Trying to make Junky perhaps just a little bit Funky...

[DD1]

It's been a while since I last posted, but for once instead of meaning that I have not done anything, I actually have been kinda busy but did not get around to posting. It's going to seem like I am all over the place, which I am, but things are slowly getting done.

Battery Tray / Wiring Harness

I want to be able to start the truck and move it in my garage and yard; it would make it easier to get certain things done. To that end, my goals were to modify the battery tray and partly install a wiring harness.

I wanted to modify the battery tray to fit the battery I have rather than buy a new battery to fit the tray. I don't want to spend $100+ for a battery that's going to sit around and go to waste while not being used much.

I took apart the existing battery tray I purchased from Classic Parts and attached the sides to the new tray I got from Summit. I am going to mount it a bit to the left of it's current position, the only downside being that it's using the space that the transmission cooler on the original radiator was using. But I have an aftermarket external cooler, so I am not worried about it. I am waiting for some 5/16 spacers I ordered to complete mounting it. Still have a little welding to do, but want to test fit before I go any further.

I purchased a Universal 22 Circuit Wiring Harness from Speedway Motors which comes with some GM connectors and hooked up just enough to get the engine to crank. I had to order a new Neutral Safety Switch which will be here in a couple days, but I bypassed it and it cranked.

This is what the modified battery tray looks like. It's mounted in the normal position in this pic, and I plan to move it about 1-1/2 to 2" to the left so the holes on the right side line up to the original nuts. The left side will be mounted in the original nuts with spacers. In retrospect, maybe I should have cut off the sides of the new tray and just welded the bottom piece to the original sides.



Wiring Harness


Speedway Harness:


The two challenges with the wiring harness was the ignition switch and the turn signal switch.

Starting with the turn signal switch, I did not want to cut the female plug on the steering wheel harness; I also did not want to reuse the male plug on my original harness as it was not in great shape. I found a harness adapter I got from somewhere which was meant to adapt the newer steering wheel plugs into the original wiring harness, but was still not what I needed. The Speedway harness had the newer style female plug and a male adapter. I did the following:

1. Cut the new style female plug from my adapter leaving only the half circle male plug.
2. Attach the terminal pins provided by Speedway to the adapter wires and push them into the male plug provided by Speedway.
3. Attach the "new" Speedway male plug into the female harness plug. I can now plug the harness into my steering column.



Ignition Switch

I had a hard time finding information on exactly how to wire the ignition switch. There is writing on the switch that is pretty self explanatory, and many of the threads on the board referenced the wiring diagram which helps but was still a bit confusing. I finally found a thread where someone posted a photo of his switch and other people listed what each wire was for. He then posted something similar to the image I created below, but it was not complete.

Here is my photo guide to the ignition switch, which I found to be helpful when attaching it to the wiring harness. I did order a new AC Delco harness plug by the way. If anyone thinks anything is inaccurate, please let me know; I can always update the image.

Note: The second Red Wire does not do anything. The aftermarket plugs come with the wire, but the original wiring diagram shows the plug not being used. Rather than take a pic of my switch, I just used the pic from the other post and added the text.


I have not finished my doors as of yet. One has the skin removed, the other has a 3rd of the skin removed. Will get to it as soon as the projects above are complete. I have a lot of cleaning up on the door to do before I can start welding the panels on.

[cornerstone]

You’ve really made some big progress man! Lookin good!

[DD1]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

You’ve really made some big progress man! Lookin good!

Thanks, I appreciate it. It's going slow, but it's going. Need to get back to the body work soon.

[crakarjax]

Is that a stainless tray and if so, did you tig weld it? I've been learning to TIG on some stainless exhaust but it's not very forgiving!

[DD1]

Originally Posted by crakarjax

Is that a stainless tray and if so, did you tig weld it? I've been learning to TIG on some stainless exhaust but it's not very forgiving!

As far as I know it's just regular steel, not stainless. I used a MIG welder. I have not TIG welded other than briefly that one time I took a welding class. I would probably not be very good at it.

[DD1]

Today I finally got to move the truck on it's own power. Can't figure out how to embed a YouTube video on here. https://youtu.be/9bNT3gi03Fo

Got the new NSS installed. Need to do some adjusting on it. It works in Park and Low gear which makes no sense.

Got the battery tray installed. Will need to do some more work on it, but it's holding the battery for now. Of course the battery does not fit exactly as I would like, but it's good enough.


This is the temporary gas tank I created.


I did run into problems, the biggest of which is leaking oil while reversing into the garage. Not sure where it came from, but I am thinking the oil dipstick tube where it goes inside the engine. In these pics you can see the oil trail on the floor and on the frame. It wasn't leaking when I started the engine in the garage before.

