Ben Jammin's 1955 Chevy/GMC Project

[hotrodsbyray]

Ben - would love to have those part numbers!
Could you post them on here for us?
Thanks, Ray

[bensimmons_05]

Hey there. Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I gathered the part #s up for the tools, I will also include some of the replacement hardware:

Slide Hammer - 27033
Pilot bearing attachment - 27059

you use these two tools together along with 2 lug nuts welded back to back. If I remember correctly the thread is 1/2"-20 . Just thread one side on the spring bolt while it is inside the bushing, and one side on the pilot bearing puller which is attached to the slide hammer and pound away. This will remove the bushing and the spring bolt together.

The spring bolts (threaded type in shackles) for front and rear are part # sk4981
they should be $9.99 for a set of 2

The large pin on the front side of the rear leafs is part # sk4352

They offer the full shackle (including bushings, bolts, rubber grommets, and nuts) for the front. part # sk208

I hope this all helps. Thanks for the comments guys!

[E-tek Restorations]

Just went through your thread - AWESOME!!! It's so cool people can record stuff like this forever. Most of us "old guys" (to you!) would have LOVED to be able to go back over cars and trucks we'd built long ago! Keep up the good work.

Congrats as well on getting married. Sounds like she's OK with the hobby, which is VERY important (as long as you don't spend ALL the money on it - LOL!) And..... since a few guys where giving you advice on marriage....here's mine: DON'T take marriage advice from dudes on a truck forum!!!

[bensimmons_05]

Originally Posted by E-tek Restorations

Just went through your thread - AWESOME!!! It's so cool people can record stuff like this forever. Most of us "old guys" (to you!) would have LOVED to be able to go back over cars and trucks we'd built long ago! Keep up the good work.

Congrats as well on getting married. Sounds like she's OK with the hobby, which is VERY important (as long as you don't spend ALL the money on it - LOL!) And..... since a few guys where giving you advice on marriage....here's mine: DON'T take marriage advice from dudes on a truck forum!!!

Hahaha I appreciate the comments! I was actually GOING to get married, but long story short, it fell through. No fault of my own.

Even though it would seem I would have more time and money for my true love, things have ben BUSY. I am finishing up with school next semester and moving full time in my current job, so the setting will be better for working on the truck!

Thanks for looking at the thread, I am going to be following yours from now on!

[bensimmons_05]

We have had a couple warm days here in Alabama!! I'm getting a serious fever! Not only am I less motivated in cold weather, but this semester has been HECTIC. Being my last semester I have tests, presentations, and Calculus based Physics. This Summer I have zero classes, so it is gonna be TRUCK TIME!!



I have had a computer that I have been playing with so I decided to put it out in the shop. Its a pretty neat setup, I have a touch screen and an industrial keyboard on the way. I have the sound run through the shop stereo so I can play anything I have saved or stream from the internet. This thing should be able to last in this environment. I also played around with video feeds and thought it might be cool to have a live video feed so you guys could see what I'm doing in the SHOP.

Tell me what you think!

I was trying to embed the video , but you can see the live stream here >>>> www.ustream.tv/channel/simmons-shop

[watahyahknow]

i like it , I'm actually been thinking of making some sort of jukebox like it one of these days with an ooooooooooooooooold computer and an extra external hard disk running umbutu with some light show and bubbling hoses and stuff like an old Wurlitzer , could use an old furniture closet with an arced top for it big amp and speakers in the bottom and go for it . could use an old tube radio too and make it more portable , those are often made of wood and you could hang the motherboard upside down from the roof with a couple of wood screws and lay the 12 volt amp and computer powersupply on the bottom , might even be possible to feed the amp of that same powersupply

[bensimmons_05]

That is a great idea. It is a lot of fun to play with. Believe it or no this computer (with a better smaller touch screen) is going to end up riding around in the truck with me It sounds far fetched but I can have media at my fingertips and live engine data on the screen!

[panelrodder81]

Originally Posted by bensimmons_05

That is a great idea. It is a lot of fun to play with. Believe it or no this computer (with a better smaller touch screen) is going to end up riding around in the truck with me It sounds far fetched but I can have media at my fingertips and live engine data on the screen!

Not far fetched at all! Mp3car.com has everything you could even need to know about how to make it work! I've been trying to figure out what vehicle I want to do this to my self! I was gonna take the shortcut and use an old laptop though!

