New project! The "Red Herring"

[JJorgensen52]

Jim and Doug, you're in the right church but the wrong pew And yes, Syclone and Typhoon were both 4.3 turbos with AWD.

This one's a Sonoma GT ... the rarest of the three, shares a lot of cosmetic parts with the Syclone and Typhoon. It's the rarest of the S10 special editions with one year production of 806. 2WD with the CPI 4.3 V6. Basically a ZQ8 before there was a ZQ8.

I've played this game before, my Dad bought a Typhoon new which I frame off restored with him in highschool, I owned it for some years and had a lot of trouble with it and sold it to buy my Wildcat. I also had a Sonoma GT at that time with a 5 speed swap - it was a great little daily and a hoot to drive, I regretted selling it so when I saw this one I snapped it up. It's going to be a low buck LS swap build - I'm collecting junkyard bits for bigger brakes and such, and once the Red Herring is done I'll start looking for a motor and trans.

Here's a few shots of the last one I had:





I had to do sway bar links and control arm bushings on the daily today, but I'm just getting wrapped up putting a rear hanger on Red, so back to your regularly scheduled thread here shortly

[JJorgensen52]

Here's the aforementioned hanger. The last V-band ought to be here tomorrow so I can make the other tailpipe (did I mention Amazon keeps sending me half 2.25" and half 2" clamps?? )



Anyways, it'll be other tailpipe tomorrow, then I'm going to make an ECM/TCM bracket and get to work tucking my engine harness.

Oh! Question for y'all. I know there's a whole bunch of storage oil in this piping, and it's got metal shavings and so on inside it from my cutting and fitting things - should I be worried about flushing that crud out of there? I don't want to end up fouling the O2 sensors or wrecking the mufflers, or anything.

[Advanced Design]

Won't hurt to flush put. I've seen catalytic converters come apart and the debris end up in the engine.

[JJorgensen52]

Got the driver's side tailpipe made, not happy with the angle so probably will remake it later.

Mounted some of my switchgear - Wipers, lock, unlock, hazards.


ECM/TCM mounted using the GM bracket for the 2011 truck ($6 part at the dealer) and beginning the mess of tucking the engine harness

[Advanced Design]

Nice progress. The $6 bracket was a great idea.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice progress. The $6 bracket was a great idea.

Thanks! I tried about a dozen ideas and then thought to look at how the factory did it - it's really compact, hard to beat it.

I'm still in the shortening phase of the harness, I've probably taken 30 feet of wire out already!! Starting to look neater, though.

[Advanced Design]

Much neater. Looking like a factory application. The trans dip stick looks like it worked out well too. Nice!

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Much neater. Looking like a factory application. The trans dip stick looks like it worked out well too. Nice!

I did have to tweak it a bit, but it's almost like GM made these parts to fit in here

[JJorgensen52]

Holy cow! It's been a whole month since I posted anything on this truck It's been a busy few weeks at work, and I've shifted focus onto a couple other projects for a little change of pace.

I'm still picking away at it here and there - I ran into some more parts I needed in the electrical side of things, I have some parts on order. I've also been slowly working away at the fuel system, which is proving to be more of a nuisance than I had hoped.

[Chevy-49]

Yes time flies, same over here.
Looking for parts means you are still working on the truck...

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Chevy-49

Yes time flies, same over here.
Looking for parts means you are still working on the truck...

I have so many hours of research and shopping into this project - It must be terrible trying to get parts in Europe??

I am still plugging away at the fuel lines:


I splurged a little while back and bought the Mastercool hydraulic flaring kit and a good stainless steel pipe cutter - it's taken a few tries to get the technique down, but it will make all kinds of nice, neat flares in the SS tubing ... you can see the results in the bottom left. I tried to get a better photo but my camera struggles with small, shiny objects - that's a GM threaded fuel line flare on 5/16" SS line.

[Advanced Design]

JJ, good to see you back at it. I have the same flaring kit and have used it a lot. Definately worth the cost as it does a great job with no frustration like the cheap ones cause. My fuel line bubble flares were getting stuck in the die so I started lubing them which helped.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

JJ, good to see you back at it. I have the same flaring kit and have used it a lot. Definately worth the cost as it does a great job with no frustration like the cheap ones cause. My fuel line bubble flares were getting stuck in the die so I started lubing them which helped.

Glad to be back on the project! I like to keep the iron in the fire

I had noticed that the dies were a bit sticky, that sounds like a great idea. Thanks!

[deejaaa1]

your mom is going to love this truck. you have some great skills and it shows in your build.

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by deejaaa1

your mom is going to love this truck. you have some great skills and it shows in your build.

I sure hope she does! Thank you for the kind words. I keep learning little things on the forums every time I'm here.

Advanced Design - I tried just a touch of grease on the dies, that definitely helped. Thanks for the tip!

