Junkyard Jimmy Super Low Buck Build Thread

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Suck it up- Those drifts aren't gonna bust themselves. Time to make the doughnuts!

Besides, I thought you wound up with like 2 tops in all this horsetrading.

PS- as a former 71 Blazer owner, I can tell you that when it's down in the 40's and dropping and you got stuck 20 miles from home (in a bar) without the top, That heater comes in a LOT handier than you'd think!

50 pages? Wow. Landmark event.

I think I can make the donuts now on dry pavement. This thing is a burnout machine.

Depending on time of year, 40's can be considered a damn fine day for a topless drive. In the early spring I see convertibles and motorcycles out all the time when it gets in the 40's. Way back around 1996 I think I was working on parting out a truck in my driveway in february in a t-shirt cuz it was a balmy 40F and sunny and not much wind. As they (those who are not us) say, you get used to it.

I have 2 and a half. One is a double wall out on a friends farm awaiting disposal. Here's the ones I'm keeping...

[Low Elco]

Oooooh, looks like a half-top adventure!

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Oooooh, looks like a half-top adventure!

I gots me some ideas for the tops. Not a priority yet though.

Todays progress. Nothing impressive. Just continuing to do a little bit regularly. Other inner fender installed.

[swyfor5]

Looking good! Trying to do little things daily on my project also. I really like the color you went with on your's!

[hgs_notes]

Warming up the tires - YouTube

[hgs_notes]

Time to make the donuts - YouTube

[Low Elco]

HA-HA. Very nice. Smokey smokey!

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice! You had best get that roll bar in there next thing.

[hgs_notes]

Not much going on the past few days. I was going to put the cover on for the torque converter. Got it cleaned up and painted then it didn't fit.

Went out to the local junkyard today and got one that should fit. It's one of the greasiest parts I've ever held. Gonna need a soak in the mineral spirits bath tub to clean up.

Other than that I just worked on cleaning up some old beat up tail light trim pieces.

Wiped off...


Steel wooled...


Not satisfied with that I started sanding it down. PITA. But it's looking better. Will post pics when I get back to it. Just gotta keep doing something.

[red87gmc]

awsome job!!

[Dale99]

I hadn't looked at your thread in about a month. Nice burnouts for a 4x4.

Nice pics of the airbox work, that's one of my repairs since I just painted the firewall.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by red87gmc

awsome job!!

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Dale99

I hadn't looked at your thread in about a month. Nice burnouts for a 4x4.

Nice pics of the airbox work, that's one of my repairs since I just painted the firewall.

Hey now, those are nice burnouts for anything!

Glad you checked in. I haven't worked on it lately. Too much work for the paycheck and what time I did have I spent finishing the stereo in my C-10. Now that it's done I should do something on this. Maybe hook the heater up? Highs in the low 40's this week, lows in the 20's. Got snow up north today.

[Dale99]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Highs in the low 40's this week, lows in the 20's. Got snow up north today.

we had a 37deg over night temp here. Which is very cold for this time of the year. I think its going to be a nasty winter this year.

[hgs_notes]

Happy Halloween!

[jaros44sr]

Perfect halloween treat....really shows off all the work you did on the hood

[hgs_notes]

It was a nice sun shiny day here and almost 60F. I got most of my yard work/clean up done friday and saturday so I spent some time in and around the garage. I had a few things to do in order to get the heater working in this. First I got the hoses hooked up to the heater core without making too much mess.


Then I drove it to the hardware store to get some slightly bigger screws to hold the blower in place. The holes were stripped out on this heater box and the original screws wouldn't hold. Then I started hooking up the cables to the controller and noticed that my wires to the fan rheostat and to the fan itself were MIA. WTH? I might have to swap harnesses or something. I didn't really get much time to investigate though because I had talked my son into working on his blazer and I needed to work with him.

There were 2 highlights of the day though that are worth telling here. First, we had to go to New Ulm to get a brake line (15 miles) and I decided to take the Jimmy. It's the longest trip it's ever made since I got it. I had 1 weird temp spike for a few seconds that never came back. I think it was an air pocket in the engine from hooking up the heater hoses. Other than that it was a good trip.

