Project: Rufus Restoration

[Rusbuilt]

give me a shout or text. 865-964-1625

[sstaten69]

looks very nice my son and i hope his truck will look half this good...

[Low Elco]

Maaaan, that's nice! Great work!

[shearjs]

Originally Posted by sstaten69

looks very nice my son and i hope his truck will look half this good...

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Maaaan, that's nice! Great work!

Thanks guys. It's been a long time coming. I still have a little wiring to do on my gauges and stereo. Everything else should be drivable at this point though!

[shearjs]

I finally had a chance to put a handful of miles on the old girl this weekend! I drove around 20 miles or so without any hiccups. After lengthening the brake push rod by one turn, the pedal feel is finally where it needs to be. All of the gauges are finally wired and working properly. Stereo is wired and installed. We did run into a small issue with the Lokar cable shifter setup we were using. The cable broke at the threads where it connects to the tranny. I've ordered a new Kugel shift arm setup to replace that mess and get it back on the road. Still a few bugs to get out, but this has been a major milestone! The ride quality is a lot better than I was expecting. She rides smooth!

[Rusbuilt]

Awesome!! I am glad you got some road time in!

[shearjs]

It looks like we've hit a bit of a road block. The signal from the accelerator pedal is getting lost intermittently somewhere between the pedal and the throttle body. Looks like there's more troubleshooting to do. Tried replacing the throttlebody to see if the sensor there was the culprit. No luck. Hopefully it's nothing major.

[shearjs]

We had a guy come by this past weekend to go through things and do some troubleshooting. He works for the local dealership, and knows a little more about troubleshooting than we do. Overall, we ended up leaving all the new parts on, throttle body, pedal sensor, wiring from pedal to TAC. The pedal was working OK, but still a little sporadic at times, but the engine was running terrible. The fans weren't kicking on like they should, and it turns out the coolant temp in the ECM wasn't matching the coolant temp on the dash gauges. After several hours of tracing wires and clearing codes, he determined that there was a ground wire that we had grounded to the firewall, that wasn't getting a good ground, and should have been grounded to the engine. The other suggestion was a faulty engine coolant temp sender in the driver side head. I had an old 5.3 on the engine stand, so we swapped the coolant temp sender to the 6.0 in the truck. Seems to have done the trick. Truck is running smooth, electric fans are kicking on when they should, and we now have the accelerator back. Time for some more shakedown miles!
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[mcbassin]

Awesome transformation from when you guys started on this build. You got it done in quick order. Thanks for the heads up about the grounding issue on your wiring. I will double check all my grounds before I button mine up. Subscribed....

[sduckworth13]

Awesome, glad you got it running right.

[shearjs]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Awesome transformation from when you guys started on this build. You got it done in quick order. Thanks for the heads up about the grounding issue on your wiring. I will double check all my grounds before I button mine up. Subscribed....

Thanks Mike. Your truck sure has come a long way. You've been killing that body work. Can't wait to see how it looks with some red on it.

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Awesome, glad you got it running right.

Thanks bud. It sure is a relief to get it running right. Your truck is looking great with those sweet new PB suspension parts.

[Rusbuilt]

Glad you got your issues worked out friend!

[shearjs]

Originally Posted by Rusbuilt

Glad you got your issues worked out friend!

Thanks Rus. It looks like I'm finally get the truck to Nashville this weekend. Hopefully we'll have at least a few more good weather days and I can get the truck out and swing by the shop.

[shearjs]

The ol girl finally came home to TN this weekend. I met my dad halfway between our house and his shop and picked up the truck. It was about 180 mile road trip, and everything seemed to go as planned. I put an additional 100 or so miles on it on Sunday. The LS is running great, and the instant torque of the 6.0L is much better than I ever expected it to be. I've been looking forward to this moment for a long time now.

[Rusbuilt]

Nice!! Jason your truck is slick! I love it!

[shearjs]

Originally Posted by Rusbuilt

Nice!! Jason your truck is slick! I love it!

Thanks bud. I'm really happy with the way things turned out. I know I've talked about coming by a dozen times, but I'm still planning on swinging by, hopefully in the truck, as soon as the schedule allows.

[shearjs]

It was a good weekend to put a few miles on the old girl. I've been throwing around the idea of a ring and pinion swap and posi install over the winter. I just haven't decided if I'm ambitious enough to try it myself or not. I also need to adjust on my doors a little. After putting the door rubbers on from GMC Paul's, my doors have to be slammed to get them to fully shut.

[Mr Chevorlet]

Very beautiful truck and nice job on the build.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by shearjs

It was a good weekend to put a few miles on the old girl. I've been throwing around the idea of a ring and pinion swap and posi install over the winter. I just haven't decided if I'm ambitious enough to try it myself or not. I also need to adjust on my doors a little. After putting the door rubbers on from GMC Paul's, my doors have to be slammed to get them to fully shut.

That's cool you are getting to enjoy the fruit of all you hard labor.
I have read about the new door seals causing trouble.

[Rusbuilt]

Truck looks good Jason and it was nice meeting you in person today! Good luck tomorrow sir!

[JRANGER]

Certainly looks nice

[Rusbuilt]

Soooo. is there a little one yet?

[shearjs]

Originally Posted by Rusbuilt

Soooo. is there a little one yet?

Yes sir! Harper arrived at 12-4-13.

[Rusbuilt]

Congrats bro! Look at all that hair!!

[sduckworth13]

Cool man, congrats on the little one.