85 CUCV Build

[48cj2a]

Been lurking a little while and made a few posts to other threads but thought it was time to start my own thread.

Purchased 1985 CUCV M1009 (Blazer) with 48K from my local Police Dept. They procured it from Ft Carson, CO so there is very little rust and it is in excellant condtion. They swapped the 6.2 with another they already had that was hydrolocked and then rattled.

I've been searching for a donor vehicle (Suburban, Blazer or Pickup) as I don't know what if anything is missing.

I've was hoping for a Silverado packaged truck for A/C, Cruise, P/L, P/W and possibly exceptable door panels and seats w/console.

Everything in Cental Illinois within 150mile range has been way overpriced so the look continues.

Pulled the 6.2 yesterday and got it on an engine stand. My concerns were correct as a few wires were cut on the engine swap.

I will pull off oil pan first, what else should I look at or look for from the hydrolock diagnosis?

[STOCKISH]

Cool truck man. Stick a Cummins in that thing and rock! Cant wait to see more pics.

[48cj2a]

Still looking for a donor vehicle for engine.

Went to the Pick a pull last Friday, scored a good 87 tilt with cruise and intermittent wiper module for $60 came with keys so pulled the door locks as well.

Also grabbed the dual head lamp harness and turn signal lenses out of the broken grill, the fender Silverado emblems for a theme idea, the dash Chevrolet emblem and a/c vents and ducts above the glove box (trim piece has broken)

Thinking about going back for the p/w, p/l pieces but the harness looked like a bear to pull. Also would like to grab the dash speakers w/wiring and brackets. The cab corner ones were already gone.

[48cj2a]

Craigslist local score today off an 88 Blazer...

Complete firewall A/C box both inside and outsides with controls and wiring plus inner ductwork. Still need the radiator side condensor

Both front door panels, P/W regulators & P/L actuators plus all wiring and relays (man that relay was a bugger to get loose)

Rear tailgate P/W regulator and all wiring from the dash switch to the gate (frame mount wire clamp was also a bugger)

Both Buckets and rear seat

Spare tire

Need some Blue and Pink fuse box ends for the P/W wiring, broke the clips removing them.

All for $150 and some sweat work.

[nbpro]

good score more pics.

[PRattenbury]

Find a 97 or 98 Dodge Ram 2500 with a 5 speed manual trans. Snag the Cummins and the tranny. Give it a South Bend clutch and fix the fifth gear nut, and you'll have an engine and drivetrain that'll last a long time.

[48cj2a]

Have not posted since my Birthday in Sept on my CUCV Build but can finally say we are back on...

In the mean time I pulled the motor and got it on a stand to assess/diagnose the problem:



Had been looking for a donor in the mean time.

Scored an 87 CCLB on local CL with a replacment 6.2 Target engine, sounds like it runs good so bought it and they delivered it for fuel money yesterday.



I started a little body disassembly Sunday afternoon, getting one fender and inner fenders well off and the other one tonight. The DLS time is killing me with only about an hour of daylight after work.

Hope to get the radiator drained and the core support off tomorrow and get a good look for any thing I need to address before swapping into the CUCV.

Did find a fuel leak that ended up being a broken injector return line so swapped a good one from the old engine.

Hopefully when done I can part out or sell what's left and recoupe some of it back.

[48cj2a]

Got the rad drained, disconnected the rad and heater hoses, oil and tranny lines, wiring harness, and have the core support loose but got to dark so hopefully tomorrow and pull it.

Also learned it is an emission free J Code 6.2 so thats another plus.

[TheWhiteElephant]

nice! Yeah, daylight savings is affecting me, too. Have to pull out the shop lights!

[48cj2a]

Just about ready to break out the tripod halogens...Do have a 4 day weekend next week so depending upon what I get done this weekend, I should make some good progress.

[48cj2a]

Made some real progress today.

Took most of the day but got the engine and tranny pulled together from the Crew Cab. Instead of fighting the motor mounts I unbolted the frame mounts and tranny mount, disonnected the exhaust, driveshaft, spdo cable, and shift linkage and it came out with a little persuading. Found another of the 101 uses for the Hi-Lift Jack...





Had a large can of oven cleaner I've been saving for no reason and emptied it on both. After the clean up and separating the tranny Its now on the engine stand to evaluate anything I need to transfer over from the original engine.