My next project will be an S10 swap where I will attempt to use as much of the original S10 as possible without destroying the classic looks so I've been thinking that I could use use a bluetooth enabled tablet with a bluetooth OBDII adapter for my gauges. I could just build a small center console to hold the tablet which would allow me to just clean up the original gauges and leave them in place and also save me the hassle of having to cut up the wire harness and hook up expensive custom gauges. This would allow for me to also just use the headphone jack of the tablet to send out music to the sound system allowing me to stream my own music collection via Subsonic.org (amazing product btw) or Pandora, or Youtube, or whatever. Using the tablet would allow me to simply remove it when I leave the truck and use the tablet for whatever I wanted!

-Panelrodder

[watahyahknow]

Originally Posted by panelrodder81

I've been thinking that I could use use a bluetooth enabled tablet with a bluetooth OBDII adapter for my gauges. I could just build a small center console to hold the tablet
-Panelrodder

i was thinking 3 small touchscreens in place of the normal dash myself , i have found a couple of companies that did a system like it but they either stopped or whent bust , the ones left are mainly the basic screens for tuning a car with ar rpm temperature and stuff , there arent any i found where you could change the skins and move the gauges around on the screens
my plan was a handheld or a tablet as whell with a solid state harddrive (basicly the same as those memory sticks but used as a harddrive as harddisks dont respond whell to being shaken ) with the possibility to hook up multiple screens you could build a digital speedo on the screens too if you have gps on board
let me know if you found a complete program that does that i tried looking under digital dashboard but thats a name for a webbuilder program too
there a couple of cars now on the market that has it standard but i have yet to find an aftermarket system

[bensimmons_05]

that is an excellent idea, panelrodder!

MP3car is a GREAT place! I have pretty big plans for it. I wish I would have gotten hold of an OBDII donor, but I can still do some stuff with OBDI. Preamp equalizer, backup camera (among others placed in diff locations), slot load CD/DVD, GPS, 5.1 surround.. etc. A computer is a very powerful device to have riding around with you, it can perform all of those functions with ease.

One of the main problems (especially with freeware) is the lack of visual asthetics. The informatino is all there, but most programs look like they belong on a 1980 industrial machine. There are some programs out there that allow you to change the look up, MP3car.com has a section for software. It is going to cost you though!

[watahyahknow]

you can do side mirrors too make verry small pods outside holding the cams and put screens inside the door for the driver side and the middle of the dash for the passengerside

[panelrodder81]

Originally Posted by watahyahknow

i was thinking 3 small touchscreens in place of the normal dash myself , i have found a couple of companies that did a system like it but they either stopped or whent bust , the ones left are mainly the basic screens for tuning a car with ar rpm temperature and stuff , there arent any i found where you could change the skins and move the gauges around on the screens
my plan was a handheld or a tablet as whell with a solid state harddrive (basicly the same as those memory sticks but used as a harddrive as harddisks dont respond whell to being shaken ) with the possibility to hook up multiple screens you could build a digital speedo on the screens too if you have gps on board
let me know if you found a complete program that does that i tried looking under digital dashboard but thats a name for a webbuilder program too
there a couple of cars now on the market that has it standard but i have yet to find an aftermarket system

I don't have a way to do multi screen on a handheld/tablet but I can provide something software wise that will give you what you want. In the Android market place (might be in iPhone too don't know) is an application called Torque. It uses OBDII information to give you basically any gauge you could want using what info your car provides. It can even use GPS from the device for speed(or the OBD info) and altitude using GPS. Pretty awesome and it also allows you to read and clear trouble codes. What I was planning to do was either the tablet and just using the gauges all on one screen or building a normal computer (shock mounting the hard drives) and loading android on that here is how to do that. Then use one, or more screens, (some very nice ones with great pricing on mp3car's store) to display the info from the torque program. There is also a reasonably priced program on the mp3car site, found here The one that I liked was Dash Command OBDII, it is 40 bucks but I felt that was pretty reasonable! As for non OBDII stuff, well you can make it work but it takes a LOT more work! The forums on Mp3car are were you would have to dive into to find the answers on that. One guy on there said the only thing he could make work on a non OBD car was putting a web cam under the hood to simply see if it was about to blow up!

Originally Posted by bensimmons_05

that is an excellent idea, panelrodder!

MP3car is a GREAT place! I have pretty big plans for it. I wish I would have gotten hold of an OBDII donor, but I can still do some stuff with OBDI. Preamp equalizer, backup camera (among others placed in diff locations), slot load CD/DVD, GPS, 5.1 surround.. etc. A computer is a very powerful device to have riding around with you, it can perform all of those functions with ease.

