TA_C10: Stage 1

[1971Stepside]

I rotated mine like you did after seeing your pics. Gotta get some fittings ordered once I figure out how I'm going into the cab. Can you take any pics of the fittings on the inside where they hook to the VA box? Tight in there, but I am curious how I'm going to do this. I've ordered the VA vertical junction for the firewall as my VA box doesn't turn the fittings out so they are pointed to the firewall. They line up, or point toward, the vent on the side of the cab.

[Scurry67]

did you go purchase your VA system through ebay? looks really solid, man. i need to pull the trigger on mine. it has been in my cart for a couple weeks now

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

I need a fix man... how about some more pictures...

Me too brother, me too... Unfortunately I have been away on business for a couple weeks... I hope to get back on it this weekend

Originally Posted by cebra

I did not realize that you could mount the compressor sideways, that would have been nice to do. On a side note, if you get squeals let me know. I spent probably 100 hours on fixing mine and figured out what didn't work and what possibly would work, etc. I tried everything under the sun...it all relates to that bolt into the water pump screwing up the alignment.

My alignment looks good for now with that kwik bracket but I read through your thread, fingers crossed. I will certainly update my experience when I get it running.

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

I rotated mine like you did after seeing your pics. Gotta get some fittings ordered once I figure out how I'm going into the cab. Can you take any pics of the fittings on the inside where they hook to the VA box? Tight in there, but I am curious how I'm going to do this. I've ordered the VA vertical junction for the firewall as my VA box doesn't turn the fittings out so they are pointed to the firewall. They line up, or point toward, the vent on the side of the cab.

Yeah I can take some pics when I get back in town. For now here is a diagram from my instructions. It shows what it looks like on the back side. And a few other pics on the bench.

Originally Posted by Scurry67

did you go purchase your VA system through ebay? looks really solid, man. i need to pull the trigger on mine. it has been in my cart for a couple weeks now

Thanks man! I ordered my kit from summitracing.com, but I called VA first to make sure I got all the right parts ordered. Here were the part numbers. Came with everything I needed, complete install with mid mount camaro bracket and trinary switch to connect to LS harness.

[derotoreut]

I have a question regarding your power steering set up. Looking back at your post #497 you mentioned,

"Ended up going with a 2005 Silverado pump. It had the best angle for return line to end up above the frame rail. It also had the right studs on back for L shaped mounting bracket. I ordered the Holley extended replacement high pressure fitting. It converts to A/N. Very nice piece".

I'm wondering how this Earls fitting is working for you? The Earls part 961961ERL is made for Corvette style Type II pumps and not the pump you have. The type of pump that you have would use a fitting more like the Earls 961955ERL.

I contacted Holley Tech support today to ask about this because I would like to use an adapter like you did on my pump. My pump is the same as yours, but they told me the Earls 961961ERL long adapter would NOT work.

You can see that the fitting on the end of my PS line has a small O-ring at the end, which is similar to the Earls 961955ERL and not the one you used.

This is the Earls 961961ERL that somehow you used.


This is the Earls 961955ERL with small O-ring on bottom just like these power steering pumps had.


This is the line that came off of my power steering pump. Note the bottom and O-ring are nothing like the Earls long adapter.

[derotoreut]

Here is another look at what the Type II pump install would look like with the Earls 961961 ERL fitting. It is nothing like our pumps.

Type II Corvette style pump with Earls 961961ERL fitting.

[1971Stepside]

Thanks for the pics of your VA unit. Mine looks nothing like that. I'll take mine out and get a pic. I have a lot of work to do.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by derotoreut

I have a question regarding your power steering set up. Looking back at your post #497 you mentioned,

"Ended up going with a 2005 Silverado pump. It had the best angle for return line to end up above the frame rail. It also had the right studs on back for L shaped mounting bracket. I ordered the Holley extended replacement high pressure fitting. It converts to A/N. Very nice piece".

I'm wondering how this Earls fitting is working for you? The Earls part 961961ERL is made for Corvette style Type II pumps and not the pump you have. The type of pump that you have would use a fitting more like the Earls 961955ERL.

I contacted Holley Tech support today to ask about this because I would like to use an adapter like you did on my pump. My pump is the same as yours, but they told me the Earls 961961ERL long adapter would NOT work.

You can see that the fitting on the end of my PS line has a small O-ring at the end, which is similar to the Earls 961955ERL and not the one you used.

This is the line that came off of my power steering pump. Note the bottom and O-ring are nothing like the Earls long adapter.
Attachment 1975790

I think what you may have missed is that I took the"Complete" assembly/fitting out of the pump. The high pressure line is what your showing with the small o-ring. But then if you look on the pump there is a larger nut surrounding the female fitting that unscrews the whole fitting out of the pump completely. This is how I installed that extended AN fitting. See my pic below. Red points to old pump with line. Blue points to the whole assembly/fitting you can remove.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by 1971Stepside

Thanks for the pics of your VA unit. Mine looks nothing like that. I'll take mine out and get a pic. I have a lot of work to do.

Glad I could help!

