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Gonna drop off the bumper to the powder coater on Monday after work. Hopefully have my bumper back in a week or two, in time for the rain to go away (windshield still leaks badly).
Bought some Amazon lights, musta suffered a brain fart because I ordered the wrong size, 4” instead of 3”… tried to cancel the order, was denied… told my wife I’ll return them, kids got to the package before me and shredded it open 🤬🤬. Think I’m stuck with these, may end up on my motorcycle or on the rear bumper instead.
In the meantime I’m going to start wiring up a circuit for the front fog lights, already have an unused switchbank in the dash, finally adding something that needs a switch. I’ll also wire up the LED turn signals for the bumper, just gonna piggyback into the OEM harness for that.
Tonight I have to remove the battery from Redee. Matt is gonna borrow it for his mini truck so we can get it out of storage, perform a couple last repair items, and get it to Eugene for drivers side floor pan, maybe some A-pillar work. Not exactly sure what they discussed…but the time is nearly upon us
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Still waiting on powdercoat, been about 2.5 weeks. Fingers crossed any day now.
While I’m down I started to write in the auxiliary turn signal lights that go into the bumper. Got as far as I can without having the bumper in place, or a battery to confirm polarity of the pigtail heading to the LED signals.
I also bought and installed a piece of interior trim that has been missing since I bought Redee. The piece that goes around the radio, has the “Wallet slot”, ashtray and 12V outlet. Pretty happy with my new used unit…the colour is very close, condition is great. Just trying to find a switch-blank that’ll fill the one empty hole, gahhhhh.
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Well I got Redee out for the first time this year! Took my youngest hunny for a ride around the block, she loved it.
Unfortunately there’s a big ole’ coolant puddle under Redee, and until 3 mins ago I was unable to source the leak. Turns out it’s a heater core supply hose bypass loop thingy or what not. It’s right at the red tape in the photo. Easy fix hopefully, gonna cut an inch off and reattach it. However I must let things cool, just have myself a good ouchie leaning on the rad, D’oh!
Oh yea, the bumper turned out great, and $100 of powder coat made it even better. Got my turn signals wired in, but said F-it to pod lights for now. Just wanna drive!!
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The source of my leak. Can’t tell if the clamp chafed or if the cuts are jaw marks from pliers. All good now though.
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Gotta rock auto discount code
340980907298503567
Soooo I ordered some stuff for Redee. Got a set of DENSO spark plugs and oil filter, and a fan clutch. The new clutch I put in last year doesn’t ever disengage, and screams the belt at 4,000 rpm.
Looking forward to having less hp stolen, and perhaps better fuel economy. Currently sitting at 13.2L/100km on 2,500 kms combined. On trips to the beach with lots of straight line cruising i run in the 11s, but stop and go, and twisty dirt roads use more 😀Busy night yesterday, lots of small fixes.
Replaced the cherry bomb muffler with a quieter unit, something off of a VW that I got curbside a ways back. It was an 18” long 2” ID glasspack, now it’s 24” long 2.25” ID flow through with plenty of insulation. Just hope it’s not too quiet for my liking.
Straightened the steering wheel again, just one spine CCW. While I was in there, I grease the horn contact to stop the brass from squealing anytime the steering wheel rotates. i also THINK I got the turn signal cancel mechanism to work. Have to wait and see for that.
Lastly I removed the fan clutch and spark plugs in anticipation of replacement arriving today. Hoping the new clutch operates properly, this cheap one I have now just has too much drag at all times.
Looking forward to fuel economy improvements most. Horsepower second
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New parts arrived while I ate lunch at work, had them installed before I made dinner for the kids. Out of the box the new clutch is better, so much looooooser to spin. After install I fired up the truck and it spun true, disengaged and let the motor wind out to redline (after idling a while). I can already tell it’s better than the one I removed.
Plugs went in, I unintentionally bought exactly what came out, basic copper nickel.
I think I’m gonna put seafoam in the tank and crankcase, then do an oil change.
In the process of straightening the steering wheel yesterday, I accidentally destroyed my ultra gauge scanner when it got caught in the door. Total piss off. 84USD to replace it, 43USD to ship it. Might not replace it.
Gahhhh, just as I expected, mystery muffler is too quiet for me. Oh well, maybe I’ll swap out a louder unit over winter, can’t be bothered now.
The steering wheel is perhaps one spline too many corrected. Will try to bring it back one spline tonight possibly.
The fan clutch though…perfect. Truck is definitely faster, and pulls harder 2500-4500 rpm. Hard to tell how fast I’m going without the cherrybomb yelling at me though.
I will monitor my mileage over a couple tanks and see how it has improved with the new fan clutch. Hoping for 10-25% (1-3 L/100km) improvement, to have an average between 10 & 12L/100km.
Fan clutch is definitely helping fuel economy. At roughly 600kms since replacement, avg at 12.6 L/100km. Most of those kms came two weekends ago when the family loaded up to go camping at Sauble Falls. 5 ppl, fully loaded, roof basket piled high. Even with all the extra drag, Redee is still happier than before. Also, the family finally realized just how eye catching Redee is…at Sauble beach overheard tons of ppl gasping “wow, look at that beauty” or “damn that’s clean”…
Pulled the topper off about a week ago because my youngest wants to feel the wind…I’ve offered 4 or 5 cruise opportunities since, no takers haha.
Up next, seafoam and an oil change.
Got the new V-belts put on, all my steering hard parts torqued to spec, zerks greased and cotter pins in place.
Got my rigged adaptor getting it’s second dose of thread sealant. Initially I coated the threads like crazy, and threaded them together real tight, today I back filled a bunch of the open space between the sensor OD and adaptor ID. I’ll let them cure a couple days before I install it in the block.
I ordered a second sender that I’ll assemble with the homemade adaptor when my tap arrives in the mail. There may be a very small market for this chevy swap conversion piece….or I may be about 15-years too late.
In my downtime from some chores around the house, I managed to get the V-belts installed (quite a chore in itself), set final torque on all the steering bits, grease all the zerks and install cotter pins.
I feel confident the thread sealant will hold, now that I’ve got a second coat applied from the inside. It’ll take quite a lot of pressure to force coolant past the sender. Regardless I’ve bought a second sender ($6) to keep in a tote for whatever calls for it first Either a leak on this one, or an opportunity to sell some conversion parts. I’ve got 19 spare resistors for the V6/V8 tachometer mod.
I feel like I’ve already written this today, but it seems to have disappeared….or I never hit “Submit”, which is equally as likely.
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Gotta set of 4” round speakers from my parents for Redee, finally I’ll be able to cruise with tunes.Once this freakin’ power steering is assembled, my interior to-do list will start to receive some attention.
My youngest daughter has made quite been upset at the realization that “Red Truckee is broken”, and the pressure has been put on me (by a 4 y/o) to right the wrongs. I don’t have the heart to tell her, nor will she understand my selfish reasons for wanting to keep Redee out of the salt and slush.
So, I’ll keep chippin’ away at the interior while the steering is out of commission, then get an alignment and be roadworthy again.
Today I pulled the front seats out to make my next couple wiring jobs easier.
I completed a relocation of the rear window switches, and added in a USB charger using the Cig Lighter circuit. I cut a few (more) holes into the transmission surround, and the 4 items fit very well. Best part, now the window Up/Down switch isn’t dangling and wedged under the driver seat, or getting tangled by the .50 cal lid and latch. May even have created space for a cupholder.
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