CK5
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Nice job!
Thanks guys. It wasnt too bad really, although it took me a dang minute to figure out how to get the hog rings into the upper head rest area... Other then that its just finding centre, getting those two rings in and then working your way outwards. Im sure if i did it again i could make less mistakes but i dont plan on doing that again anytime soon. I did see a set of lowback buckets for sale and was very tempted... but then i realized id like to not snap my neck in an accident, so im happy with the hi back seats i currently have, even though the low back buckets look more awesomer.
Toying with the idea of putting the relays in the centre consol so they arent hidden under the seat, surrounded by flammable materials?
Brakes will hopefully get finished today and then i can move on to doors. Once they are done and the cabs sealed up, ill start working on finishing the body work on the bed sides. Ive been putting it off hoping that by the time i get to it, it will be nice enough to have to shop door open to help with dust control.
Got the brake pedal all sorted... i think.
Got the carpet laid down, cut holes for the brackets, and got the seats bolted down. Fitting the centre console now that i have a height for the bracket at the front.
I decided to put the relays in the console, since i was planning on cutting a hole in it for a bluetooth stereo and wiring anyway, since i want to just run two speakers in each back corner to keep wiring short.
I was thinking about running a heavier gauge wire to the back, and have a power bank type doodad, to avoid having any power wires running across the floor for the stereo and seat wamers. The only chord running across will be both switch wires if i go the ashtray route.
Got the carpet laid down, cut holes for the brackets, and got the seats bolted down. Fitting the centre console now that i have a height for the bracket at the front.
I decided to put the relays in the console, since i was planning on cutting a hole in it for a bluetooth stereo and wiring anyway, since i want to just run two speakers in each back corner to keep wiring short.
I was thinking about running a heavier gauge wire to the back, and have a power bank type doodad, to avoid having any power wires running across the floor for the stereo and seat wamers. The only chord running across will be both switch wires if i go the ashtray route.
Fancy heated seats!
That’s going to be nice inside there!
Do you want a slider window for the back?
If you make it out to Alberta this year I have two. I’ll give you one of if you like either of them.
Do you want a slider window for the back?
If you make it out to Alberta this year I have two. I’ll give you one of if you like either of them.
Hmmm ive never had one so maybe i dont know what im missing. me and @tRustyK5 do have some roadkill plans with this girl this summer, but my sister ended up going and getting engaged. Hopefully i can squeeze another few holiday days in there to roadtrip this to alberta with Rene. No way id come out there n not stop by!
Maybe too fancy for me haha. I was peer pressured by ck5 and im happy i was, because it really wasnt any more work to put them in, besides the wiring. Might never use them, but im happy they are there when i do want a warm butt.
i just got heated seats in the new pick-up. My butt is happier than it has ever been...
The Denali benefits!
I've almost forgotten how nice they were until I borrowed the 2500 GMC work truck. Really helps with my dinked hip.
Been working 80 hour weeks lately, getting a few towers up in the air, climbing a couple even taller, and with two guys on the crew off work right now, there's just been 3 of us...Then I got covid at the end of it. The good part is getting some paid sick days off work has been nice, never had one of those before... minus the feeling like a bag of dinks part, it's been decent.
Got time to post some progress I never did post. Made a hinge for the centre console, bought some generic hinge strip at the hardware store and made it work. Test fit it all, and its good so Ill give the console another scuff and one last coat of paint. There is a stripped hole in the console lid. Ill have to try and tap it and put a bigger screw in there...
Also bought a couple power distribution blocks. Putting one next to the battery, to clean up the wires I had running from stock junction block over to the relays, and the other 12v power wires fed to the terminator system. Much cleaner and less wire. Plan is to piggy back another one I got in the cab, with some 8g wire. And feed power to the heated seats and stereo. The stereo Ive got picked out is a Bluetooth amplifier, so no screen or interface, just a little mounted control panel.
Also @jaros44sr sent me this wicked GMC emblem so it'll be nice to switch out in place of the Chevy one in there. Packaging like this, makes me real happy about the level of give a f..
One issue I'm having now is that the doors dont want to close properly now that I have weatherstripping in there ( new, to replace the old junk ) Should I have adjusted and lined them up with the weatherstripping in there? That's my next plan.
Got time to post some progress I never did post. Made a hinge for the centre console, bought some generic hinge strip at the hardware store and made it work. Test fit it all, and its good so Ill give the console another scuff and one last coat of paint. There is a stripped hole in the console lid. Ill have to try and tap it and put a bigger screw in there...