After getting the engine removed and looking over the firewall cover, I'm going to try and use it as well. Might give a decibel of noise reduction.

[48cj2a]

Fought the reinstall of the 6.2 for a couple hours yesterday trying to get the tranny bolts to line up so today I started off the moring pulling the dash pad, speaker, cluster, wiring harness, firewall covers, wiper motor, and stainless gutters on the donor Crew Cab. All went relatively well.

Then spent a couple more hours after on the 6.2 and decided to just pull the front clip on the CUCV.

It was a real pain with the bumper and brush guard on but I did get it off. I think I will probably take the fenders off when I reinstall it.

After I got the clip off the 6.2 seamed to go in a lot smoother and I got all bolts started and even was able to persuade the dipstick into place to catch the upper bolt and the starter shield to catch its correct bolt just at it got dark tonight.

I will say the upper two bolts started pretty easy from the top since I was not fighting a HEI distrib for clearance.

Hope to get them tightened down tomorrow and begin getting everthing else hooked up.

[48cj2a]

Made better progress today...used the pry bar under the manifolds and was able to get the motor mount bolts in on both sides with a little frustration.

Got all the tranny bolts tightened down, center firewall pad mounted, p/s pump mounted, and the wire to the gas tank fished through the flexible conduit and connected, before having to stop and go for the annual quest for the Christmas Tree.

At least it was sunny but in the 30s versus last year with foot of snow on the ground.

Didn't get as much done as I hopped for my 4 day weekend but further then I was a week ago for sure.

[thirdstreettito]

Nice build! Good progress! It's great to see someone reusing a 6.2 and not swapping in a gasser!

[48cj2a]

Thanks!

Hey send up some of that Florida weather so I can get back on it.

Expecting 4-6 inches tomorrow;(

[thirdstreettito]

Originally Posted by 48cj2a

Thanks!

Hey send up some of that Florida weather so I can get back on it.

Expecting 4-6 inches tomorrow;(

Im in NC right now, it has snowed twice in the last 1 1/2 weeks, but nothing has stuck! We need sticky snow!

[48cj2a]

Finally getting some decent weather again so spent a few hours Saturday and all day Sunday working on the CUCV.

Not getting 12v to the Alt and Glow Plug Relay for some reason. Dropped the starter to check the fusable links on the starter harness. Traced the wire to GP relay and is all good as is the wire to the Alt. Ran a separate 6 gauge wire from the battery to the GP relay it is getting fire. Took a few cycles to get it started and all the fuel lines purged but she took off after that and seems to run pretty good.

Disassembled the front clip and got the radiator support and passenger fender mounted. installed the Crew Cabs wiring harness in the dash and got the tilt column installed.

[madcow75]

Seen the picture above 2 crewcabs. man hard to even find 1 around here never mind a descent 1. I am jelous!!! My crewcab drip railsdown is in perfect shape for around here but drip rails up is shot but I do have a donor roof that is in good shape. The lower part of that truck was shot. takin 2 cabs to make one good cab. I wish I could find a rust free cab around here.

[joe231]

any new progress?

[48cj2a]

Update:

5-14-11

I swapped in the crew cabs interrior dash harness and all the gauges work but the low water is staying on.

Installed the tilt wheel.

Ordered and received some red LEDs from superbrightleds.com to bulb the cluster and heater back lighting. I've seen some builds on cleanup, painting the cluster housing and may end up doing that (left mine stock light blue) as I'm not getting the results I'd hoped and heard from others who did it with redoing it.

Need to install the cigar lighter socket in the ash tray still and try to get the dome lamp fished (the CUCV does not have a dome lamp and has a plate tacked over the hole)

[48cj2a]

Update:

6-5-11

Weather is getting real nice and I'm finally catching up with other things so I can get back on this.

I have about a quarter play in the steering wheel from side to side so need to figure that out and hopefully close up the dash in the next few weeks, and take a test drive.

Anyone have any ideas on the low water lamp. I have not ohmed out the wire but rad is full and the wire is plugged into the sensor on the tank below the fill cap.

[48cj2a]

Update:

6-6-11

Looking for all of the cruise parts for a 6.2...