[derotoreut]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

I think what you may have missed is that I took the"Complete" assembly/fitting out of the pump. The high pressure line is what your showing with the small o-ring. But then if you look on the pump there is a larger nut surrounding the female fitting that unscrews the whole fitting out of the pump completely. This is how I installed that extended AN fitting. See my pic below. Red points to old pump with line. Blue points to the whole assembly/fitting you can remove.

So the entire internal pressure fitting is replaced with the Earls fitting? That makes sense now. Sorry for long winded comment, but this now helps me tremendously. Thank you for taking the time to explain it.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by derotoreut

So the entire internal pressure fitting is replaced with the Earls fitting? That makes sense now. Sorry for long winded comment, but this now helps me tremendously. Thank you for taking the time to explain it.

No problem, glad I could help. I'll be keeping an eye on your build

[MDPotter]

I've got questions on your VA package:
-What are you doing for controls? I know VA will sell you a repro control panel and they have some universal control panels for big $. The previous owner drilled a big hole in my control panel so I don't think I'll be able to use it unfortunately so I'm looking for other options.
-What compressor mount kit did you go with? I know Kwik has the new bracket and Dirty Dingo has a bracket too.
-Was your truck a factory AC cab? Or did you cut the holes in the dash for the center and side vents? Did your kit come with the diffusers for either of those situations?

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I've got questions on your VA package:
-What are you doing for controls? I know VA will sell you a repro control panel and they have some universal control panels for big $. The previous owner drilled a big hole in my control panel so I don't think I'll be able to use it unfortunately so I'm looking for other options.
-What compressor mount kit did you go with? I know Kwik has the new bracket and Dirty Dingo has a bracket too.
-Was your truck a factory AC cab? Or did you cut the holes in the dash for the center and side vents? Did your kit come with the diffusers for either of those situations?

I bought the surefit gen IV kit for our trucks. I'm using the original heater control panel with VA conversion. That sucks you got a hole going through yours. Maybe you can find another control panel on ebay or somewhere similar for cheap?

I went with the QWIK mount that VA sent with their mid mount setup. I bough the kit before I knew about the QWIK bracket issues. But i'm not too worried about that, If it doesn't work out I have no reason to believe VA won't fix the issue. But, I have seen the dirty dingo mount an it looks nicer imo.

My truck was a non-A/C cab, I had to drill the holes. Too bad my pics broke way back in my thread I showed how I cut the dash. Let me know if you need any details.

.

[MDPotter]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

I bought the surefit gen IV kit for our trucks. I'm using the original heater control panel with VA conversion. That sucks you got a hole going through yours. Maybe you can find another control panel on ebay or somewhere similar for cheap?

I went with the QWIK mount that VA sent with their mid mount setup. I bough the kit before I knew about the QWIK bracket issues. But i'm not too worried about that, If it doesn't work out I have no reason to believe VA won't fix the issue. But, I have seen the dirty dingo mount an it looks nicer imo.

My truck was a non-A/C cab, I had to drill the holes. Too bad my pics broke way back in my thread I showed how I cut the dash. Let me know if you need any details.

.

Vintage Air sent my dad the new Kwik high mount kit at no cost, so you should be okay if for some reason they sent the old design. We should be able to get it installed in the next few weeks and see how it works. He wants to drive his 64 so bad but the belt started squealing pretty bad again so it's been parked for a couple weeks.

[cebra]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Vintage Air sent my dad the new Kwik high mount kit at no cost, so you should be okay if for some reason they sent the old design. We should be able to get it installed in the next few weeks and see how it works. He wants to drive his 64 so bad but the belt started squealing pretty bad again so it's been parked for a couple weeks.

The new kit fixed my issues, I had to use 2 shims behind the tensioner but all good for over 10K miles now.

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

Vintage Air sent my dad the new Kwik high mount kit at no cost, so you should be okay if for some reason they sent the old design. We should be able to get it installed in the next few weeks and see how it works. He wants to drive his 64 so bad but the belt started squealing pretty bad again so it's been parked for a couple weeks.

Originally Posted by cebra

The new kit fixed my issues, I had to use 2 shims behind the tensioner but all good for over 10K miles now.

Good deal guys. I hope the bracket I have just works but if not looks like I have a promising fix. Free.


.

[TA_C10]

Ok fellas, I have been out of commission for a while now on my truck and it's killing me. Wiring the truck is taking longer than I wanted but it's my first vehicle wiring job to this much detail and between making sure I do it right the first time, my little bit of OCD, out of town on business, back issues, and honey do's it's getting very little attention right now.

However, I do have a ton of work done, so here is a little piece I did the other night.

Worked on my OE heater control panel. The P.O. spray painted the heck out of it and almost ruined it. Got paint on the glass and everything. But with a little elbow grease and scotch brite it's looking promising. I still have a little work left to do on it but I think it looks pretty decent! I may end up painting the back panel black since the scotch brite pretty much ruined the fragile vertical lines in the piece and looks kinda old. The black might give nice contrast as well. And I plan to NOT paint the little glass indicator....

Before:







After:

[MDPotter]

I wouldn't hesitate to reuse it! It looks great to me.

