95 C2500 pancake

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Jermu

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Ok so I was supposed to wait for tonight so I could get some darker shots so the lights would be more clear, but I couldn't wait, I just have to post this cos it's sooo puuuurttyyyyyyy

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Why I didn't get too many pics earlier on, is because I had amber bulbs in the corner markers, and as you may know, it turns the light quite red, but today I swapped in little t10 led bulbs that work out realllly nice. And yes, one of the cab roof markers is dead, damned chinese crap... One day it's lit up, the next it isn't, and I really don't want to open it again... The problem is it's really sensitive and the connector is a little loose, so it get's to wiggle about (even though I tied it with steel string) and does what it does. Well, I guess I gotta find time next week to open it and somehow tie it in place better.
 

Jermu

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Getting there...
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Geeeeetting theere...
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Jermu

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Aaaaaaaand done
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Naturally, I don't have any pictures of the fitment of the gauge because it got dark. As you can see. Damn autumn... Anyhow, there it is. Didn't want to drill in my dash, couldn't find a place where you could mount it flush cleanly, and the a pillar pod was universal and would've looked stupid. So I came up with this! Since the window has it's own vent, I wasn't too worried of fog nor ice, and if it get's much too hot, I can always crack the window. As you can see from the previous pictures, the fitment is not 100%, because someone ****** up twice, thrice, or who knows how many times... Dunno who it was, and why's he always interfering with my work... Put simply, heat gun and plastic takes planning and precise action... But I can take another poke at it later on at some point, now I have a working boost gauge and a place to mount it, that was the first priority anyway. Also the boost gauge itself will get swapped for a one with a black background later on, it jumps right in your face atm, but like I said, working gauge was first priority for now.

The mounting of the panel was quite interesting, but I had some ideas and after I found a piece of scrap metal laying around, I went to town on it with a cutting blade. After having cut them to a little over length, I bended the ends to an s shape, so the ends rest in the clips of the factory vent and the rest of the piece pushes the panel on the bezel. And after a few hours of cutting, grinding and bending, they fit, and rather well too, if I do say so myself. Next up, gonna start tackling the overhead console!
 
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Jermu

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Yesterday evening I decided that I should take out the turbo. I wasn't making any boost and thought that, y'know, open it up, see what's wrong and put it back on. No matter what I find, at least it'll be easier to pull off next time if needed. So, this morning I woke up and went to clog up my parent's yard with pancake. And let me tell ya, that ole turbo was on there *tight*. The exhaust bolts were a true pain in the ass, but everything else came off pretty nice.
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Decided it'd be easiest if I take the wheel off, but while it might've been sensible to also take the inner fender out as well, I didn't. Thought to myself that yeah, it's too big a hassle, I can manage just fine with that in place, but in retrospect, it probably would've been less of a fight to take it out as well... Welp, anyhow, fought for 2-3 hours and out came a turbo
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Upon inspection, I came to the conclusion that while the shaft had some play, it wasn't too bad yet and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the exhaust turbine. The wire I had shut the wastegate with was loose tho, so I decided that now would be the perfect time to make the wastegate spring operated, if it still wouldn't make any boost, fine, I'll buy a used turbo, but if it works, I'll save me some good money.
 

Jermu

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And out came the cutting wheel
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Cut off the end of the vacuum actuator, gutted the inside and pulled off the remaining bits of the upper portion for a nice, clean and most of all, not cut-your-finger-off-if-you-even-look-at-it sharp edge.
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Then we ran off to a local, I'd say probably closest to an autozone? Store, where we got some springs, washers and a outside threader kit. Cut the end off the factory shaft, threaded the end, cut a spring to lenght, shoved it in and closed it with a few washers and a nut. Pretty straight forward, but later on I learned the spring I put in was too weak. First I tried a thicker spring on it, but thought that it'd be too strong for the turbo because you could barely move it by hand, so I took it out and stuck in a lighter spring, which too, I thought was a little too HD, but turns out I was wrong. BUT, I was smart enough to take the thicker spring with me, so all I have to do tomorrow morning is swap it in. At the moment it's making max 0,4-0,45 bars of boost, which is already a huge improvement, but I'm gonna try and get it up to max 0,8 bars. That should be plenty for this old thing and won't be too much, so usually it'll be from 0,4 to 0,6 bars and only come up to 0,8 at higher loads. Tomorrow we'll see what happens, what sorta numbers do we get. What I also like about this system, is that I can change the spring tension by loosening or tightening the nut
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Finally all back together. And it's dark. Again. But she was spinning the passenger side rear wheel pretty enthusiastically when you gave her some beans in a corner, which was fun. Damn G80... :Big Laugh:
 

Jermu

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Just a little update, swapped in the thicker spring, but haven't taken a test drive yet, that I'll do in a few hours. But here's a pic of how the actuator is set up right now. It does sit up straight, I just pushed it to the side and it isn't tensioned yet, for the picture, so y'all could see it better
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Jermu

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Another small update on the thread, went ahead and got another boost gauge, which I wasn't too sure of until it was in place, and let me tell ya it's goooooooood. As it happens, it got dark again.
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Then I also updated my rear fog light, which has been a constant fight until now as the old one was bashed to hell and back and naturally kept burning the bulb due to the broken shell. So I installed a pretty smart looking LED unit and I'm pretty happy with how it looks there.
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Sure is bright too. I also started to fab up a new mounting spot for the trailer plug, which'll be attached to the hitch, so it'll be closer up to the trailer. As you can see, the old one has taken a pretty good beating... But I only got one part of that made until it was just too damn dark and moist to do anything. So more on that later!
 
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