The RedBurb

[AugustDiesel]

Spacers are burned in. The crossmember is essentially done. All that’s left is to drill the mounting holes in the frame, mount the crossmember, and then locate and burn in the bushing mount.

And paint.




Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

The crossmember is mounted and opinions are needed further down …



Clearance for the drain plug.



Here’s where I need your thoughts: is there enough clearance here for the 205? Driveline angle is set where it needs to be, no more room to go up and no room to go down. Looks like about 1/8”-3/16” gap between the plate and the bottom of the 205. How much flex should I expect the 205 to have? If needed, I can cut out a section of the skid plate and weld a slightly larger plate to the bottom of it that would overlap the cut out, and provide an additional 1/4” of gap.



Thoughts?



Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

The truck answered the question for me, got the bushing mount burned in completely and put everything together and once I let the drivetrain rest on its own weight it’s settled ever so slightly and there is now only about a 1/16 gap between the 205 and the skid plate.



So the plan will be to cut out a square from the skid plate on the passenger side about the shape of the flat bottom of the 205, and overlay the cut out with a larger square which will give an extra 1/4 inch clearance beneath the 205. Something like this, but one layer, overlapped.



For now, she is resting on her own weight and I have discovered that most of my vibration noise is coming from my exhaust, which is also way too rigid. One step at a time.



Andy

 

[mrk5]

FWIW, I think I have about 1/2" clearance and it's been fine.

 

[AugustDiesel]

FWIW, I think I have about 1/2" clearance and it's been fine.

Yeah. I don’t need much. Just more than what I had.

Fortunately, it was a pretty quick lunchtime update.




From this angle, it looks warped, but I don’t think it is. Just the way the angle grinder radiuses the edge.




I’ll let it cool off then get it reinstalled in about an hour and recheck clearances. I should be good though. I checked it several times before committing to the plan and it looks like I’ll have at least 5/16” clearance at the lowest point.

Tomorrow I’ll be getting it cleaned up and painted, and working on swapping out my exhaust hangers for something …. not so rigid.



Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

From this angle, it looks warped, but I don’t think it is. Just the way the angle grinder radiuses the edge.

Perfect demonstration of my ignorance here. It did in fact warp slightly upward, but not to any detriment of the design I don’t think. Crossmember is on and by my measurements I have about 5/16-3/8” of gap now. Much better than the 1/16” I had before.



Sure looks good in the daylight.



Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

Paint has a way of giving off that “job well done” feeling …

 

[Truckman4life]

Kentucky chrome, Nice!

 

[AugustDiesel]

Kentucky chrome, Nice!

Haha. I’ll call it GM Silver, because it’s identical to the two tone silver that used to be on my wife’s truck before we repainted it.

But it’s just normal run of the mill POR-15 DTM silver paint.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Man it feels really good to have this done. Another one off the list.



I also discovered the major source of vibrations in my truck. When I built my rear bumper and added the side risers, I built them really close to the body. Like REALLY closer. Call it beginners mistake. Then during BB2020, the body shifted toward the driver side and all this time that rear corner has been in full contact with the riser. Not to worry. I beat it back with the trusty prybar and no more contact.



Between the rubber body mounts, the new-less-rigid tranny crossmember, and the rear corner off the bumper, the interior noise levels have significantly dropped. It’s down to just engine noise, exhaust noise, and a few old truck rattles. Those are levels I can live with.



I’ve been driving my father-in-law’s gmt400 around for the last 24 hours and man someday I’m gonna convince him to sell it to me. Offroad Design has a whole catalog of parts I can use to build this into a really good workhorse.



I’ve got a few honey-do projects to hammer out over the next couple weeks, and then it’s finally time to get this turbo installed. It’s been a long time coming.



Which brings me to my next thought-provoking decision: exhaust.

