47-55.1 1953 3100 "Honey-do"

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by Tempest67

Amazing work, and knowledge. looks very impressive

these pics are why I prefer Carburetors and Distributors

Thanks for posting

Thanks for your complement. A normal LS swap isn't that complicated. I'm just a glutton for punishment by trying to bring the rest of the harness along for additional features. This creates a lot more work and complications.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by loudchevy

Awesome build, I enjoyed reading the entire thread! Sub'd to follow along with the rest of the progress.

Thank you for sharing! It's been slow going lately, but I hope to get things going again.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

A lot of good looking work taking place over there. Its funny how when you start you think there is all sorts of places to hide the wiring and ECU's but the space disappears rather quickly.

Marc

I know it's going to be tight. The center console should help. I don't think I could pull this off w/o that. We will see. Thanks for your comments.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by dsraven

have you thought about a remote boost point for the battery? sometimes getting to the battery can be a challenge unless you have really long booster cables. I used some like this under the hood

https://www.yogisinc.com/YFP-5Y

I was thinking of this last week. I need to figure something out. I appreciate the link. I will take a look at them. Do you have a picture somewhere of where/how you mounted it?

[rnrdthefox]

Slow weekend trying to get my head around the main cabin harness. I started by hooking it into the main fuss/relay box under the center console. The challenge outside of the bulk of wiring, was to hide three components - the mid junction box, the cabin remote fuse box, and the body control module (BCM) under the dash and with close enough proximity to not have to cut and extend a bunch of wires. Here are some pictures of the starting point.

[rnrdthefox]

For the mid junction box, I need to fab a mounting bracket to attach to the center console under the HVAC unit. I don't have the final picture of the bracket. I basically made to identical sides shown below then welded on a bottom and a wire brace in the back to keep it from being flimsy. I will be able to mount the box to the center console and then connect and remove the various sub-harnesses. The bottom pins slide in and down, then the top snaps into the square holes. To remove, you push the release tabs then pull out and up. Here are some pics.

[rnrdthefox]

I still have to make a similar bracket for the remote fuse block and BCM module. The BCM will mount on the factory steering wheel brace between the cowl and dash. I don't have a picture of that yet as it's just zip tied and the moment. The mini fuse block will go to the left of the steering column.

[rnrdthefox]

I still have a sub-harness that will run down the center console that is for the seats and the passenger door controls. I also need to put the steering harness on the column. It's small. Those are pictured below.

I also have a small harness that runs from the junction block in the console to the rearview mirror for the compass and outside temp readings. No picture of that yet. I will run it up inside the passenger A-pillar.

[rnrdthefox]

Last post until the Christmas break.

Here are a few pics to see a cabin view of how things are progressing. I hope to have things hooked up and tested over the holiday break. If I can do that, I will start the process of cutting and extending the window and door lock controls since I will have those mounted in the console.

Thanks for looking.

[dsraven]

By disconnecting some components of the original harness, will that cause problems with the canbus monitoring?

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by dsraven

By disconnecting some components of the original harness, will that cause problems with the canbus monitoring?

Not that I've been able to tell so far. Earlier last year, when I removed the airbags, stability control, ABS, and a number of other items, I hooked it all back up on my pool table and everything seemed to work. The instrument cluster complained about the ABS and Airbags, but everything else left was working. I pulled codes and nothing out of the norm (for my situation) showed up. Granted, I wasn't able to fire it up, but I don't think it will affect the ECM. The cluster is looking for them, put I don't think it has the ability to disable anything. There are many cars on the road today with issues around airbags, ABS, etc and they run just fine.

When I get to the tuning with the HP Tuner, I will see if it has capability to suppress canbus codes. I don't think it can, but I'm not familar with it yet. As long has the bus codes don't hobble anything or turn the CEL on, I will be happy.

I did take the time to find the termination plug at the end of the bus and placed it at the last in line after the Fuel control module to correctly terminate the bus. In my system, I removed the integrated trailer brack controller (ITBC) so I had to move it up on the chassis harness.

The picture below shows the HS canbus network (middle one). The complete harness now goes from ECM, TCM, BCM, MBEC (the big thing under the console), FSCM (fuel pump module) and Termination. Everything else that I'm transplanting is on the low-speed network. One other note - from what I understand, you only need to have the ECM, TCM and BCM for cruise control to function properly on a Gen IV swap. Since I was going that far, I kept the MBEC and FSCM since the MBEC has all of the relays and fuses.

[rnrdthefox]

Ok. Made some progress over the holidays. Not as much as I would like, but progress none the less.

