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Hellloooo, AI. It’s been a while. Where we left this ambitious project. Progress until now: I got busy. Moved twice, bought a house, decided I wasn’t happy with my job and life due to a bunch of E/N stuff, and decided earlier this year to move back to my home province (BC). I had realized as I dug into things (and project creep set in) that I really needed to get the rust repaired before I went much further. Last summer, I thought I had a fab guy lined up but he ended up becoming a victim of his own success in a way, and couldn’t get my truck in before I started the ball rolling to come home. While waiting for a spot to open up, I had stripped out the interior and glass, leaving it as a steerable roller. Speaking with the fabricator, I realized there was a world of possibilities and that I wanted to go further down the resto-mod rabbit hole, in terms of a more modern motor etc. I even started looking into Cummins 4bt (diesel) swaps, until I realized that everyone and their mother are stuffing them into all kinds of things, meaning they’re hard to find and pricey when you do. They’re popular because they’re mechanical and so there isn’t any messing around with ECUs etc. to get them to work. However, they’re also an old design and are very…agricultural, so they may not be the best choice in regards to power. I have no idea what transmissions and transfer cases would work behind it in my truck. The big brother 6BTs weigh about 12-1300lbs just for the motor, so they were also out. Fortunately, I ended up finding a resto/fab shop in BC, who have done 30-40 of these trucks (and the owner himself owns 10-15), so they know what to look for, and most importantly they won’t be trying to reinvent any wheels. They’re also big on making sure that any repairs or modifications etc. are safe, so I made arrangements to get my truck shipped out to them. They had my truck to pore over for a few weeks while I got my poo poo together in regards to listing my house and moving. When I went to pick the truck up, I spoke with the owner, he gave me an estimate and plan of attack, and we had a chat about a few things, mainly:
Part of our discussion included how there’s something about this truck that just gives it a ton of character, which I want to preserve. The owner told me that the transporter I used had slept in his truck outside the shop overnight, and so he was there when the owner got in. They got it unloaded, and as the rest of the employees came in they were saying things like ‘wow, that’s a cool truck’ – and these are guys that work on them for a living. A rep from a TV show had also been to the shop to talk to the owner about making parts for use in the show, had seen my truck sitting in the yard, and had asked ‘Is…THAT yours?’. I took a spin through my previous thread when I found the link to post, and the reaction here had been much the same. Basically, when I open the door, I want the interior to be 1964. I want to keep it a manual transmission, because I’ll drive those until I can’t anymore. I want it to keep some of the rough ride quality (it has leaf springs and solid axles front and rear) as a sensory reminder that it isn’t a modern vehicle. The ride height/stance and 'clean' appearance are also aspects I want to retain. A few years ago, I had bought more modern axles from an 86 Blazer to swap in so that I would gain disc brakes up front, as it’s currently drums all around. That also meant changing/upgrading the master cylinder. I'm pretty sure that ABS could be retained from a donor vehicle, which would be nice in modern traffic. I also want to be able to use it for road/camping trips etc, and not just have it as something I take to shows. I found I was really on the fence about a donor driveline vs frame swap. I found a VIN decoder, and I'm pretty sure my cab isn't original to the frame, as it came up as a long bed fleetside GMC, (not a short stepside), and was most likely from a 2wd truck. I say that, because I can't nail down if these Canadian market trucks followed the C/K nomenclature for 2wd vs 4x4. Based on the bedside info however, this definitely isn't a numbers-matching truck. With the pros and cons outlined above, I dug back into drivelines and possible donors. I’ve always liked Duramaxes, and found that they’re physically not much bigger than an LS. Hmm. The LBZ (2006-2007) was the last Duramax before they started putting more emissions stuff on them (DEF, etc). Hmmm. They also made them with 6 speed manual transmissions until 2006. Hmmmm. However, that combination as a 4x4 is fairly rare – I thought I’d found a potential driveline donor, and when I asked the guy how often he saw the manual transmission trucks pop up, he said he’d seen one in 12 years. Hmmph. I resigned myself to likely having to go for an Allison 6 speed auto, and sending the harnesses and ECU & TCU away to be made into a standalone. I also wasn't sure I could keep a solid front axle, as GM went from passenger side drop transfer cases to driver's side drop and independent front suspension. Adapters exist to run a 6 bolt round pattern NP205 transfer case behind the Allison 1000 transmission, so I could retain the (6 bolt) 86 blazer axles and my practically new rims (and now aged tires). However, I'm not sure the NP205 or axles would stand up to the torque from the motor and trans. They're also tough to find, as the squarebody guys are starting to hoard them. At the back of my mind has been a new little voice asking why I'd spend $$$ to retain old tech. Then, about a week ago, fortune smiled upon me.
