1972 SWB Build

[beaterku]

So, I can't leave well enough alone. I decided to ditch the 10-pin connector and order a 12-pin connector so that I have room for the three cruise control wires in the future. This allowed me to add wire labels that I forgot to do before I crimped everything. My OCD is soothed for today...

[knomadd]

That's smart! I wish I had thought of that when I did mine.

[beaterku]

My problem is trying to remember what I did and why I did it. I have a hard time remembering what I did yesterday, much less several years back. I'm hoping this make it easier to troubleshoot down the road. I saw someone use this method a while back. I am not sure where I saw it, but I thought I'd give it a try. Works really well.

I used an old Brother P-Touch label maker with 1/4" wide tape. Then used clear heat shrink to seal them to the wire.

[beaterku]

I finshed up the interior wiring last night. After many changes of thought I finally got everything lined out. Wires going every which way, but I made heads and tails of it in a logical fashion. Now I'm going to button up the wiring in the engine bay for the fans, fuel pump and head lights and move on to the fuel and trans lines. I spent entirely too much time on the wiring. My anal retentiveness got the best of me. I can't seem to leave well enough alone.

I went through the PSI supplied fuse/relay panel and re-crimped everything. There were some very poor crimps in there. I also abandoned the PSI fuel pump relay and ran the wire back out to the engine bay. I am going to use a heavy duty relay to control that.

I also found these pretty truck splice crimps. A buddy uses them on cars he wires. It make a super compact splice that is extremely strong. These are 1/4" long.

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[beaterku]

Snuck out to the shop today at lunch to test fit the Dakota Retro VHX guages. I think they are perfect. Looks very much like the stock guages.

[1971Stepside]

Those look sweet! I would have snuck out early too...

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

Those look sweet! I would have snuck out early too...

I love them. I splurged on them. Even the wife approves.

[beaterku]

Finnally making some headway on the engine bay wiring. I integrated the hi/low headlight relays into the truck wiring. I started working on the fuel/fan1/fan2 relays but ran out of time. Once it is all wrapped in harness tape it will blend right in. I am not too worried about hiding the wires. I like mechanical things so seeing the wires for everything is fine by me as long as they are neat and orderly.

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[beaterku]

Wired up the passenger side relays last night. I was 1 terminal short. Had to order some more. Bonehead mistake. Need to sort the wires and route them to where they need to go now.

[beaterku]

I think I may finally have the wiring cracked, sorta... All of the the relays, fuse panel, and fuel tank connections are done. I sill have to run the supply feed for the fuse panel. I need to run the wire from my alternator and figure out how I am going to run it. After staring at it for a while last night, my gut is to put the 200 amp maxi fuse inside the frame rail next to the starter and run the alternator wire to the starter. Much cleaner installation. I'm on the home stretch. Just ran out of time last night. I'm hopeful to have the remaining wiring done this week so I can test out the relays to make sure everything functions as intended before I wrap the harness.

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[beaterku]

Well, I spent 2 hours going over all of the wiring I have done to make sure it was all correct. Finally, the moment of truth. I hooked up the battery, stood back and crossed my fingers. No smoke. Everything I have wired in seems to work as intended. I didn’t have time to really look in to the Dakota stuff other than it powered on. The trans temp was showing so the BIM module most be talking to the ecm. So that’s good. My main goal was to make sure all of the relays I wired in worked so I can wrap the harness. Mission accomplished.

[beaterku]

Testing out the fan relays. These Entropy fans move some air!

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[knomadd]

Congrats on the successful wire job. I know how good that feels after months of wiring. Keep it up and soon you'll be driving it!

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Congrats on the successful wire job. I know how good that feels after months of wiring. Keep it up and soon you'll be driving it!

Thanks. It put a huge smile on my face. For such a simple wiring job, it took for-e-ver. On the downhill slide now

[1971Stepside]

Congrats on the successful wire job. I know how good that feels after months of wiring. Keep it up and soon you'll be driving it!

He enjoyed it so much that he volunteered to do mine

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

He enjoyed it so much that he volunteered to do mine

[beaterku]

I wrapped the harness up with nylon tape to clean it up. I think it turned out great. I can finally get back to finishing this thing up. I ran in to a bit of a problem with the fuel pump relay circuit. The relay was clicking on and off randomly. It was really strange. I checked my wiring all the way back to the ECM and found no problems. The ECM was commanding the relay correctly. I thought that I may be a bum ECM. I did some digging and found a thread from 2014sierraAT (Thread Link) and he was having a similar issue. I too have the Dakota Digital BIM module so I enabled boost and it started working correctly. I called Dakota and they told me to disable boost and gear indicator. So a little conflicting information, but it seems to be working now. It has a lifetime warranty so if it kicks the bucket, they will send another one. Part of hot rodding.

I'm still having a strange problem with the throttle pedal. My engine is from a Denali. It had the adjustable pedals. I switched out to a non adjustable pedal. Come to find out, the non adjustable has twice the travel of the adjustable. So I am getting 100% throttle half way through the pedal travel. There are 2 TAC module part numbers for 2003, so I am going to try the other to see if it helps.

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[beaterku]

Spent some time on the old girl this weekend. Fabbed up a dummy fuel filler for the stock filler location, bracket for the LS fuse center and mocked up an intake. I’m going to cut the intake down and 45 it down below the headlight. Slow progress, but progress is progress.

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[beaterku]

I managed to get quite a bit done this past week. Working here and there when I could find time. I tore the stock brake booster bracket down, blasted and painted it. I am fairly confident that this was the first time it had been taken apart. What little grease was mostly sludge. The interior wiring is finally done. I mounted the ECM, Fuse/Relay center and TAC module to the floor. Re-installed all of the carpet and trim. I still need to adjust the brake light switch, but I need the booster installed to do that. I worked a little more on the cold air intake. I like it so far. I was one coupler short. I thought I could get away with a 4" straight coupler on the inlet side of the MAF, but the coupler bunched up really weird so I ordered another 3.75 to 4". I am going to paint it in the same VHT wrinkle paint as the valve covers.

I am going to order the fuel and trans lines this week. It's mostly odds and ends from here on out. So close I can taste it.

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[Low Elco]

This is great timing, as I will be doing all of this very soon. Gotta watch the videos! Thanks!

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

This is great timing, as I will be doing all of this very soon. Gotta watch the videos! Thanks!

Thanks!

[HYPR]

Extremely nice build with a very organized step by step. Thank you Much appreciated.
Bob

[beaterku]

Originally Posted by HYPR

Extremely nice build with a very organized step by step. Thank you Much appreciated.
Bob

Thank you for the kind words

[beaterku]

I took the stock booster bracket apart, blasted it, painted, greased and reassembled it. Looks a whole lot better now. Also adjusted my brake light switch. It was a doubled edged sword trying to get the TCC and brake lights to work respectively with pedal travel but I think I’ve got it cracked.

[beaterku]

Spent some quality time on the truck this weekend. Wrapped up the alternator wiring as well as the feed wire for my sub fuse panel. Also fabbed up a mounting tab to stabilize the cold air intake setup. Finished up a lot of odds and ends. My to-do list is getting shorter and shorter. I am too the point that I need to roll it over on to the list and start working on everything on the bottom of the truck. Getting closer!

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