Second, I took the wife for a ride tonight just a little ways out of town, away from the lights. The sky was clear. I drove through a ditch (made her squeal a bit ) and into a field. Killed the engine and the lights and we leaned back, resting our heads on the seat backs and looked straight up into the milky way. Watched some satellites pass over. Talked and enjoyed the view straight up.

I'd taken a night drive once before and it was incredible. This time I got to share it and it was that much sweeter. I've been told by several of you to enjoy my ride and this was 1 of the best ways I could do that.

[Dieselwrencher]

Love the pumpkin too! Congrats for getting to help your son out and getting to enjoy some time in the Jimmy. I hope things are getting better for you in the wife department. I do have a question for you though........... How did you know it was a satellite passing over head? I have seen some weird lights in the dark night and it always makes me go WTF was that? For real.

[Low Elco]

Sounds like a good time. We used to love pulling the top off of mine and running around at night. Glad you're having fun with it.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Love the pumpkin too! Congrats for getting to help your son out and getting to enjoy some time in the Jimmy. I hope things are getting better for you in the wife department. I do have a question for you though........... How did you know it was a satellite passing over head? I have seen some weird lights in the dark night and it always makes me go WTF was that? For real.

How do I know? Cuz you can watch them almost anytime you can see the heavens. There are websites I think that tell you when they are going over a particular area. I think its pretty neat. If you have more than 10 minutes looking up you will probably see them. Looks like a star moving in a straight line across the sky faster than a typical jet but not so fast it looks like a shooting star. I saw 2 of those last night also.

As for the wife dept. Things are going ok. Cautiously optimistic.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Sounds like a good time. We used to love pulling the top off of mine and running around at night. Glad you're having fun with it.

I am. Love driving it as much as my C-10. I got them both out this weekend and will keep doing so until the salt is out. I already told the wife to expect my call when we get our 1st significant snow and to dress warm cuz we're going for a ride in the jimmy in the snow without the top on.

As for the heater, I had some time today to look at my harness again and compare it to another 1 I had. I found the lead for the heater. The plugs were missing, but I cut those off the other harness and put a new fuse in. Will try to get that done tonight and test it out, but I'm pretty sure I've got it in the bag. Except I'm missing one of the dash vents.

Easy to get another and I will look around some more. Not worried. I should find it a day or so after I get a new 1.

[hgs_notes]

When I left off with my heater yesterday I had just broken one of the arms on the controller, had 2 of one cable and was missing 1 and I couldn't find the 2nd dash vent and the fan rheostat was only working as a on/off switch.

I got the things I needed to get the heater all together today. So after dinner and chores I got to work and finished the cables, replaced the controller, etc. I got it all hooked up and started the engine. I was letting it warm up and trying to get any more air out of it that I could and testing the heater out.

Everything seems to be fine except for 1 little thing. There is hardly no flow of warm water through the heater core. I noticed when I was doing the hoses that the fitting on the water pump has a small hole, like an orifice rather than a full open fitting. Is this slowing my flow to a trickle? There is some flow to the heater, but it's not much and only blows luke warm at best.

I gotta change my hose routing. The service manual shows it for auto trannys from the intake manifold to the bottom of the heater core and from the top of the heater core to the radiator. Will try that tomorrow. Gotta get this right so I can get the heater going on the C-10 next. Had a bit of snow this morning and sleet this afternoon.

[Dale99]

Glad your working on this part. I'm about to do this on mine and forgot which way was which. But my fitting on either one is full open.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dale99

Glad your working on this part. I'm about to do this on mine and forgot which way was which. But my fitting on either one is full open.

I think you will have to do yours a bit different cuz your new engine is probably reverse flow with the serpentine belt set up. I think I have my heater core in upside down, but I don't think that will be a problem. When I pull the hose fitting out of the pump to move it to the intake manifold I'm gonna drill it out. This is MN for cripes sakes and I think full heater flow is the name of the game here.

[Dale99]

I even thought about running the bypass valve off the yukon. But i guess aslong as it gets coolant flow for me, it will be enough.

[hgs_notes]

Heater is working now!

Swapped the hose from the water pump to the intake manifold and drilled out the fitting to full flow. Had warm air starting just a few minutes after start up.

Now to tackle the C-10 heater.

Hose fitting before:


After...


Current hose arrangement...

[badpeanut]

Your heater core connections are reversed compared to mine and what is shown here (see automatic trans figure): http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...7&postcount=18