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Nov 22, 2023 22:28
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that comes off of one corner, and connects to a rubber fuel line which hangs in space above the rear axle, before said fuel line continues down the frame rail to the mechanical fuel pump at the bottom of the engine. The fuel sending unit is in an unknown location (likely right under the bed floor), and the fuel gauge never worked for me. The way the tank is mounted, I’d have to take the bed off to drop it. The owner of the resto shop told me he uses a guy who will make him custom gas tanks with modern pumps, sending units etc, but that they run about $2400. With the gas tank and frame repair alone, I’m already around the $7500 mark which could buy a decent donor vehicle.
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The Donor: A listing popped up on Facebook marketplace, for a 2006 Sierra 3500 regular cab, floor shift 4x4, 248,000km, and the manual transmission. (Listing, and seller's photos:)           It was about an hour and a half away so I messaged the seller, peeled my rear end off the couch, my dad and I went to look at it, and I put down a deposit. The seller had bought it about 6 months ago at an auction as ‘inoperable’, found that the transmission didn’t work, had tracked down another transmission to swap in, then found that while that trans would shift into 2nd and 3rd, it wouldn’t actually engage anything. He took it up and down the block, and parked it. He works 2 weeks in, 2 weeks out camp shifts in Alberta, and just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. When I ran a Carfax, it showed that the clutch had been done at 246,000km. The seller told me that when he pulled the trans, only a few drops of fluid had come out, so it’s likely that the shop didn’t refill it after reinstalling it and it burnt itself out. I went up a few days later to pay the balance, deal with the paperwork, and bring it home. Ironically, it was last registered in the province I had just left, so if I want to drive it on more than a temp/repair tag, I’ll have to get it out-of-province inspected. The dash showed messages to change the oil and fuel filter, that there was water in the fuel, and that the coolant was low, so the first stop was Canadian Tire for some fuel treatment and a jug of premix coolant. Then, it was a ~125km road trip home in an unfamiliar truck with only granny low, 4th, 5th and 6th gears in one of the sloppiest manuals I’ve ever driven while keeping an eye on the temp gauge to make sure that I wasn’t going to cook anything. Oh, and it was the tail end of rush hour and it was getting dark. At one unscheduled stop, I found that the parking brake no longer worked. There was also a small coolant leak. Being a 3500 with an 8x11’ flat deck, the ride quality was simultaneously both better and worse than I’d expected. More importantly, it also felt a lot like driving the 64. The truck is a cab chassis model, which means that it has a few interesting quirks, such as a narrower rear frame and a duallie axle that is the same width as the single rear axle (as opposed to being wider, like a regular duallie). Instead of having a frame-mounted spare tire, there's a secondary gas tank with a transfer pump that refills the front tank when it reaches a certain point. Over this past week, I’ve found that the source of the coolant leak is the water pump, and have it booked in for replacement next week. I’ll also have the thermostat and coolant level sensor (or whole tank) replaced. I have 3 dogs (4 when my dad and his are around), and I don’t feel like dealing with draining, refilling, and burping coolant in the yard where there's a chance they can potentially get at it. One of the wires has corroded off of the transfer pump, so who knows how long it's been like that and more importantly, how long the diesel in it has been there. Yesterday, I checked the function of the parking brake, and there’s about 2” of travel in the cable. Everything moves freely at the rear hubs, so I’m going to jack the truck up, adjust the parking brakes until the wheels are hard to turn, then back off a few clicks, and check the operation with the pedal again. Hopefully that sorts it, as with the duallie and full-floating rear axle, there’s a lot of disassembly in order to replace the parking brake shoes, which are drum brake pads that engage against the inside of the rear rotor. I’ve found a local trans shop who are willing to test drive the truck, pull the trans, and see if they can replace the pin so that I regain 2nd and 3rd gear. They’ve already looked at the burnt transmission, determined that the input shaft is toast, and that a reman company likely wouldn’t want it. I’ve found companies out of the states that have input shafts available (as well as rebuild kits) and that the rear output bearing may be the only piece that is NLA. One company said that they could reman a transmission for me and get it to Seattle, but that it would run about $5,000 US. Hopefully I can get the transmission that’s in it repaired, but given that I’ve been lucky enough to find one of these trucks with a 'spare' core transmission, I’d like to track down a reman unit to have and keep as a true spare. The plan is to fix everything I’ve identified so far and get it through the inspection and plated so that I can drive it and find (and sort out) any other issues. The resto shop wants to start by redoing just the cab of the 64, so I’ll likely load it onto the flat deck (because hey why not) and take both to them so they can get a feel for what the best course of action may be. Updates may be a bit slow (but nowhere near as bad as they were before). I hope. Captain McAllister fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Nov 23, 2023 |
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Nov 22, 2023 22:28
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Man I'm glad to see this project back! How close are you to the border? Ironically I have now moved to the Puget sound area and if you were still looking to put an AX15 in it, I can build those with my eyes closed, but I've never done a zf6 before.