The other problem was the rear tire slipping or screeching or whatever you call it. Might be the idle was too high or stuck brakes shoes. It made the ramp vibrate so much the end ramps moved from underneath.

Here is the leak...



Then I had to deal with the battery dying. Had to jump start with my car to get it back in the garage. Then the 2nd time jumping it did not work. Hoping an overnight charge does the job. My battery may be at the end of it's life, but for $20 it has served me long and well.

[DD1]

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe.

I've been doing a bunch of stuff on-and-off over the past few months, but I've kind of been all over the place and have not exactly finished anything I started.

I'll start with today and then try and back fill other stuff I have done since January.

When I first moved the car in January I had an oil leak. At first I thought it was leaking from the dipstick, but after removing and resealing it I realized it was the oil pan gasket that was leaking. Today I started to change the gasket without removing the engine following the steps I learned from this forum.

I placed a lot of wood on top of my transmission jack and lifted the engine by the oil pan. I had to do it twice because the floor is not level and the right side raises higher than the left. I placed a 2x4 between the motor mount and frame which gives enough room to remove the oil pan. The only thing I disconnected was the transmission shift rod as I was afraid it would get damaged and I removed the two bolts on the trans crossmember.

When I had everything cleaned up and was ready to install the new one-piece gasket, I realized I bought the wrong one. The one I bought is for an engine with the dipstick on the driver's side. My engine came out of a 1990-ish truck and has the dipstick on the passenger side. Managed to find the right one online and will hopefully pickup tomorrow.

When I did this the first time I made the mistakes of sticking the 2x4 too far in, then realized I was blocking the bolts on the pan.


Oil pan came out easy enough. Scraping all the old gasket off is the part I hate. That took a couple hours.


Had to flatten out some of the bolt holes because someone (probably me) must have over-tightened the bolts. I tried tightening them up before I decided to change the gasket.


Engine still looks pretty nice. Of course the furthest it's driven is 25 feet into my driveway and back.



I was a little surprised at how close the dipstick is to the crank, but it wasn't a problem before, so I'm not going to make it one now.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by DD1

I've kind of been all over the place and have not exactly finished anything I started.

Oil pan came out easy enough. Scraping all the old gasket off is the part I hate. That took a couple hours.

Engine still looks pretty nice. Of course the furthest it's driven is 25 feet into my driveway and back.

1. Welcome to my world Darien Hey at least we are one day closer to finished and driving than we were yesterday!

2. I use a coarse twisted wire wheel on a grinder and that usually takes off the stubborn old gasket material or silicone.

3.Hopefully it's not a problem, but the residual oil dripping fom the bolt heads appear to be cloudy or milky. Assuming you had new oil in the motor, I would think it should be clearer. Is there any chance water got in the engine? I know a bad head gasket can allow water in the oil, lets hope thats not the case.

[DD1]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

1. Welcome to my world Darien Hey at least we are one day closer to finished and driving than we were yesterday!

2. I use a coarse twisted wire wheel on a grinder and that usually takes off the stubborn old gasket material or silicone.

3.Hopefully it's not a problem, but the residual oil dripping fom the bolt heads appear to be cloudy or milky. Assuming you had new oil in the motor, I would think it should be clearer. Is there any chance water got in the engine? I know a bad head gasket can allow water in the oil, lets hope thats not the case.

Hey Brian,

Thanks for the response.

I used a wire wheel to get as much off the pan as I could. Then I use a blade and a scouring pad for the rest. The engine side was pretty easy.

The oil is actually pretty old so I’m not surprised it looks the way it does. Good catch though, I appreciate you pointing it out. I should have changed it a long time ago. I will be way more on top of that going forward.

I was also working on a door and I got so frustrated I was just about ready to quit and try and sell the project as-is. I’ve pulled back from that a bit and found a little more motivation to move ahead.

Darien

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by DD1

I was also working on a door and I got so frustrated I was just about ready to quit and try and sell the project as-is. I’ve pulled back from that a bit and found a little more motivation to move ahead.

Darien

These projects are so much more involved than meets the eye. Pulling back and walking away to clear your head is all it takes sometimes. With the amount of time and effort you have into it, it will be all the more rewarding when you are finished and someone gives you a compliment on how cool it is. You'll be able to describe every little detail that went into making it what it is. Don't even think about selling it. You will definitely regret it... Just post the issue at hand and I'm sure one of us can help out. Remember, if it was easy everyone would do it.

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

These projects are so much more involved than meets the eye. Pulling back and walking away to clear your head is all it takes sometimes. With the amount of time and effort you have into it, it will be all the more rewarding when you are finished and someone gives you a compliment on how cool it is. You'll be able to describe every little detail that went into making it what it is. Don't even think about selling it. You will definitely regret it... Just post the issue at hand and I'm sure one of us can help out. Remember, if it was easy everyone would do it.

