'89 Stepside "Way Cool Jr."

I got some fresh gas and put it in the tank tonight. When I pulled the gas cap, there was a big, long, 'whoosh', so I don't think the tank's venting correctly. I had to crank the truck a bit, but once it fired up, it stayed running. When I refired it, it lit up immediately, which is a big improvement.

I threw the driver's seat in it and pulled it out of the shop to make room for my Cadillac - the city mailed me a nasty-gram about that battleship.

I would have driven WCJr down the street and back, but the sun had set, the windshield is dirty, and the headlight switch is sitting in a pile of interior parts. Instead I drove it down the driveway and back. The brakes work nice and the transmission changed between park, forward, and reverse just fine. I have a few loose ends to nail down - such as the ESC just laying on the valve cover because Vortec heads don't have the center bolt holes to mount it. When I get that stuff taken care of I'll hit up my insurance company and have the coverage switched from the Suburban.

Yesterday I cleaned the windows and drove it down the street and back. The truck shifts nicely and the brakes work. The power steering wasn't working, discovered it was empty. I should probably check stuff like that before driving.

This morning I started work on rebuilding the tabs on the interior panels. I have an old, broken door handle piece that I sacrificed to make tabs.

View media item 32095A little JB Weld and several hours of curing time and they're near ready.

This afternoon the weather turned beautiful, so I gave the truck its first workout. I grabbed the trailer out of the back yard, pulled it into the driveway, and loaded the 5,000 lb (without engine) behemoth onto it. Loading a 5,000 Cadillac onto a trailer with a 2,000 lb Harbor Freight winch is no fun. With the car on the trailer I backed it into the back yard and parked it. The engine ran smooth, no fluid leaks, no misfires, no external fires. I do have an exhaust leak at the header to fix - I forgot to put copper permatex on the gaskets.

Tomorrow I may hit up Pull-A-Part. I need a rearview mirror - I'll try to score one from a Suburban with the compass/temp. I also need to grab some pickup buckles. Cadillac and truck seatbelts are different size. The buckles that came with the truck are trashed and the seats still have the Caddy buckles.

I still need to run wiring for:
oxygen sensor
dome light
upper console switches (these will be capped until use)
seats

Also, I've been disconnecting the battery because with no door panels installed the interior lights stay on all the time. I'll try and fix that soon.

I haven't posted this week, but I've been busy. I scored a center console from a Ford Freestar at Pull-A-Part last weekend. I looked through several SUVs and minivans before I found it. It was pretty funkified with God-knows what kind of greasy stuff, but it was remarkably intact. I got it home and disassembled it for painting and discovered the armrest cover was busted up a bit. A full tube of epoxy went into resolidifying it. I shot all the pieces with the same gloss black interior vinyl paint I've been using on everything else. It's a little narrow - I was honestly hoping to get a center console wide enough to hide the old bazooka subwoofer I had laying around, but there weren't a whole lot of intact consoles to choose from.

View media item 32096I removed the heater ducting underneath and the two vents in back. I have an old 12v inverter I'll be mounting in the backside. I'm not sure what to do with the traction control switch. I need to check the pins with a meter and see what connects when the button's pushed.

I nabbed a pair of seatbelt buckles. The factory driver's buckle was trashed, and since I'm going from three seatbelts to two, I wasn't really interested in cutting up and possibly compromising the passenger buckle mount. I got two driver's mounts, cut the middle belts off them, and sprayed them the same black.

I also scored a compass/temperature mirror and the temp sending unit. The truck had no mirror on it, and I was determined that if I had to replace it, I was going to find a compass/temp mirror. Since it will be warmer tomorrow, I'll take the opportunity to glue the tab on.

Tonight I masked off the dashboard and fogged it black. When the sun's out tomorrow I'll back the truck into the daylight and see every spot I missed. It's supposed to be a beautiful 70* day tomorrow.

Wednesday I moved the Suburban's insurance to the truck, and tomorrow morning the 48 hour delay in the state's insurance verification system will have lapsed and I can get the tag legitimized. Once that's done and I have the dashboard back together I'll take the carpet to the car wash. I can scrub the dirt off the truck and wash the carpet for paint.

I bought two packages of Soff-Seal's sound deadener (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sft-insul1/overview/). It's quite a bit cheaper than the competition, but it looks like it's a bit thick. I'll have to trim it pretty well to keep it off the seat mounts, etc.

I also bought a package of these door panel fasteners: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NE7TJ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. They don't seem to be holding well. I'm going to have to play with the doors and panels a bit. These doors are one of the stupidest designs I've ever seen.

I pulled the gauge cluster. It rattled, and a random small gear fell out. Not sure what it goes to. Also not sure how to remove the gauges. Do I have to un-solder the gauges from the circuit board? The gauge cover was cracked pretty badly, but I had a spare out of a later truck. It doesn't quite fit right, but it'll work for now.