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Nov 23, 2023 08:16
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kastein posted:Man I'm glad to see this project back! Thanks! I'm on the southern Island, so my options are ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, or ferry to Vancouver then drive across. I was following your thread(s), especially when you had the deuce and a half and saw that you were moving to Washington. I ended up finding the NV3500 out of a 96 S10, because while it was a little less robust than the NV3500 or 4500 from a full-size truck, the first gear was supposedly more 'car like', which for my intended main use (cruising) would have been fine. I had to cut out the bellhousing crossmember, and tacked in a new trans crossmember, then realized that other than the front rad support, there weren't any other cross beams. Guys had run into issues where power steering and large tires had resulted in the frame twisting and/or splaying, which is obviously to be avoided. A front motor support/cross brace was one of the things that the first fab guy was going to sort out. ------------------------------------ In other news, I've been tinkering on the donor 3500. I got the driver's side parking brake adjusted, but the passenger side is a complete bear. You can't see a thing (so it's all by feel), and it's tough to get a tool in there because the backing plate is about 5" from the spring pack. I got it adjusted today to the point where the star wheel wouldn't spin anymore and seemed to be pushing back on the brake spoon. It wouldn't budge when I tried spinning the hub or the inner wheel, so I mounted the outer tire and started torquing the lug nuts to 150ft lbs before going back to do them up to the spec'd 175ft lbs. With the truck still on jack stands and the parking brake on, I got to the second lug nut at 150 and then the wheel started to spin again, so something isn't right. I'm wondering if I should take the axle out and the rotor off and shotgun parts at it - cables, parking shoes, and axle seals. The pads in the rear caliper look pretty new, but I don't know if or when the parking shoes may have been done. This approach would let me spin the star wheel from the front (I think) until the pads won't let the rotor slide on, and then I can back it off a few clicks. On Wednesday it goes in for a waterpump, thermostat, and coolant tank (or just the sensor, if it can be done). It goes to the trans shop on the 5th to be assessed and to see what's going on with the 2nd/3rd gear issue. For both places, I'd like the parking brake to work, because the flat deck is heavy enough that the helper springs are almost engaging.
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Nov 26, 2023 01:24
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Just posting to say I'm glad this project is back and I love the donor choice.
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Nov 26, 2023 02:07
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Nice! Yeah Port Angeles is about a 2 hour drive from our place. One of my longtime Internet friends (since 2004 or so... How did that happen) is in Victoria so it's likely I'll be up there at some point.
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Nov 26, 2023 20:56
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There seems to be a few of us up in Victoria now.
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Nov 27, 2023 06:25
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I moved here a year ago, its a good place to move to. What shop are you working with? Sounds like they are some cool dudes.
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Nov 27, 2023 18:07
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blindjoe posted:I moved here a year ago, its a good place to move to. Yeah, a personal tenet is that 'Life's too short to drink lovely beer', and I realized that if that was the case, then life is definitely too short to be miserable. The shop is Animal's Speed Shop over in Langley. The owner posted in a Facebook group about the bead rolled panels he's making, I caught the BC plates in the photos, so I called and asked if they do resto and fab work - and do they ever. A lot more of their work is on Instagram, which is also more regularly updated. I'm good with mechanical, OK with electrical, but fab/welding/paint is all outside of my capabilities, so I'm outsourcing that. I basically told the shop that I want a full size model kit that I can reassemble/finish. My approach is kind of like the poster who was having a shop do the bodywork/fab on his muscle car project, and that was getting to the point where there was a salvageable VIN tag and B pillar.
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Nov 27, 2023 19:03
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Well, if you need to goop some metal onto something, I have a mig welder here in View Royal. Though probably not needed with those fancy guys working on your truck.