You are not kidding there, I have not even started a tear down on a daily driver that keeps me busy just keeping it moving.

I will say this, its 50 now, and at my last position with a Fortune 500 Company they were quite impressed with my knowledge of maintenance. Every time I turn my brain around I find somebody on this site with more than some humanity, humility.

The reward is around the corner.

[DD1]

I have been messing with the wiring a bit and wanted to reuse the original firewall plug with the new harness. I found some Youtube videos on how to remove the terminals and what replacement terminals to get. I was hoping to mount the new fuse box right over the plug, but while the mounting holes are close, they are not perfectly lined up.

I did get the plug wired up with enough wires to start the truck and finished mounting it today. The bolts in the photo are 3" long because I thought I would be placing the fuse panel over it. I will probably cut the bolt on the left or replace it with a 1.5" bolt. The one on the right will have one side of the panel over it, and because of the way I ended up mounting it, I will need to get a 4" bolt.

[DD1]

Yesterday I realized I had the wrong gasket (dipstick on wrong side), so I ordered a different from Advance Auto and returned the first one. Today I found the 2nd gasket is also wrong (curve in back of pan smaller than gasket). I think I found the right one finally, which I will get tomorrow. Hopefully the 3rd times the charm.

The 350 engine I have was made in the 1980's, in 1983 according to the research I did. I had some trouble remembering what vehicle to do the search on, but now I think I remember. 1983-ish for the engine, 1990-ish for the serpentine belt system, and 1971-ish for almost everything else.

[DD1]

This morning (or afternoon by normal standards) I put oil in the engine, bolted the transmission cross-member and started up the truck. No massive oil leak like I was expecting (seriously, I was expecting a tidal wave of oil) BUT it was still leaking in the exact same spot. Sooo... I ordered a new oil pan from Rock Auto and am hoping that takes care of it.

I did learn a few things from my last experience so it should not take as long this time. Today I raised the engine and place the wood under the mounts, so when my pan comes on Thursday I am ready to start disassembling everything. Raising the engine was easier this time as I learned I can reach the nuts with an extension socket and I learned an easier way to raise the engine. I placed a block of wood vertically between the balance and the pulley.


Aside from cleaning up the garage, I decided to tackle the bedside - can't remember which side of the truck it's for. It's pretty rusty inside and I should probably find a new one. But I could only find one place with holes so far - I plan to blast it soon - and I decided to try repairing it. Considering this is not where my skills are best suited I think it worked out okay.

I didn't take a good pic of it before I started but the holes are worse than the top image here and the metal is crazy thin. I tried filling the holes and it burned away instantly. I made a template with a piece of brown paper and cut it out of a fender panel Classic Parts sent me for the wrong truck a while back. I had a nice curve to it that I thought would help make the piece fit better.



Like I said it is really rusty inside the bedside. Wish I could just replace it.

[crakarjax]

Oh man, one time I changed the pan gasket on my 4wd suburban. Knocked the oil pickup tube a bit, causing a leak at the pickup tube o-ring. Talk about a PITA! To get the pan off you have to drop the front transaxle and a bunch of other things... 5 hours down the drain, on my back with oil dripping on me. So I can sympathize

One thing I learned recently about sheet metal by trial and error is to make sure the metal is *clean*! Otherwise you'll have to burn the gunk out to get decent welds, which has a higher chance of blowing through.
I still haven't gotten how to get good penetration though, so I tend to weld both the front and back of my panels when I can.

[DD1]

Originally Posted by crakarjax

Oh man, one time I changed the pan gasket on my 4wd suburban. Knocked the oil pickup tube a bit, causing a leak at the pickup tube o-ring. Talk about a PITA! To get the pan off you have to drop the front transaxle and a bunch of other things... 5 hours down the drain, on my back with oil dripping on me. So I can sympathize

One thing I learned recently about sheet metal by trial and error is to make sure the metal is *clean*! Otherwise you'll have to burn the gunk out to get decent welds, which has a higher chance of blowing through.
I still haven't gotten how to get good penetration though, so I tend to weld both the front and back of my panels when I can.

I had that problem when I was welding a lower door skin and forgot to clean off the coating on the inside. It was a nightmare to weld. I ended up taking a die grinder and cleaning as best as possible through one of the openings in the door.

I always try to check the other side for good penetration, but on the bedside that's not going to be possible. The metal I'm replacing is just so worn out that it's not possible to try and weld the holes. So far this is working out pretty well. Have not had a chance to go back in the garage and swap out the wire in the welder, but once I do I'll finish up that piece then work on the other part of the curve.

