47-55.1 Project: Kechi AD S10 4.3 auto

[mongocanfly]

little dimple press worked out well Russ...

[OutlawDrifter]

That's the kind of stuff that makes America great!

[oldman3]

Moving right along...Jim

[joedoh]

time to put the AC box/compressor/condenser back in. regular viewers will remember that I pulled it all together to save the charge. but I need to trim off the blower before I can bolt in back in. I found a better place to chop than the last truck, so I hit it with my miter saw, known for making super straight, fast cuts in plastic.




this is all the dirt and tree debris that was accumulated in there.




wrangling this octopus back in took some doing, image my chagrin (its like a wry smile version of the joedoh rule) when the pcm didnt fit (note the empty spot under the ac box)



so back out it all came and some liberal tapping was applied to the inner fender.



everything fits! I even got some of teh wiring run. this is way easier with the hood off, which it will STAY off till I find one of the TWO packs of hood bolts I bought. george is the ghost in my garage, sometimes he finds things interesting and takes them for a while, once it was a license plate, once a headlight plug, lately its BOTH sets of hood bolts the first set I bought and the second I bought after noticing the first were gone.

more tomorrow. I picked up some 1" angled blocks on craigslist for 10 bucks, thanks Mike! if I get the bumper on I will get the axle swapped and ready for the bed/running boards.

[Palf70Step]

Nice job on the AC. That is a lot of stuff in that engine compartment, reminds you of a newer vehicle.

[8man]

"Liberal tapping", that is a new one on me. Looks like it worked.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice job on the AC. That is a lot of stuff in that engine compartment, reminds you of a newer vehicle.

its definitely a lot of stuff, but it lets me use the engine and body harnesses intact, including the hvac controls. the only thing I have to extend is the fan wire to move it inside. I am going to try and use the wiper wiring this time too.

[joedoh]

supposed to be cooler today, lets see if I can turn the truck around and get the axle swapped before the heat comes up.




right about here is where I figured out a 53" driveshaft is about 1.5" too long. I am using an ext cab and my hubris in successfully shortening the chassis made me forget its 1" shorter than the longbed chassis, and my aggressive motor move took the other 0.5". so off to ITB to have the driveshaft shortened. exactly what I AVOIDED doing and COULD HAVE DONE with the ext cab driveshaft I already had, with the matching 4 bolt flange that is unique to the 98-03 ext cab rears.

however, when I came back to pick it up, it looked remarkably different.



turns out I had passed on my good fortune to the driveline shop and in the lathe my driveshaft went rouge with the demons of failed projects or mild annoyances everywhere. it was a crumpled ball, and so the only part I got back that I had dropped off was the trans yoke.

fits well!




remember that this is with the driveline at full droop, it will go in the trans another 0.5" or so when off the stands. which it is now, but the forum only allows 5 pictures at a post, and that would be 6 to show something I can obviously explain.

all pushed back in now and ready to move on.

oh and by the way, it was 93 with 58% humidity. I likely lost 4 lbs sweating out there.

[joedoh]

so I lost a day yesterday. i have been cruising all the online marketplaces for some cheapo rims, a couple weeks ago found a set of 14" s10 steels with dog dish caps for $40 and the guy took my info and then ignored me, still for sale, guess I smell. but yesterday.

I found a set of mislisted wheels, love when that happens, nice looking set of chrome rallies and caps listed as stock wheels WITH tires, in the electronics section. good price, but 2 hours away. asked the guy to verify the bolt pattern, he didnt want to do it but sent me a picture of one of those wheel pattern guide disks on the back of the wheel and said "5 on 4 3/4". so I went for a drive. get there and he is mad I want to put a tape measure on them still, he shows me his wheel guide and uses 3/8th bolts to drop through the lug holes oh honey.

I explain his method is suspect (a 3/8 bolt is missing an 8th, on a circle thats 1/4" difference) and pop out a tape measure, center of one hole to edge of one across, 5". crapola.

he argues. doesnt like my method. so I go to the truck and get the spacer I keep in it as a wheel checker. take his guide and show him the spacer is 4 3/4 studs, then show him the spacer wont go through the wheels holes. he still argues. I show him how the wheel guide lines up PERFECTLY with the 5" holes. he argues. I guess he thinks I am NEGOTIATING. I just curse quietly and drive home. didnt touch anything at all yesterday haha.


but today I got all the wiring strung and all the accessories hooked up. plug and play is great because you just screw the grounds down and plug everything in.



the only thing not plugged in is the heater controls, brake switch, BCM, light switch, fuse box, etc etc

underhood I moved the battery forward two inches. I tried not to, but in the end it was easier to do it.




so TOMORROW I will get the lower rad hose I need, the trans fluid (the dipstick gasket dumped at least 70 oz one day) and a couple other little bittle things and MAYBE just maybe try a start.

I still want to smack that guy two hours away. the drive might be worth it.