[TA_C10]

I just realized my subscription ended. I'm not getting any alerts in my email anymore.... So I am missing out on all the updates for everyone else builds.... Gotta fix that.

Well Potter, I couldn't agree more man, it cleaned up good enough for me. At least for now anyway. I may still do some extra work to it later.

Vintage air did a pretty good job designing the control switches on these things, but I wish they were metal instead of plastic. The controls are so long they are basically wedged inside 2 of the ducts coming out of the VA box, pretty tight too so I hope they don't break down the road. My harness for some reason came with a 4th plug so I just tied it up out of the way along with the others









And I got the dome light installed as well. Which one do you like better? OE cream color or the new LED that came with clear bezel?

[Putzer]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

I just realized my subscription ended. I'm not getting any alerts in my email anymore.... So I am missing out on all the updates for everyone else builds.... Gotta fix that.

Well Potter, I couldn't agree more man, it cleaned up good enough for me. At least for now anyway. I may still do some extra work to it later.

Vintage air did a pretty good job designing the control switches on these things, but I wish they were metal instead of plastic. The controls are so long they are basically wedged inside 2 of the ducts coming out of the VA box, pretty tight too so I hope they don't break down the road. My harness for some reason came with a 4th plug so I just tied it up out of the way along with the others g]http://i.imgur.com/ttUcIqPh.jpg[/img][/url]



And I got the dome light installed as well. Which one do you like better? OE cream color or the new LED that came with clear bezel?

4th wire on VA harness not needed. I had the same question and called them about it. I like the LED but the white cover. Whats the part number for that bulb?

[MDPotter]

I like the clear bezel - goes with the modern theme of the truck and looks better against your paint.

[TA_C10]

Thanks guys. Maybe I can get it running this weekend, get it out in the sun and get a better idea of how everything looks again. I'm ready to run it down the road I can almost taste it...

Here is the part number from lmctruck on that dome light led upgrade.

[TA_C10]

Update - Wiring

I think I am going to just start throwing out random wiring jobs. I have so many pics built up it might be better to start putting them out here a little at a time rather than just make a couple huge posts.

Today's wiring update = Courtesy lights phase I

So the AA deluxe truck harness came with OE style bulb connectors on the courtesy light harnesses's. I decided to go ahead and use them. There are three light harnesses total. 2 of them you connect under the dash(courtesy), the 3rd is the rear overhead dome light.

I connected the two under-dash courtesy harnesses. On the drivers side I spliced the provided extra dome light harness(into the under-dash courtesy light harness).






This basically gives you both under dash courtesy lights and the extra plug for connecting the dome light as well. I plan to upgrade my interior lighting however. All LED lights. I already installed the LED upgrade dome light in previous post. With the under-dash lights I plan to cut the OE style bulb sockets and splice in the following LED light kit. Two light bars will be installed under the dash for foot well illumination, the other two will be installed under the seat to create more lighting coming from under the seat. I may also splice in a few more LED strips and install them under the doors so when they are open, they will point towards the ground providing lighting outside the cab when entering or exiting.

Here is the inside cab LED kit I got. It has a control box I spliced into the passenger side courtesy light harness. It is bluetooth and with an app on your phone you can change colors, beat with music, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[MDPotter]

I have to say that you have put more time and planning and cool upgrades into your wiring than I have seen. Those LED's will be cool!

[TA_C10]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

I have to say that you have put more time and planning and cool upgrades into your wiring than I have seen. Those LED's will be cool!

Thanks man! Let's hope it all looks good when i'm done and not too much..

[TA_C10]

Here is some pre-work on battery and cab grounding. Not completed yet.

The battery box has sharp edges(sorta) so I may modify it. Or I may be ok just using extra protection on the cables. Decide on that later. I'm not using an optima either, going a little cheaper AGM with side posts. This is how i'm designing my cables so you will have to use your imagination for now. Yes ground cable at battery side isn't crimped yet, i'm waiting till I get my new battery so the cable is just right. I didn't think of that on Power side but I think the length will be just find there. This is a drop-box so the cables need to be long enough to adjust for this.





This is where I mounted the Vintage Air circuit breaker. They designed their harness with this pre-located in the wiring and this design was obviously for a front engine located battery so I had to cut it out and redo the harness for my rear-mounted battery. No problem there. But the directions specify close to the battery and direct connection to the battery for the grounds. So I have a large stud going through the frame left of battery, this is my main battery grounding. 1/0 awg wire off battery to this. Keeps the battery clean. I did however go ahead and run the VA power wire directly to the battery but it will be the only additional cable directly routing to battery post.





For my cab-grounding, I ran a 4awg from main grounding stud(frame) to one of the old internal gas tank mounting holes and ran a bolt long enough through it clamping the 4awg feed underside, which grounds the cab for me, and then on top enough threads to connect both my main ground buss on firewall and in the future, another 4-6 awg ground straight to amplifiers whatever they may need.

I used a 10awg wire routing up to the firewall buss lead.







I think this should work out. I may need a filter on the ground line for radio signal interference in speakers but we shall see.