[DD1]

Last night I took the oil pan off and made sure the new one matched the original. Today I am going to pickup some Allen key bolts from Lowe's; with the regular bolts it's sometimes difficult to get the socket to fit in the gap provided to access the bolt. I should have it reinstalled tonight or tomorrow at the latest. It's going much easier so far this time.

[DD1]

Almost have the new oil pan on. Taking it easy and slow and it's working out well so far. Got the Hex bolts at Lowe's today, but didn't realize I don't have a 3/16" hex socket; will get one tomorrow and finish the job.

Comparing the old pan with the new, there is a raised lip at the dipstick section on the new one and it's recessed on the old one. I wonder if that's why it's leaking. Guess I'll find out by Saturday.

Top is the new pan, bottom is the old.

[DD1]

Round two of the oil pan saga is done. New oil pan installed. Had 2 small leaks which are hopefully taken care of - there was actually a small leak coming from the dipstick tube this time, put some gasket sealer around the tube. There was a small leak coming through one of the bolts on the oil pan. Replaced the bolt with a lock washer and a lot of the gasket sealer. Hopefully by tomorrow evening it will be all dry and working properly. I am SO tired of these oil pan problems.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by DD1

I am SO tired of these oil pan problems.

I feel your pain man... I went through that on a small block once also.

[DD1]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

I feel your pain man... I went through that on a small block once also.

Seriously, this is ridiculous. The oil dipstick leak is resolved. The original leak near the dipstick is resolved. The leak out the bolt hole is resolved. What's let now?

The leak in the back of the oil pan. I have a theory about this one that may or may not be dumb. Maybe the hex bolts I am using are not wide enough to apply the proper pressure on the four larger corner bolts? I had use the regular bolts on the front because the hex bolts I got were too long and there are no problems there. I will try changing them out on the back and see if my problem goes away. If it doesn't, I will spread gasket sealant on the entire back edge of the cover.

[crakarjax]

man that's terrible. I've had success with the metal-core gaskets in the past. Good luck!

[DD1]

I have come to the conclusion that the final leak I have is most likely a Rear Main Seal leak. I watched the leak carefully and it came from behind the engine towards the oil pan. I thought about changing the Main Seal when I did the oil pan, but decided since it was not a problem I would leave it alone. Ugh.

Here is a very short video of the leak. Expand the screen if you watch it.

Direct Link: https://youtu.be/VR_GLvPdbr4

You Tube

[DD1]

Had a busy weekend.

Last night I prepped the truck for Round 3 of fixing the oil leak, and removed the water pump which was also leaking. Borrowed a Lift plate from a friend and mounted it to where the carb goes; decided lifting the engine might be easier than jacking it up.

And it seems that the 3rd time was actually the charm. After getting everything reassembled and starting it up, there were no leaks from the oil pan, rear seal, or water pump. Changing the Rear Main Seal was significant for me because it's the type of job I was always afraid to do myself. Also took the opportunity to clean and paint the front of the engine while everything was off.

Next I replaced the rear Cab Mounts. I originally purchased the Cab Mounts from Classic Parts years ago; when I finally needed to use them, the package had a mish-mosh of pieces and did not look like the photo on their website. I called them to find out what they were for, but it was too late to return anything. The rear of the cab has been too low and Rock Auto sells just the Bushing for the rear mount.

Not sure how easy it is to tell the difference, but it raised the cab 1-2". The Top is Before. The cab is touching the frame at the far ends of the hump in the middle.


Later in the day I had to modify my transmission shift linkage. Raising the rear of the cab required me to cut 3/4" off the shift rod. I still need to work on adjust the NSS to get it to sync with the gears properly. Right now, the truck starts when I'm in Park so I'm happy with that.


Saving the best for last, May 4 was my 50th birthday, and if you've been reading recently you might remember I was getting frustrated with the doors and subsequently the project as a whole. My best friend bought me a pair of aftermarket Door Frames for my 50th!

I know some people don't like aftermarket doors (or aftermarket anything for that matter), but working on the doors was setting me back significantly. The doors arrived last Tuesday 05/12 and I wasted no time mounting one of them. This weekend I test fitted a fender and after many adjustments, got them both to a place where I can live with it.

The new door actually fits better than the original door I had (not original to the cab, but to the truck), and will require less work on my part adjusting the cab corner, which I replaced without having anything fitted as a guide. Once I get the door and fender lined up, I plan to start on the rocker panel.

First I had to retread all of the hinge bolts; I will probably buy a new set.


Then just a lot of fitting, adjusting, and removing and reinstalling the fender. I was surprised I found the Big A** Bolt and had to do some additional cutting to get the fender lined up for it. This is the end result for now...

[cornerstone]

What an awesome gift! Not many people in the world have friends like that...
The door looks like it fits well!

So glad to hear the oil leak repair was finally a success, hopefully that put a little wind in your sails.