I forgot to mention I was able to sell the 2wd Crew Cab locally on CL after keeping a few items. If you see my parting a 6.2 ad you will also see that I've been able to part a few items from the pulled CUCV motor so I'm actually at almost a $100 in the black from the donor truck purchase to gain the replacement engine.

The donor truck supplied 12V engine harness, dash harness, gauge cluster, good brown dash pad, engine, radiator, firewall insulation and a few items I actually resold separately.

CUCV options added todate:

firewall insulation
tilt wheel w/intermittent wiper switch and cruise
gauges (oil pressure, water temp, voltage) and red back lighting

power locks and windows including tailgate ready to be installed

gathering A/C parts

[48cj2a]

Update:

6-11-11

Windshield Wiper and Washer Upgrade/Conversion – took about two hours with cleaning included and finding tools, yours could take less.

We all know the early wipers and washers suck on the GM square body trucks compared to those available on the GMT400 and newer trucks.

When I was removing things from the donor crew cab, the wipers was a definite must so this is a build thread on how I converted/upgraded to this newer option on my 85 CUCV Blazer. I don't know what year the washers attached to the wiper arms started but it was interesting to learn the holes for the option were actually already there and this was a direct bolt on. If you are lucky enough to get all this from a donor truck at a u-pull-it also get the washer bottle, harness and tubing with the T or Y adapter. The washer bottle has the washer pump physically mounted to the jug and is a much better design than the vacuum pump integral to the wiper motor design type.

Here are the crappy wipers with the washer nozzle poking through the cowl vents.



This is the wiper arm release clip that will need to be released by a pick.



See the clip in the mirror being released by the pick and then you will need to pry the arm base away from the shaft with a large screw driver.




Now loosen the front hood hinge bolts and remove the rear bolts entirely to allow the hood to pivot forward and gain access for the cowl panel to be removed without interference of the rear of the hood.




With the hood now tilted forward remove the three cowl mounting bolt (9/32 ¼”socket). There are pins that go into the body at the rear of the cowl to secure it to the body, so lift up on the front of the panel and it will lift out at an angle.






Next remove the two cowl screen bolts and the cowl screen. This will be a perfect time to clean all the debris that has collected in the wiper linkage area and under the cowl. As you can see mine was a mess.




Note the existing holes to accept the newer nozzles and how they install including routing the tubing back under the retainers in the stock location.








Cowl screen and cowl panel and wiper arms reinstalled after cleaning.




Attach the two pieces of tubing to the Y or T adapter, route the tubing on the firewall to not interfere with anything, swap your washer reservoirs, and plug in or adapt your washer pump wiring.

I’ll update the pictures for this step later as I have not got it completed yet.

[48cj2a]

Update:

8-22-11

Update to wiring the washer pump into the circuit...

I'm still using the CUCV front and rear lamp wiring harnesses, but installed the Crew Cab donor trucks interior wiring harness to obtain the intermittent wipers, all cluster gauges etc. The two wires for the washer circuit (pink and white) were removed from the donor harnes by inserting a terminal removal tool (small screwdriver will also work) into the terminal end of the bulk head harness connector to release the terminals. I then had to remove the brown w/white stripe and black w/yellow stripe (blackout lamp) terminals to replace with the washer circuit.

Upon reinstalling the harness I did not have washers yet (quick test of pump checked good) so I removed the wiper delay module mounted to the column and reconnected the harness without the module. Washers worked so I must have a bad module. I also swapped the wiper motors as the factory CUCV wiper motor would not operate in the intermittent mode. Found my spare module and swapped it in...works better but not as fast as I desired. Guess I'm too used to the GMT400 Yukon and 2003 Suburbans performance, but the washers are much better for sure.

I'll update the wiring install picture into the bulkhead when I can get to my home hard drive...I'm away on Military Duty until Sep 16th.

[48cj2a]

Update:

8-22-11

Finished removing the exterior lighting & horn override/black out lamp harness from the CUCV interior harness and next plan is to get it modified back into the Civy donor harness from the crewcab.

This is a cool feature on the CUCVs.

With the flip of a switch all the exterior lamps and the horn no longer will work and give your position away in a tactical enviroment. Flip the switch down and blackout front and rear bumper lamps come on which helps your spacing in a convoy during night driving Ops. Flip the other B/O switch and a hooded headlamp keeps you from being seen from the air but gives you enough downward lighting from a single b/o headlamp that you can still travel.