Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

i admire the patients in the prep work, keep it up cuz you are on the path to amazing results.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

All of that prep work looks great. There are no shortcuts to a great paint job.

Marc

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Time for a little update. I've got the cab into the media blaster and should be getting it back the week of the Aug 8th. In the meantime, I wanted to get some of the tasks that I've been putting off for a while because the cab was in the way.

First up was the Gen 1 oil pan and Pontiac G6 tranny pan. The pics below show how low the truck pans stick down below the cross member. I was concerned that the wife would hit something and crack a pan and end up stranded (and even worse, trash the engine or tranny).

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

I've had these parts for over a year now waiting to do this. A few pics of the process and the final pic of the underside. Both pans are now higher than the cross member.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

A couple things about the Gen 1 oil pan. It comes with an oil level sensor in it which I deleted with a plug. One of the bosses needs to be drilled out. Also, one of the bosses on the side of the pan that the tranny lines attach to on the truck pan is gone. Not a big deal, just ended up making a bracket.

I wanted to keep the bracket as I like how the tranny lines dump out right in front of the P/S rack. It will make plumbing the lines through the cooler straight forward. It also holds part of the harness to the starter and knock sensors.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Next up was the fuel lines. Ended up going with braided stainless hoses for the fuel line and the line that allows the engine to scavenge the charcoal canister fumes. The 5/8 line that allows the tank to vent for fueling was nowhere to be found. I tried to find the nylon hose from Dorman, but they said it was on backorder for at least 3 months. Ended up using a push connect hose so I could use the stock fittings. It's just a fat hose and I don't like it but didn't have much of an option.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

I decided to invest in a few tools that would make the install easier and the end product look nicer. The master cool flaring tool will come in handy for the other fluid systems that have to be plumbed. I've resisted getting this tool due to the price, but it is Very nice and works the stainless lines easily. The other item was a nutzert tool. Pleased with it so far.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

I started thinking that while the cab is off, I should look at the chassis harness and get a feel for how it will layout. There were several modules on the Escalade that I won't be using. Mainly the Trailer Brake Control Module (TBCM), ABS, and Vehicle Stability Enhancement System (VSES). I started removing all the wires that were part of these systems. I still have some work to do, but it eliminated a lot of wiring.

At this point, I need to extend the fuel pump and tank pressure sensor along with the line pressure sensor, purge valve and mount the Fuel System Control Module (FSCM). Also, need to swap the left and right taillight pins in the connector since the harness was made for the left side of the chassis and I'm going to put it on the right side.

That's all for now. More to come.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

i have been wondering about the master cool flaring tool, I always have to flare lines on the truck or its tremendously inconvenient to take them to a vise and flaring the GM stainless lines sucks too, takes several tries to get it right. thanks for the confirmation that its worth the price.

just staggeringly beautiful work, you think of everything!

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Wow. It's been a few months. I've almost dropped to the third page. :lol:

Took a few months off after hunting season to just step away from the project. I find that when I'm not in the mood to work on things, I tend to do poor work or create more work for myself. It's time to catch up with my progress.

Just before hunting started, I picked the cab up from the media blaster. Turned out well, but it did find a few more spots of rot to deal with.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

The one area I wasn't expecting was the vent on the cowl. It makes sense, but visually, it looked ok before blasting. The part that was aggravating was that I couldn't find an aftermarket part, so I had to drill it out and repair it. It's ready to go back in and will be on the list for next weekend.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

I got the cab in Epoxy which was the goal before I left for hunting. I plan to work on the cab most of the winter.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Recently, I've been working to get the outer cowl panels on, and the door gaps set. I don't know why, but this has evolved into several weeks. The driver door was caught by the wind at one point and turned back into the cowl. As I started working the details, I started to notice that the hinges, post and other things were tweaked. I finally got the driver's door set and gaps "ok". I noticed the driver cab corner is off some. Still deciding if I will fix it or not. I'm not sure if I was off when I replaced the outer door skin or had the door out of alignment when I put the corner on or if I simply messed up the corner.

I ended up keeping the old sheet metal and replacing the bottoms. They simply fit better.

Very pleased with the passenger side as it's 95% where I want it, but I can still fiddle with it some more.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

While I had the cowls off, I worked on the conduit for the wiring that will go to the doors for the windows and door locks. The kit is from specialty power windows. I like the concept but didn't like the rubber gromet that they want you to use inside of the cowl (or door) to hold the plastic tube. I figured over time, the rubber would come off and create an issue. I decided to make my own (brown ones) out of delrin. I added three small screws to hold them in place.

