Working Man's Burbon

[Average Joe]

Nice work as always!

Thanks for posting the sending unit readings! I need to diagnose my non working fuel guage one of these years. Lol

[HO455]

Thanks again Joe! Good luck on your fuel gauge. But be careful those new fangled convenience's are addictive.

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by HO455

Thanks again Joe! Good luck on your fuel gauge. But be careful those new fangled convenience's are addictive.

Lmmfao!!

People are baffled when i tell them ive owned it for 9 years and still havnt bothered to fix it! Doesnt really bother me though. I just keep a notebook with my milage written on it. What can be confusing to some is the 1.25 correction factor on figuring out the actual mpg. Trans still has a 4.1 speedo gear in it while i now have 3.07's. Someday ill sort that out too.

[HO455]

The engine is back together and running good. I put about 25 miles on it today and it runs nice and smooth. I spent some time filing the header gasket flanges (Now it dawns on me that I should have gotten before and after photos.) and it seems to have made a difference as the engine is really quiet inside. I must have had some small leaks that weren't bad enough to be annoying but definitely added to the engine noise in the cab. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator (It was pretty much just unbolt the old one and put the new one in its place) and now at idle with the radio off the you can hear the fuel passing through the regulator as it cycles. I may have to mount it on some kind of sound dampener. I have checked the fuel pressure 3 times now and it is the same every time! I tore the old regulator apart and it looked as if the diaphragm was leaking past.
It took what seemed like forever for the oil to finally finsh burning out of the exhaust. I was starting to wonder if I had another problem. But it all seems good at this point. I felt so confident I took the the better half out to dinner in it.

[HO455]

The WMB let me down today!
I was about 1/8 mile from work and it just died. I was able to coast off the highway and sort of parked in the clear at the Army Corp of Engineers drive way. I called and told the folks at work I was going to be a little late and one of them was nice and came to get me so I didn't have to cut through the blackberrys to keep from walking on the highway.
I rounded up a few tools at lunch and shortly I discovered that the ignition power wired had broken off at the junction block on the fire wall. Fortunately I had enough foresight to bring a piece of wire and some connectors. I made a jumper lead to go from the battery positive to the BAT terminal on the HEI and when I touched the starter it jumped to life. It was good enough to get back to work and then home this evening. Looks like I will be doing some wiring on Saturday.

After some thought I have decided that I am as much to blame for this as the PO. He had the cut the ballast wire off about two inches from the connector and crimped a big yellow butt connector to the ballast wire and the new wire he ran to the HEI. I removed the connector and solderer the wires and covered then in heat shrink I failed to inspect the wire at the pin to see if it was damaged by the butt connector bouncing up and down. Which in hindsight it had been.

[Ol Blue K20]

I commend you on your patience. I would of been cussing a lot!!!

[HO455]

I didn't get any pictures of when I stabbed my finger with the pick and cursed till a blue cloud formed around my head. Sorry.

[LockDoc]

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That tar stuff is terrible to work with. I de-pinned a complete connector a while back and it took me forever.

LockDoc

[HO455]

I'm just glad I didn't have to sit on the assembly line back in the day and smeer that stuff on connectors all day long.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by HO455

I'm just glad I didn't have to sit on the assembly line back in the day and smeer that stuff on connectors all day long.

Oh yeah

[crakarjax]

I'd put some silicone lube on the seal to prevent it from bunching up. Went through the same hassle with my cap!

[HO455]

Originally Posted by crakarjax

I'd put some silicone lube on the seal to prevent it from bunching up. Went through the same hassle with my cap!

Good idea! Now where did I put that can?

[HO455]

As promised the cap with gasket removed. It certainly looks like a plate could be missing.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by HO455

As promised the cap with gasket removed. It certainly looks like a plate could be missing.

OK, I see now. What my arrow is pointing to is actually part of the casting. Most caps have a flat brass plate in there that backs up the gasket and makes it seal. If you have a stock cap pull the rubber seal back with your fingernail and you will see what I am talking about.

LockDoc

[HO455]

I found a stock cap to look at and I see the brass backer. I will get some shim stock and make one for mine and maybe glue the gasket to it in the hope that the brass will slide on the casting and the gasket won't have to slide on the filler neck thus solving the problem with the gasket deformity.

