"The Distraction" Why I haven't updated the stereo in my car...

OK. So over the last couple days, I duplicated my template in 16ga. I made it in 3 pieces, and I had JUST enough material to do it. I had 2 pieces of 6x18" 16ga to work with.



16ga is a pain to bend. First I just tried to do it over the edge of my "table." That didn't work. Then I clamped a piece of 1/8" thick 2x2" angle iron and a piece of 1" square tubing to the hand rail on the handicapped ramp in our garage.

That didn't work much better. I tried a small sledge hammer. It just kinda made it wavy. So, I beat it back to flat, and used the grinder to thin the metal a little to make it easier to bend.



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Tacked it together and verified fitment with the parking brake so I could see how it sits in the truck. It looks close to the shifter in Drive, (and it IS closer than I'd like) but the mechanism had to go there to leave me enough room on either side for the sides of the console I'm going to build and clear the seats and seatbelts (which are integrated onto the seats I'm using.)



I sprayed the last of my weld thru primer on the bottom, where the reinforcement goes, and did the rest in regular automotive spray can primer. I seam sealed the edges, as well.



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While I was waiting for paint to dry this morning, I filled in the hole from the factory parking brake cable. I used some metal from when I cut off the factory rocker panel so the gauge matches.



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I painted the underside of the tunnel, and the top of the reinforcement black. The reinforcement, got a coat of Rust Reformer, first. I won't be able to get up there later, so I wanted to make sure there wasn't any bare metal.



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Then I ran a bead of seam sealer around the top of the reinforcement (like it had from the factory). I bolted it together and waited til this morning. I welded it through the original weld spots. After that I used Rust Reformer and flat black paint to seal it up.



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Then I put it in place and marked it out on the floor. I left 3/4" toward the inside and punched a bunch of holes in the lip before cleaning the paint off.



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Then I welded the spot welds at the front and tacked the rear, and couple of spots on the driver's side. Then I went under the truck and beat the 3/4" lip I left up to match. This serves two purposes...I can make sure it's attached to the body, which will help support the factory seat belt mounts and it closes up the slight gap at the bottom (so the seam sealer won't ooze under the truck.) On the up side, it closes up the gap tight enough I could probably just stitch weld it

and cut the excess lip from underneath.



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I have to pull the passenger seat to finish the other side, which means pulling the truck out of the garage (I can't open the passenger side door where it's at) and it was raining today.



Jay
 
OK, so I had to make a supply run yesterday, so I got back later than I intended. My plans were to pull the engine out of the frame, reinstall the H3 pan and notch the frame so I could load it and unload it without having to unbolt the body. But, I didn't get back until like 4, and knowing that things weren't going to go as hoped, I decided to wait until today....aaaaannnndddd, it's raining. I don't have much room in the garage, so I have to work outside.



Yesterday, I did make a "thing" so I can use my engine hoist to lift the cab off the frame so I can clean up the bottom of the floor, and work on shaving the firewall. So, it wasn't a total loss.



This morning, I went out and it was drizzling. It wasn't *supposed* to rain, but I figured I'd start with stuff that didn't require me to move the truck outside.



I pulled the valley cover so I could install my Dirty Dingo lift plate.



Knock sensors (before I pulled the plate):











Under the valley cover:







Bottom of the valley cover:







Knock Sensors:











So, I guess this will be my mock up engine. lol



I was thinking I'd get it running on this one, then buy a better one and swap them...looks like I might be rebuilding this one or replacing it sooner than expected. Not sure if I want to stick with an LQ4 or do an Aluminum block 5.3



I drove the truck this engine came out of home with no major issues. Kind of a bummer.



It's raining, and I have bare metal on the cab, so not expecting to get much done today.



