Ackattack's Pro touring restoration thread

[menace121978]

right on man! i can only imagine

[Thealien]

congradulations!!

[VA72C10]

congrats....can't wait for that myself. It's been 2 yrs since I drove mine....

[Frizzle Fry]

Congrats! What was up with the brakes?

[mcbassin]

Glad to hear you got to drive it for the first time.

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Congrats! What was up with the brakes?

So I think the "problem" may have been the slight mis-alignment that was fixed with some washers, and then the pads not being broken in like what would be ideally (since I can't exactly drive it down the road to really get them broken in.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by Ackattack

It moves!!!!!! I "drove" my truck for the first time today!!!!

I finally got the brakes ironed out, so I moved it out of the garage so I could do some cleaning, turned the truck around, then put it back in the garage, but hey, it moved, stopped, and turned under its own power. Seems like no big deal, but after over 2-1/2 years of work it is a big deal to me.

Man, its like i made this post. This saturday i drove mine around the block for the first time. My booster was bad so i had no power brakes. ahah
2.5 years also, i know the exact feeling. Congrats man.

[68 TT]

Good to see you got it moving and stopping. What's next?

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

Good to see you got it moving and stopping. What's next?

(in no particular order)
install the front sway bar
figure out the ride height and have it aligned
have the windshield installed
have a title inspection done
wiring (lights and some interior wiring)
clean up underhood wiring a little
front bumper
trim on the grill
interior
stereo

[eagleuh1]

Congrats on the movement under own power. Must feel real good. But we can't celebrate till we see the VIDEo!

[Ackattack]

Got some more work done.

I got the headlights all wired up (except for ground wires....ran out of black wire), then I got the head light switch, dimmer switch, neutral safety switch, reverse switch wired.

I also have appointments set up to get it aligned and the windshield installed on Friday. I'll also get it registered. Insurance will be covered by friday.

If I can get some good work done to get a little more wiring done, get the lights installed, and get the front bumper installed, I think I'll be able to drive it!

[Normy71]

Looking Good !!

[Puropedo]

Great progress! Dont forget to take more pics of your ride and show them to us, I have a few questions...Do you mind telling me how much did the HP tuner software cost you? Also is it pretty user friendly to use? Do you have to buy credits every time you reprogram a different PCM? Thanks in advance.

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by Puropedo

Great progress! Dont forget to take more pics of your ride and show them to us, I have a few questions...Do you mind telling me how much did the HP tuner software cost you? Also is it pretty user friendly to use? Do you have to buy credits every time you reprogram a different PCM? Thanks in advance.

HPtuner was $500 initially and that included 8 GM credits. I went in with a buddy, so I paid $250 initially. I had used all of my credits before I got to the truck, so I paid $100....then I burnt up that ECM, so I bought another ECM and had to pay another $100.

The program is user friendly, however there is a steep learning curve....and I'm somewhere on it (still learning). I was able to do some worthwhile tuning on my corvette, get the truck up and running, and tweak the transmission shift points for both my silverado and G8. Since I have all GM vehicles its worth it.

[Puropedo]

Thanks for intel, I guess its better to send out the PCM for reprograming huh?
Theres a few shops out there who are doing it for around $75, so thats not too bad. ( I wonder how do they make their money charnging $75 if in fact they have to pay $100 for every credit.. )

[Ackattack]

Originally Posted by Puropedo

Thanks for intel, I guess its better to send out the PCM for reprograming huh?
Theres a few shops out there who are doing it for around $75, so thats not too bad. ( I wonder how do they make their money charnging $75 if in fact they have to pay $100 for every credit.. )

well you can get a "tuner" package that cost more, but it's the way to go if you're doing a lot of them

by having your own program you can make changes to the tune as you make changes to your truck (add a cam, change tires, gears, intake, exhaust, heads, increase power, increase mileage). It also checks the check engine lights if/when you get them. You can also monitor all of the sensors on the engine. Also, if you change torque converters, you'll need to tune for that too (so lots of things )

[Ackattack]

Well I got a few things squared away in preparation for getting it aligned and windshield installed.

I adjusted the pass. door so that it would close with the door gasket installed, then I added a little adhesive to the door gasket. I then installed both side windows since it will most likely be raining on friday


I then tightened down the cab mounts, adjusted the hood, and a few other little things.

Then I decided to make some more "visual" progress and installed my NOS grill trim that I've been storing in my office closet since I got the truck. Also installed the chevy bowtie.

[menace121978]

grill looks sweet Ack

[eagleuh1]

Looking sweet.

[mcbassin]

Your truck looks great!

[68 TT]

Looks great.

Thanks a lot, now I'm going to have to do something about my painted headlight buckets.

[Ackattack]

Today I was supposed to make get some good progress towards getting the truck on the road.....didn't exactly happen that way.

I set up appointments to have the truck aligned at 9:00 this morning, then have the windshield installed at 2:00 in the afternoon. I borrowed a buddy's trailer since its not street legal yet and the alignment was no where close. The alignment was supposed to take an hour.

So I load up the truck early this morning, stop and get gas in the truck (and program the programmable fuel gage since the F-body fuel tank uses a goofy range for the sending unit), and then get to the alignment shop.

I unload the truck and park it out front. One of the mechanics comes out to record the mileage and vin for there records (don't really know why....but whatever). I explain to him that I needed to let out air from the airbags before they get going on it. He starts telling me that there is really no point for them to do the alignment then cause as soon as I air up the bags, it will be different. I then explain to him that that is the reason why I'm setting the airbags to ride height and that it was completely taken apart.

Luckily this guy was not the mechanic doing the alignment. So the mechanic that is doing the alignment comes out to get the truck up on their alignment rack. I watch him like a hawk as he drive my truck into their shop and up onto the rack. (It sounds awesome BTW).

After that I go to the waiting area and start reading some magazines. I thought 1 hr was being pretty optimistic since EVERYTHING needed adjustment.

So finally 2-1/2 hrs go by and the manager tells me that its still going to be awhile. I had a phone interview for a new job, so I needed to get some lunch and take care of that, and I do. So I show back up about 2:00 and they're still not done. I call the windshield install place and cancel that appt. And then wait for about another hour. Then the mechanic comes in and gets me. Apparenlty through the process he stripped one of the upper control arm studs. So I talk to the manager again and its wasn't going to be done by the end of the day, so I should get it back tomorrow, but I sat around ALL DAY for it to be aligned. (I took the day off of work for the interview).

So now my truck is sitting at the shop, hopefully I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow.

I did manage to get it registered and tags are on the way.

I also made up my own SPID. I found a font that looks close, and then did some research on what RPOs to put down. Obviously this truck is custom, so being perfectly original isn't top priority. So here's what I came up with:



The ink smeared a little coming out of the printer and the VIN is a little high (based on looking at other SPIDs this almost makes it look more authentic IMO)

So obviously the engine, transmission, and paint aren't original.

[hgs_notes]

Delays like this are no surprise to you after building this thing from the ground up I bet.

Where did you get the SPID document to edit? There is a board member that will custom make them, but did you make this up yourself? Are you willing to share that form?

[Ackattack]

I just made an excel spread sheet and printed it out myself.

I could email it to who ever

[lyrikz]

Ack, sorry to hear about your alignment issues. We do alignments at my shop, and its like i was there listening to your story. If you were at my shop, i would of just had you leave the truck and call you when its done. Sometimes they take an hour, sometimes they take ALLLOTTTT longer.

They will get it.