[HO455]

I have been living with air leaks since I got the WMB on the road. My hope was that the leaks would get worse and thus easier to locate. Which to a certain extent has worked out. The rear bags work just fine and will stay up for days. The fronts however leak down in about 4 hours. Which wasn't unbearable, but now the tank has started leaking down at the same basic rate.
I backed the truck up to the garage and connected the shop compressor to the truck's air tank and bumped everything up to 150 psi and dove underneath with my bottle of leak check. After an hour the only thing I came up with is that it seemed like air was leaking past the check valve and out the compressor intake. So I dashed down the hill to Grainger and got a new check valve. Installing that caused to the swivel fitting next to the original check valve to get all loose and start leaking. So I pulled that off and used a bolt, punch and a vise to hold the bolt so I could smack the punch and get the swivel to quit leaking. The downside of smashing the center together tighter is it doesn't swivel very well anymore, but seems to hold the air in. (See picture 1. Vice not shown). Now things are looking pretty good there. (Photo 2)
But none of this has anything to do with the front end dropping. It donned on me that the only place I had not checked for leaks were the new guages I had installed. Since I had ordered a set of guage angle adapters awhile back it decided to install those and to swap the guages to see if the problem followed the guage. I didn't get photos of the adapter installation but it was pretty straightforward. I just had to cut the back hold down straps to different lengths and grind out some clearance for the light bulb holders. The directions were not much help in that they only addressed setting up the adapter at 90 degree locations (like north south east west) where I wanted them halfway between east and south. (I hope that makes sense) (Photo #3 before & #4 after. Photo #5 is the guage angle set from Auto Meter). So guages swapped, and the tank aired up it's time for lunch and some sanding on the bookcases I'm building to keep peace in the house. 3 hours later I walk out to check things out and even before I get to the truck I can tell the rear bags are down. Sure enough the rears have bled down 20 psi. All this time it has been a leaking guage. I had discounted the guage as the problem as it was #1 new and #2 I didn't think both sides of the guage would be leaking (dual needle guages) down. I called Air Lift hopefully for some kind of warranty help. After a short conversation about the leaking since installed and why it took so long to figure out the guage was bad they said no problem and they would ship me a replacement guage. Hooray!
It also appears that the check valve has stopped the air tank from bleeding down. So things have improved here today. When the new guage arrives I will post some photos on the guage hold down straps.

[LockDoc]

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It seems like it just goes from one thing to another...... Glad you are getting a handle on everything though.

LockDoc

[HO455]

The weather was nice yesterday and I had some free time so I drove the WMB down to Salem. Its about an hour drive the traffic was good and was an nice drive. I had decided to visit the dealership the truck where had been sold when it was a shiny new model. I had looked up the address (photo 1) from the owners manual on the web and it looked like it was still there. I thought it would be cool to get pictures of the WMB next to the building if possible. Driving into Salem I passed the current version of Capital Chevrolet. If I could get a picture of the old building I would stop and get one of the current one too.
I found the address and got lucky enough to park next to the address number on the building. (Photo 2 circled) I had to get the pictures from across the street. Having to wait for the traffic to clear between the traffic lights turned this into about a 45 minute photo shoot. I don't know for sure but it looks to me as if the dealership was likely the whole block at some point. The address being in the middle of the block may have been the original location and as the business grew they took over the adjacent properties and built new buildings. (Photo 3 & 4)

[HO455]

The cool Art Deco corner building likely has had a window replacement at some point. I can imagine it with larger windows with new Chevrolets and Cadillacs inside. The double doors just in front of the WMB certainly look to have once been a door to roll cars in and out of the building. (Photo 2) Up close you can see they have been awkwardly converted to the double doors.

I did stop on the way back home and took some photos of the new location but it is no where as interesting to look at. Just another cheap box with windows. After I had parked the truck and was I was walking out to get the pictures a 20 something salesman came out and wanted to talk. When I said I just wanted to a picture of my truck at its dealership. He said "Oh". Then he turned around and as he was walking away staring at his phone he said " That must have been a long time ago". I just the pictures and left.

I hope this wasn't too boring.
And thank you everyone for looking. I find it hard to believe that there has been 40k visits to the thread.

To all. Best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR !

[Average Joe]

15 mpg is pretty darn good. Especially with 3.73's and no overdrive.

I think you will really like the new seats. I love the seats in mine. They were from a '04 Silverado. Way more comfortable than the worn out bench seat they replaced plus integrated shoulder belts. Nice score!