Also bought a couple power distribution blocks. Putting one next to the battery, to clean up the wires I had running from stock junction block over to the relays, and the other 12v power wires fed to the terminator system. Much cleaner and less wire. Plan is to piggy back another one I got in the cab, with some 8g wire. And feed power to the heated seats and stereo. The stereo Ive got picked out is a Bluetooth amplifier, so no screen or interface, just a little mounted control panel.
Also @jaros44sr sent me this wicked GMC emblem so it'll be nice to switch out in place of the Chevy one in there. Packaging like this, makes me real happy about the level of give a f..
One issue I'm having now is that the doors dont want to close properly now that I have weatherstripping in there ( new, to replace the old junk ) Should I have adjusted and lined them up with the weatherstripping in there? That's my next plan.
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Was just reading about some other dude that had the same problem with weather strip. Guys told him to just slam the doors shut and leave them closed to squish them.
Not sure if that is the best answer but… The cool weather probably doesn’t help.
Not sure if that is the best answer but… The cool weather probably doesn’t help.
I didn't test the driver's door before I took It off and only have the passenger's side to go off. I think I'll hang the driver's door, and see what its like. The passenger door is all sorts of wonky. I'll do some process of elimination, and hopefully figure it out quick. I don't want to assemble the doors until it's all dialed in, because they are so much nicer to man handle as empty shells. I got a complete weatherstripping kit, so all new felt for the doors and vent windows also. I didn't cheap out on it either, so I hope the doors not closing isn't the beginning of a weatherstripping headache..
Honestly I found aftermarket door seals to be too stiff. I'd have to slam my doors to get them to close even after adjusting the striker out. I got to looking around and found the door seals on my '00 Tahoe were the same exact thing but nice and soft and the part was still available direct from GM. I ordered from gmpartsdirect.com and it was about 6" too long so I cut it to fit. Since they are factory original soft the doors close much easier just as they should.
The cheap door seals will not fit well. You just need to break them in over time.
Precision seals are my go to, they fit right and a guy down the road from me is an independent dealer who keeps them in stock so you don't need to wait on factory backorder/drop shipment issues.
Precision seals are my go to, they fit right and a guy down the road from me is an independent dealer who keeps them in stock so you don't need to wait on factory backorder/drop shipment issues.
If all else doesnt line up, ill try and maybe hit them with the heat gun on the lowest setting and see if i can soften them up. The rubber seems nice and soft but who knows... First i have to make sure its not a problem in the linkage... A wise old crane mechanic used to tell me that, when id say something was wrong with the crane.. Took me a few times before i realized the linkage he was talking about, was the one inbetween the seat and the controls
Ive kept that saying alive whenever i have apprentices ask me whats wrong with their crane.
Ive kept that saying alive whenever i have apprentices ask me whats wrong with their crane.
One thing that helped my doors close better is getting new strikers with the plastic tubes. They seem to latch better.
I just put the pex fix.
Same result
i dont think i have any pex laying around smaller than 1 inch but those little plastic tubes are super cheap at the parts store. buck a pop or something like that.
These doors are clogging up the production line too much, so im just going to go ahead and paint them for now, so i can atleast assemble them. Ill just have to deal with heavier doors while figure out the closing issues.. The plan for now is to just paint the doors, fenders and bed repairs with what paint i have laying around.. i have black, and white. So most likely black will be the color of choice. Its going to end up being 3 times as much work, but i wont get around to painting the truck green for another year most likely, and this will let me drive it around without primer just absorbing moisture, and causing me to do EVEN more work twice.. I really want to start driving it because its becoming more annoying the less i drive it. Dont get it right, just get it running! I want to have fun in this thing finally.
Used what crap i had laying around and made a little spray "booth" for the doors, since it wont be warm enough outside for atleast another month or so. I had 6mil poly laying around and also had some extraction fans left over too. It aint pretty, but itll let me spray these two doors without overspray everywhere atleast. the fan is 1000 cfm so im hoping it does a decent job. ill leave the door open just enough to vent the 8" tube out the door. Still need to tape all the overlaps together and get a better seal.
I had some rope ratchets also laying around which turned out good for hanging the door shells.
