Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Vent window time. Honestly, if you asked me the difference between replacing the injection pump vs rebuilding vent windows, six of one and half dozen of the other. I guess neither is too bad, but if you're learning as you go it takes a minute. And I forgot to mention, before I gutted the doors, I did get in touch with Captkaos here. He's a vendor and sells new weatherstripping by Precision Parts. I'd already had a bad experience with a seal I got from LMC that looked bad in a year. Digging around here, Precision gets good praise and the prices aren't bad at all. Captkaos hooked me up with a complete door kit. So - vents out and disassembled, and big box of pretty seals ready to go.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Looking good and learning more and more as you work on it.

I'm working on one for my Base Commanders Friend. Did a thread on Steel Soldiers, check it out on some stuff I had to do for the firewall Resistor Pack by pass and a manual GP push button: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthr...Will-Not-Start

I'm about to do the filter conversion on it next but I'm going to use the WIX 24770 mount with twin in and out ports so I can incorporate a petcock for air bleeding.

http://images.oreillyauto.com/parts/.../wix/24770.jpg

Also going to do 90s on the fittings for this one.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

In this pic, the "hoop" is still attached to the "backbone", but I ended up drilling out those rivets and separating them so I could get easier access to the channels in the frames and make it easier to get the new seal in. All I've done here is clean it all up, sandblast, prime, paint to get everything ready for reassembly. One thing I must mention, there's a $3 rivet setting tool several of the suppliers carry that you can purchase when you buy vent window rivets from them. I couldn't make that work. After a bunch of digging, I found this C-clamp that comes with different rivet setting heads, I think it was lolife99/Keith that linked it somewhere. There's a corvette parts supplier that sells them for $79 I think. Maybe it was a few dollars more, but for me it was the ticket to being able to finish this and it turn out well.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Can you post a before and after pic of the rivet completion?

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

It's a Napa 4309 fuel filter base and Napa Gold fuel filter #3123. I did have to buy some brass fittings at home depot to adapt the base to the fuel lines, but this is a simple fix for when the stock filter base starts leaking. One tip I can pass along that will help when you replace the filter or replace the injection pump - when you get done, pull the glow plugs. You can spin the motor over a few times with them out, it's a quick way to prime the fuel system. Plus as a bonus, you can bench test the glow plugs individually before you prime the system. All I did was hook them up to my battery jumper box and make sure they fired up. When you put them back in it'll bust off much faster without all the wear and tear on the starter.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I saw where you were working through that issue on SS. So it ended up being the glow plug card? I replaced mine earlier this year with one from Hillbilly Wizard. I've read a lot of threads about manual glow plug control, but it's just not necessary down here in AL. Our winters are so mild the factory WAIT cycle is plenty. Have you thought about removing the mechanical lift pump and replacing it with an electric one from a 6.5? It's on my list for now just for the priming help.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

This one is not mine, but if it happens on mine I will do it for sure. I do not know 100% it was the card but it is not applying the ground to the LtBlue wire on the GP Solenoid and there is not anything else left in the circuit so its probable.

Once I did get it started its was making quite a racket in the flywheel area when starting like bad or missing teeth on the fly or the starter is not shimmed correctly.

Today I drove it to work and stopped to get a haircut on the way home. Would not restart and only sounds like bendix spinning and not engaging...had to have it towed 1/2 mile home...uuugh

I have to pull the flywheel cover tomorrow after work and have a look see.

I learned a lot troubleshooting this one and getting inspired to get back into mine.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I'll get an "after" pic tomorrow of the "pivot rivet". It looks factory to me, worth the money spent on the tool.

When mine did that it was due to a broken starter bolt. Turned out the factory starter nose cone support bracket was missing. Hope you didn't lose any teeth on the flex plate.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Here's the only part that gave me any real trouble. The rubber strips that hold the vent glass in the frame, it's a weird angle to deal with because you want to be driving the glass down toward the point of the "V" of the vent but the edge of the glass is at an oblique angle. If that makes any sense. I got them in, but I wasn't satisfied with the fit so I dropped them off at a glass company, they've got some sort of epoxy for the job now and don't bother with the friction fit anymore. He did tell me when I picked them up that they had a hell of a time getting the glass out, so maybe I had them in the good. Once I got them home, they were ready for final assembly. Someone here did a write up on rebuilding these and he used vaseline to help massage the seals into the channels, so that's what I used. I've read where others have used RTV there successfully.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Those look like NOS!