Earlier I said I would ditch the dual glass packs and switch back to my MBRP, but I’m back and forth. I’d like your thoughts and opinions (old photos):

1. I could keep the glass packs, and run a 2.5” or 3” pipe from the turbo to the glass packs, and be done.



2. I could run the MBRP Quiet Tone, and build all new 4” exhaust all the way back to the tail of the truck.

3. I could run the MBRP, and have it exit right before the rear axle, like it did before.



I’m looking for quietest note with maximum flow. I imagine that’s going to be option 2. Which is what I’m leaning towards. I remember y’all saying before that the single 4” pipe will have more flow than the dual 2.5” pipes. Both muffler styles seem to be on par with one another as far as note and loudness. And exiting as far back as possible, behind the rear axle and tire, will keep interior noise levels down. This option may however require repositioning the rear shocks so that the larger 4” pipe has more room to navigate those tight spaces.

But if it’s not the right decision, talk me out of it.


Andy

 

[Truckman4life]

The turbo will add to the quieting down of the exhaust.

 

[AugustDiesel]

The turbo will add to the quieting down of the exhaust.

I’ve heard this before, and I’m looking forward to it.

Well I’m going to strike off option 1. With the rear tailpipe mount/hanger as rigid as it is, it was transferring unnecessary vibrations into the cab. I also discovered it had been rubbing against the driver side shock. So I’ve pulled the tail pipes and when I do the turbo I’ll swap the MBRP back in and either dump right before the rear axle or route over and to the back of the truck somehow some way.

Once again the truck answers my questions for me.

 

[Truckman4life]

I would kick it out the side if possible. Before the passenger rear tire.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Ol’ girl got some new mirrors courtesy of my boys and their football. Decided to go with black since it fits the black/white scheme.



Also added another sticker courtesy of @AgDieseler.



I kind of consider this the calm before the storm. Doing a lot of cleaning out and rearranging of the shop and property to make it better suited for the kind of work I’ll be doing over the next few months. I’ve got something in the works that I’m excited for and am looking forward to sharing with y’all.

Then it will be go time.

Im not sure how long all of this will take me to complete. I’m pacing myself a whole lot more than I used to, giving my wife and kids the attention they deserve. But I’m not going to rush the work either. So we will see how this goes.

Andy

 

[mrk5]

Ol’ girl got some new mirrors courtesy of my boys and their football. Decided to go with black since it fits the black/white scheme.

You sold their football to pay for the mirrors? Damn, that's hard core!

 

[AugustDiesel]

You sold their football to pay for the mirrors? Damn, that's hard core!

Hey, someone’s gotta pay for these truck parts.


Truthfully, they were playing football out front and it hit the mirror and knocked the glass out. I figured instead of gambling with gluing new glass in the old mirror, I’d just replace the mirrors.

 

[noJeepshere]

You sold their football to pay for the mirrors? Damn, that's hard core!

I was thinking more along the lines of her sold the boys and their football to pay for the mirrors.

 

[ZooMad75]

I was thinking more along the lines of her sold the boys and their football to pay for the mirrors.

No that’s what it takes to fill the fuel tank now.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Swapped the captain’s chairs and console for a really nice bench seat.

I’ve wanted a bench seat in front for as long as I can remember.

The captains are nice, but the bench has nostalgia as my dad’s 85 6.2 burb had a bench. It will also make a nice sleeping spot for one of the boys when camping and most importantly, my wife can sit closer

@fordmas has a really clean burb he is building here, and was looking for captains and a console, so we made a clean trade. We were going to either meet up in Texas or meet in the middle in Louisiana, but the logistics didn’t work out so we ended up shipping the seats. Turned out to be cheaper than the price of fuel anyways.

Now to figure out what to do with the batteries. I had them mounted where the console was and was going to build a console around them. That plan is ditched now, of course. I have a couple of ideas, which include adding a third battery for camping power. I sleep with a CPAP machine and believe it or not, that thing draws a lot of power. Almost couldn’t crank my truck after the last 2 night camping trip.





Andy

 

[mrk5]

I think where you've got the batteries now looks good.

Could you move them to the back. Suburbans have a well for the spare tire, don't they? Could they be mounted in there with some modifications? No room in the engine bay?