I've been back on the truck. First an update, tail pipes, I need opinions:



Obviously, I goofed my measurements and one is not like the other. I can't decide which one to fix! I'm thinking I will probably make Driver's match Passenger's, since I feel like I need more clearance to my track bar anyway (you can sort of see there, it's about 3/4" at closest). Thoughts?

Fuel lines are done up to the filter:







I tried about four different routings and ended up tossing the pieces I was working on, to fit the lines inside the frame, it just wasn't working to my satisfaction. I like this much better. 3/8" SS is a bugger to bend!!

Also, look back at the lines near the tank. It's going to be a massive pain if I ever have to service this thing once the bed wood is in ... still pondering on that, hoping to never have to maybe

It's going to be back into wiring nonsense here soon.

[lower50's]

I personally like the drivers pipe, passenger looks like it sagged. If you can make it work. Fuel lines look great.

[Chevy-49]

LH looks better, straight to the back off the truck is not an option?

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by lower50's

I personally like the drivers pipe, passenger looks like it sagged. If you can make it work. Fuel lines look great.

Originally Posted by Chevy-49

LH looks better, straight to the back off the truck is not an option?

Yes, I like the way the driver's turned out better as well. will have to stew on it a bit more.

My goal with this was to mimic the style of the exhaust on my '63 Buick - it's tucked up neatly under the car and not visible (you really have to look for it) but it still has a good clean exit. Subtlety is the name of the game here

[JJorgensen52]

Well, I vastly underestimated the amount of time it would take to do this "little" project ... I've a word or two for whatever GM engineer decided to make the reverse light holes not round

Anyways, these are 60-66 fleetside reverse lamps, appropriated for my use:




Here's a shot that gives you and idea of the clearance to the gate:

The top screw is accessible with no angle, and the bezel/lens can be removed to change the bulb with the tailgate installed.

I can put the gate all the way down without hitting them (hits the trailer hitch first)

Rear view, both lights:


They're mounted 12" inboard of the end of the cross sill, which makes it about 12-1/2" in from the edge of the stake pocket, and about 16" out from center. Pretty much dead on the ends of the frame rails.

I've been tinkering with wiring, otherwise. More modifications, relocations and tucking under the hood, I've finally reached a point I'm happy with, and I've started building the main frame harness. I also test fit my headlights (Jeep JK Wrangler lights, drop in replacement with modern optics), I'm very happy with how they look, will be mounting them up when I get to that end of the harness.

'Til next time

[Advanced Design]

Nice choice for the reverse lights. Looks good!

[lower50's]

That looks good.

[JJorgensen52]

Thanks for the compliments!

Still mucking about with wires. I'm a little obsessive compulsive about getting things to lay neatly, and I'm using waterproof Delphi connectors (either weatherpack or metripack) for EVERYTHING, so it's taking a few minutes to do all this up. When it's done, it'll look just like a modern GM harness (or at least I hope so )

Anyway, I have tail lights! Sorry for the bad cell pics, my camera wasn't with me tonight.

I got the glass lenses and traditional bulbs (though I converted to 1157) because I think they have a nicer color and overall look to them:


Just an idea of building a whole harness from scratch ... and I haven't laid in the trailer harness yet!

You will note, on top of the driver's frame rail, I've got a ground point. I'm running return grounds on all my lights, I've had too many intermittent ground issues with old trucks in the past. Everything in the rear of the truck will ground right there.

[Advanced Design]

That ground will sure help. I had an instructor in Automotive college drill the importance of grounds into us. He would say "A ground is a ground is a ground, unless it isn't ground, then it isn't ground anymore". Has stuck with me for 35 years now.

Anyway nice work. I like your line routing too. Very clean and precise!

[7dee2]

Looks really good! Your work is always top notch!

[JJorgensen52]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

That ground will sure help. I had an instructor in Automotive college drill the importance of grounds into us. He would say "A ground is a ground is a ground, unless it isn't ground, then it isn't ground anymore". Has stuck with me for 35 years now.

Anyway nice work. I like your line routing too. Very clean and precise!

Thanks! Yes, it seems like every old vehicle I own has ground problems ... trying to avoid that with this one!

Originally Posted by 7dee2

Looks really good! Your work is always top notch!

Thanks! Now if you could just lend me your blasting "booth" ... I rent here in VA, can't set up anything like that

Anyways, I've been tinkering, looming and wrapping harnesses, and had a long few days at work. Today, I spent an inordinate amount of time on the front park lamps.

Why, you ask? Well, I bought the "kit" to convert them to dual filament bulbs so I could have proper turn signals - which was more like two 1157 sockets with tabs on them, I was a tad disappointed. In the end, I decided to weld the new sockets into the original light cups, and solder on a ground lead:

That's the inner cup, which houses the bulb. I also painted the insides white for better reflections.

Turned out they were WAY too bright with the 1157's in white, so I went and grabbed some amber bulbs, instead:


It has a subtle tint to it when off, and they're not as blinding when they're on. Took a quick video, park lamp on and turn signal, then just turn signal no park lamps. It's amazing how well the factory lens focuses the light!