The RedBurb

[AugustDiesel]

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?

All those are options I’m considering.

I initially had them in that spare tire area but moved them because it seemed to be causing my truck to squat with the soft ORD springs.

Other options I’m contemplating:

Deleting the factory air box in favor of ultimately (down the road) a vintage air system which would free up a ton of space under the hood.

Cut out the factory dash and build a tube dash. Would allow me to fit all my gauges, the batteries, and the under dash VA AC box I had in the rear and boxed up. But I like the factory dash look.

Build a recessed box into the floor behind the second row and mount the batteries there.

Decision decisions.

 

[ZooMad75]

The vintage air setup definitely cleans up the firewall where you could use a CUCV battery tray to put the batteries under the hood. That’s the exact setup my buddy used on his CUCV Blazer with an 8.1 and vintage air.

As far as running a cpap camping I feel ya. My first one could run on 12v with the right cord. It died at Blazer Bash the first time I went. My new one has no ability to run on 12v. So on the latest trip I picked up a small Jackery portable power supply. Sick setup. It’s basically a battery in a housing with a 12v to 120v inverter built in. I only used it to run my cpap at night and as long as I charged it while we drove during the day.

I forgot to plug it in until lunch time one day and had it up to about 65% by the time I went to bed. Made it to about 5:30 the next morning when my cpap died from lack of power.

It’s really compact and can be used in many situations besides camping. I picked mine up at harbor freight for about $250 and is the smallest at 400 watts, 290 watt/hour. It was totally worth the cost to use it and not tax my camper battery I’m running the arb fridge off of.

 

[fordmas]

Looking good! I'll have some updated pics today most likely of your ex-seats

I don't recall what your engine bay looks like but have you gotten rid of your battery trays over the wheels? Mine are still intact and I'm looking at my battery locations now as well. The trays are tiny IMO but I don't have anything in those spots now other than the cranking battery.

 

[AugustDiesel]

The vintage air setup definitely cleans up the firewall where you could use a CUCV battery tray to put the batteries under the hood. That’s the exact setup my buddy used on his CUCV Blazer with an 8.1 and vintage air.

As far as running a cpap camping I feel ya. My first one could run on 12v with the right cord. It died at Blazer Bash the first time I went. My new one has no ability to run on 12v. So on the latest trip I picked up a small Jackery portable power supply. Sick setup. It’s basically a battery in a housing with a 12v to 120v inverter built in. I only used it to run my cpap at night and as long as I charged it while we drove during the day.

I forgot to plug it in until lunch time one day and had it up to about 65% by the time I went to bed. Made it to about 5:30 the next morning when my cpap died from lack of power.

It’s really compact and can be used in many situations besides camping. I picked mine up at harbor freight for about $250 and is the smallest at 400 watts, 290 watt/hour. It was totally worth the cost to use it and not tax my camper battery I’m running the arb fridge off of.

I already have a 1500 watt power inverter that provides ample power for the CPAP, just drains more from the dual batteries than I prefer.

The CUCV setup is what I was envisioning, but probably will have to custom build a tray because these D31M batteries are way bigger than the ones from the factory.

I’m leaning towards the CUCV style setup, with a third camping battery in the back where the spare tire once stood.

Looking good! I'll have some updated pics today most likely of your ex-seats

I don't recall what your engine bay looks like but have you gotten rid of your battery trays over the wheels? Mine are still intact and I'm looking at my battery locations now as well. The trays are tiny IMO but I don't have anything in those spots now other than the cranking battery.

Yeah those have been gone for a long time. Was one of the first projects I did on the truck. At the time, one battery was dead and the other one’s tray was rotted out. Since then, the entire front clip has been replaced and the batteries were first moved to the rear. No room in the original locations now.

 

[fordmas]

Gotcha. Both battier of mine are too big for the trays anyway and the currently installed one bounces around a bit. recently secured it more but its not ideal at all. Planning on running a Redarc smart battery isolator soon and need to sort out battery locations so I'm keeping an eye on your build

 

[AugustDiesel]

Gotcha. Both battier of mine are too big for the trays anyway and the currently installed one bounces around a bit. recently secured it more but its not ideal at all. Planning on running a Redarc smart battery isolator soon and need to sort out battery locations so I'm keeping an eye on your build

Understood. I’ve got a battery isolator buried in the shelf somewhere that I’ll put to use when I add the third battery. But that’s down the road.

Forward progress was made today. Gutted the engine bay of all AC parts except for the condenser in the core support.

“Air conditioning is for sissies” I kept telling myself. I’m sure I’ll be thinking otherwise in the dead heat of Florida summer in a few months. Oh well, this is temporary anyways.