Jay
 
The weather seemed like it was going to come back around. It got sunny and in the 60s, so I went back out and pulled the engine. The engine hasn't had an oil pan on it for probably 2 years. I couldn't get the engine/trans in as a unit without pulling the cab. The H3 pan would hit the crossmember, and I needed the space. Now I'm trying to put parts back on the truck where I can since they take up space in my tiny work area. Anyway, I've cut a lot of wood, ground metal, welded etc, with the pan off (and sitting right side up in a corner), so the pan was full of crap. I cleaned it all out before putting it back on. When I tried to install the pickup tube brace in, it didn't seem to want to fit right, so I took it back out. So, I stuck some nice new parts on my old crappy engine. lol



I have a transmission dipstick for it, but it doesn't line up with the back of the head. I may have tweaked it trying to make it clear the S-10 firewall. I installed it, but I may have to swap it for something else.



I threw a new oil filter on it too.













And then (while I had the engine and trans hanging off my hoist) it decided it wanted to rain again. I had everything out in the driveway. And we have a brick driveway.

Makes moving the hoist a real PITA. But I put the motor next to the truck so hopefully tomorrow, I can notch the frame and possibly put it back.



I hope to pull the cab this week.



Jay
 
Got some time today to start notching the crossmember. Took a while to cut out with an angle grinder, with the cab still on. Got it cut along the seam where there is an extra layer on the inside. Smoothed it out with a flap disc. Hit the inside with the grinder to knock the loose rust down and painted the inside with Rust Reformer.











Also, took a pic of the piece I made to lift the cab with the engine hoist.







Then I started cutting the 2 main pieces of the notch with my angle grinder. Aaaannndddd....caught myself on fire. lol Never had that happen before.







Made the piece that goes on the bottom, and the weather started going south, so I finished it up and packed everything away back in the garage.







I also made the piece that goes on the front edge, but I forgot to take pics.



How I'm going to do this is: I'm using 3" wide plate (and really needed 4" but couldn't get any locally with the quarantine) So, the front plate and the bottom plate are about 1/2" apart. So, my plan is to tack these 2 pieces to the frame. Build all the little filler pieces and tack them to the front/bottom, and then cut it back out of the truck. This will allow me to cut off any excess on the back, weld the back and maybe paint it or something. Then I should be able to put it back in the truck and fully weld it in as one piece. It's an odd shape because I'm working with what I had. It gets me a couple inches of depth and and about 4-4.5" front-to-back clearance. That should get me the last little bit of clearance that I need to put the engine/trans in/out as a unit. It makes sense in my head. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, I should be able to finish it up.



Jay
 
A lot faster now that I can't go to work. lol Stay at home order just got extended until 4/30.



This morning it was 45ish degrees so I figured I'd work on my frame some more.







After I got it tacked, and pulled back out, I started on templates to fill the gaps. But then it got cold (windchill in the 30's) and I decided to call it a day.











Off and on, we also got this:







Hopefully it will be better tomorrow, but it's supposed to rain and be in the mid 40's for the next couple days.



I also ordered a Dayco 87629 hose from Amazon for like $6. Worked great to loop the heater core lines on the water pump after I trimmed the smaller leg down. Cheaper than some of the other options I've seen.



Jay
 
lew-e said:
Love seeing builds like this. Motivates me to finally find a project car. I want something I can work on with my son when he gets older. He’s only two now but when I put YouTube on the tv he wants to watch cars cars cars. Unfortunately the boy has extremely expensive tastes lol


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Click to expand...

My first project car was a '67 Bug I got off eBay. The auction said it was original paint, never been hit (I knew that was wrong because it had the wrong decklid, but hey)
It was being sold by a lady in VA, the car was in Kentucky. She was settling her aunt's estate. It was her uncle's car. He died first, and that caused a bunch of problems.
She said he was a mechanic and took good care of the cars. She wouldn't be there when I picked it up but said the lawyer would have the keys and title. He would be there.

So, he didn't have either. it had been hit HARD front and rear. Had a '62 1200cc engine instead of the 1500cc that was supposed to be there. Didn't have the title because no one ever transferred it to her aunt after her uncle died. It was a small town and everyone knew who the cars belonged to. Took a month for her to sort that out.
I should have left it and got my money back.

I eventually ended up cutting it up and giving the roof to a guy building a chop top bug, and shortened the chassis for a fiberglass dune buggy body I got for free.

Then I moved, it spent 2 years in storage and then I sold it (and about $2000 in parts) for $200 so I could stop paying $100/mo in storage.