I started with rear taillights from this thread. https://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vbo...d.php?t=839810

They are a little bigger than I would like but a nice compromise between a vintage look and having an integrated backup lamp. The picture is of a lens w/o the backup light. I have both options but will switch to the one with the clear center for back up.

As stated in the thread, the lens is a close fit but not perfect. It wants to move around in the bucket w/o a modification. I ended up using the ring and slicing it to create a base for the lens to sit on and help center it. This got things very close and used some foam tape to take up the rest of the play. Here are some pics.

[rnrdthefox]

I then started to finish mounting the electrical modules and components.

I started with the left-hand mini fuse/junction box under the driver side dash. I fabricated a simple bracket that would hold it securely and have access to the fuses and would keep it tucked up out of sight. I welded some tabs at the top and bottom to mount to the brake bracket. It allows me to access the connector on the back and the fuses.

[rnrdthefox]

Next, I needed to finish the mid junction box that attached to the center console. Several of the sub-harnesses connect to this box so it made sense to put it in this location.

[rnrdthefox]

Playing more of the hide-the-electronics game.....

Next, I need to mount the body control module (BCM). I didn't have much flexibility to move it around due to all the connections being located around the steering wheel. I made a simple clamping mount to attach it to the dash to cowl main bracket. Added a 1/8" backet for mounting and moving it just under the bottom edge for ease of wiring connections.

[rnrdthefox]

At this point I decided to mount the remote function actuator (RFA). This is basically the receiver for the key fob for locking and unlocking the truck. It was mounted in the rear quarter panel of the Escalade, so I followed their lead and did the same.

A simple bracket for clipping in and out off and tucking it out of the way for future upholstery did the trick. I mounted the antenna along the brace.

[rnrdthefox]

At this point I thought I was done and was about to move forward with hooking things up and verifying that all of my re-pinning was correct. But wait, there's more electronics.

I forgot about the Dakota Digital gages and their modules and the PAC module that interfaces the steering wheel controls and the radio.

So, I'm running out of room at this point and decided to utilize the top of the BCM bracket to gain some room. I made a few stand offs on the lathe and tacked them to the top and screwed them down.

[rnrdthefox]

I ended up mounting the PAC module to the right side of the same main bracket. This is a good location for these modules as they are close to the gages and radio.

[rnrdthefox]

At this point I have all of the necessary modules mounted and can begin hooking the rest of the harnesses up. I started with the rear chassis harness and power lead from the mega-fuse that goes to the main fuse box and junction under the center console.

I stopped by the junkyard and pulled another firewall gromet to use for both chassis harness's (front and rear). I decided I wanted these to come through one location under the center console so that the wiring will be cleaner and more manageable. This meant more de-pinning and re-pinning.

I've only got the rear harness in at the moment as the front one will need to be rewired since I moved the main fuse box far enough that all of the runs are too short. More to come on that.

[rnrdthefox]

Since the fuel system control module (FSCM) is part of the rear chassis harness I need to find a place for it. I ended up mounting it on the passenger frame rail. It worked out well based on the harness. After I got the chassis harness routed and located. I realized I only have to extend two connectors. One that monitors the fuel line pressure as the pump is variable speed, and one for the fuel level and tank pressure.

the second picture is one of the connectors that needs to be routed to the left frame rail for fuel pressure and the end-of-line terminating resistor for the Can Buss. This resistor is necessary and needs to be placed at the end of the buss.

[rnrdthefox]

That's about it for now. I've verified much of the wiring. I will cover more of this in the next update. I currently have:

- OBDII diagnostic port mounted and functioning
- Remote entry with the key fob
- Working door locks and windows
- Active alarm system that senses when the doors are open w/o unlocking
- Power, heated, and cooled seats
- Heated steering wheel,
- Rearview mirror with auto dimming, and compass
- Brake lights, turn signal, and taillights (need to verify backup)
- Roof console with lights and curtesy lighting when the doors open

I ran diagnostic and the Can buss and LAN are working. There are some expected codes at this point.

I still have to hook up/re-wire several things like:

- Shift interlock for console shifter
- Tap Up and Tap Down shifting from the column to the center console
- Radio head unit
- Third brake light
- Front lamps
- Electric fan
- Horns
- HVAC unit
- Other misc.

Probably another 4 - 5 weekends of work.

I'm headed to MT for a month so that will delay the next update.

Thanks for looking!

[dsraven]

Nice work and willingness to share your pics. Thanks.
Now, let's talk about decaf coffee.
Haha.
Seems like you have been super busy but I know what it's like when you get on a roll, you don't wanna stop.