[65 GMC]

Don't matter how hard you smack stupid, they are still stupid when you get done.

[Matt_50]

Argued with proof lol. Your hvac box, it doesn't hurt to have the big hole in it?
Looks like you have really perfected the donor ac/heater install. What is required under the dash?

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Matt_50

Argued with proof lol. Your hvac box, it doesn't hurt to have the big hole in it?
Looks like you have really perfected the donor ac/heater install. What is required under the dash?

the "big hole" is where I removed the blower, I will duct it to the blower when I install it inside, which is what is still required under the dash. the rest of the s10 HVAC is already installed in there.

Originally Posted by 65 GMC

Don't matter how hard you smack stupid, they are still stupid when you get done.

65 you wont believe it but your neck of the woods is I dare say exactly 2 hours away from my neck of the woods, which is an AMAZING co-inkydink if you pick up what I am putting down.

[Nut Case]

Just wondering..... if he was ever married..... and if his wife suddenly was with child...... if it was his?????? or if she was really with child?????

Sorry that just hit my funny bone, life is to short to try to carry on any exchange of information with people like that. Good you kept your cool...

Still, as my dad used to say "he needs an attitude adjustment" mother wheres my tyre iron?????

Keep on keepin on.

Nutz

[joedoh]

nut you said it all man haha.


I had some mower emergencies and other stuff keep me from working. had to pick up the longer lower rad hose, shown here for guys that may need one. masterpro part number 91241




I also dont really like the air filters I have used in the past, the chrome is gaudy and the filters are pretty small. I found a nice one that is for 3" pipe, the S10 AFM is 3.25 so I sanded it open a little with a tiny flap disk and it fits great (this is prior to putting the band clamp on)



then I poured in all the fluids that had escaped, already did the oil change to synthetic so I added back the 80 oz of ATF that ran out changing the dipstick grommet. turned on the ignition to check the wiring and everything looked great so I rolled it out for a start.



first start! it ran a little rough but cleared up, I noticed the low fuel light is on so probably low on gas. (click to play! sorry for the intake noise, it isnt that loud in person the mic was just picking it up.

IMG_4930 by Rooty Tooty, on Flickr

oil pressure looks great.



so now I can roll the bed from the backyard, and start final assembly. still a couple things to do underhood but that first start milestone was uneventful.


OH look what george the ghost brought back.



HOOD BOLTS!

[8man]

Looking good. Nice that George brought the bolts back.

[joedoh]

thanks robert. the bolts were on the edge of the file cabinet where I keep my laptop while working, walk past it a hundred times a day. if they were there all the time I would surely have seen them.


found the rough idle, the check valve on the vacuum line for the HVAC is missing.

also, when I got the truck the battery was always dead overnight, I thought it was a bad battery. started this morning with not a hesitation, so it was probably the power windows or door lock or mirror controls, which happens a lot to s10s.


edit: moved the bed parts and running boards from the back yard, the back yard is looking empty now, just the old 40s ford utility bed trailer and some wheels. I wish I had a pneumatic tire forklift, I had to use a long pole to leverage the bed up on the flatbed to move to the front. working by myself is a challenge sometimes.

[oldman3]

Russ engine sounds good, and your moving along...Jim

[Rusti]

grate progress on the truck. working alone is always difficult.

[joedoh]

thanks jim and rusti. its funny how all the apprehension goes away when the truck just starts like a normal day.

battery is still holding charge, thats good.


bed day.

the AD bed measured just a scootch more than 50" so that is what I trim the s10 floor too. this is an ext cab bed (short) so I will have to make up some inches either in front or out back or both! the suspense is killing me (the suspense isnt actually killing me)




I start by clearing out all the crossmembers and side angle strips. the crossmembers and bed wood comes out in one big chunk (I will reuse the wood strips!) and the side angle strips are spot welded but I juust pop them with two large screwdrivers. I also cut in rough wheel clearance so the bedsides dont hit the tires when I am trying to line things up.




put the bed on the frame first, then the bed floor.




then use my son in laws (all curiously named "jack") to line it all up.




it threatened rain, so I stopped for the day. should have the bed tacked together tomorrow and start on the fenders and running boards and gas filler. I thought it was interesting that the ext cab bed lined up almost perfect with the rear crossmember. I will need to trim it a little but with the center fender hole lined up on the center of the wheel thats where it fell. interesting.

[reaper71]

nicely done russ!

[OutlawDrifter]

Make it happen, I just love it when a plan falls together!

[oldman3]

Looks good...Jim

[Palf70Step]

Very nice. Glad to see you have another one getting close to the finish.

[8man]

That's really interesting. Nice when a plan works.

[dsraven]

looks great. good innovations there.
we will take some of that heat off your hands up here in Calgary, about a foot of snow in the last couple days and minus 9C this morning. that's about 15F. -19 (-2F) in Lethbridge a bit south of here (130 miles).