Once this was done, I buttoned up the cowls and put three coats of Epoxy on them.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

The goal this winter is to have the cab ready for high-build primer in the spring. I've started on the body work and I'm also working on some of the mechanical items that need to be done as far as welding and drilling go. If I can have the door jams, outside, and front cowl done I'll be happy. I want to have the dash done, but still have some details to work out with the console integration and vent system for the HVAC.

There were a number of small dents and pitting in the roof. I'm getting better with my guide coat and feel like the roof turned out good. There wasn't much filler once all the sanding was done.

That's all for now. Thanks.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

That looks amazing! This is how filler is used like an expert... sparingly, and only when perfection is desired.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Looking very nice!

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Thanks for sharing your ideas and workmanship.

Great work

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Thanks for all the comments. Much appreciated! Renard

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Very nice and very expert restoration. I really admire your efforts. I wish i could have done what you are doing on yours.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Man! I love your workmanship!

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Man I just stumbled across this. Great build , Strong work. I'll be following bud

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Looking great. You got rid of all the good rust on the outside. :lol:

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

It's been a few months since I last posted. I'm making progress, albeit slowly.

First - Thanks for all the replies. They are much appreciated.

I've been jumping around a bit as I get tired of bodywork. I'm still focused on getting the cab ready for high build this early summer. I've still got some mechanical things to finish up on the cab also.

Finished patching and welding in the cowl drip rail. Got the outer cowls put back on. Used some Kitty Hair on the joints and then Evercoat Rage over that.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

More pics

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Moved on to the back of the cab.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Finished the final placement of the brake and gas pedal. Drilled and installed the nutzerts for the steering shaft boot.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

The metal work is looking great.

What year model Impala is the 3rd brake light from?

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

One item that I've been kicking down the road is the transition from the center console to the dash. I think I posted a while back that I was moving the shifter from the column to the center console. This is mainly because I want to have a more usable Sport and Manual shift modes when I'm in the mood (or the Boss if she's feeling it).

The center console is out of a 2008 CTS. It gives normal P, R, N, D and sport and manual modes. The other things I've been mulling over have to do with where I place the window controls and master door lock. I want to keep the door lock switch from the passenger side and window controls from the Escalade. Doing this doesn't give me much room on the doors to put them there so I'm going to try to put them into the center console. Either passenger will have access to the door locks and the window controls. There should be enough space for the HVAC Dakota Digital control unit and the Heated and Cooled Seat controls. I don't have the Heated and Cooled seat controls mocked up yet but they will be at the top left and right above the window/door controls.

Here are some pics for the work in progress. It's taken several attempts to get this far as I will do something and not like it and start over. Oh well, part of the process.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Thanks. 2010ish I think. They are all over the wrecking yards here.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

I like the console idea. What is it out of?

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

While the cab is off and I have a few hours here and there, I've started working on the various fluid systems. I've got the PS system done. The brake lines will be completed with two flex hoses from the cab to the rail. The Transmission is nearly completed. Just need to run the hoses from the hard lines to the external cooler and then to the internal cooler of the radiator. I need to replace the air dam below the radiator first so I can drill a couple of holes for the hoses.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

2008 Cadillac CTS. They are showing up in the yards a lot now too.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Tossed the battery box on with a few nutzerts while I was at it.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Another thing I've been focused on lately is with the wiring and electronics. As I'm trying to determine where things like the door locks and window controls go, I also have to make some decision on the heated and cooled seat controllers.

You will notice in the one picture of the HVAC unit out of the Escalade that the controller for each seat is built into the module itself. I have no desire to try to transplant that ugly thing so I needed a couple of standalone controllers that would work. The only problem is that I couldn't find standalone controllers within any GM platform from 2008 - 2013 (needed this for compatibility reasons to put it simply)

While doing some research, I found where another guy was using controllers out of a 2014ish Silverado platform. Those are shown below.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Of all the wiring obstacles that I have to overcome to do what I want to do; the heated and cooled seats was one of the biggest. I couldn't simply take the standalone controllers out of the Silverado and use them with the existing Escalade harness. Without going into a bunch of details that most people don't want to hear, the simple issues are the Escalade uses what's called a GM Low Speed Lan (GMLS LAN) to control most of the non-safety critical systems (door locks, remote entry, heated and cooled seats, outside temperature reading on rearview mirror, etc.) and the standalone controllers use a different network called LIN (Local Interconnect Network) a more broadly accepted network protocol for the auto industry.