One of the main problems (especially with freeware) is the lack of visual asthetics. The informatino is all there, but most programs look like they belong on a 1980 industrial machine. There are some programs out there that allow you to change the look up, MP3car.com has a section for software. It is going to cost you though!

Sounds a lot like what I was planning for my non computer controlled panel truck but I've since abandoned it... more or less because I changed the direction for the panel! (I am still thinking of wiring the truck for it though in case I change my mind back!)

As for software, Android program I mentioned above is actually quite nice looking. Here is the application's page in the android market. You can get it ad free at that link for five bucks! There is a totally free version but you get ads at the bottom. I have it downloaded and I'm playing with it a bit. Again, it is only OBD II so it won't help you much! The other stuff from the Mp3car shop might be your only option. Plus think of it this way, when the car is off and at a car show no one is gonna see the low grade graphics anyway!

[panelrodder81]

Originally Posted by watahyahknow

i like it , I'm actually been thinking of making some sort of jukebox like it one of these days with an ooooooooooooooooold computer and an extra external hard disk running umbutu with some light show and bubbling hoses and stuff like an old Wurlitzer , could use an old furniture closet with an arced top for it big amp and speakers in the bottom and go for it . could use an old tube radio too and make it more portable , those are often made of wood and you could hang the motherboard upside down from the roof with a couple of wood screws and lay the 12 volt amp and computer powersupply on the bottom , might even be possible to feed the amp of that same powersupply

A friend of mine had an old seventies gas pump that we were gonna clean up and host two computers in. One was gonna be a juke box with a touch screen where the pump's gauges were, we were gonna scan the gauge face for the wallpaper on the screen too!, the second computer was gonna be hard drive farm to act as a network server. This was all gonna go in our bachelor pad while we were all going to school... was until I got married... and another guy moved out of state... so it all fell apart!

He and I ended up building, separately, home theater pc's that are connected to our tv's. I run all my movies and music off of it and with my 3.5 TB of hard drive space, it also acts as my storage server!

Your idea of the tube radio is cool too! I've seen some guys do some pretty sweet stuff. If you look up 'custom computer cases' on Google you will get some wild stuff!

[watahyahknow]

thanks pannelrodder that was some great info , looks like sumtin im looking for , as for temperature pressure and fuelgauge and stuff i think i would need some simple multimeter program to it measuring resistance from both sensors and change the skins for the gauges on the screens , it can be done but i think they havent combined it yet

as for electronics in general : look up steam punk or steampunk on google pics , now THATS some cool stuff basicly the take modern today stuff and make it look like its made 80 years ago during the steam age with wood brass copper and big gauges tabs rivets steamlines and stuff like that , you could get a lot of ideas from them

[Russell Ashley]

Might not be exactly pertinant to what you guys have in mind since it only applies to vehicles with OBD2 systems, but might be of interest to some. You can download a free program from http://www.obd-2.com/index.html but you have to purchase the cable to connect your computer to the diagnostic connector in the car. When it's connected you can read virtually every sensor and setting that the OBD22 controller is making. There is a tab called "DASH" that simulates guages and you can display different readings. Of course, you can also display error codes and reset the check engine light.

This is a sample pic of the dash function of the program. I've been using it for over five years and it's been well worth the $160 I paid for the cable.

[watahyahknow]

thanks Russell , you guys finding more links then i did in the 3 or so years i been looking around guess i put my stuff on here as well :
Sony or pioneer used to make a DVD player touchscreen (maybe navigation) unit that had a speedo g force and more stuff like it build in as a gismo , they stopped making it
http://www.speedpartz.com/speed_read...2005_tglog.htm
http://www.chetcodigital.com/vGauge/vDash.htm
and thats about whats left of it ........ wow
theres some small add on dashes made for dieseltrucks by banks that do about Wat i like to see , i think that when i get to building it the technology will be available in a bolt in kit

[panelrodder81]

Russell - that looks like a great option but I have to say, I think you over paid for the cable! Either way, thanks for sharing. I think free overshadows the looks of the product! Plus, like I pointed out earlier, you only look at it while you are driving! I will have to go download that program though and keep it for further exploration. I just reformatted my desktop to clear off all the crap I've downloaded over the last few years but now that it is up and running I plan to setup VMWare and try out some different ideas/options. Mainly I want to try installing the x-86 version of Android and see if I can get Torque installed on that to see how it works. It would be a fantastic to re-purpose my old laptop since it just sits on the corner of my desk looking all sad and neglected!

