96 GMC K2500 Suburban Restoration (with a couple of mods)

[Road Trip]

It turns out that the voltage gauge does in fact move, very slightly, with the turn indicator. I’m not sure if it’s a concern. I seem to remember reading that it’s not uncommon in many vehicles. Thoughts, anyone?

The indicated voltage stayed between 13 ¾ and 14+. The needle was at least touching the 14 mark the whole way.

South VA,

Please give some thought to adding a backup data source about how your
charging system is performing for ~$6. After being frustrated with
troubleshooting an intermittent 'flickering headlights/all lights' w/no
CEL problem with my vintage CR-V (which Honda in their infinite
wisdom did not equip with a Volt gauge) I installed one of these
in my power port/cigarette lighter. (LINK)

Here it is showing me the battery voltage after sitting overnight:

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Here's the voltage reading after starting the car & the alternator takes over:

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Simply put, the BEST $6 spent on this car to date. And I was able to
figure out the 'flickering light' thing, for when the problem would
intermittently crop up, I would look at the onboard voltmeter &
saw immediately that it was a bouncing overvoltage
(semi-unregulated output) condition.

For you? I see this as a cross-check for the volt meter
that GM had the good taste to install at the factory. And
if they are both in agreement (within a few tenths of each
other) ...then great, we will act accordingly. And if they
don't agree, then whip out that Klein multimeter as
a tie-breaker and see which one is closest to the truth.

No kidding, if you are an Amazoner (reluctant or not)
then pick one of these up & shove it into the cigarette
lighter asap. Trust but Verify!

PS -- How about them apples? I'm enthusiastically
sharing a no-kidding piece of test equipment for
only $ out of pocket...

 

[Spareparts]

I have one like it exactly for that reason.

 

[Road Trip]

Alternatively you can measure voltage drop, and you can do it without a milliohmmeter. I'm glad you took my ribbing in the spirit it was sent in.

Yes! (And that Yes is said like this guy did right around the 0:46 mark in this video. You gotta love the enthusiastic anticipation of those Aussies!)

You know, the next time I get to t-shoot back to a marginal ground, I'll do
my very best to create a video that shows how a bad ground can be found
with a handheld multimeter showing the voltage difference between
dirty connection vs. the true ground plane. Especially if i can catch it in
the act!

For everyone else spectating, us AGE troops referred to Avionics as "pointy heads" because they were taught all sorts of engineering-level stuff. If they really wanted to be d!cks they'd point out that their career field required a higher ASVAB score to get into. They viewed us AGE guys as hammer-wielding-repair-monkey-artists. They could never figure out how we fixed electrical circuits with hammers, but they also didn't want to get close enough for us to fling poo at them, because we definitely would. AGE is actually pretty close to Avionics in ASVAB requirements, we just never got the same respect because we didn't turn wrenches on the aircraft themselves.

And I should add to the above that there is a *lot* of self-induced stress
associated with throwing your work up into the air with a pilot riding on top
after promising that it would work properly. (ie: Corrected By and Inspected By
blocks signed by my teammate & yours truly.)

It's all unicorns & rainbows as long as everything works according to plan. But if
you get it wrong enough, the promise of being held fully accountable would
lead to spending some quality time at Ft. Leavenworth. :-(

So, in order to pull this all off, man I needed my AGE equipment to NOT be a
another troubleshooting Variable, but instead a rock-solid troubleshooting
Constant, so that I could focus on the plane instead of my test setup.
(With ground power + hydraulic mule + ground A/C {gotta keep the black
boxes chill, not us} ...we would turn an F-16 on the ground into a mad
scientist type scene during an extended flight controls or fire control radar
ops check.)

And all that AGE was being pushed to it's maximum output...sometimes for
literally hours during a peek-a-boo troubleshooting session -- we'd actually
run one or more pieces of AGE out of fuel...and I can still hear the warning
Klaxons blaring in my dreams! :0)

...but I digress. In order to handle this level of stress, there was this whole
elaborate Kabuki Dance that we used in order to blow off steam when technical
snags inevitably occurred. We were referred to as Pointy Heads while people
would run away from us in mock exaggerated horror. Feelings hurt, some of
the more sensitive team members would start up the whole
"My ASVAB is bigger than your ASVAB" nonsense.