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So the other day a buddy of mines truck caught on fire, he was lucky enough it didnt total the truck, but it did cause him quite a bit of engine bay damage with damn near half the wires burnt... Its something thats been on my mind ever since @SpeedlabDan posted pictures of his unfortunate fire.. I sometimes forget how fast life will just take things away from you, regardless of how much you like them. As i was adding more and more wires to this distribution block on the front.. and i started to think of just how many connections i had made over time , and since i didnt ever really see the wiring on this truck as an entire project, but more or less something i just kept doing along the way as needed... I took a step back and thought about the whole thing..
At this point i had just removed the factory junbction block and had one main one under the hood. I got to noticing how dinky and cheap i was on my relay and fuse block. Sure it would probably work great but the underside where it was all pinned, was sure to be exposed to the elements.. the lid wasnt very tight, and next to that i had the power source (12v batt), and then beside that i had a distribution block, feeding power to everywhere else locasted near by. Sure, the power out of the relay block was fused, but the power in wasnt, the power to the distribution block wasnt and left some areas vulnerable to melting and potential fire..
Sooo given my tendencies to veer into oncoming lanes of different tasks... I am now re wiring the battery, ecm, and added accesory circuit of the truck.
i went and bought a cart for the shop ( much needed now that i have one! )
25' copper 4awg.
25' of copper 10awg
25 ' of copper 8 awg
It seems so much of the wiring i saw for sale was CCA... and when i did a little research on amp capacities, it seemed youd have to bump up a whole gauge of wire for the same amp rating on the copper clad aluminum stuff, so i opted for pure copper wire. I got some crimpers good for up to 1 ga, some inline 10 ga fuses, heat shrink, big pack of shrink connecters, and everything else i had always needed, but made "do" without.
First I removed the battery from the engine bay, mainly because that drivers side corner is already wire heavy with the headlight harness, horns, and it puts it right infront, and tight of the headlamp, close by is also the main cab connection..Once it was decided to remove the battery i was thinking about what side of the bed to put it on. The drivers side would be a nice straight shot out to new relay/fuse block, but zig zag to the the starter. I figured the heaviest gauge wire should be the shortest run. So with that in mind i am laying it out for a passenger side battery. This gives me a straight shot to the starter, it also gives me a straight shot back in the same route for the terminator to battery connection ( dedicated 12v and ground ).
I have had this aluminum box that a buddy made , laying around for quite some time which i think i will use. Im thinking about dividing it into two sections. One for roadside tools and one for the battery. The battery boxes ive seen for sale dont seem to be too big except for RVs.. and they are very expensive.... I bought one at the local store without measuring and it leaves me zero room for fun in the box.. My reason for wanting space is that i want to fuse the accesory power at the battery, also have a disconnect switch on the ground side, I dont want any chunk of wire to be left hot if something happened and fuses blew, leaving that one wire to melt and cause havok from the battery... especially if its running from the bed to the engine bay. The new relay and fuse block i ordered comes with distributed power bar, so i can eliminate a power wire feeding every relay seperately, its made in the usa and not made of cheap plastic. Comes with a 70amp fuse at the 12v power in and I also ordered up a water proof box for it. The photos arent exact but damn near close to what ill be getting. Wasnt cheap but a burnt truck isnt either...
I will be running an 8ga wire from the battery directly to the relay box. I wasnt sure if it was sufficient to run it off the extra wire i have that ran off the starter/junction block circuit. I figured a direct source would be best anyway, and then i could fuse it right at the battery. I currently only have two relays, but this will leave me space to add two more, which im sure will happen eventually. If i dont use up the spots for relays, im thinking i should be able to still have 2 fused, 12v power out sources off the box. I do plan on keeping the junction block in the engine bay for the dedicated 12v coil wire, and other 12v power needs from the ECU.
For the cab, instead of putting inline fuses in both heated seat 12v wires, and the inline fuse for the accesory charging slots.. i bought a 6 panel fuse block with 12v power in. This will let me run one power wire and have everything fused before it heads out to the accesory. I have one left over power distribution block with a 3/8 stud. I plan on using this for the cab grounds. I will run one 8 ga ground wire from the frame/cab to the distribution block and then i can attach any grounds now and in the future to it. I will install behind passenger seat with the fuse block.
I ended up eliminated alot of wiring all clustered in the engine bay. I havent drilled any holes in the box yet because i want to make sure i have my battery box figured out before i do, but i have the main strarter wire and holley ECU wires ran.
