86 chevy crew cab 12 valve swap

[COS399]

Coming along nice. I'm glad somebody is getting some work done.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work! That webasto will be a nice addition for sure!

[84chevyguyid]

Should be nice if it will stay working, the ones I been around on our school buses are kind of a pain sometimes.

[84chevyguyid]

I utterly wasted a whole afternoon and evening (thats what my wife would say anyway) at the dunes again today. Had a blast as usual. Here are a couple of pics, the one is a pretty nice view of the Grand Tetons. My oldest boy and I went a few weeks ago and took both our go pro cameras and he made a little video of our ride. We keep having nice warm weather and its hard to resist going over there for a few hours...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=186&v=ZPglJ1yUUeI

[COS399]

Nice work, I mean play. Your going to ruin the best summer riding spot because you gave the location away.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice! We don't have awesome spots like that here to go ride in. All ours are rougher than snot due to ruts from crops.

Speaking of this indian summer.............. What do you western guys think this winter will be like? From what I'm hearing it's supposed to be like the winter of 2000/2001 and that was a cold snowy winter. Man, on Sunday it was 84* here, and Saturday it was 86* in the field we were in. That is nuts!

[84chevyguyid]

The weather man says its 15 degrees warmer than it should be right now. I hope we get lots of snow and wind and 40 below temps a few times this winter. We havent had a good blizzard since thanksgiving week of 2010. All the hay farmers need a bad winter to get the beef guys out of the fields so they have to buy our hay instead of pasturing their cattle all winter. Also with the last few winters being so mild the mice and voles have been terrible and a good hard freeze will help that situation out too. Bad weather is a win win situation for me now since I dont have livestock and if it gets colder than negative 20, school will be out and I wont have to deal with bus problems either. I am looking forward to a good blizzard or two this winter! You guys in the midwest got all the bad weather last year and we didnt get any. Hopefully its our turn this winter.

[ryanroo]

word around here is a snowy and 'real' winter. as much moisture as we've seen this summer i would believe it.

[Dieselwrencher]

According to this, you two could have a worse winter than us. We'll see how correct they are. In the video they show, we could still go either way on precip.

http://www.kcci.com/weather/new-wint...-noaa/35859370

[84chevyguyid]

Had a chance to work on the pickup the last few nights. I remodeled the intercooler line that was hitting on the master cylinder so I can cross that issue off the list.
I got a few pieces of hose in the other day so I could start building the lower radiator lines from the radiator to the trans cooler then back to the engine. It took some head scratching but in the end everything is fitting together quite well and I am excited about that! I spent some time browsing the Gates hose catalog and found several 2" molded hoses that I could make work and ordered them and a mandrel bent 2 inch "j" tube. I cut the long leg with a 45 degree elbow on it and that fit down between the frame and radiator and came out pointing right at the 90 degree hose that goes in the top of the trans cooler. The piece that was left was the perfect shape to weld on the upper end of the straight pipe and it loops around the coolant bottle and points right at the lower radiator outlet. A 4 inch piece of one of the hoses I bought connected everything nicely. On the end of the 45 degree piece, I need to weld about 8 inches of straight pipe to it and it will connect to the elbow that goes into the cooler. I was stressing about how to make that pipe up so it would fit around everything and come out in the right place and I cant believe how it all came together! Coming out of the trans cooler going to the water inlet on the engine, I was able to use the dodge lower hose and cut a few inches off the end off it that hooked to the engine and with the few curves it has it came out from under the frame between the spring and frame and pointed straight up towards the water inlet on the motor. To finish the connection to the motor I used a molded 90 hose that came out and down in just the right place and I will make a splice there to hook them up. Its some interesting plumbing but not too much different than the way the cooler was plumbed into the school bus so hopefully it will work ok...
I had to do some "trimming" on the inner fender to clear the turbo to cooler line so the it would fit in place. Its kinda rusty so now that I know what I need to make the inner fender fit I can modify a non rusted one and it should work pretty good. I figured out where and how to mount the Webasto in the bottom of the fender so an air cleaner assembly will fit above it.

[84chevyguyid]

The filter assembly I am looking at using is from Unique Metal Products. I have a few pics from a blazer build on another forum and that filter setup should work well for my application.