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

It was my son's idea to paint the door handles and mirrors black, but he was adamant about flat black. I knew flat black would look more correct than satin but I was worried about how easy it scratches. After stewing on it a little, I found that Rustoleum makes a matte clear so we decided to use that over the flat black. The tailgate did not have a lock cylinder in the crank when I bought it, so I bought one and took it to the locksmith with my locks and had them rekeyed to match. We cleaned up the door handles parts and got them painted and reassembled. I mentioned earlier that one of my mirrors was beat and dented. I bought a used white mirror from a member here, and I think it was willowrun, my apologies if I'm remembering wrong. But I took all three mirrors apart including busting the glass out to start from scratch. I used the best parts of the three to make two. Everything was blasted and painted separately then put back together. Around this time I dropped my phone outside and didn't realize it until my son brought it to me later that day busted and done. So I don't have any pics of the mirror parts being done. But they went through the same thing the vents and door handles did. I tried to clean up the window regulators but each side had one plastic wheel that just wouldn't free up no matter what I did. So I ended up getting new AC Delco replacements from RockAuto.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Again look NOS!

The door handles, tailgate window crank assembly and lock covers were all Black when new on these.

I enlisted when my unit was phasing out the Dodge 800 series for GM 1XXXX CUCVs.

Just wish I would have paid more attention when we phased them out for Hummers.

You would not believe the parts that went in the dumpster and I know for a fact they kept the entire Fuel Filter Assemblies and Glow Plug Controller Cards on Bench Stock because of all the problems.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Thanks! I can believe it, but I don't understand why they didn't opt for the simple spin-on fuel filter from the start. They had GM change a lot little things to better suit them. I guess that one slipped by them. It wouldn't have mattered if you could service the filter base with standard O-rings instead of something unique. Mine is laying in a CUCV parts pile of things removed.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

So, we're keeping the doors and paint (here comes the "P" word...) and patina, but it doesn't mean I want to keep all the dents. The CARC paint is some really tough stuff, so i ordered a seat of Eastwoods brand of body hammers/dollys. And commenced to beating on the doors. No prior experience, books, or DVD's for this, just a little common sense. And I'll be the first to admit I've got some "reverse dents" now. But I don't care. They're much straighter and look better to me. I couldn't resist getting the pressure washer out while they were shells. With rotted seals there was a lot of dirt and dust inside the doors, so we hosed the insides down with Purple Power and cut loose with the pressure washer. Amazingly, no rust in there. Blind squirrel moment. And in another one of those "while we're here" moments, I had to try Peal-n-Seal in the doors. The roll is 6" wide, I used three 20" long strips in each door centered going from the body line to the bottom edge. It did make the doors sound better when they close. Just trying to make the best of what we've got, a lot more effort going on here than money.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Glass back in the doors w/new seals. With the new regulators in, the fit is snug but smooth.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Looks good and I like the peel and stick idea for sound deadener.

When I swapped motors from my donor vehicle I reused the cool Civy Diesel firewall sound deadener panels except for the one over the blower motor because I want to eventually install A/C...Something to watch for in the pick n pulls, just attaches with a 7mm headed screw.

http://48cj2a.com/images/cucv/87CCLB/firewall.JPG

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I forgot you scored one of those. So you can remove the firewall cover without stripping the everything off the firewall first? I saw a 6.2 square Burb in the junkyard a few months back and didn't think to look. We're going to put some sort of sound deadener down before carpet, but I wouldn't mind having one of those to help w/the cabin noise.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

When I got the truck the door panels were faded and scuffed, in the first pic you can see I put on a coat of SEM but then the arm rests didn't match. The map pockets obviously aren't OEM stuff, I was trying to save some money there and picked those up for $7 on ebay. At the time, aftermarket was fine. Honestly now I wouldn't mind having some 88-91 map pockets with the flap. But I decided to redo these door panels one more time and use the map pockets I have for now. I used some Rustoleum rattle-can bedliner to give the door panels a uniform texture. Then I used SEM black in the area above the armrest, then masked that area off and used SEM burgundy on the rest of the panel. And of course the armrests got a coat of SEM this time so everything would match. In the third pic the trim's back on the panel and it's ready to go on the doors. I guess at this point it's obvious the way the dash will go.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

The firewall cover is 3 panels.