A few years ago, I kinda wanted something else to build on, and my GF actually told me I should. So I did. lol

Original plan was to build an LS swapped 240Z, but I couldn't find one in my price range that wasn't made of bondo.

Figured the S-10 LS swap was well documented, and I had one after High School, so I'd try that.

Sucks that I'll be off work for another 2 weeks at least (they extended the Stay at Home order to 4/30) but I'm getting a bunch done.

Jay
 
Well, I got a little time over the last couple of days so here's what I did:



I got everything cut out and welded on the front side.











then I fully welded the seams on the back side. I had to grind the edges some so it would fit back in the frame.







Welded it to the frame.







Ground the outer welds down smooth and threw a heavy coat of primer on it.







Strictly speaking, this was probably not necessary...I could have removed the transmission from the engine and put it in by itself, but I wanted to be able to pull it as a unit.



Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, so probably won't get much done.



Jay
 
So, the weather didn't cooperate much, and yesterday and today were the first days I got to work on anything.

Yesterday, I made some modifications to my throttle pedal assembly. It would rock left/right on the firewall with just 2 bolts holding it on. Not super bad, but I didn't care for it. So, I made a plate out of 16ga and welded it to the pedal assembly, and it gave me a third hole to mount further over and make everything much more stable.















I also got my order from Benchmark Abrasives, so I got to try out their flap discs and cutoff wheels and OMG they work so much better than the HF/HD/Menards stuff I've been using. Highly recommend.



I also had mentioned previously that I used the wrong base when I built my steering column, so it didn't lay right on the firewall. Turns out the tilt column I used as a base was from an '88 S-10 and apparently it's different. I managed to get the firewall mount off one of my old columns, so I'm going to cut the wrong one off the column and adapt the correct one, as well as move the column down (on the same angle, basically sliding it through the hole, but away from me by about 4" or so). I had planned to do it today, but spent 4 hours rearranging the garage before moving on to truck stuff.



But today, I knocked all the welds down on my floor, welded up a couple of spots I missed and covered everything in a black primer so that I can seam seal everything when I finish welding underneath.



















Then I bolted my seats back in. I've been trying to figure out exactly what they're from since I bought the original green truck like 5 years ago. I was told they were Toyota seats. I was watching a video on YouTube the other day and the guy had a second gen MR2, and his seats look just like these. I plan to dye them black eventually (or buy leather covers).







In case anyone was wondering, here's my work space:







lol.



Tomorrow, I plan to work on mocking up the steering column/pedals/parking brake/shifter.



Jay
 
Started today by cutting out a whole for the shifter cable to fit through. It's very close to the factory drain plug in the floor, but my replacement floor pan didn't have it cut out.



(Sorry some of the pics are washed out, it was sunny today)











Then I put the seat back in, bolted in the shifter and parking brake.

After that, I cut the firewall mount off the column, and bolted the proper one to the firewall.



Then I took the pedal mount and duplicated the right side slot 4" further down.







Slid the column through the firewall mount and bolted it up on the right side where I put the new slot and marked the left side. But there wasn't any metal to put a bolt through. So, I cut part of the mount and folded it down.







(didn't get a pic of it folded, and yes, I'm going to fill the hole back in.)







I kept the angles the same, the bottom of the column just sticks further into the engine bay.







For some reason, I was worried the angle to the steering box was going to be stupid steep, but they almost point directly at each other. Hopefully it clears the headers.



Now, by moving it further down it's in a comfortable position for me...but the high beam switch had to come off to clear the brake pedal arm. I think I'm going to extend the arm and put the switch in a slightly different spot to clear.

I could also do a floor mount high beam switch, if it comes to it.



Then I stuck some of the parts I am going to use in to get an idea of placement.



2003 Silverado cluster, Trailblazer shifter, shift cable, and parking brake, custom mish-mash steering column with an '07ish Cobalt LT steering wheel.







Saturn SC1 or 2 (I forget, @Harley picked it up for me) power window/mirror switch/change holder.







