Working Man's Burbon

[notchbackgta]

Definitely going to do something like that when I get back around to it later

[HO455]

Its not a flashy modification, but I'm happy with the results.

[HO455]

Pulled the old dash harness out and put my brand new one in. Everything worked with the old one except the amp meter, but the fuse holders were rusty. And the highbeam switch plug was missing and the wires had been spliced. Of course I found a few surprises along the way. The ignition switch plug was melted and the amp meter feed was broken and the ends were sort of twisted together. And the heater harness had been repaired at some point with smaller guage wire and a fuse holder that has been overheating. The new harness plugged right in and worked. The only question I had was on the light switch the old one had a purple wire on its own pin and the new one had two browns on a different pin. The the gent I talked to at American Autowire said that the last revision from GM was that way. So no problem it all works as it is supposed to. The other surprise was the how much the previous owner hacked the gauge panel up to install the Vette column that was in the Burban when I got it.

[HO455]

More photos of the removal of the old harness. Most of these pictures were taken through the dash with the guages removed. I hope my crude labels work for everyone. The biggest issue I had with the job was hooking the oil pressure line back up to the guage. It must have taken me thirty minutes to get it hooked back up. I just could not get the threads to start. I took all the switches out and buffed the contacts up with a small wire brush then treated both ends of the connection with Corrosion Block before installing the new plug and wiring. The connector pins in the engine harness plug were the most difficult to clean up. There were some green ones that took special care. Hopefully I can get the engine harness to last for another year.

[HO455]

I did some Por15 touch up on the floorpan and laid down some B-quite Ultimate damping material. Went full coverage from the firewall to behind the second row seat. The PO had some heavy felt(3/8") under the carpeting. Well, actually they had some 1/8" white foam on top of the factory tar mat, and on top of that what I think was the original rubber floor mat and the felt on top of that, with carpeting over that. Going back with the felt over the damping and then the carpeting. The carpeting is a little rough in places mostly due to poor installation. Having 1 1/2 square holes for 5/16" bolts seems a little excessive to me. The second row seat bolts are all stripped out as are one of the front seat bolts. I can see the rear as it may have been removed numerous times the the from one? Once the carpeting was in I installed my new front seat belts. They are retractable shoulder harnesses from buckleup.net. A fairly straightforward installation. Bolt a L bracket to the original spot by the door and then bolt the retractor and the other end to the L bracket. My only grief is they don't include the bolt for the top of the shoulder harness. It is a 7/16"-20 bolt which I believe is a common seatbelt fastener. So for now I have some temporary bolts until I source the correct ones. I won't be driving it until I get the seats bolted down. I also noticed that the rod (?) that connects the seat adjustment lever on the driver side to the slider on the passenger side is gone. Anyone know what goes there???

[HO455]

There was one additional issue with the belts. The L brackets are powder coated but the shoulder bolts that fastens them to the floor won't fit in the hole. The coating has to be scraped out of the inside of the bottom hole so the shoulder on the bolt will fit inside it. Hopefully that will be all of the problems. I still have to bolt the other end down and start using them to be sure

[HO455]

This post is the first one of the electrical upgrades I am doing. I purchased a delay wiper upgrade from Revolution Electronics. http://www.revolutionelectronics.com...-wiper-module/
I went with their unit as it is a plug in box that uses the stock wiper switch with no modifications. I also ordered their fuel pump controller. This is a big jump of faith for me to get two items from a company I have never personally dealt with before. So here we go.
I made a plate to mount both of the controllers and secured it under the dash just above the vent. The wiring for the wiper box is really simple especially with the photos they have on the web site. (They have a section just for our trucks) The only problem is the wires coming out of the controller are too short. It might of been possible to mount the box direct behind the wiper switch on its own bracket but I didn't want to pull my gauges out just to find out that I couldn't get my drill in position to drill the necessary holes. (I didn't want to drill through the firewall into the cowl area. No sense in providing a new spot for rust to get started.) The solution to the short wires was made easier for me to solve as I still had the old dash harness. I cut the wiper switch plug off of the old harness with about 8" of wire and soldered it to the leads from the controller which made it real clean to hook up to the switch. Three other wires plug into the wiper switch plug on the dash harness. They plugged in firmly and they probably didn't needed it, but I taped them to the plug anyway. I hooked the 12 volt positive (red wires) from both controllers together and plugged them into the radio spot on the fuse panel. The wiper controller worked perfectly when powered up. It isn't the most intuitive operation to select the wiper speed. But I think once I get to using it it will become second nature. You can see how it works on their web site where they have a video posted.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by HO455

I also noticed that the rod (?) that connects the seat adjustment lever on the driver side to the slider on the passenger side is gone. Anyone know what goes there???

I will check when I get back home but I think I have an old set of seat brackets with the adjuster rod still connected, if you need parts let me know. The rod is long enough I would probably bend in a loose 180 to get the box size down

Richard

[HO455]

Thanks for the generous offer Richard, but this time I will pass as I still have the unrestored bucket seat/console set up from the Blazer I plan on installing. I will cobble up something to get through the short term. This just one of several issues the seat has at this point. Thanks again and I hope you had a good Thanksgiving day.

[notchbackgta]

Originally Posted by HO455

I also noticed that the rod (?) that connects the seat adjustment lever on the driver side to the slider on the passenger side is gone. Anyone know what goes there???

From what I have seen, it is just a heavy gauge steel wire with a spring wound in the center. I had part of it? I think and I just used some stainless safety wire and doubled it up and hooked it to the levers and the spring, just an idea

[HO455]

Originally Posted by notchbackgta

From what I have seen, it is just a heavy gauge steel wire with a spring wound in the center. I had part of it? I think and I just used some stainless safety wire and doubled it up and hooked it to the levers and the spring, just an idea

I couldn't find any of the steel rod/wire so I used your idea and doubled up some mechanic's wire instead. I had to make a clamp and spring for the driver's side end, so the lever would return and I would have a place to hook the wire to. My factory parts are missing. It is kind of cobbled up but it will work for the short term.
Thanks for the reply