Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[swamp rat]

I never knew such a unit existed, nice to know!

[Vic1947]

Made some progress on my chassis punch list. The PCV catch can is plumbed in with the braided hoses and the exhaust is completely assembled. One of the caps on the O2 sensor bungs galled when I went to remove it which forced me to make a decision about whether to keep the AEM air/fuel gauges in the dash. Originally, I was going to use them for tuning the carb on the Gen I engine, but they're not really needed for the LS setup, so I'm going to skip them.

I reassembled the core support and the radiator / fan shroud assembly to run the trans cooler lines and mock up the air intake. The SS trans lines were for a TH400 and were nowhere near what I needed for the 4L65E. They fit pretty good from the radiator back to the starter. I lopped them off at that point and built the rest from 5/16" SS tubing. Used compression unions to mate the two ends together. The fittings going into the trans gave me the most heartburn. I was unable to find ready made adapters with 1/2-20 female inverted flare on one end and 9/16-18 straight thread on the other. The best one I found has the correct inverted flare with a 5/8-18 thread on the other end. I'll turn it down and re-thread the big end and have exactly what I need. I ordered 10 of them so I'll have extra and see if they sell on eBay.

The Spectre air intake was meant to point toward the driver side, but there's no way it would clear the fan on that side. So I flipped it over and will run it to the passenger side. To make the MAF sensor fit, I had to cut the tube in the middle and rotate the MAF end about 165 degrees then weld it back together. They apparently bright dip the tubes to get the polished look which didn't really take to welding all that much, but I managed. I plan to have the tube hydro-dipped to look like carbon fiber or maybe something else... haven't got that far yet.

No word on the paint. Will call him tomorrow to get a status report.

[Ol Blue K20]

I haven't commented much. But I have been watching. Vic this truck is going to be bad @$$. Your skills amaze me (I'm actually jealous too). Keep up the great work and keep teaching me stuff......

[MMcMasters]

Beautiful work!! Which specter kit do you have?

Mike

[Low Elco]

AH! Dats'a so nice! Gonna be Purdy!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

I haven't commented much. But I have been watching. Vic this truck is going to be bad @$$. Your skills amaze me (I'm actually jealous too). Keep up the great work and keep teaching me stuff......

Thanks, Dale. Hopefully I'm not passing along any of my bad habits.

Originally Posted by MMcMasters

Beautiful work!! Which specter kit do you have?

Hey Mike, I bought the 9908 late model Camaro specific kit and a 45 degree elbow to aim the filter down and to the rear. As you can see, the stock setup is meant to go to the driver side, but the tube hit the electric fan on that side. So I flipped it over to where I had more room. I can't use the air box piece, although it would be nice to isolate the filter from the under hood heat.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

AH! Dats'a so nice! Gonna be Purdy!

Thanks, Chip. I haven't talked to Vern since your jaunt over to KS. Anxious to hear if you did any good!

[Low Elco]

Um, sadly, no. Not as represented, especially at that price. The search continues....

[Xeen]

Vic you can just build your own cold air box for the filter it will be a cake walk compared to the complex stuff you usually fabricate.

[sduckworth13]

Nice work Vic! The E stopp idea looks like a winner. I definitely like the tutorial on YouTube. I'm

[mcbassin]

Looks great Vic! I like the intake tube.

[Vic1947]

Thanks, everyone. I've been doing some work on interior parts. Had to modify the instrument bezel for my turn signals, check engine light and high beam indicator. I also had to do some mill work on the CNC'd piece the gauges fit into to remove the areas where the AEM A/F gauges were originally going to go. Still need to squirt the outer rim of the instrument bezel and the glove box door with high gloss black. We've had rain off and on most of the week, so I've been painting inside the shop... which I dislike. Weekend is supposed to be good though.

I made a trip to the paint shop today. He had the spray out cards done with gloss clear on one and matte clear on the other. Color looks great, so I told him to forge ahead. I also dropped off the intake tube and the CNC'd pieces for the dash. They will hydro-dip them with a carbon fiber pattern.