A little before and after of the engine bay so far. Still just making sure everything works for now. Ordered up some good wire loom and sorted the wires into designated groups. will wrap them all once final install.
At this point i had just removed the factory junbction block and had one main one under the hood. I got to noticing how dinky and cheap i was on my relay and fuse block. Sure it would probably work great but the underside where it was all pinned, was sure to be exposed to the elements.. the lid wasnt very tight, and next to that i had the power source (12v batt), and then beside that i had a distribution block, feeding power to everywhere else locasted near by. Sure, the power out of the relay block was fused, but the power in wasnt, the power to the distribution block wasnt and left some areas vulnerable to melting and potential fire..
Sooo given my tendencies to veer into oncoming lanes of different tasks... I am now re wiring the battery, ecm, and added accesory circuit of the truck.
i went and bought a cart for the shop ( much needed now that i have one! )
25' copper 4awg.
25' of copper 10awg
25 ' of copper 8 awg
It seems so much of the wiring i saw for sale was CCA... and when i did a little research on amp capacities, it seemed youd have to bump up a whole gauge of wire for the same amp rating on the copper clad aluminum stuff, so i opted for pure copper wire. I got some crimpers good for up to 1 ga, some inline 10 ga fuses, heat shrink, big pack of shrink connecters, and everything else i had always needed, but made "do" without.
First I removed the battery from the engine bay, mainly because that drivers side corner is already wire heavy with the headlight harness, horns, and it puts it right infront, and tight of the headlamp, close by is also the main cab connection..Once it was decided to remove the battery i was thinking about what side of the bed to put it on. The drivers side would be a nice straight shot out to new relay/fuse block, but zig zag to the the starter. I figured the heaviest gauge wire should be the shortest run. So with that in mind i am laying it out for a passenger side battery. This gives me a straight shot to the starter, it also gives me a straight shot back in the same route for the terminator to battery connection ( dedicated 12v and ground ).
I have had this aluminum box that a buddy made , laying around for quite some time which i think i will use. Im thinking about dividing it into two sections. One for roadside tools and one for the battery. The battery boxes ive seen for sale dont seem to be too big except for RVs.. and they are very expensive.... I bought one at the local store without measuring and it leaves me zero room for fun in the box.. My reason for wanting space is that i want to fuse the accesory power at the battery, also have a disconnect switch on the ground side, I dont want any chunk of wire to be left hot if something happened and fuses blew, leaving that one wire to melt and cause havok from the battery... especially if its running from the bed to the engine bay. The new relay and fuse block i ordered comes with distributed power bar, so i can eliminate a power wire feeding every relay seperately, its made in the usa and not made of cheap plastic. Comes with a 70amp fuse at the 12v power in and I also ordered up a water proof box for it. The photos arent exact but damn near close to what ill be getting. Wasnt cheap but a burnt truck isnt either...
I will be running an 8ga wire from the battery directly to the relay box. I wasnt sure if it was sufficient to run it off the extra wire i have that ran off the starter/junction block circuit. I figured a direct source would be best anyway, and then i could fuse it right at the battery. I currently only have two relays, but this will leave me space to add two more, which im sure will happen eventually. If i dont use up the spots for relays, im thinking i should be able to still have 2 fused, 12v power out sources off the box. I do plan on keeping the junction block in the engine bay for the dedicated 12v coil wire, and other 12v power needs from the ECU.
For the cab, instead of putting inline fuses in both heated seat 12v wires, and the inline fuse for the accesory charging slots.. i bought a 6 panel fuse block with 12v power in. This will let me run one power wire and have everything fused before it heads out to the accesory. I have one left over power distribution block with a 3/8 stud. I plan on using this for the cab grounds. I will run one 8 ga ground wire from the frame/cab to the distribution block and then i can attach any grounds now and in the future to it. I will install behind passenger seat with the fuse block.
I ended up eliminated alot of wiring all clustered in the engine bay. I havent drilled any holes in the box yet because i want to make sure i have my battery box figured out before i do, but i have the main strarter wire and holley ECU wires ran.
A little before and after of the engine bay so far. Still just making sure everything works for now. Ordered up some good wire loom and sorted the wires into designated groups. will wrap them all once final install.
I've been thinking a lot about doing this with my crew cab. Started out with everything pretty tidy, but it seems like there's always something new that gets wired in. A lot of times the wiring was done in a rush so not as tidy as it could of been. Now I feel like it just needs gutted and rewired.