Used an AC compressor bypass pulley/bracket as substitute.

Now to figure out how I want to mount the batteries. For right now, I want something quick and dirty to get me through the next couple of weeks until I get started on the turbo swap. I imagine thing will change once the turbo abs down pipe are installed.



Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

Gutted the rest of the climate control gear from under the dash and looks like I get to attack the old C-code ECM as well




Also added a saddle blanket seat cover, because you can fry an egg on a vinyl seat sitting in the Florida sun in the dead of summer.



Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

Little eBay aluminum block off plate to keep the noise out. This thing is engineered really well actually. Mounting holes in all the right places and thick enough to mount some stuff off of later on.




Also, I used my truck the other day as a gardening tool.

View attachment IMG_5714.MOV

Hopefully the video works!

Andy

 

[mrk5]

Video worked for me.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Well this is a new step for me. For the last five years, I’ve built my truck in my drive way. That’s what I had so that’s what I used. It worked, but it led to some miserable experiences. Florida heat and Florida rain both are equally unrelenting. There is no shade and no cover in the driveway, so I always got the full force of both.

Well, it dawned on me that I have a covered space on the backside of the house: our back porch! It took some convincing for the wife, but it’s covered, away from the sun, and the truck actually fits.

This will be such a nice change to not be hindered by heat and rain. The new turbo and fuel system are soon to be a go.



The shade sail provides added privacy and shade. Speaking of privacy. I’ve never liked the lack of privacy in the front drive. There’s just enough sketchy peeps that drive and walk by that I get uncomfortable easy.



Come to find out, the porch isn’t level, so the truck leans to the passenger side, but there will be minimal suspension work being done amongst the turbo and fuel system, so should still be okay.



As you can see, there’s an easy 10* difference between the front and backside of the house.




And the view from the den and my office is pretty good too!



There will be plenty of back and forth between the porch and the garage for tools and parts, but, the advantages are worth the trade off.

Andy

 

[KirsL]

Working in the shade is always a plus.

Crazy that’s it’s that hot down there already. He had a cold snap up and had a snow squall blow through. Crazy.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Working in the shade is always a plus.

Crazy that’s it’s that hot down there already. He had a cold snap up and had a snow squall blow through. Crazy.

Not here. All of that stuff is rain by the time it gets to us.

 

[joshuak]

Shade should make a lot of difference, good move.

Sorry if I missed it, but are you adding a charge air cooler along with your whistle?

 

[AugustDiesel]

Shade should make a lot of difference, good move.

Sorry if I missed it, but are you adding a charge air cooler along with your whistle?

Indeed I am. I have a Vibrant air-to-air intercooler that’s good for 350hp. Fitment will be interesting, but I have some ideas.

 

[AgDieseler]

What a worthwhile update. Shade extends patience, which improves quality. Nicely done.

David

 

[AugustDiesel]

What a worthwhile update. Shade extends patience, which improves quality. Nicely done.

David

Absolutely agree. I’m looking forward to what the Summer 2022 Program holds.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Deconstruction has begun.




Pulled the fuel tank skid this evening. I expected to have to cut the skid out because the 6 bolts that hold it up haven’t been touched in 34 years and this is the most severely corrosion-exposed area of the truck which spent 29 years of its life in Kansas. But, some PB Blaster and a long homemade breaker bar made easy work of it.

Tomorrow I’ll be pulling the tire rack and rear bumper so I can get access to the strap nuts, though those look like they’ll need to be cut.

New straps are on the way and a new 40 gallon tank is sitting in the laundry room awaiting its new home.

Eventually I’ll build a new skid plate that will be able to hold the weight of the truck.

Bye, Felicia.




Call it scope creep, but I have a feeling there’s going to be some major sheet metal work happening back here this summer.

But first, new fuel and a turbo.


Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

The old tank is gone and off to its new home. Buddy not far from me wants to use it to mock up a burb tank for his k30.



I know this has nothing to do with the turbo or fuel system, but two things I’m heavily considering while the tank is out are:

1) scrap this junk wiring and eventually rebuild only what I need.



And

2) remove the cargo floor board and wheel wells and -eventually- replace with new.



Aside from the rockers. This is the last of and the most severe rust rot in the body. I have many times seriously explored the option of a body swap. But, if I replace the floors and wheel wells and rehab the bed sides, then a body swap is not really necessary anymore. Worst case, I just proceed with a body swap if this doesn’t work out.

Decision decisions.

Andy

 

[ktmoutfront]

The wiring gives me the heebie jeebies more than the wood floor.

 

[AugustDiesel]

The wiring gives me the heebie jeebies more than the wood floor.

You should see the rest of it