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Nov 28, 2023 17:29
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blindjoe posted:Well, if you need to goop some metal onto something, I have a mig welder here in View Royal. Though probably not needed with those fancy guys working on your truck. Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but the scope of the panel replacement is still outside my skillset and comfort level. There is rust in all the typical places - above the windshield inside and out, the floor pans, the rockers, the cab corners, the inner and outer fenders, the bottom of the doors, etc. One of the guys at the resto shop pointed out 'swollen' areas between spot welds along the ducktail of the cab, which typically indicates rust. The plan is to strip my cab to bare bones, and take it over to them (now likely on the flatdeck) so that they can do all the panel replacement, and make sure the new doors and panels etc. will all fit. On the donor front, I replaced the passenger side parking brake shoes (and hardware). I adjusted them until I couldn't fit the rotor over them, then backed off a notch or two to where they'd drag ever so slightly when spun by hand. I put everything back together, and while torquing the axle flange bolts (with the parking brake on), the hub would rotate slightly. Back on the ground, I tightened everything else back up. This morning, I went to take the truck to the shop to have the waterpump and thermostat replaced. The driveway has a slope up from a gate. I set the brake, and as I was opening the cab to go close the gate, the truck started rolling backward. Due to seized fasteners, I only got the parking brake shoes on the passenger side done yesterday, but I got the driver's side adjusted out. I have new cables on order. What am I missing that would cause the parking brake to act OK, then seemingly release by itself?
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Nov 29, 2023 17:52
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Water pump, thermostat, coolant reservoir and serpentine belt were all replaced. No more coolant puddle under the truck! Most of the front end is shot, and the shop noted that even the front springs were 'tired' and that it's almost on the bumpstops. Or, actually, bumpstop as one is missing. They're going to get me a quote to replace what needs to be replaced. I just dropped the truck off at the transmission shop today, to see if I can regain 2nd and 3rd gear.
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Dec 5, 2023 17:50
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The transmission shop called me this morning, and asked me to come in if I could because their builder wanted to talk to me.  They confirmed that the two roll pins were missing from the shift fork for 2nd and 3rd gears (one was stuck to the magnet, and is visible bottom left). The other one... wasn't anywhere. Both should have been in the two holes just below and to the left of the shifter socket. That allen key at the bottom right? That was also rattling around in there.  The tip of the input shaft is worn, and so it could move around in the pilot bearing. This means that the input shaft needs to be replaced. It also meant that the whole assembly could wiggle around, and the case hardening on 3rd gear was starting to wear. You can see it if you zoom in onto the leftmost gear of the two gears that face each other. The clearances of the synchros is also too tight in places. In short, they were suggesting that I could just put a new input shaft and roll pins in, but that a rebuild would be the best course of action (and would come with a warranty). Of course, it was going to cost slightly more than half of what I paid for the truck itself, but would still cheaper than a reman out of the States ($5k USD). I thought about it for a bit, decided to only cry once, and green lit the work. It has also occurred to me that the dual disk South Bend clutch that's in it will be complete overkill for what my uses of the truck will be. I think I'll be going back to a stock style dual mass flywheel and single disk clutch. After a quick perusal of RockAuto, I'm leaning towards an AMS kit, as they offer a 2 year 24k mile warranty, and the other listings on RockAuto are all half that. I'm going to take a few days to see what's out there, but can anyone here recommend a stock (or slightly better than stock) level clutch/good brands to look for? Captain McAllister fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Dec 12, 2023 |
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Dec 12, 2023 03:22
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I want to say GM normally uses Sachs clutches, at least on passenger cars. Lots of other car makers use them as well - they're a very good stock feeling clutch in my experience, and live a long time. I've managed to get over 200k out of a few of them. super late edit: 12k miles is more than enough time for the clutch to come apart if there's a defect. I wouldn't really be paying attention to the warranty on them, more the name and quality - they're a wear item. Some people can manage 200k+ out of them, some people get 50k. I've personally only replaced them when the gearbox is already out, and only because, well, it's already apart and it's a wear item. Kinda like if you have to do a timing belt driven water pump on a car, you may as well change the timing belt instead of throwing the old one back on. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Dec 12, 2023 |
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Dec 12, 2023 13:13
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Well, after some perusal I decided to go with a dual mass flywheel, because that's what was originally spec'd out by engineers, and because I found this release from ZF, the transmission manufacturer, who have whole teams of people who know what they're talking about. With the money I'm I ordered the AMS automotive kit because it had the longer warranty, and actually comes with everything I need. I was tempted to go with Exedy, but their kit didn't have a flywheel, and there wasn't an Exedy DMF listing on RockAuto, and I need the kit by the 20th so that everything can be put back together around the 21st/22nd.
