Halfbreed - GMC Z71 + IH Extd Cab

[FrankieD]

Yea California has had enough fires they are poluting the earth

[sparkydog]

I took a quick intermission from the instrument panel to bang out this new screen for the fireplace. The Gecko kept falling off the side of the house during a strong wind so he was re-purposed into a handle for the screen. I'm real happy with how this turned out.

[sparkydog]

On with the panel!

First I wanted to eliminate the small whoop-dee-do the went over the top of the IH steering column so I grafted a section from my extra IH panel.

Then I marked where to cut out the section with the old holes.

[sparkydog]

A few hours later I had a new section welded in and rough-finished.

And then the new holes and a first mockup with the two gauges Santa gave me.

[cAlvis165]

Awesome! Love the Gecko as well!!

[sparkydog]

I'm using the evenings this week to get ready to convert my wiring over to the Autometer 4 in 1 this weekend. Once I snip the wires off the back of the connector on the GM harness I can't go back to the stock GM panel (not that I want to). So I wanted to make sure of a few things. First was to make sure that I got the correct style fuel gauge that will work with the GM sender in the tank. CHECK - it reads correctly when I try it with some jump wires.

Next was Volt meter. CHECK (kind of hard to screw this one up).

Then oil press and water temp. Neither read correctly because they don't work with the factory GM senders. Water temp sender was easy thanks to Google. I found the 1-wire sender located on the drivers side cylinder head and swapped it for the Autometer sender and a fresh wire with lug converted the GM harness to the Autometer sender.

Now for the hard part. The oil press sender on a 96 Vortec is on the top rear of the block beside the dizzy and it is going to be real hard to access that area. If I could reach back there and remove the GM sender it is a 3-wire combo sender and switch that involves the fuel pump (or so I read). So I would need to either replace the sender and jumper the 2 wires involved with the fuel pump and just use the tan wire for the gauge signal or...

put my new Autometer sender in the spare oil port on the side of the block above the oil filter. However - even if I do this (because it is easier to access) I still want to tie the signal into the tan wire that is up there on the rear of the block.

Does anyone have experience with reaching back there to replace the sender? How did you do it? And has anyone jumper'd the fuel pump circuit like I am talking about?

[cAlvis165]

If you leave the GM oil pressure sender/fuel pump switch, you'll still have the protection that the oil pressure switch offers. It will not allow the fuel pump to run if you are in an accident/flip the truck and the engine looses pressure. That way the pump doesn't spew fuel all over the place in the case of a bad accident. You'll still have to tap into the tan wire after you mount you Autometer sender in the alternate location, but at least you'll have the protection of the original oil pressure/fuel pump switch.

Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work!

Chad

[sparkydog]

Good advice! ^^^^

I will take your .02 thanks!

[sparkydog]

Grrrrrrrrr......

The Autometer oil press sensor is big enough that it won't fit into that extra port above the oil filter. Too big of diameter and long enough to run into the exhaust header flange.

I'm wondering if I could remove my oil cooler adapter housing (where the lines take off and head forward) and put a port on it? Plenty of room on the side of it and very accessible.

[1985-GMC]

Could you add a brass extension to it? Ive got one for a small block that about 1.5" long and it turns at a 45* in the middle, they probably make straight ones too.

[FrankieD]

^^^^^^ unless you want to pull the Dizzy

[sparkydog]

Continuing with the gauge mods. Pic 1&2 of the panel. In a later post you will see that I didn't like the three smaller holes and filled them in again and relo'd.

Pic#3 is of the oil pressure sending wire that I was able to just barely fish out from under the dizzy and splice into my new sender. That's the splice to the left and the other wire to the right is my fishing pole. The oil filter sandwich plate on my GM truck turned out to have a pressure port on the side that I could use.

Pic 4 is of the now retired GM panel showing the mileage that was on the chassis. I have put just over 21,000 miles on my truck since she sprang to life in November 2011.

Pic 5 is of the overhead idiot light cluster. The flash certainly makes it look like a hack job. In real life it blends right in and looks just fine. It's a layer of clear plastic with gray spray paint on the back side. The circles are where I masked the paint off and glued the GM graphics for the idiot lights on.

[sparkydog]

Halfbreed is my one and only vehicle right now so I have to be careful what I rip into on the weekends so as not to take it off the road for more than a few hours. Here is a shot of the panel inside the cab with the blinker lights moved to the left and right of the cluster and the high beam tucked near the middle.

I also did a better job with the wire labels.

Final pic shows that I have changed my mind and filled in the openings where the speaker grill was on the top of the dash and the ash tray and the heater controls. I think it looks better big, bald and beautiful. Less is more on on IH.

[cAlvis165]

Lookin' good! What is the plan for the third gauge hole? Tack?? Also, this is the first time I noticed the shifter knob--nice touch! Good to see the monkey is still helpin' out.

