Project ''Second Time Around''

[19723DR]

Originally Posted by MarKist

well at least you won't have a wheel shortage..

So true. I seem to buy trucks that have 5-on-5 lug pattern so that I can swap back and forth. They say that a hobby is to own one, obsession is to try to own them all.

[19723DR]

This weekend was spent welding the rear bag brackets on. From what I hear it should ride better than the bags-over-axles set up.

[19723DR]

Finished up painting with gloss black Rust-oleum and plumbing the bags in.

[19723DR]

In the last week I switched over to the interior again. Stripped everything but the door panels, those are next. I'm thinking about switching to the '95 and up. Everything plastic will be smooth and painted white. I'm going to build a custom speaker box in the rear with 2 12"subs and an amp, there will also be a custom center console down the middle, I'm in the designing process of that.

[19723DR]

Let's get this caught up to date. For the last few weeks I have been working a lot of overtime hours at work haven't had much time for the truck, but I did pick up some parts though. I picked up a 95 cab from a friend. Going to swap the dash and door panels over. I also got an elec. fan from a Taurus.













What a mess , but it's all there.

[chevyndn]

man i love your truck!

[19723DR]

Originally Posted by chevyndn

man i love your truck!

Thanks. I'm glad you like it.

[19723DR]

Well for the last few months something been keeping up at night whether to keep the Super C-Notch or box the other side and make the notch deeper. Since I moved the bags to the links there no sence keeping the brackets over the axle. I hate to do things twice, make that three times now, this truck is a show truck so it had better lay frame. I made a trip to my father-in-laws shop and had him plasma cut some steal. Last weekend I cut the old pieces out and welded in the new ones. Also mounted the panhard-bar.

On a positive note my welds are getting better.

[19723DR]

The last couple of weeks I decided to tear apart the front suspension. I started with the lower control arms, the drivers side needed a ball joint so I pulled them out and while I was in there I de-humped and reinforced the lower bag bracket. I also pulled the upper arms out and clearanced them so they'd move further up. Most guys just notch them, but I decided to move the line further in and then weld it back together so you can't even tell it's been done. I also ground the frame lower pocket.







I cut out about a 1/2''

[19723DR]

I'm not going to notch the frame for the tie rods, Silver State Customs has some that are bent for this application. I'm leaning toward them. I still have to tub the cab for tire clearence, which leaves me no choice but to move the wiring harness, we'll see what I can figure out there. Right now, the front cross member sits a 1/2" off the ground, that's good enough for me. In the next couple of weekends I'm going to try and get a few more things done, so until next time....

[19723DR]

Last week I ordered the tie rods from Silver Star Customs they arrived Tues. So, I spent Saturday notching the frame for the tie rods, they are not notch-less they are less notch. I also spent some time tubbing the fire wall. I'll be spending some more time on the fire wall and mostly the wiring harness at a later date. Finally got the front end back together enough to roll it out and clean the garage floor. Found why it won't lay out, the trany is still hanging me up. I don't have any other option but to cut the tunnel and raise it up to make more room.

[19723DR]

[19723DR]

[19723DR]

The truck has been sitting for four months with out moving. It's nice to have it rolling again.
Here are some random pics.

[Ru5tyNut5]

diggin' the christmas lights in march ;-) finally just took mine down a few weeks ago.

[19723DR]

Lol, I had totally forgotten about the Christmas lights, been bizzy working on the truck to notice. They are blue and white so I'll keep them up till march madness is over for the Jimmer.

[19723DR]

Picked up a 5 gal air tank today from my friend, Chappy. He's going to make me a bridge out of 1 1/4 tube, I should have that at the end of the week. I also cleaned up the sway bar Sunday and painted it white. Should have a lot more progress this weekend.

[19723DR]

Got the bridge back, looks awesome. Welded that in during the week. I spent some time cutting the front fenders down to fit. Built a battery box so I could have a place to set the battery on so I could start it up and move it around. Yesterday was 70* so I pulled it out and washed it, This morning we had 6'' of snow. This spring's been crazy.

[19723DR]

This weekend I pulled the dash and door panels out of the red cab. I pulled the dash apart and began sanding the texture off. I got some of the pieces primed, but I ran out of primer. Still haven't decided what color I'm going to paint the dash and door panels; leaning towards white with airbrushing. During the week I made some air tank brackets, got them all welded up. I'll post pictures later.

[19723DR]

Today I got off a little early so I spent some time on the '95 dash cluster. After cutting the '93 wiring harness off, I spliced the '95 wiring harness into the newer dash cluster. I'd have to say it's a little intimidating splicing that many wires, I got the conversion specs off another site, that was alot of help. The '95 dash cluster has a lot more wires that aren't reused, but for the most part it went really well.

Here is the wiring diagram if any one else is doing this swap.. On the back of each plug there are small numbers or letters.


93 truck / / Function / / 97 truck
A-brn / / Alternater / / 19- Brn
W-PPL / / Gas / / 16-PPL
R-Drk Grn / / Temp / / 13- DRK Grn
P-Tan / / Oil / / 15-Tan
T-white / / Tach / / 6- white
S-Li Blue / / Blk / / Speed / /14- Drk Green
N,G- Blk / / Ground / / 31, 34- Blk/white
N,G,Q / / GROUND / / 31,34,4
F,O,U / / FUSE / / 22,7
B / / ANTI LOCK / / 27
C / / CHEKENG / / 23
E / / PKBRAKE / / 28
J / / LOWCOOLANT / / ??
L / / LFTTURN / / 3
M / / HIGHBEAM / / 5
V / / ILLUMINATION / / 29
X / / SEATBELT / / 30
Z / / RIGHTTURN / / 32
?? / / DRL / / 17
?? / / SIR / / 1

[69c10stepside]

Glad you did the wiring to switch them around! I was going to do that on mine at one point, but I was going to have to convert over to the drac style from the pre drac wiring I had, and talked myself out of it.

How have you decided to go forward with the steering column?

[19723DR]

Originally Posted by 69c10stepside

Glad you did the wiring to switch them around! I was going to do that on mine at one point, but I was going to have to convert over to the drac style from the pre drac wiring I had, and talked myself out of it.

How have you decided to go forward with the steering column?

That's too bad that the 88-91 can't swap in without the drac. On a good note you get a custom gauge cluster.

I'm going to use the old column. The one from the red cab was missing the plastic surround and I didn't get the key's. That's OK, I'll just make a filler piece to fill the hole.

[69c10stepside]

Needing any dash parts?

[19723DR]

Originally Posted by 69c10stepside

Needing any dash parts?

The only thing I need is a head light switch, so far. Why you've got some parts kicking around?

[19723DR]

next page.