I'm planning to use the Silverado parking light switch. I was thinking of using 07-10 Jeep Wrangler JK dash vents, because I like how they mount. But the passenger vents from the Silverado might work too. I ordered 2 more of those just in case.



Then I went shopping for Jeep vents. all 4 were between $200-300!!! I got a set of similar chrome-ringed vents from a Jeep Commander for $42. Jeep tax, I guess.



I currently have a Silverado heater control set, but I didn't grab the motors for the HVAC box before I scrapped it. I might try to get 2nd gen S-10 parts when the junkyards open back up, or maybe Colorado/Canyon stuff.



I also picked up 6' of 1.25" square tubing to use as a dash support so I can mount things to it like the cluster, radio, heater controls, etc.



I'm planning to shave the firewall except the brake booster, and build my own HVAC box. Something like they did on Project Binky.



We'll see how it goes.

Only thing is, now I want to move the gas pedal a little (maybe up an inch or so and back toward the firewall a couple inches.)


Jay
 
Spent the last couple of hours doing my best Nik Blackhurst impression. (If you don't get the reference, go here: )



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hCPODjJO7s&list=PLGSOZAHg1yQHU1tc_3Y5MTQg1qjtxA_nq






















I'll probably build this in metal when my sheet of steel gets here. I only have 22ga and 16ga. I'm probably going to make the whole thing out of 18 or 20ga and then make the plate that the motor mounts to out of 16ga. and weld it together. Looks like I shouldn't need to trim much (if any) metal in the cowl. The plan for the brackets if that I will bolt down into them (rivnuts or captive nuts welded on) and the bottom bracket will have a stud welded up from underneath, so I don't have any visible fasteners. Fingers crossed it works when it comes to it.



Jay
 
Wow. I ordered some right side rocker panels (because I couldn't ignore the rust) from Tabco on Thursday. My order shipped Thursday at 9pm and arrived today (Saturday). Gotta say I'm impressed. Last time their shipping was very slow.



I also got the high beam switch moved on top of the steering column, and out of the way of the brake pedal arm.

To do so, I cut up an old ignition switch (the lower part that the wires connect to) since the high beam switch mounts to it. Then I welded screws from the back side of the bracket, plug welded it to the column on top, and extended the arm with another high-beam arm I had. I need to adjust the switch (it's a little touchy when the wheel is tilted all the way down) but it works.



Zipties were used to mock it up.



















I just need a P-clip to keep the rod from flexing, but it works. Works without it, but it would be better if it had one.



I also repositioned the gas pedal. If you had seen the way I did it before, I chopped the end off the Silverado pedal arm, drilled a hole in it and then welded the lower part of the S-10 arm to it. Well, it put the gas pedal way out in front of the brake pedal because I eye-balled it without the brake pedal in, I think. So, I cut the old S-10 pedal off, grabbed another one from my stash, and welded it in about 1.25" higher and rotated it so that the gas pedal sits behind the brake pedal like my other 2 cars are. Makes for a WAY more comfortable pedal position. I didn't take any pics, because it looks about the same.
 
My rocker panels came last night. So, I decided to start that. Hoped it wasn't as bad as the driver's side. Nope. Other than the floor being intact (from what I can tell) the rest is at least as bad.



















Yay, Michigan weight reduction. Sigh. Here we go again, after my steel gets here this week.



Jay
 
OK, so I got sick of waiting for my steel to arrive. I've got like 3 or 4 things I ordered stuck in Detroit. Some of it is like a week late already. I took some leftovers from my rocker panels and made a panel to patch the inner rocker. I pressed the drain slots in the same as the other side, but I spent more time getting it to fit better. Turned out pretty good. Ordered some Internal Frame Coating from Eastwood but forgot to order Rust Encapsulator. Ooops. Guess I'll stick to Rust Reformer since I have it. My weld through primer should be here today, I think.















Need to make the front piece that attaches to the body mount, but it's about 4" tall and I don't have a piece tall enough to make it. It's also supposed to rain today, so probably not getting anything done today.



