimes it felt like you hit a wall. I figured it was in the tune, not having enough fuel in the base map. Now it pulls hard all the way to the 6800rpm rev limit.

Nice. I’d be super happy to get mine up to 5500rpm and not feel like it’s going to blow.

 

[toomany]

Nice. I’d be super happy to get mine up to 5500rpm and not feel like it’s going to blow.

I feel like I could take it up even higher. It doesn't seem to run out of air or valve spring. For now though I'll keep it at 6800.




Truck died again Friday night. Took it into town and on the way back it shut off rolling up to a stop sign. This time I could clearly hear the pump running but had no pressure again.

Had a fairly good idea of what the problem was and was sort of correct when I pulled the sending unit again. The new pump came with a plastic hose and I was second guessing using it instead of the rubber one I had previously. I had assumed the hose came off the tube, wasn't expecting to see it blown completely apart.




Replaced it with some more high pressure rubber. Put some more miles on it and seemed to be good again. Going to try taking it for a longer drive tonight and see what happens. Tomorrow my dad is supposed to take it for their second attempt at a windshield and I'd like to be sure it's not going to give him any problems.

 

[toomany]

Glass is in for good this time. Must have gotten it on the first try. Dad got there around 1030 and I got an emailed receipt at 1130. They told when I was there they might have to sand the edges down to get it to sit right. Don't know if the ended up doing that or not.





I believe I have fuel issues still. After driving for a little while fuel pressure starts dropping off and it'll start running real lean. Sending unit has a vent on it and I tried pulling the cap already. Going to pull the fuel filter and see what that looks like. It could be a voltage issue too. I'm using the Terminators built in relay and I know some people have had problems with it. I might run a wire directly to the battery to test.

 

[toomany]

Front seats came in. Got the shipping info for the rear today so that should be in in a couple days.

PRP Daily Driver's. Heated, front and rear pockets. Need to work out mounting them. I've got both styles of 73+ bases I'm going to try using before I make something on my own.

 

[toomany]

Pulled the fuel filter and took it apart. The screen inside was plugged up solid. I don't know how it even ran with as much that was in there. When I restarted it, the pressure was at 70psi. I had adjusted it after installing the new pump and had to bump it up some at that time. Filter was probably plugging up at that point. From the looks of it, it was just general shop dust/dirt that had gotten into the tank while it was open over the last few years.

 

[toomany]

Been slacking on the updates with this.

Last weekend I mounted the seats and harnesses. Bar for the shoulder belts will need to change as it's too low right now. I'm going to have to track down a bender and some more tube to correct that. Harnesses are PRP 4 point.






Used the later style K5 bases. Originally they had the seats too high. Cut one inch off the bottom and welded some 2"x1/4" strap to the bottoms for mounting. Also slid them towards the center a little.

Along with the seats I closed out the transmission tunnel and mounted the transfer case shifter and center counsel. The tunnel is only temporary, it's got some dents and rubbery undercoating that is a pain to remove. Looking for a nice used one. That one will get LizardSkin on the bottom and Raptor on top.




Bumpstops were next on the list. I believe these are from a GMT800. Because of how I ran the exhaust I couldn't mount them in the stock location under the frame rail. Took some 4x4 box tubing, cut it diagonally.




Mounted above the spring plate.




I'm not sure if they are mounted too low or not. I expect them to compress some. I can always trim them a little as well.




One of the must do things I've been putting off was clearance the crossmember above the driveshaft. Sectioned a piece of 6" pipe into it.




Got some wheels for the paddles. 17x9 Visions in a gunmetal finish.




Bought 4 of them. Idea is once I get new tires on the MT wheels I'll use the best two for the front on these wheels. Also wanted 4 because it's easier to sell a full set rather than just two.