[Palf70Step]

I like the new arrangement better too. Great work on this!

[Effeckt]

Looks good! I love watching your progress on this build!
Posted via Mobile Device

[sparkydog]

This past weekend was 50% off at the local self-serve wrecking yard. (Back in Oregon this was called a "U-Pull-It"... love that name!) I picked up some new stuff for Halfbreed. Bucket seats out of something - maybe a Honda Pilot(?) - and a steering column out of an early 90's van. I also grabbed the rollers & bracket off a forward tilt BMW hood. These will eventually replace the similar items I got off a Lesabre but I don't like them.

And I also clipped off about 25' of windshield washer hose from various makes of car and came home to hook up the washer and squirters for my windshield. The good news about the washer hose is that it AND the 50 year old IH squirt nozzles work great without any blockage. The bad news is that my 96 GM washer unit isn't getting a signal from the mother ship when I use the switch on my steering column. Notice in the photo that the main harness has three wires and the branch to the washer has 2 wires. And none of the colors on either side match the wiring schematics I have. And 2 of the 3 pins on the main harness side go to ground and the 3rd doesn't go 12v when I use the washer switch.

So I'm eventually going to figure the washer out. And I will be replacing my 60/40 bench with the buckets and a center console out of something.

Then I will do the steering column. I could use help on that from anyone who has done it. I assume I need to replace the lock cylinder with a new one and the wiring will be fun because I doubt many people have tried to tie an older column into a newer wire harness system. Plus the shaft on the van column is D style female and I believe that the stock column I have now is a male D. So when I try to install the older column I may have some girl on girl trouble. And there's the shift linkage from the old column to a newer 4L60E.

[sparkydog]

PS: I had a tachometer for about 1/2 a day but had to return it because it was a 3-1/8 size not a 3-3/8. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 3-1/8. So when my brain saw a 3 at the start of the size I just clicked "add to cart" and away we go! Doh!

[sparkydog]

Hi boys it has been awhile since I gave you an update. I have about 30,000 miles on her now and so far (sound of me knocking on wood) the truck is holding up well.

This week began my push to get the rear bumper installed and also set it up so I can attach a receiver hitch. Here are some pics of the brackets I made and the rear bumper after the install.

[sparkydog]

And then to catch you all up on a few other things I've done over the last months. Here are some shots of the rear bench with seat belts. The shoulder belts are actually front seat style out of a '96-ish GM Xcab. The retract mechanism tucks nicely under the seat instead of hanging up in the corner where the stock GM Xcab rear seat version was out of the donor truck.

I also got rid of my 60/40 front bench in favor of buckets and a center console/ I really like having buckets ... just not the ones in the pictures. They are out of an Isuzu and looked better in the wrecking yard than they did when I got them home. However for now they are OK and I will search for something a little larger and more appropriate for the scale of the cab.

The center console is out of a Ford minivan. Shape and function are perfect for me but the brown color will have to go when I get around to upholstery someday.

I mounted the GM HVAC controls where I hope to eventually hide them behind the IH dash center panel.

And I have an early 90's GM van column that I am trying to rewire into the same connector as will plug into my 96 truck chassis harness. But it is getting complicated and I have not put much time into it. I'm probably the only guy in history to want to put an old steering column into a new (harness wise) truck.

[6772owner]

Looking good, I really like how the interior came together with the buckets and console.

[jb1016]

Looking good -- can't believe it's got 30k on it already!

[sparkydog]

The rear bumper is on and the semi-quick release receiver hitch is ready for action. 4 bolts mate it up to the remains of the mounting brackets for the original hitch that came on the donor 96 xcab. I needed to complete this so I can go buy a tow dolly and lug my Porsche 944 project home.

I should have known that if I mentioned I had nearly 30k miles on her without trouble something would happen and it did! I was on my way to look at a Porsche when I smelled burning oil but figured it was somebody in front of me. Then it dawned on me that everyone ahead was in a newer car. Looked down and the gages and ZERO oil pressure. Immediately pulled over and oil is pouring down onto the street. I assumed the worst but it turned out to be weird but simple. The oil cooler line quick connector at the sandwich block popped loose and the oil line just came off. I think it had never been fully snapped into the fitting for the past 3 years and the line clamp up near the front of the motor had kept it from backing out. Anyhoo I dodged a bullet for now. Got it all cleaned up, new line on it and needed an oil change anyway. Sorry Oceanside street department - that's my oil and cat litter all over the street and parking lot.

[sparkydog]

Oh I forgot to mention that I found my first ever "love note" taped to the windshield of the truck. A guy left his name and number offering to buy it!

[jb1016]

Originally Posted by sparkydog

I smelled burning oil but figured it was somebody in front of me. Then it dawned on me that everyone ahead was in a newer car.

Lol, been there! Glad it was an easy fix.