Jay
 
I have 3 packages that disappeared on 4/26 at the Detroit Distribution Center. Usually I would get them the next day, and it's holding me up on the project. One shows it left Queens, NY arrived in Detroit, then arrived back in Queens (but doesn't show leaving Detroit) and is now "In transit to the next destination." I've got some other stuff I want to buy and I'm using eBay and looking for people who ship UPS or FedEx. I understand needing to be patient, but one of my packages has been in Indiana for like 4 or 5 days now.



One of them is my weld-through primer so I can put my a-pillar/rockers on.



I got all the pieces I needed to fabricate ready to weld, pretty much.



















The rust you see on the bottom of the a-pillar just hasn't been cut out yet.



I got my teflon coated, fuel safe 12ga wire for my fuel pump, I'm waiting on a sealed relay socket and 40A relay and terminals for the Walbro connector (for the right sized wire.) They're in Limbo right now. Somewhere around the house I have a ATL CFD-504 bulkhead connector to run the wire in. I need to look for that.



Still waiting on my Jeep Commander Vents, too. Looking around I found a G8 GXP cupholder that has a chrome ring that looks like it would match the vents...which also (I think) would look good with an Escalade cluster. But I'm not that far yet.



Jay
 
Well, I finally got the lower passenger side done. I welded up a hole I had punched for plug welding (thinking it was in the wrong spot) and then when I realized I was wrong, I tried to punch it again and popped a tendon in my wrist. Yay.

So, progress may slow down, which sucks because the weather is great and the junkyards I go to opened back up.



First off, I had to remove the hinge again. I really didn't want to do it. But this time I drilled 2 1/8" holes and used them as locators instead of making a new jig like when I did the other side.







I made a new a-pillar lower piece again, but this time I cut it and re welded it slightly narrower so it fit in the new rocker panel.







Welded up the inner rocker panel (which I made just like the other side (including pressing it for 4 slots and having to bang one of them back flat. Sigh) I tried UPol copper weld through primer this time. Less spatter than the zinc 3M I used last time. Every place I won't be able to get to go covered. And when it's all done, I'm coating the insides with Eastwood Internal Frame Coating.







Inner kick panel welded to the floor and kick panel.







Close up --- anyone else see a Lego guy in this? lol







Welded the new lower inner a-pillar support to the outer rocker, then added a backer to make it easier to weld.







Outer rocker welded back on







I hung the door back on (after injuring myself, which was dumb)







The back of the rocker doesn't fit amazingly, so I'm going to cut a couple of slits and weld it into the right shape. It's rounder and slightly fatter than the factory piece. This side went way better than the other side.



I also started making a template to smooth the firewall,







I'd like to get it bead rolled or pressed (I may try making a jig with my router and pressing a shape with my 20 ton press. It's only like 18-20ga, so it should press pretty easy. But I was waiting until my ICT Billet coil relocation brackets came (which they did today) so I can work around the shape of the coils. PCM will be going inside the truck (and I got the GM bracket from a later S-10 to use for that.



Might drag the GF's nephew with me to the junkyard this week. lol. He can help me get heavier stuff. lol

There's an Extreme 2002 or 2003 Blazer there currently. The RPO codes don't say it has the ZQ8 suspension, but I thought all the Extreme's did.



Jay
 
Oops. I missed a post.

Basically, I built a bench programming harness from my ECU and I made a tubing straightener. Unlike most of them, which can be clamped into a vice, I made new jaws out of 3/4x1" aluminum stock, and some Amazon wheels. I got the idea from YouTube User "asquaregarden". He didn't include any measurements in his initial post but did answer some questions I had.


I don't have a drill press, so I used my drill guide to get the holes straight.
Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

This is 3/8" NiCopp line, before:

Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

After:

Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

Did about the same on 5/16" too.


Here's my bench harness (for use with my 30A power supply)

Untitled by Jay McGraw, on Flickr

I put an XT60 connector on the power wires, and plan to make a pig tail with alligator clips, so I can run it off a battery if I don't have my power supply with me.

I added an OBLinkLX to work with LSDroid. This way I can turn off VATS, turn on ECU fan controls, etc. for free. I wouldn't actually tune the fuel tables and stuff with it,
but for setting things up, I think it should work well.

Jay
 
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