Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[dug224]

Pine straw duty. Heaviest load hauled so far!

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

quote
...BRAKES....

Dennis: Thanks for the handy tips on my brake issue.. The last one we tried worked !!

Background: Front brakes continued to bind even after letting off of the pedal. Replaced with new calipers several months ago under warranty thinking they were seized from sitting for so long. This morning, Jim and I took the wheels off and checked all of the components. Even exercised each caliper to make sure they were working. Opened and closed the bleed valve on both fronts to no avail. Did the same at the master cylinder and got some minor relief. Took the linkage and brake pedal switch off inside the cab with no results. As a last resort and before replacing what looks like a fairly new master cylinder, we took your advice and loosened the nuts holding the master cylinder to the booster. Wheels immediately released. Re tightened them and the problem persisted. After deciding the problem had something to do with the plunger between the master cylinder and the booster, we decided to move the master cylinder forward on the booster and installed a pair of 3/32 thick washers. This corrected the problem. Added a seal to keep the inside of the booster free of water, and brakes are 100%. Don't know how this happened since all the parts I've used are meant for the Trailblazer. Maybe a bad plunger. Anyway, it was a mere 3/32" away from working.

The two washers added that solved the problem.

[dsraven]

no prob Doug, thankful the troubleshooting tips worked. on the same note, some of those plungers in the boosters are adjustable. now that you know the thickness you could also fab a shim if desired.

[dsraven]

you may also wanna check the plunger in the master to see if it bottoms out on the snap ring at the mounting end of the master, could be hanging up inside and not returning completely.
stance looks good with the load, great job.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

no prob Doug, thankful the troubleshooting tips worked. on the same note, some of those plungers in the boosters are adjustable. now that you know the thickness you could also fab a shim if desired.

Noted. Could not see any adjustment on this particular plunger. I'll leave it for now and move on to building the doors. By the way, I put some factory door seals on and couldn't get the doors closed. Replaced the door front and door bottom factory seals with adhesive type and got them to close. Much improved driving experience not to mention the fact that the AC can keep up the the AC load now without all the air changes.

[dsraven]

the seals on these doors seem to be installed counterintuitive to what you would think. did you install the same way they were before? I think Ogre has a pic of the proper way in his build thread if I remember correctly. it's working now anyway though so that's good. time for work on something else.

[dsraven]

scroll through this, there is a page that shows how the weatherstrip should install. page 149 of 736.

https://www.trifive.com/55-59Assy.pdf

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

scroll through this, there is a page that shows how the weatherstrip should install. page 149 of 736.

....the seals on these doors seem to be installed counter intuitive to what you would think. did you install the same way they were before? I think Ogre has a pic of the proper way in his build thread if I remember correctly. it's working now anyway though so that's good. time for work on something else.

https://www.trifive.com/55-59Assy.pdf

I even have the book. I'll study it. The factory seals are installed in the correct orientation. The problem I have is that the parts are so jacked up, the space for the door at the front edge and the lower edge is not "factory loose". Thanks

[dug224]

Jim and I decided to do a shakedown run to the other side of Mobile Bay to prepare for Cruisin' the Coast and to visit fellow retiree Clay who is wrapping up a '56 Ford Truck with a big block and late model suspension.

Results of of the shakedown:
- Blew a fuse for the cooling fan.
- Discovered a leak in the bottom of my radiator puke tank. Lost a bunch of coolant but did not overheat. It either cracked for lack of vent hole or cracked at the nipple from me routing the refrigeration lines under it. Got another on the way.
- GPS speedo is 6 - 7 mph off. Gauge shows 50 mph and I'm going 56 -57 mph. Ran it up to just under 80 mph (actual) and it tracked straight and felt stable as it should since it is a late model Envoy (Trailblazer). Lots of wind noise at speed which I expect to correct when I build the doors. Short of returning the speedo, not sure what can be adjusted on this all-in-one unit. I'll be putting real gauges in it at a later date.
- Engine speed at 70 mph (actual) was 2,260 rpm.