I ordered a fuel pressure gauge adapter and gauge from Morse Machine so I can swap on my modified TBI and see what fuel pressure I'm running. http://rvmorsemachine.com/product.htm. I know the stock tune and stock TBI aren't suitable for driving the truck very far, or under much of a load, so this will crutch it until I can find somebody local to tune it. I've considered putting a tune on it myself, but $300 worth of tools that I'll only use once doesn't interest me, especially since I have no experience tuning fuel injection. The TBI is from a later truck, and has the wiring adapter, a smoothed top, a raised injector pod, and 454 injectors I scored off Rock Auto for $15 a piece. I shimmed the fuel pressure regulator spring cup up a bit, but I really need to know what fuel pressure it's running.

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Finally, here's a pic of the refinished upper console.

View media item 32097

I worked on the interior today. I got the dashboard back together and the passenger door panel together-ish. I'm short on the metal clips to screw the metal door panel into, so the driver's door will wait a bit. The plastic clips from the above post worked great, once I realized which spots they went into. Still, the door panel sucks and I broke several clips before I got it hung.

View media item 32099I also made a connector for the upper console and got the interior lights working. The Amazon kits are chintzy, but they work decent so long as you aren't passing serious current through them. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CQN61WR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I still need to make a wire harness for the accessory switches. I re-used wiring I stripped out of my Jag a few years ago for all my wiring projects today, and I'm running short on long lengths of same-colored wire. I glued the velcro strips on the front end of the headliner and tomorrow I'll hang it and install the upper console.

I bought some windshield glue last week and installed the tab this morning. I followed all the instructions and waited until after lunch for the glue to dry. I went to hang the mirror and the tab popped off with almost no force. I was fuming, so I razor-bladed the bad glue off, got some emory cloth and etched the glass a bit, then used JB-Weld to put the tab on. I've done this once before and it lasted several years, so I'm not too worried about it.

View media item 32100After gluing the tab I worked on the wiring. The temp sensor is mounted on the hood latch support and I ran the wires along the hood release cable. I utterly failed to get the wires through the firewall grommet above the bulkhead connector; going to have to re-attack that tomorrow. I really don't want to have to drill a separate hole in the firewall, but I'm probably at that point.

Several years ago I modified my engine hoist to fit under a lowered RX-7, and one of the mods I made was putting swivel casters on the front legs. When I had to swap big-block Cadillacs at the racetrack on asphalt, one of the casters twisted. I've been planning a fix, so I bought a pair of bearings on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00207GHLM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I got the bearings yesterday (shipped individually, wth?), and they're narrower than I was thinking - I was planning on using one per wheel, but I'm going to have to use two per. They fit a 3/8" bolt down the middle, and I chucked the wheel in my drill press and widened the hole in it out to 9/16". The bearings pressed in with no drama and the wheel fit nicely into the hole I cut in the bottom of the leg.

View media item 32101Now I have to buy two more bearings, and since that's not over Amazon's $25 for free shipping, I ordered four Pyle 4x6 speakers so that I can finish assembling the interior this week. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00026BMBI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I still need to buy a stereo at some point. redneckgeriatric, if you're following the build thread, I made sure to put the Sunbeam in the background of that shot.

Last night I was laying in bed, tallying up how many cans of Duplicolor Gloss-Black Vinyl and Fabric paint I've used. https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...vp104/4268135?q=paint+-+vinyl,+leather+&pos=9. I'm either at eight or ten, and I've bought them all one or two cans at a time - O'Reillys doesn't stock more than two. If I'd have known I would have started by buying two cases, but this morning I looked up cases of the paint on Amazon and it's the same price. Huh.

After church I'm heading to Pull-A-Part for some spare wiring plugs from the firewall bulkhead and some door panel clips.

I got the wiring plugs, and the first thing I did was wire up the rearview mirror. I managed to get the wires through the firewall grommet with a medium-sized pair of angled hemostats.

View media item 32109I hung the driver's door panel, then installed the headliner and upper console.

View media item 32108I discovered the mirror was mounted too high, and the center console prevented seeing out of it. I tried to finagle the mirror arm around a bit and broke the glass under the mirror tab. Wth? Fortunately, the glass is already cracked in three places and is on my list of must-fixes.

I mounted both A-pillar trims and broke the tabs off the passenger side. I got the driver's side on just fine, then realized I didn't install the door seal first, so they both have to come back off.

Finally, I tossed the center console in just to see it.

View media item 32110All in all, three steps forward, two steps back. I'm really impressed with how the black & wood interior treatment is looking. Tomorrow I want to wire up the oxygen sensor (switching from a one-wire to a four-wire) and the reverse signal for the mirror.

Ugh. On the downhill side of another 12-day work week. There's been a bit of oil on the underside of the pan for a while, and after using WCJr to load up the Caddy it turned into a pretty decent sized oil slick.