But what kept us from fisticuffs was the shared desire by all involved to put
the sharpest possible point on the Tip of the Spear:

Last F-16 leaving the 158th FW for the last time after conversion to the F-35 -- loud & proud!

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(credit: photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger -- wish it was mine, *nice* action photo)

The bottom line? If you are assembling (building) an engine, you are only as good
as your machinist. And if you are a pointy head, you are only as good as your AGE
support team and their equipment. IMHO you AGE guys & gals *rock*!

TEAM. (But let the time-honored Kabuki Dance continue! :0)

P.H. Road Trip -- 158th FW F-16 Avionics (retired)

 

[Spareparts]

Man i do know that stress of saying a aircraft is ready for first flight test. There is only 1 more person after me to sign off and give the go ahead and a few times i had the last sign off for test flight.
Mine are civilian aircraft but im sure it's nearly the same.
Usually planes will come back with a few minor Squawk's. Rudder trim slightly off, Glide slope not showing on the Garmin. Just minor stuff for us really but,
The first plane i had the final sign off for test flight came back with 0 Squawks. Pretty proud of that!
It's a team effort for sure but i still need to make sure everything was done properly, Mountain of paperwork done properly, Pre flight meeting all questions were answered to the pilot's and Engineering approval.

 

[South VA]

South VA,

Please give some thought to adding a backup data source about how your
charging system is performing for ~$6. After being frustrated with
troubleshooting an intermittent 'flickering headlights/all lights' w/no
CEL problem with my vintage CR-V (which Honda in their infinite
wisdom did not equip with a Volt gauge) I installed one of these
in my power port/cigarette lighter. (LINK)

Here it is showing me the battery voltage after sitting overnight:

You must be registered for see images attach

Here's the voltage reading after starting the car & the alternator takes over:

You must be registered for see images attach

Simply put, the BEST $6 spent on this car to date. And I was able to
figure out the 'flickering light' thing, for when the problem would
intermittently crop up, I would look at the onboard voltmeter &
saw immediately that it was a bouncing overvoltage
(semi-unregulated output) condition.

For you? I see this as a cross-check for the volt meter
that GM had the good taste to install at the factory. And
if they are both in agreement (within a few tenths of each
other) ...then great, we will act accordingly. And if they
don't agree, then whip out that Klein multimeter as
a tie-breaker and see which one is closest to the truth.

No kidding, if you are an Amazoner (reluctant or not)
then pick one of these up & shove it into the cigarette
lighter asap. Trust but Verify!

PS -- How about them apples? I'm enthusiastically
sharing a no-kidding piece of test equipment for
only $ out of pocket...

Sold. I'll order one up from Amazon (Prime member here)!

In other news, today was the last of a three day test, and the Burb performed well, again. The voltage gauge stayed on the 14, at first partly covering the right side of the mark, and after awhile partly covering the left side. I looked for turn signal bounce, but if it was there, it wasn't obvious.

Just prior to departure I checked and tightened (just a bit) two of the set screws on the ground side battery terminal, one for the engine block ground, the other for the body ground. I've read that connecting stranded cable in a set screw terminal can sometimes result in loosening as the strands slowly part. My short term fix for today's drive was to simply tighten the 8 gauge and check the 2 gauge. My understanding is that an effective long term solution is to use a ferrule, which I had already done on the 2 gauge, but not on the 8 gauge. In any case, maybe that wee bit of tightening helped the turn signal bounce. Hard to say.

Lo and behold, when I arrived home from the test drive, UPS had thoughtfully delivered a pack of 8 AWG ferrules from Amazon. Besides doing a better job of zip tying the cables, one of my tasks tomorrow morning will be to install said ferrule, and hopefully declare this particular repair/upgrade/whatever finished.

 

[Road Trip]

Man i do know that stress of saying a aircraft is ready for first flight test. There is only 1 more person after me to sign off and give the go ahead and a few times i had the last sign off for test flight.
Mine are civilian aircraft but im sure it's nearly the same.

No doubt. In both cases real live people are taking us at our word
that this machine will do the right thing as long as they keep it
within the documented performance envelope.

So yeah, same same! :0)

 

[South VA]

Some more pics:

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Don’t remember if I mentioned this previously, but I’ve decided to restore the original “Suburban” and GMC Truck” emblems for the rear doors. I tried the debadged look for a few months, and find that I prefer the original look.