[dsraven]

without looking back through the build thread to see the gauge I don't recall which one you used. since the tire size was changed, and speed sensor input is in the trans, a tire shop should be able to plug into the aldl connector (the one for reading codes) and set the computer to the tire size you have currently. then the speedo may read correct.
you could try some el cheapo deluxe stick on foam tape to seal the door gaps till the doors get redone. home depot?
looks good. the F, F, F, Ford looks good too. lol.

[67Mal]

Thumbs up on CTC!

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

without looking back through the build thread to see the gauge I don't recall which one you used......

I used a cheap-o all-in-one Eling gauge with GPS speedo. Speedo should have been plug and play. I'll take a look in the cryptic instructions that came with it today to see if there is any adjustment. I doubt it. Like I said, if I had to do it over (..and especially after seeing my buddy Clay's gauges in his Ford), I would have stuck with full size gauges. Future project.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by 67Mal

Thumbs up on CTC!

All ready to go. See you there.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dug224

I used a cheap-o all-in-one Eling gauge with GPS speedo. ....

SPEEDOMETER UPDATE: Per the instructions, the speedo only allows manipulation of units (mph, km/h and knots). Since we were reading 50 mph when we were actually going 57 mph, I decided to look at the fact that the factory may have electronically mislabeled the velocity in mph to knots. In other words, my 50 mph should have read 50 knots. In addition, when you convert 50 knots to mph you get 57. I changed the units to read knots and the GPS Speedo exactly matches my Waze GPS speedo. At least the number is correct. You get what you pay for.

[dsraven]

good catch. I wouldda never thought of that one for sure.
now you have no excuse for the speeding ticket though......haha

[dug224]

Truck was skittish when driving over ruts in the road so I decided to get it aligned. All of the franchise alignment shops said they could not attach their equipment to my back wheels due to the close proximity of the top of the wheel opening. Decided to go the Mack's Alignment and Brake Service which is where we took our cars when I was a kid. Two of Mack's kids are still running the shop but not for long. The place is for sale and they are retiring. They showed me a photo of his Dad's new 1959 Fleetside LWB Truck when he opened back in 1959. That bed looks extra long for some reason. The guys even remembered my Dad. It's a pleasure dealing with guys who've done what the do for so long. Got the alignment done and no more skittish steering.

[mongocanfly]

Ice to see the old shops still around....they are a dieing breed

[dug224]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Ice to see the old shops still around....they are a dieing breed

Agree. When I showed up, there was not much talking. Just two seasoned guys steadily working in the heat with no fans going. I asked if they could get to me today, asked if I needed an appointment and then I asked price. He said it is custom job so he could not give me an exact price (said "maybe $85"), they could get to me today, appointments don't work and, if I like, I could hang around. Happy to say I decided to just hang out. After sitting down and visiting for a bit after they finished, the cash price was $50 for the work. Maybe the most satisfying part was watching two brothers, who have worked with each other for probably 55 to 60 years, working on and off the same car without speaking. One would handle a customer and the other would continue his brother's work while he was away. By the way, one fan is broken a the other started smoking so they turned it off.

[dug224]

Truck is running great and ready to go to Crusin' the Coast this week, however, it is still throwing the following codes:

- P0100 Mass Air Flow A Circuit Range/Perf
- P0171 System too lean Bank 1
- P0172 System too lean Bank 2

Initial investigation indicates it may be dirty injectors so I decided to try injector cleaner. I'm on injector cleaner bottle number 2. Not sure about this kind of stuff but for $7, it was worth a try. Replaced the Mass Air Flow sensor not long ago.

Also, got tired of having no place to put my left arm so I grabbed a pair of door mounted arm rests out of a 1992 GMC K20 van from Barry's U-Pull-It. $5 each. Hit them with some degreaser and slightly vertically elongated the screw holes and they screwed right into place. They even ended up at roughly the same height as the seat mounted arm rests. Great for grabbing and slamming the door as well. Missing door panels will be installed when I do the individual door builds.