1. The big humped cover around the blower motor (you may have to modify the power terminals or carefully redrill holes if it will work with these and may have to go to Civilian Battery Tray on the driverside to relocate the rear battery).

2. The center, I think I had to disconnect the ground and possibly the throttle cable to run it back thru looking at the above picture. It fits part way around the hydroboost.

3. The driver side remove the wiper motor, wiring harness bolt and maybe speedo cable. The other half around the hydroboost is covered.

Your door panels look like new again. I got lucky and found a very nice set of correct color brown power window door panels on eBay a couple years ago...just got to install the harness and regulators one of these days.

There could be slightly more

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Thanks man. I'll watch for another 6.2 truck, might get lucky. You know gmachinz builds new power window harnesses with the express down feature, right? I don't know the price but they look great.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Yes, I was pretty intersted in his window and a custom headlamp harness as he does outstanding work, but his prices are way out of my reach on a shoe string budget.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I just went through the CUCV melted fuse issue where you lose all lights and horn. I'm sure you're familiar with that one. I used the Steel Soldiers fix, including LMC's heavy duty headlight wiring kit. I already have Sylvania Silverstar headlights on the truck but adding this harness made the real difference. I'm sure his is better quality, the the $25 version from LMC made much more difference than I thought it would. You don't know how much you're leaving on the table until you wire one up.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

The Headlamp wiring would probably be a higher priority for me as I bought the Hella H4 Kit...but have not installed it yet. Any pics or write up on that mod?


http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1270529616

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I didn't take any pictures of that. It comes with good directions from LMC and is made to plug into the factory harness, no cutting or splicing needed. I used two self-tapping screws to mount the relays on core support behind the front battery and some wire loom to cover and protect the wires where they passed over the the top of the fan shroud.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I think I would like to try and build the kit from scratch any chance you still have the directions and could scan it?

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I didn't, sorry. I've seen where guys made there own though, there's not too much too it. Just time.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Looking good! Whats next?

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Thanks! I've started on the cluster. It came with idiot lights and I want gauges. The CUCV's have these GEN 1 and GEN 2 idiot lights that help you keep tabs on the health of the dual alternator system and those took up two holes. I've got to make them work in one. I'm working on it. See third pic below, I'm going to run GEN 1 over GEN 2. I got a divider epoxied in place so they can light independently. I've got to make some jumpers and mounts for lights in each half. I've got an idea to make it work, we'll see. haha

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Minor update. Lot's going on this time of year and my daughter wrecked her car to boot, so I'm sneaking off to the shop when I can. Backtracking a smidge, in the first two pics you can see how I've modified the cluster housing for gauges in three places that used to house idiot lights, and the only remaining idiot light spot has been modified for two with a divider epoxied in the middle. In the next two pics, you can see how I've approached it. For starters, I got a couple of factory connectors out of the junkyard wired into the aftermarket gauges so the cluster can still be easily removed. Getting that wired in meant getting creative with the cluster housing and even the printed circuit in a few places. I have not plugged it in yet, but I've tested the printed circuits next to where I had to remove clear plastic and those circuits still have continuity. In the last pic, you can see three of the twist lock light plugs across the bottom. The one on the left is the old GEN 1 light, and it is jumpered with the red and green wires to it's new position over the GEN 2 light. I used a cheap plastic walmart cutting board to make a patch panel over the back of the GEN 1/GEN 2 hole and trimmed it to fit the factory twist lock sockets you see plugged in. It is screwed to the back of the housing and under the printed circuit.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I cleaned up the speedo and fuel gauge, they turned out mint. I wasn't expecting that in this truck. I also used n2trux idea for masking the needles with cardboard and painted them with testers fluorescent orange. My original shift indicator was gunked up so I just replaced it and painted the new pointer to match. The original could probably have been cleaned up, I'll keep it as a spare. I'd recently picked up the headlight polishing tool from HF and tried it out on the cluster lens. It came out great. And I trimmed the GEN 1 and GEN 2 plastic covers to fit their new home, secured with good old duct tape. You can see the other end of the plug laying on the bench, I've got to get that wired into the truck so I can plug all this in. That's where I'm at for now.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Nice work...aren't the clusters fun!