I also convinced my preferred body shop guy to re install the rear fender wells. The guy that did the paint said he couldn’t get them to fit, but the body guy thinks he can make them work. He’ll also install the rear door badging.

In the meantime, I’ve been driving it on all of my errands, and it continues to run and shift quite well. Now that it seems to be running properly, I’m getting excited about getting back to working on all of those other various items and upgrades that were put on hold, like the sound system and backup camera…

Speaking of which, just for fun, I went to a reputable car audio shop to find out what they’d charge to install the sound system and camera with my parts.

A rough estimate, labor only, was just over $1,000!

I was surprised, but it’s good to know. It gives me some perspective. So when I’m struggling with this or that aspect of the install, I‘ll comfort myself with the knowledge that I’ll be saving myself a thousand bucks.

 

[South VA]

Took the Burb (its formal name is the Subdivision, btw) for a long, final pre-trip drive into town yesterday morning, and... it shifted hard again !

Admittedly it was cooler than it had been, high 60s, but even after warming up fully the hard shifting continued. Somewhat dismayed , I drove on, and was consoled by the fact that at least it was shifting, and not stuck in gear. I reached my destination, and parked it for the duration of the meeting I was attending.

When I came out and started it up, I was trying to think of how best to inform my gf (GF, actually) that Houston, we have a problem. The day before the much-anticipated camping trip. What to do?

But when I drove it home, it shifted perfectly. Turning it off and starting it up somehow made the hard shifts go away. I made a couple of interim stops, and it continued to shift normally.

So at this point I'm thinking it's likely an electrical problem. Puzzling, but at least it gave me an avenue to pursue in troubleshooting. Seemed odd that it would happen after three days and nearly 300 miles of driving; I felt a slight twinge of that superstitious dread again.

When I got home I had a look under the hood, and figured what the heck, I'll install that 8 AWG ferrule I mentioned a few posts back. Maybe that connection was the culprit.

In the process of removing the negative battery terminal to install the ferrule, I noticed that the battery terminal - the new one with the set-screw type connection - was a bit, ah, loose. In fact I was able to pull it off after loosening the set screw a mere quarter turn. Hmmm.

Looking back, when installing the terminal I didn't really know how hard I could crank on those set screws. There was no torque spec included with the terminal. No matter; evidently I had not tightened them quite enough. So I installed the ferrule - which fit perfectly - and put everything back where it belonged, and tightened the three set screws more firmly than I had before. And then tightened them a bit more.

I know for a fact that the connections are now better than they were, and I'm thinking that the tenuous battery terminal connection may have been causing the hard shifting. We'll see in a few hours when I hitch up the camper and head for the state park campground an hour and a half away.

Although I'm pretty sure the problem is resolved, I'm carrying all of the tools, cable, connectors, and testing gear that I've used over the past month. Plus what I've learned. I'm feeling far more prepared than I did on the last trip.

Of course the shifting could be related to something else, but its appearance coinciding with the discovery of the loose battery ground seems significant. We'll see.

At any rate, I'm looking forward to actually getting on the road again.

 

[South VA]

I’m pleased to report that we made the hour and a half drive to camp without drama. The Subdivision pulled our 24’ wheeled abode without breaking a sweat.

Well almost, as the temperature gauge was at or slightly above the halfway mark most of the way.

Since this is our first trip in warm (hot, to yours truly) weather, I’m not really sure if that’s still within the normal temperature range for pulling a trailer. I’ll have to research that.

It’s 91° and 57% humidity here; it definitely could be worse, as in 80% to 90%. I suspect the Texas and Louisiana contingents are amused by my calling this “hot.” But having spent a significant part of my adult life living above 7000’, I don’t do heat + humidity well at all.

So of course I moved to southern Virginia.

By the time we leveled the camper and hooked up the electricity and water, we were sweating profusely.

Fortunately the A/C in this
rig works really well.

There’s not much to do outside until it cools down a bit, so I’m going to do my best to relax. And maybe read up on the best way to flush the Sub’s cooling system, as I suspect it has been awhile since that’s been done. As always, suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Hooked up and ready to go:

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At the campsite.

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[HotWheelsBurban]

Good to hear the trip went well, love to see these "old trucks" still getting it DONE!