SoCal '85 6.2L Jimmy build

[solvire]

sunset

I'm going to derail my own thread for a short bit. Had some nice pics and wanted to share, but didn't want to throw these elsewhere.

I wanted to do a tiny bit of wheeling in the new girl. There is a nike missile silo above the san fernando valley. I was also scoping out a location for the upcoming annular eclipse on sunday and wanted to see how the sunset looked.

The pic doesn't do the sunset justice. It was a nice bright red fireball going down.

EDIT: oh some guys were riding by on mountain bikes and saw the truck. They didn't know I was in earshot but they give it the "that's a bada$$ truck" vote.

 

[solvire]

rear window

Alright so i got into the rear window.
I found that not only was the drive cable unhooked but the switch was unhooked. When I hooked them back up i tried to lower it with the motor and it would sound like the motor was trying to lower it but it just wouldn't move. Like it was stuck or something.

The regulator transmission seems like it has been buggered so I am going to try to take it off and see if anything can be done to salvage it. I'd rather not have to spend money to replace it if there is just something binding in there. Any suggestions on removing the transmission? Is there a spring that will cut my arms off if I don't watch for it?

I'll post some pics later.

 

[solvire]

Well got the regulator transmission out.
The housing got tweaked so the gears are off-center and will not actuate the regulator.
It's a mess. Not sure how that happened. I am afraid i need to order a whole new set of parts. I'm going to head over to the zone to see if they have the part. Kinda doubt it, but it's a big storehouse so maybe. No pic yet I'll post it I promise.

 

[solvire]

gate pic

I had retarded hands today or my camera was hating me.
I tried to take some pics and when i got in i found that they were so blurry that you couldn't tell what you were looking at.

The gate is put back together minus the motor. After knocking the transmission back into place on the regulator I was able to raise and lower the window with a drill.

When activating the motor however the window would not budge. Anyone have a suggestion on testing the motor? I am hoping it's just bad wiring not getting enough juice out to it. It would just click and move the cable itself a little and the window wouldn't budge. I'm going to try to get some grease in there tomorrow and see if it was just tired, but I imagine that it is worn out.

Notice that they only have 2 bolts in there on the regulator transmission. It tweaked the nipple out of the little hole on the regulator and bent the housing of the gears.

That little bent rod in the middle that gets depressed when the window goes down is always down. It doesn't go back up to protect the door handle from getting opened. It appears that someone jacked with it at one point because the metal it a little bent where someone was prying on it. PO mechanicship. Always making things better.

 

[solvire]

electrical 2

I have also found that the rear gate lock will not accept my key. There might be a broken key left in it for me. Communist treasure chest. Yay.

I started trying to follow cords around the dash and realized that they were as bad as I expected. The passenger speaker line was cut so I tried to splice it. Only worked for a few. The speakers are way to big for the door anyway and I might need to fab something there.

Anyone know what the switch in the glove compartment is? That isn't something standard is it? Never seen anything like that before on other threads.

I don't know what the cable is coming from the drivers side disconnected behind the pilar there.

Some nice pics of memorial days planes. A small benefit to living next to valley airports. Always get a slight woody when I see a formation.

 

[solvire]

Incoming:
ORD steering brace
Some new shocks
New head unit

Anyone have recommendations for sound deadening?? I went through the search results on here and a few audio sites with fair results. Most are suggestions for cars. Vehicles that wont be beat on like mine.

I was thinking lizard skin or microsphere liner and maybe some toppers on a few places with dynamat or one of the cheaper alternatives for the big wide sections. Input is welcome. I might start another thread on the topic if anyone is interested. I was thinking of coming up with my own liner blend if i got motivated.

 

[y5mgisi]

I like this thread so far. The lizard skin gets my vote.

 

[solvire]

power steering box seal

Well I was tired of that slow annoying leak on the power steering box in front of the input shaft. I got the little rebuild kit from the zone. $13.

I pulled the snap ring off and tried to get that big nut loose. It would not budge and it looked like I was starting to bugger it up so I figured the leak probably was due to that first seal. I pulled the old one out and it was brittle and just started breaking apart as I pulled it out. Could that be due to PO putting in some stop leak before? The box and pump are probably in need of a rebuild.

Since i'll be getting a 2wd box to do the cross over later I figured this would be enough for now so I only replaced the one seal. I've been eyeballing those coil overs at ORD with a bit of eagerness. I'd also like to get some meatier axles on this thing and gear it down to 4.10 or 4.58. Once I'm ready for that then I can do the new steering box at that time as well.

Drove it for an hour today and i don't see the annoying drip from before. One more item down. Infinity more to go.

 

[84 k5 blazer]

I don't know what the cable is coming from the drivers side disconnected behind the pilar there.

That is for the cargo light in the top....... Disconnect it before removing the top.

 

[solvire]

thanks 84'
I'll be removing those lights and putting in some LEDs probably anyway. They don't work for crap right now to begin with. I'm thinking some rope lights for the topper back there. I just don't want the back of my truck to look like a college frat room. Although those places were replete with slutty coeds and i wouldn't mind finding them in there.