I could use a bit of advice. I've been researching "tuner" software out on the interweb. It looks like HP Tuners and EFI Live are the two most mentioned packages, with GM Tech 2 and maybe some others available also. The GMPP Connect and Cruise package is supposed to be calibrated to run right out of the box, however, there's at least one parameter I need to change for sure. The pulses/mile output by the TCU isn't compatible with my electronic speedo. Classic Instruments sells an interface box for $121 that will accept the TCU signal and convert it to what the gauge needs. This is by far the least expensive / mentally taxing way to go. However, for a few hundred bucks more, you can buy a setup to DIY.

An alternative would be to haul it to a shop that does custom tunes and have them do it. From what I gather, the custom guys get about as much for a tune as it would cost to buy the DIY setup from HPT or EFILive. The advantage would be that a custom shop would know what they're doing. (hopefully) The word on the GMPP stock tune is that it's very conservative and could benefit from some tweaks. Another potential area of improvement is with shift points, lockup rpm and etc. As you can see, I'm on the fence. The engine is rated at 430 HP which the truck won't hook up anyway, so there's not really any point in boosting it. However, driveability issues are another matter and could only be fixed via tuning.

I don't know how a custom shop would feel if I bought the software and installed it on my laptop, then took it to them for a custom tune. That way, I'd end up with the default parameters, the final tune and all the saved steps in between. Anyone have any experience they would care to share?

[Xeen]

It sounds like the signal converter is the best way to go regardless of what else you decide to do with the computer.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

It sounds like the signal converter is the best way to go regardless of what else you decide to do with the computer.

That could be true since the signal out of the TCU is a sine wave while the speedo functions best with a square wave. The tech at Classic said I might try to use tuning software to modify the TCU output to 16K ppm. Then see if the speedo worked correctly. If not, then I could always get the signal converter. The problem with this stuff is there's all sorts of information floating around the net. I've read guys post that some TCU settings are ghosted out in the tuning software and others claim the TCU is completely locked and requires a pro shop to unlock the functions.

I reckon if you go to a salvage yard and acquire a used ECM, wiring and other components, there are special steps you have to take to make them play together... maybe even to the point of buying a donor VIN off eBay or elsewhere. But for a noob, the sheer volume of conflicting info sure complicates the decision process.

[Vic1947]

With the cab/doors in paint shop limbo, I made a quick trip to Sedalia today to drop off all the parts I need to have powder coated. Should be ready sometime next week. When I got back, I figured I'd mock up the aftermarket headlights to see how they'd fit the buckets.

I got these lights in order to delete the stock turn signals. They have LED's built into the housing that function as both park lights and turn signals. Having done a similar mod on my 57 Ford, I knew I'd have to rework the buckets most likely. On the Ford, I had to relocate the notches where the light fit, but other than that, there wasn't much else. The current setup will require quite a bit more it looks like.

The new lamp was a long way from fitting into the bucket, so the first thing I did was to open up the rear of the bucket to allow more room for the large diameter socket that houses the halogen bulb. (Red arrow) That allowed the lamp to fit a little further into the bucket, but it's still about 3/16" from being seated all the way. Luckily, the locating notches in the buckets line up with the tabs cast into the lamps. But I still need to sink the lamp further into the bucket.

The bucket seats against the core support on three ribs (e.g. orange arrow) so I need to keep that part of the bucket. It looks like the best way to open up the bucket and get the lamp where it needs to be is to cut the outer ring off (at the yellow arrow) and replace the tapered section that's hitting the lamp with a custom piece with more clearance. Stay tuned...

[Vic1947]

After taking a fresh look at the headlamp fitment issue this morning, I decided to take a less drastic approach than I'd planned yesterday. The most obvious problem was the LED section on the back of the headlamp. It was hard up against the back of the bucket which was keeping the tabs on the back of the light from fitting into the locating notches.

