Sarge's rattle-can rebuild

[68Timber]

Given the paint status, I didn't have a problem using a sharpie to make a few reference marks on the doors to mark the position of the hinges, so it wasn't hard to get them back on. Cutting the pins out took more time than anything. I'd previously tried to powder coat the new strikers but couldn't get it to stick. So I gave them a shot of black just so I wouldn't have to watch them turn brown. So with new hinge pins/bushings and strikers/bushings, wow. The doors shut normally. I won't put that job off ever again. So with more time left than I expected, I gutted the doors. Well, not entirely - I left the latches and interior door handles in so you could still use them. But the exterior handles, locks, mirrors, vents, and door glass came off or out. Purty strikers posing provocatively.

[Irish1941]

I have factory GM pins and bushings for hinges if you need
Thing looks cool. Keep it up

[68Timber]

I got a little side-tracked with mechanical issues. First it was hard starting. I'd recently replaced my fuel filter and didn't see the invisible "do not disturb" sign. When I broke the seal it was done. Diesels just don't run when air starts getting in the fuel lines. Or so they told me at dieselplace.com. I didn't know squat about diesels except they sound cool. Anyway, with their help I got that part fixed. I tried to rebuild the stock filter housing, but you can't get those seals anywhere. Not that I could find anyway. So I installed the Napa spin-on setup every else recommends. So it's running again.

[68Timber]

At this point, the doors are mostly hollow but they shut good, and my sons were itching to get the motorcycles out. So we hooked up the trailer and headed out. No windows needed for this trip. We made it about 10 or 12 miles from the house when the engine just nosed over and slowly died. I keep a AAA membership, so they took it home for me on a roll back and wifey came and got me and the boys and the MX trailer. I wasn't kidding about not knowing anything about diesels. I'd heard there were lift pumps and injection pumps in there somewhere but I didn't know one from the other. There's a hard core group of 6.2 guys at dieselplace.com, they walked me through proper diagnosis and repair. Bad injection pump. These are not cheap and there's some labor there that's pretty intimidating at first. But I had all the online help you could ask for, so I gave it a shot. Out with the bad pump, swap the lines over, get the new assembly in. More to it than that, but nobody was more surprised than me when it busted right off and settled down into pleasant diesel clatter.

[Willowrun]

Do you have any details to share on the spin on filter conversion you did? My friend's M1009 has been getting worse with starting since I sold it to him. Plan is to get his and my injector pumps rebuilt this summer, but I think it would be a good time to get rid of the poor original design. I guess I could go look on Steel Soldiers....

[68Timber]

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.

[48cj2a]

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.



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

[68Timber]

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.

[48cj2a]

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

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

Do you have any details to share on the spin on filter conversion you did? My friend's M1009 has been getting worse with starting since I sold it to him. Plan is to get his and my injector pumps rebuilt this summer, but I think it would be a good time to get rid of the poor original design. I guess I could go look on Steel Soldiers....

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.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by 48cj2a

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.



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

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.

[48cj2a]

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.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by 48cj2a

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

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

Originally Posted by 48cj2a

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.

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.

[68Timber]

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.

[48cj2a]

Those look like NOS!

[68Timber]

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.

[48cj2a]

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.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by 48cj2a

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.

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.

[68Timber]

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.

[68Timber]

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

[48cj2a]

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.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by 48cj2a

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.

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.

[68Timber]

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.

[48cj2a]

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

[68Timber]

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.