 

[solvire]

Got the shocks. 3 hours to install. Every time I do anything it takes twice the time I wanted it to.
Also found out that my bumps are too short. The shocks will bottom out before they hit the bumpstops and I realized that the ones before could bottom out too. I might just drive it easy until i can replace more stuff up front.

Also there is probably a great excuse for a spring over conversion. If I get my motivation back i'll go back out and put in the steering brace. I kinda don't want to get dirty again today. Plus working in the street is annoying.

The head unit is in and I am searching for some kick panels. The door was mutilated so I need to repair it and put it back together.

 

[solvire]

door hinges

I went to the zone and picked up the door hinge pins and bushings. They assured me they were giving me the right one. And that they only had one so they sent me to another store to get the other one.

Well it wasn't. And I spent 2 hours trying to figure out why it wouldn't work.
Did the ole paracord from the tree trick. Didn't work well and now i have some scuffing on the door where it meets the quarter panel. Glad i'm going to be painting it later.

 

[solvire]

electroyka

Alright so starting to rip out the dash. I really want autometer gauges in there but I'm not sure I want to spend the coin. Is it really worth it and can I get the panel bright enough to see. That massive fuel gauge and no tac is enough IMO but I'm gonna see what I can do.

There is a red LED that was stuffed into the top of the panel. No idea where it goes. There is no resister on it that I saw and I never saw it light up.

The truck used to have an amp somewhere because there were cut wires all over the place. Looked like it back and forth to a system. The speaker on the passenger side doesn't fit into the door.

So as I work on it now I will just be trying to fix all the ripped and clipped wires and get the grounds back to normal. I'll replace the bulbs on the dash with LEDs to see if that makes it bright enough to go on for a while. Hoping at least.

 

[solvire]

More E-stripping

A nest keeps on going so I have to keep ripping out stuff.
I think i found a modulator and a volume control. I can't tell what this thing is but that it has a low power transmitter fcc permit. Included some pictures. The little box and the wiring is a mystery still. I need to get the wiring diagram so I can match those things up to something or not. That way I can pull um

Pulled the little speakers off the dash.

PO put a hole in the head of the cab and punched it up enough to cause a crack in the roof on the outside layer. It was a coax jack so I guess he was rockin the CB or something. It needs to be fixed because I see some rust death beginning to form.

There is just more and more junk that has to come out from behind the dash. I am going to make an order for some LED bulbs to see if that fixes the dim dash also since I have found a few burned out ones so far.

This might turn into "can I put it back together" thread.

 

[K85 Octane]

I went through all this wiring stuff and autometer install once, didn't like it, drank a beer, and ripped the entire dash and wiring out. Started with an EZ kit and DIY4x dash ahahahah

So.... good luck, not being sarcastic, just keep thumpin away and be careful what you cut. Also, where is your rear window switch opening in the dash? I see the connector....

 

[solvire]

Thanks for the words of hope. I knew this was gonna be ugly, but one of those things that had to be done.

Rear switch opening is there. It is just obscured by the reflection.

 

[solvire]

Steering brace

Finally got the ORD steering brace in.
Took me long enough.

The kit was great. Had my truck been straighter I think it would have been a couple hour job and thats it.
First I started to take off the bolts and realized that I was going to have to get some longer bolts. I went to the hardware store and picked up a grade 8 that was a little longer to replace the rear bottom bolt. While trying to bolt it in I realized that something was very wrong. Apparently the PO stripped out the steering box. I couldn't get it to take. I lathered on some red locktite and used the old nut on the new bold.

There was about 1/4" of excess steel on the frame where it was patched before so I had to move the hole on the crossmember over about that far. It is pictured below but the pic didn't come out very good. It was hard to tell what my focus was like under there. It is kinda blurry but the old hole is hanging out from under the nut a little.

It also shifted the angle of the bracket so I had to use a few washers to give me enough clearance. (also pictured below with even worse focus) The bolt wasn't going far enough into the lock nut so I'm prob gonna have to remove one of the washers and maybe add some locktite to ensure I don't have to worry about losing the nut.

HUGE improvement in the steering. When I turn now the wheels do too. I could feel the bolts coming loose before with the worn out box and wasted bolts. By necessity I'll have to replace that box and get that 2wd crossover steering mod done. For safety sake ya know. I need to remove everything from that portion of the frame too and try to repair it. I saw places that were pretty nasty. Gonna have to go light on wheeling for now.

 

[solvire]

more steering

Few more pics of the steering brace.

Bolt can be seen sticking through with the nut on the end. Slathered in loctite. Box has got to go.
I wish i had a place to pull off everything and lay it around in a work bay.

 

[solvire]

gauge blah

Pulled off the gauges and was gonna do the chrome spray paint.
Must have manhandled the speedo so now I think I have only 1 gauge that works fully and 2 that half work.

Ordered some autometers from "ion" - J - and should have those in shortly.
Also tried to order a diy4x dash from Kert, but his techs are way behind. I hope they find some favorable wind soon because I have the dash gutted and don't feel like fitting anything into the old cluster. Although if I do it might save me the cost.

 

[y5mgisi]

I like how you are constantly doing something to your truck. Reminds me of when i was younger.