[HO455]

I'm hoping the seats work out. I had back surgery about five years ago and since I have found that some seats get painful on any kind of trip over 30 minutes. My S10 and our old Lexus were bad. I had a Camery rental earlier this year that was good and amazingly the bench seat in the WMB doesn't bother me. The lack of a head rest and constantly having to wedge myself in around corners does bother me. So the plan is to bolt them in and try them for a while before deciding if they are keepers.

Around town I get 11.5 mpg and didn't expect much difference from that so I am pleasantly surprised. I'm sure that there is more to be had with some work. The 3.07's were nice on the highway but I reallllllly like the driving around town with the 3.73's. Now I just need to make up my mind whether to go with a Gear Vendors or a 700r4.

[HO455]

Finally got all the pieces together to replace the compressor. First off the power lead had to be replaced as it was only 12 guage wire. The new compressor called for 8 guage wire for the 18 foot run from the battery. Biggest challenge to do this is replacing the wires that currently go to the control relays. The compressor is rated at 23 amps max load. The relays are rated for 30 amp loads but to the leads coming from the relay connectors are only 12 AWG. So to prevent voltage drop at the compressor it is best to upsize all the wiring. My compressor circuit starts at the factory power lug on the front fender then goes to a 20 amp circuit breaker ( auto resetting). Then to the power supply relay next to it. (1st photo, relay on the left.) The power supply relay controls the power to a second relay at the compressor. The power supply relay is operated by a signal that comes from the fuel pump controller (Revolution Electronics). This prevents the compressor from operating when the engine is shut off. (The PO had a fuse under the hood to do this. Pull the fuse every time you park for the night. ). Once the power supply relay is pulled in power is supplied to the compressor control relay. This relay is controlled by the pressure switch at the tank and starts and stops the compressor as needed (on 110 psi, off 125 psi).
Now connecting an 8AWG wire to the relay is not a plug and play operation. Here is how I did it. After removing the lug from the relay connector body, cut it about 1 1/8" from the lug and strip the insulation. Carefully open the first clamp on the lug. The one that secures the insulation to the lug. Set that aside and strip about 5/8" of insulation from the new wire you are replacing the old lead with. Then divide the strands into two sections. The first section will be smaller than the other as it will replace the insulation in the clamp you opened up. The other section gets trimmed back 3/16 of an inch and folded back for now. Place the first section in the clamp and close the clamp down on the strands. (See photo 2). Then solder those strands to the clamp. Let that cool completely. Then realign all the strands of the new wire and wrap the previously stripped strands, that are secured in the second clamp of the lug, around the new wire. (Photo 3). Then solder the two together (Photo 4). After it cools completely heat shrink and reinsert the lug back into the connector body. Be aware of the connector body's size and make adjustments to the size of your connection before soldering so it will click back into the body of the connector. If you are concerned about getting it to fit make a trial run to see if you will have a problem. In my project the total amp draw is not the issue but preventing voltage drop at the compressor causing it to run slow and hotter is the goal. I would not do this type of connection if the amp load was near the limit of any of the components.
Once all the lugs were upgraded I installed some chaffing protection on the wires where they ran between the fender and fender well from the relay area to the frame. (Photo 5)

[HO455]

Swapping the physical compressor was straight forward. Drop the old one. ( Photo 1) Drill new holes in the mount and bolt back in place. Once it was in place the old 1/4" fittings at the tank had to be removed and replaced with 3/8" fittings. Bigger is better, right?
Just before this little project kicked off I discovered two other issues.
One was the external line hook up would leak past the shut off valve and past the female connection. So a new valve was installed. (Photo 2)
Two was there was no over pressurization protection. I also wanted to install a water trap in the supply line to the controls. Ideally I would have liked to put the water trap a little farther away from the tank but the water trap I ordered (Link below) has no provision for a mounting bracket. So it had to hang off the piping from the tank and the new 150 psi pop off valve shared the tee. (Photo 3).
The last photo shows the new compressor. (Viair 485C) I am quite happy with it although at initial start up I thought it was going to be much noisier than the old one. It actually seems no louder than the old one. I do notice the lights flicker when it starts up. I can actually watch the guage and see the needle move.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Air-Lift/022/21012/10002/-1

[Average Joe]

Great write up as always!

At one time I considered going full air ride on mine. However, after reading your experiences and others, I think I will keep my current set up. I admire your tenacity and ability to make things work right.

[Advanced Design]

Ugh...hate to see that. Hopefully the resolution will go smoothly.