[84chevyguyid]

I dumped some atf in the allison tonight and noticed I have a drip coming out of the connector on the back of the trans so now I get to drain the fluid back out and replace the connector/internal wiring harness I guess... I also got the power steering reservoir filled up so its ready to work or blow apart or something when I start the motor for the first time, which I hope is soon.
I need to finish up the brake lines from the frame to the master cylinder. I need to find a 1990 dodge proportioning valve for the system. The chevy valve has 2 lines going to the front brakes whereas the dodge setup only has one. Not sure where to find a dodge prop valve. Did by chance the 68-72 chevy pickups use a single front line prop valve?
O the list of to do's is long but getting a little shorter!

[Dieselwrencher]

Great work on all the plumbing and stuff. I'm pretty sure the proportioning valve on my 72 just had one line coming out and then t'd off to go to the RH side. So I just ran that line to the single line on the Dodge D60. I can varify tonight for you. I'd really like to have one of those air filters. I need to win the lotto first though. I saw a member boondogs72, I think, is selling all his stuff to convert his square body. He had one of those filter setups and has it for sale with the swap parts.

[COS399]

At this rate you will be finished in no time.

[1985-GMC]

Nice build! That definitely is a sweet filter

[84chevyguyid]

So while I am stuck on a few other items I started messing around with the new Painless wiring harness. Got the fuse box and bulkhead connector mounted on the firewall and started laying wire groups in various directions. I need to decide which wires and or extra wires on the engine harness I can use for powering up and controlling the webasto and the fuel shutoff solenoid. I found a diagram online and will post it here for an opinion. As I understand things, I need to have a relay on the FSS for the "pull" wire as it pulls a few more amps than the "hold" wire. Also do I need a relay to feed the crank terminal on the starter??

[gerfunken]

With the solenoid the pull wire does just that at higher amps. But you don't want it to be constant, or it will burn it out. Running the line off of the starter just starts the pull and the constant on/hot will just keep it in place. I had mine wired backwards initially, and you could smell it from inside the cab.

[notchbackgta]

I think he is using the start post, not the hot post off the starter to power the relay. It would be cold once the key goes back to run

[Dieselwrencher]

I put relays on the starter trigger wire, pull in, and 2 on the hold in on my 72. I have done several without relays but am trying to better my work. I feel the wiring and components will last a lot longer using relays to operate them.

If you only use one relay, make sure it is a large one. I believe the hold in pulls 40amps initially and tapers off to 15-20amps during holding. (I can't remember those specs 100% though) Ryanroo probably has them in his storage bank.

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

I put relays on the starter trigger wire, pull in, and 2 on the hold in on my 72. I have done several without relays but am trying to better my work. I feel the wiring and components will last a lot longer using relays to operate them.

If you only use one relay, make sure it is a large one. I believe the hold in pulls 40amps initially and tapers off to 15-20amps during holding. (I can't remember those specs 100% though) Ryanroo probably has them in his storage bank.

i have two 40A relays paralleled on the pull circuit. the Dodge OEM relay is a 70 or 75A. I am using use the coil wire from the AAW harness for the hold coil. the draw on the hold circuit is very low. the huge current draw on the pull is just to kick the solenoid out. once it is moved it takes only a few amps to hold it. i have a relay on my start signal as well, triggered by the original start signal wire in the AAW harness. that relay trigger also kicks the pull circuit relay so the pull circuit is only activated when you are in the start position on the switch. the coil circuit is K/O so it holds the coil once the start signal is released and remains until the ign. switch is turned to off or acc.

[84chevyguyid]

What gauge of wire should I use on the pull circuit? How many amp fuse?

[84chevyguyid]

Another question about the fuel solenoid on a dodge pickup application, is it supposed to pull in by just turning the key to the run position or does it wait til you turn the key to the crank position before it moves?

[84chevyguyid]

Brown santa stopped in today and left a present. Its a Hella 4 pack relay box, will make a nice connection for a few things under the hood. Buy Hella they said, good quality, made in Germany they said....

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by 84chevyguyid

Another question about the fuel solenoid on a dodge pickup application, is it supposed to pull in by just turning the key to the run position or does it wait til you turn the key to the crank position before it moves?

I'm pretty sure even on the dodges, they are triggered by the starter or ignition switch signal when in the start position. That's the way I wire them any way. I laughed at that too. I got the same relay blocks for the horn.

[Dieselwrencher]

That is a very nice truck! It's a Longhorn too but GMC ones weren't badged as Longhorns. Thanks for sharing the pics and the link above. How are things out your way anyhow?