So, what does all this mumbo jumbo mean? Well, it means the easiest way to do what I want to do is with a microcontroller that understands both network protocols and program it to do what I want it to do, and then insert it into the harness out of sight. That's all easy enough, but, I don't like the programming part of it. I didn't like it in college, and I haven't developed a liking for it since. But I'm lucky my neighbor does both hardware and software design, and he offered up some of his time to do the integration of the microcontroller and most importantly, the programming. Yah Team!!!

The pictures below are the entire set of harness' out of the Escalade setup on my pool table along with the various ECUs, seats and other sensors that I need to be in place to get the seat controllers working. As far as the harness and electronics go, the system doesn't know it's not in the vehicle. As an example, I can use the key fob for remote entry where it unlocks the doors, even the lights come on. When I put the key in the ignition, everything comes alive just like if it were in the vehicle.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Pool table pic

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

I'm also lucky that my neighbor happened to have access to a high-end oscilloscope that reads both GMLAN and LIN networks - A key part of deciphering the messages that need to be captured and programmed into the microcontroller. We were able to capture the message sequences for each standalone controller, the messages from each seat, and the handful of messages that needed to be replicated from the HVAC unit. At this stage, we have this working. There is a glitch that we are trying to figure out where the seats get out of sync with the switches sometimes for an unknow reason. It's easy to reset by turning the key off and back on again. But not so easy if you are driving. :) As a backup if needed, I will hide a relay and switch that cuts power (same as turning the ignition off) to the seats to reset them while driving if we can't get the software glitch figured out. But my neighbor is a perfectionist and said he wanted some time to look into it.

Here are a few pics of the equipment, microcontroller, and the start of the process of "de-wring" ~ 70% of the wires from the harness that I won't need. The pic below is just the wires that I've de-pinned from the Airbag module and were later removed from the harness.

I've been waiting for the seat programming to be done so that I didn't disrupt some wiring inadvertently while removing wires. I'm confident that I can start that process now.

Next, I need to determine where all the wiring will layout so that I can cut the hole in the firewall, mount a few ECUs under the dash etc. It's all related to finishing the cab, so I want to get it going.

Thanks, and that's all for now.

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Man that is crazy...and very confusing. I don't know where you would begin. Then after you have all the wiring figured out you need to try to hide it all. Very cool concept tho to have the vintage truck full of modern technology.

Marc

Re: 1953 3100 "Honey-do"
 

Yep, I get it. First you have to have some desire for self-inflected pain. :) You also need to start with a complete wiring diagram for the vehicle which I have. I couldn't do it without it. ;) The only options I plan to keep are:
- Relay circuits and fuses for items that are left (all of this resides in the under-hood fuse box). I will repurpose some for the Vintage Air, Stereo, and misc items
- Heated and cooled seats, with power adjustments
- Inside rear-view mirror with outside temperature and compass and auto dimming. I down-graded to a 2007 mirror to get rid of the extra on-star buttons.
- Auto headlights at dusk (requires one small sensor to be retained and added to the dash).
- Power windows, door locks and alarm with disablement, remote entry and start.
- Circuits for headlights, turn signals, brake lights, running lights, and driving lights.
- Wipers with variable delay, fast, slow settings (all controlled by the BCM and using existing wiring with an aftermarket motor for the 3100.
- I will also integrate an aftermarket stereo into the harness so that the steering wheel controls still work. I've already tested this on the pool table and it works.
- ECUs: ECM for engine, TCM for Tranny, (FSCM) Fuel System Control Module, RFA for remote entry, Passenger door controller, and (BCM) Body Control Module for everything else that remains.

I've removed all the stability controls, trailer brake module, ABS, Airbags, Onstar, SirrusXM, rearview camera, proximity detection, and a host of other misc things. I've still got a ton of wires to remove that i cut starting and the second row of seats that control things like the rear hatch, HVAC, rear entertainment, etc. It's a VERY tedious process and not everyone's cup of tea.

If I'm lucky, I end up with a number of modern conveniences, reliable factory harness' for both chassis and in the cab and something that will be a daily driver for years to come. But it is a huge undertaking and many hurdles left to overcome including stuffing what's left into the truck. :waah:

thanks
Renard