A '54 named Busty

[Gregski]

lets meet our new contestant

... and the mandatory stare and compare!

[Gregski]

and job done, I even installed an overflow tank

[Gregski]

well I had a very productive weekend even decided to add an old school wrench hanger for all of my Mediterranean tools on the account of now having not one but two LS Swapped trucks, the standard tools are in the drawers

[texxxan]

You definitely make things happen. Great work and awesome results.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

You definitely make things happen. Great work and awesome results.

thank you my friend I do have my Off days and I go into total hibernation during football season (not sure what will happen this year)

but like I told my wife this was my dream truck ever since I first saw that phat grill on one of 'em years ago, of course every stray I bring home is "my dream truck" if you ask her

all in all still long ways to go, I was pricing out all the front suspension bits last night, ball joints, bushings, shocks, tie rod ends, and coil springs, etc. (can't just sit and wait and expect JOEDOH to do it for me, ha ha) also gotta do the brakes, but I'm all out of money for this month so next month it is

love the help and the feedback

[layinrocker65]

You going to be done by C-10 Intervention?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by layinrocker65

You going to be done by C-10 Intervention?

oh wow, I've always wanted to go to that but for one reason or another I never did, thank you for the reminder, is it on this year since the pandemic and what not? looks like it is on September 6th, I'll go if you stay on me and don't let me flake, ha ha

looks like it is on Labor Day weekend and we usually camp so I wonder if that's why I haven't attended, don't know, not making any excuses would be so much fun to see all the rides

[Gregski]

ok lets Geek out a little bit and take care of some of these error codes

there are two schools of thought on this, you can disable the codes from coming up ahead of time knowing you are doing an LS Swap or like in this case I chose to see what pops up and deal with them later

we will start with the top three which all deal with the EVAP system (we know this because if we click on them we get more information - Mind Blowing I know, right?)

P0443
P0449
P0452

as a reminder I do own HP Tuners and I did buy two credits ($50 each) in other words a license or permission to make changes to this PCM (car computer) HP Tuners licensing scheme is a nightmare but in short, it takes two credits to manhandle a PCM so we forked out $100 bucks to do so

[texxxan]

I hate codes.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

I hate codes.

this may take a while but I am here to convince you otherwise

Codes are good, codes are the trucks way of telling you exactly precisely what the hewk is going on or is wrong, now they aint always crystal clear but it is sure a whole lot better than getting nothing from our 50s. 60s, 70s, or even 80s trucks, so stay open minded so we can continue to be friends, ha ha !!!

[Gregski]

this is my rifle
this is my gun
this is for fighting
this is for fun...

[Gregski]

to "tune" our LS Engine we will need a laptop and a credit card (ha ha) the $300 dollar HP Tunners little dongle USB thingie to plug our laptop into the trucks new OBDII port

Note: I used to use a nice small Netbook but I quickly learned it lacked the processing power to display all values in real time so that thing got the boot right quick! Hence the full sized laptop below

[texxxan]

Originally Posted by Gregski

this is my rifle
this is my gun
this is for fighting
this is for fun...

"Full Metal Jacket" Now you have my attention.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

"Full Metal Jacket" Now you have my attention.

Correct, I was hoping somebody would get that reference, well done mate!

[Gregski]

so here we go using our laptop we edit our tune file and simply tell the computer not to bug us with these three codes, now we are not actually fixing the problem of the missing EVAP system we are just suppressing the complaints

Note: there are 7 EVAP related codes in total and we are only turning Off the three, yes the other ones may pop up later on, but we are just addressing the ones that have actually popped, if others come up later we will simply repeat the process and turn them off, rinse, lather, repeat.

if you are struggling with Insomnia or just want to learn more about HP Tuners please check out the HP Tuners Tutorials found here

[Gregski]

we pop into our truck with the laptop and the HP Tuners dongle and we write the new tune to the PCM

[Gregski]

we use our Insight digital gauge thingmajig to clear the codes and check for any new ones, and as you can see the three EVAP codes are gone, yes two new codes popped up but that's ok, we will repeat the exact same process for these two O2 sensor codes later

Why am I sharing all this with you? Two reasons:

1. I am actually using this forum to document for myself what I have done (a selfish act I know, ha ha)

2. I am hoping to show people intimidated by all the computerization in the newer engines that yes you can do it, you can "tune" your own PCM. After all some of the stuff we are doing aint even tuning it's just turning things off or on.

I just hope someone reading this will find this helpful

[Gregski]

alright while our heads are still spinning from all that "tuning" let's move on to something else, lets do some wiring

in my opinion to drive this truck on public roads we need at least some brake lights (so yeah although headlights and taillights are important, unless you are driving at night, which we won't be at this juncture officer) stoplights is all we need

my amazing wife of 20 years (tomorrow) got me this wonderful color wiring diagram laminated for our anniversary (and she says she hates Busty - jealous much?)

[Gregski]

lets rotate that sucker so we don't get a kink in our neck

why the hewk they only show one taillight in this diagram is beyond me, I actually was looking forward to seeing exactly precisely how both taillights was wired, greedy me I know! They do show both headlights though, so go figure.

[Gregski]

I don't know about you, but when I go to do something I like to focus exactly precisely only on that thing, so in order to wire just the brake lights we don't need like 90% of this diagram, it's just way too cluttered, so I draweded my own (simplerer I hope)

Note: the final green and white brake light wires may be backwards but that's how they is on my rig (I think the standard is dark green wire goes to the passenger side brake light, etc.)

[Gregski]

and after that I did this instead...

now I'm no gravity and compression expert but don't a shock need to spring back up once compressed?

[Gregski]

I pressed on, had to see what sorta coil springs were on there

free height 17.5"

spring rate and load unknown

they appear to be similar to the MOOG 5278

ID = 4.09 in
Bar Diameter = 0.65 in
Spring Rate = 298.00 lbs per inch
Load= 2083.00 lbs
Installation Height = 10.50 in
Free Height= 17.50 in

[Gregski]

I am favoring these MOOG 586 replacements as they were meant for the late 70s Camaros with the 5.7L (they had no Big Block engines)

433 - spring rate
2,705 - load

4.08" - Inner Diameter
0.71" - bar diameter

10.00" - installation height
16.06" - free height

[8man]

Interesting tape locking mechanism. Never seen that one before.

[texxxan]

Happy anniversary!! I hope you and your wife have a great day.