When I did my donor motor swap I also swapped in the factory Civy dash harness and got factor gauges at the same time. I also used foil tape for better reflextion and swapped all the bulbs to Red WLED-X5 LEDs from Superbrite: Milverado

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I didn't know the civvy harness would plug in and work. Some guy at steel soldiers put a civilian cluster in his truck and claimed he had to wire each gauge individually to make it work. So I'm thinking if I have to go that far with it I'll use better gauges. I forgot to mention, I did give the inside of the cluster several coats of gloss white and of course used red bulbs for all the lights and put one in the heater controls too. I didn't use LED's though, I wanted to try regular 194's first. Sometimes I see clusters w/LED's that are too bright and of course the dimmer doesn't work on them. There was a thread here where a guy found a set of LED lights that he said put out a nice appropriate amount of light without being too much but of course I didn't bookmark it. I'll check out your thread again, but how do you like the light output?

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Cool build. Sorry to hear about your daughter's wreck.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I had did the civy engine harness swap with the motor at the time so it definitely was no problem. There are differences so the mil engine and civy dash might not be compatible then.

I also took the time to extract the pins on the blackout drive lamp circuit from the fuse block and reinstall it in the civy harness so my Headlamp over ride and the B/O still work too...

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Thanks man, I appreciate that. She walked away fine but it had easy potential for the worst.

I don't know what the guy tried, he didn't give any details on the install. For all I know it'll work with some minor repinning or something. I like the B/O light system, cool that you kept it. It wasn't but a few days ago I was outside with my sons after dark and showed them how it worked.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

I did a write up on this quite some time ago, but the details are still good. Go to this link and follow the instructions. You can do it for under $40 worth of supplies.

http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/exte...ight_relay.htm

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

When I was doing the engine swap from the donor crewcab, the interior dash harness was the bulkhead connector and fuse box coupled to the engine harness keeping that portion all civy and gaining the gauges, intm wipers, fiber optic light to the ash tray, cig lighter just to name a few items in building Milverado.

When I reattched the front headlamp harness to the bulkhead, I had to extract the front bumper blackout lamps as that particular circuit in the civy harness is the washer pump wiring and I had swapped the donors washer bottle to gain the better electric pump over the vacuum pump intregal to the standard wiper motor. There is a writeup on that in my Milverado link too.

Still piecing cruise control together which I'm really looking forward to.

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Don't know if this will be any help to anyone but there is a guy out my way that specializes in these military Blazers. He's not a board member. Seems to have a lot of parts. Name is Tom. Here's the link.

http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/pts/5366900463.html

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

Minor updates. I didn't realize I'd let this go a month, I have been piddling away on it, but the weather... Here's where I left off and where I am now. In the first pic you can see the cluster on the bench with the female end of a factory plug wired into the new gauges. I got the senders installed and the male end hooked up in the truck. No pics of that, just a lot of tedious trimming to length, solder and shrink wrap.

Next pic the cluster is in the truck plugged up. In that pic the key is in the forward position, but the engine is off. But you can see the GEN 1 and GEN 2 lights move to one position was a success, and I can keep tabs on the engine vitals now. Tip of the day to anyone thinking of pulling their cluster to dress it up: Don't put your shift indicator on until the cluster is mounted! I bent my brand new one doing just that. I'm going to see if I can get it true again with a hammer and flat punch, but if not, I'll move the new spring and pointer over to my original "back".

I'm leaving it like that for now. I'm going to get a new dash pad from Cheyenne Pickup Parts, but they're out and won't have any for 30-45 days. Here's a link to the auction I missed: LINKY

On to other things...

Re: Sarge's rattle-can rebuild
 

If you're not familiar with military Blazers, the gov't spec'd them out CHEAP. Besides the inside being a bare-metal tub, you don't get a console. Someone on another site made a console out of an ammo can and it looked pretty cool, so I had to try one. I've had this sitting around waiting on me to install it, time to figure it out. I got the cupholders from a marine website, I think it was Overton's. The other pics are just me trying my hand at fabrication. I got the steel from Home Depot for maybe five or six bucks, then heated it up and hammered it into something that might hold a console. I was afraid it might bend right or left over time, so I made end caps and welded them on. This is my first time welding anything. I bought a MIG a while back and it sat around waiting on me to buy some gas for it and give it a try. I only had a few bucks in this so it was a good place to learn. The back sides tell the tale, the front sides were dressed with a 40-grit flapper disc. At first I was zig-zagging all over the place like a 10 year old trying to learn to drive in a 1950 Buick. It took a little bit to learn to see the seam and the wire and control it with any success.