[dsraven]

For the codes
The mass airflow sensor weighs the air going in and that along with a few other inputs tells the computer how much fuel to give. Sometimes it can be where the mas is positioned in the stream due to turbulent air flow or it could be a vacuum leak after the mas. Start with cleaning the mas and the electrical plug for the mas. Then look down stream for a vac leak. Also, if you have an oiled air filter, be careful how much oil gets applied because it costs the mas right away. Especially when it is so close. A longer air intake pipe may help get laminar air flow past the mas.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

For the codes
The mass airflow sensor weighs the air going in and that along with a few other inputs tells the computer how much fuel to give. Sometimes it can be where the mas is positioned in the stream due to turbulent air flow or it could be a vacuum leak after the mas. Start with cleaning the mas and the electrical plug for the mas. Then look down stream for a vac leak. Also, if you have an oiled air filter, be careful how much oil gets applied because it costs the mas right away. Especially when it is so close. A longer air intake pipe may help get laminar air flow past the mas.

MAS is new. Replaced it the other day because I could not remember if I had replaced the initial one that came with the engine. Filter not oiled. Did a water test to see if we could find a vacuum leak. No luck. Pressurized the intake manifold to see if hear a leak. No luck. Put two different vacuum gauges on the system and they conflict with what the OBD reader is reading which may indicate a bad MAP sensor. Gauges reading 15 - 16 in. hg and the OBD reading 10. I've been concerned about the laminar flow issue as well. With the throttle body facing directly into the wind with this somewhat open filter, not sure how it could get any more laminar. Easy and cheap initial fix will be a MAP sensor. Stay tuned.

[dsraven]

Check voltages at sensor plug as well

[dsraven]

also check the ground circuits on all the sensors and trace a good ground back to the battery. I usually buff any paint off the ground surface of the engine and install a new ground strap there with a star washer to ensure connection. tighten everything up and coat the terminals/connection with some anticorrosion goop or paint. the same on the body and frame. these trailblazer/envoy harnesses have many ground connections through out the harness so ensure each one has a connection to ground. check the values at the connector plugs on the sensors as well. look for vac leaks on manifold and brake booster. since you were also having brake issues possibly related to the booster maybe good to simply disconnect and plug that vac line and see if that helps. remember you will have worse than manual brakes because the booster won't be assisting your pedal application and the bore size for the master cylinder is usually a big bigger for power brakes. also check the brake pedal and linkage connections to ensure the pedal isn't pulling outwards on the booster from the pedal side or slightly pushing on the booster from the weight of the pedal with no return spring. this may cause an internal leak inside the booster which is basically a vac leak. any wrong reading from the maf or mas will cause the fuel rate to be off which will mess with the o2 sensors downstream from that. if left too long the cats will get plugged up and cause back pressure and more problems. cat conv. are not cheap so best to get it right before too long.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

also check the ground circuits ........... and more problems. cat conv. are not cheap so best to get it right before too long.

...after Cruisin' the Coast, I'll check off down the list. Note that when I unplugged the vacuum hose at the booster this morning, it released the vacuum so I'm pretty sure no leak there. Not running CATS so no back pressure there. Also, just checked the fuel pressure since it was running lean. All good at idle and under power. Found the exact Made in America MAP Sensor on ebay for $11 so I ordered a new one. Although the engine only has 60k on the clock, I keep forgetting the engine is now 15 years old. Thanks for the input...

[dsraven]

sorry, no time to read back through the build thread.
when you did the wiring did you send the ecm out for reprogramming? otherwise if you delete the cats you need to fool the ecm so it doesn't read false o2 sensor readings. there is an upstream and a downstream o2 sensor, one ahead and one behind the cats, and the ecm checks one against the other to read how efficient the cats are and thus how efficient the fuel is being burned.
some sensor checks

https://easyautodiagnostics.com/gm/4...e-maf-sensor-1

https://www.autozone.com/repairguide...96b43f80cb13f9