I also had another idea today actually. The idea was that if I/we ran a Windows based system I could potentially run different user accounts for different vehicles and simply log into the appropriate vehicle after plugging in the laptop. That way different settings could potentially be active and ready for each vehicle, ie. in my 08 Chevy I could just use it for data logging, in my 07 G6 I could data log, monitor systems, and track my family trips, and in the S10/Classic truck project it would hook to a screen and function as my dash. This could also function as virtual machines on one system and just load the appropriate system, which might work better since each VM would be independent.

Thoughts?

-Panelrodder

[bensimmons_05]

@ Panelrodder "...or building a normal computer (shock mounting the hard drives) and loading android on that ..."

SSD hard drives are becoming much more affordable, and they are QUICK! No moving parts so no worries about shock. Still can't get quite the storage space though. Food for thought!

[panelrodder81]

Originally Posted by bensimmons_05

@ Panelrodder "...or building a normal computer (shock mounting the hard drives) and loading android on that ..."

SSD hard drives are becoming much more affordable, and they are QUICK! No moving parts so no worries about shock. Still can't get quite the storage space though. Food for thought!

Totally do able. I was actually thinking of using an IDE (since my computer parts are older) to SD card adapter for my main os install then just using portable HD's like a Western Digital Passport (I have a 500gig one already and its great) for any special needs. Then again, if I went the laptop route it really wouldn't matter much! I will keep an eye on it though and see where it takes me. I won't be even close to starting this S10/Classic Truck project until next winter at the soonest so that part of it is way off but it never hurts to start the research! (Plus I geek out over this stuff if you can't tell!)

Panelrodder

[Russell Ashley]

"Russell - that looks like a great option but I have to say, I think you over paid for the cable!"

MPSI wanted $600 for the updates to make my old box compatible with OBD2 so I thought the $160 was reasonable. There were cheaper options but I got the combination cable which works with all vehicles. It's been well worth the price to me.

[watahyahknow]

panelrodder quote : Mainly I want to try installing the x-86 version of Android and see if I can get Torque installed on that to see how it works. quote

the way i think they do it is to insert the torque data from a rolling roadtest in the program and couple it to the rpm of the engine , either that or make an educated guess

[bensimmons_05]

Hey, if you guys missed it, I have a live webcam video feed from the shop. Check in and see what I'm up do!

www.ustream.tv/channel/simmons-shop

Today Im going to get my rear leaf springs cleaned up and coated with POR 15

[watahyahknow]

looks like youre doing a good job on it

[panelrodder81]

Originally Posted by watahyahknow

the way i think they do it is to insert the torque data from a rolling roadtest in the program and couple it to the rpm of the engine , either that or make an educated guess

Not sure what you are talking about here? Speed of the vehicle? If that is what you are talking about Torque has two way to get it one is through OBD2 and the second is with GPS info. I don't have a bluetooth OBD2 yet so I've only tried Torque using the GPS method and I have to say, it is incredibly accurate.

My dad, who also has an Android phone, told me about a program called Tracker that allows you to setup some cool tracking options of your trips with stops, mph, distance, elevation, etc. Was gonna try it out this weekend with a trip to Boise but my son got sick so we didn't go. I will report more when I have tried it.

Love the Web cam thing though. I might try the same!

-Panelrodder

[watahyahknow]

yeah when i started thinking about it further about the way i discussed it i blew a couple of holes in the idea myself , rpm alone doesnt show true torque
you allso need trottleposition traveled distance per amount of time wish can be done by gps or by pulses for the speedo from the car itself gps would be most acurate as tires spin

the gps only way does make more sence it can calculate torque at the roadsurface from the total weight of the car and traveled distance per amount of time , there wouldnt be anything else needed and it would be exact as long as theres traction the accuracy would depent on the amount of calculations per time (one calculation over a 1/4 mile would give an avarage torque while one every tenth of a second would give a graph of the whole run)
the torque displayed would be the torque aplied to the road from the tires , spinning tires would lower the reading as the car travels less distance , it might make a nice tool for tuning a car for traction its more acurate then seat of the pants adding trottle position hunidity and tracktemperature to it could make an adjusted graph over a complete run (it can calculate the difference to wat it would be if temperature and humidity where optimal )

this stuff gives me a headacke but i know it can be done