I took these steps to make the lens fit. 1) I used a Dremel tool to cut a window for the LED section to fit into. 2) Also sliced from the window to the adjacent notch. 3) With pliers and a small hammer and dolly, I worked the area around the rim of the bucket to give it more clearance so the headlamp would drop further into the bucket. 4) Still had to lengthen the circumference slightly to get it all to fit. Did this by cutting the loose section close to the notch, opening up a small gap, then welding it back together.

The stainless rings that hold the headlamps into the buckets fit great now. Don't get me wrong, I had to tweak the buckets quite a bit to get everything to play nice together, but patience pays off. The first one fit really well right away, although I made a couple of cuts I didn't need and had to weld and grind them. Figured the second one would be a piece of cake, but it gave me more grief than the first. But they're all done except for painting which I'll do after finishing up my break time on the forum.

[Ol Blue K20]

Awesome job Vic, those are gonna look great.

[Vic1947]

The cab and doors have now been at the paint shop for over a month. Nothing to report progress-wise. I called him on Friday, but he sent the call straight to voicemail so I left a message asking for a status report. Never called back, so it's looking sort of grim. Unless he has some good news for me Monday, I may have to go pick up the parts and start over elsewhere. Disappointing to say the least.

Meanwhile, I decided to paint what I could in the shop. Laid down a couple of coats of white sealer on the bumpers, inner fenders and miscellaneous other parts. Shot the basecoat in Millennium Silver and then applied Matrix Matte Clear over it. The tech sheet recommended two wet coats with 10-15 min. flash time. The result had a bit more gloss than I was expecting... more satin than flat, but it looks pretty good. I laid the spray out cards with the body color up against them and it should look really nice. The body color has quite a bit of flop to it, and from some angles it almost matches the bumpers.

I went ahead and ordered the tach box from Classic Instruments to convert the VSS signal to what the electronic speedo needs. I've decided to skip any tuning software at the moment. We'll see how the GMPP tune works out of the box. If there are any issues, I'll address them down the road. BeDeeBeDeeBeDee... that's all, folks!

[Bennett68C10]

Looks great Vic, I like that color! Dig the new headlights too.

[Low Elco]

Wow, the bumpers pop! Sorry about the paint shop. I'd give you a couple names, but they're swamped.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks great.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Looks great Vic, I like that color! Dig the new headlights too.

Thanks, Keith!

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Wow, the bumpers pop! Sorry about the paint shop. I'd give you a couple names, but they're swamped.

Thanks, Chip, it's the thought that counts. The good news is that I spoke to the shop this morning and they have color and a coat of clear on the cab and doors. Getting ready to sand the nibs and lay down the final coats of clear. The cab might actually be ready to pick up by the end of this week which would help me out quite a bit.

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looks great.

Thanks! Hopefully the matte silver works with the overall color I picked. Shop says it looks a bit more green than the spray out cards did, but that may be partly due to their fluorescent lighting.

Stay tuned...

[Low Elco]

great news!

[Vic1947]

Assembled the rear license filler panel and installed a flip down license holder so I can insert the ball mount into the receiver. Had to machine a little off the trim piece that goes around the plate, but it fits like socks on a rooster now. Kathy's already planning an RV trip for next year.

Also taped off the inner fenders and sprayed 3M Body Schutz on the undersides. At 95 degrees and 50% stupidity outside, it didn't take but a few minutes for it to dry to a nice finish. When I get the cab back, I plan to use the same stuff on the underside of the floorpan.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

At 95 degrees and 50% stupidity outside.

I got a good laugh out of that.

The bumper looks great painted, as I thought it would.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Assembled the rear license filler panel and installed a flip down license holder so I can insert the ball mount into the receiver. Had to machine a little off the trim piece that goes around the plate, but it fits like socks on a rooster now. Kathy's already planning an RV trip for next year.

Also taped off the inner fenders and sprayed 3M Body Schutz on the undersides. At 95 degrees and 50% stupidity outside, it didn't take but a few minutes for it to dry to a nice finish. When I get the cab back, I plan to use the same stuff on the underside of the floorpan.

lol: I thought I was the only one to use "fits like socks on a rooster" .