View media item 32119The pan was from Pull-A-Part, and I welded up the hole they punch when draining the fluids. Apparently I didn't do a good enough job. At some point this week or this weekend I'll swap pans for the nasty pan that came with the truck. It's currently muddying up my parts washer.

I got my fuel pressure gauge and adapter last week and installed it on the modded TBI.

View media item 32122Friday I bolted the TBI in place of the bone-stock unit and turned the key on. Fuel sprayed everywhere. I didn't get the seals right around the injectors. I pulled it back apart and everything looked fine, so I put it back together. Still getting fuel everywhere. Do the thin metal rings go under the seals, or over the top?

I gave up for the evening and instead worked on the center console. I cut out the pocket on the center console and installed the seat heater control. The cut is a bit rougher than I intended, but it doesn't show too bad.

View media item 32120I also made a bracket that fits in place of the rear vents and holds the inverter. I finally got to use my cleco set I bought last year; well worth the money. I drilled the first two rivet holes, cleco'd the bracket in place, and that allowed me to see where the second set of rivet holes needed to be. I set another cleco, put the first rivet in, and then removed clecos as I riveted. Of course it wasn't that easy, there was a lot of remove & reinstall, but that's why clecos are so important. I wish I'd taken a pic in-progress, but I was in my living room watching Roast Battle as I worked and didn't think that far ahead.

View media item 32121I was intending to get out and work on the oil pan this evening, but it's 35* outside. I went out long enough for pics. I built a fire in the fireplace, made tacos, put on my fuzzy slippers, and I'm chilling and watching AvE on YouTube.

Saturday I got the passenger seat mount finished, put the seat in the truck, and discovered the door side sits higher. I'd added some 1/8" shims to the door side to get the drawer up off the carpet, and I'm going to have to add them to the interior side as well. The driver's seat mount doesn't have the drawer built yet, so I know what to add when that time comes. Both seats are temporarily installed, and I trial-fitted the console as well. I'm going to have to weld in a couple mounting tabs and make some additional plastic trim pieces to make it look nice.

After a quick diversion doing some sod work at my church, I went to Pull-A-Part and got the pieces to make a plug-in harness for my 4-wire O2 sensor. There's a two-wire plug under my brake master cylinder, and I'm pretty sure it's the fuel pump circuit because the wires are brown and black, and the fuel pump doesn't run when I unplug it. I checked, and the black wire runs to ground. The two ground wires on the O2 sensor now run to the ground, and the fuel pump wire splits off to the O2 heater. The sensor wire plug on my truck had been cut off, so I nabbed a new plug for that and put it in the harness.View media item 32127
Yesterday I pulled the oil pan off and re-welded the repair I'd made. I painted it, and today re-installed it. I also discovered a cut in my upper radiator hose, so I cut it back about three inches and reinstalled it. I heated and hammered the ESC/etc/etc bracket and moved the bolt location to the valve cover. Finally, I installed a tee in the PCV system instead of having one valve cover blow into the air cleaner.

The truck fired up nicely, so I took it for a drive. My intention was to drive it around the block, see if it shifted okay with the TV cable moved, and if everything was good I'd take the carpet to the car wash and give it a good power wash. The truck ran great until I tried to take it up to 50 mph. It runs good under 1/4 throttle, and shifts fine, but if I push the throttle harder it cuts out. If I really mash the pedal it almost dies. I made it about a mile down the road and returned to the driveway.

I think the stock TBI is way too small. The modified TBI on my work bench doesn't have the TV cable attachment, but I got a spare early TBI at Pull-A-Part on Saturday. The injector pod was already robbed, so I got it cheap. Today I ground down the top and cleaned out the EGR. Tomorrow evening I'll grind room for the fuel fittings and mount my modded injector pod. With the larger injectors and higher fuel pressure it should run better. If not I'll know to check elsewhere.

Also, I checked and the new 4x6 speakers for the dash shipped today along with the other two bearings for my engine hoist.

My kid got off work and was taking a nap when I fired the truck up and drove it out of the back yard. He said it woke him up, so it might be a bit too loud. Definitely going to need the sound deadening in the cab once the carpet's clean and ready to install.

I walked out to go to work this morning and spotted some residue spreading across the driveway from the right rear wheel. I said to myself, "I wonder if that's related to the brake light coming on again?"

View media item 32128I looked at the back side of the rear wheels.

View media item 32130%#@$#@T@&%$&#@$$@! This afternoon I put the truck back in the shop, put it up on jackstands, and removed the rear drums.

View media item 32129The wheel cylinders are shot, so I bought new ones and a couple cans of brake cleaner. $50? WTH?

It's been a long while since I've done drum brakes. Am I just out of practice, or are these brakes a nefarious contrivance to break my chill? I nearly got the driver's side done when one of the springs broke. It was dinner time, so I gave up until tomorrow. I do have the modded TBI reworked and ready to reinstall, but I'm not putting it on until the rear brakes are done.