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Dec 14, 2023 09:21
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I agree with that choice, for what it's worth. I'm running an AMS flywheel in my Honcho with the LS swap and I've been quite happy with it, though it's a basic single mass cast unit. I had an exedy kits TOB fail in under 50k miles back in 2016 and I don't really trust their included bearings anymore so I usually buy luk for clutch kits now.
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Dec 14, 2023 21:10
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kastein posted:I agree with that choice, for what it's worth. I'm running an AMS flywheel in my Honcho with the LS swap and I've been quite happy with it, though it's a basic single mass cast unit. I had an exedy kits TOB fail in under 50k miles back in 2016 and I don't really trust their included bearings anymore so I usually buy luk for clutch kits now. Thanks, there really aren't a lot of 'stock' options out there. The clutch kit showed up at the shop today, and I stopped in. The service manager showed me a bulletin from AMS Auto saying not to use the flywheel from an 01-05 Duramax on an 06, as the 06 uses "a different balancing system due to engine modifications", which requires the use of a different DMF. I'm thinking this is because the motor is an LBZ but was coded as the LLY. It says that if you use the wrong one, the engine will "experience vibration". To make sure the correct part is used, it gives part #s for the 01-05s as 24232434 (OEM) and 167129 (AMS). For the 06s, it gives 24231125 (OEM) and 167130 (AMS). The service manager showed me the kit that showed up... with a LuK flywheel in the box 🙄. I'm not rolling my eyes that it's a LuK, just that AMS reboxed it, and I have no way to cross reference it to their bulletin. I think the LuK flywheel is stamped '415 0201 10 29FEB'. There is also a large groove/indentation along one edge. Is this a way to confirm that this will be the right DMF for the LBZ? Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/mNcr4g1
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Dec 19, 2023 03:00
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I don't know myself but I have a contact at AMS Automotive I'll send on over who can almost certainly answer that, he answered my NV4500+LQ4 flywheel question the day after I asked it while I was preparing for my swap.
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Dec 19, 2023 03:32
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What they are saying is that the engine's externally balanced. Going with the flywheel for another engine model is a good way to trash the crank/shortblock if not worse. Your forays into zf6 shenanigans are not selling me on dropping 3-5 thousand on one of these boxes. And yeah, ZFs are really picky about vibrations, flywheels, etc. I spun a bearing race that also sets the preload for the gear stack running less than *200hp through it. *yeah it's rated for 330lb-ft and it got something like ....450. Still laughable for a "one ton transmission rated for 26kgvwr".
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Dec 19, 2023 04:03
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cursedshitbox posted:What they are saying is that the engine's externally balanced. Going with the flywheel for another engine model is a good way to trash the crank/shortblock if not worse. Yeah, the shop told me that they'd confirmed the engine was externally balanced, so I'm just trying to find out if the flywheel I was sent will be the correct one for what I need. This has been a bit of an...experience, I definitely thought it would be a little more straightforward. I keep reminding myself that in the GM world they weren't really common, and that supposedly the relationship between ZF and GM soured, which doesn't help things in regards to parts/support. Also, 2006 was no longer just a few years ago, and it's about 17 years old. A lot of the forum results I've found are from Ford/Dodge forums, as they seemed to be more popular in those circles. Frustratingly, though, they're not interchangeable. The Ford transmissions also had an internal fluid pump, whereas the GM ones don't, but still have the mounting points for them. The possibility of vibration/flywheel issues is why I'm getting away from the South Bend dual disk clutch, as it uses a solid flywheel. The ratings I've seen for the ZF6 are much higher than 330lb-ft of torque, it was something like 650. The way I see it, the shop are truly rebuilding the trans for me, not just replacing the obviously worn stuff. It's as close as I'll be able to get to 'factory fresh', and I definitely won't be working it as hard as it would have been in a full-size, and especially with the ridiculous flat deck.
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Dec 19, 2023 05:27
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Captain McAllister posted:Also, 2006 was no longer just a few years ago, and it's about 17 years old. Goddamnit, NO, no loving way is this possi... gently caress. Someone find me a shower chair. And a walker. 
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Dec 19, 2023 14:14
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kastein posted:I don't know myself but I have a contact at AMS Automotive I'll send on over who can almost certainly answer that, he answered my NV4500+LQ4 flywheel question the day after I asked it while I was preparing for my swap. Ya boi got back to me this morning. Basically, it's an old service bulletin - they ended up updating the one flywheel and discontinuing the other, and so the one I received is the correct (and only) one.
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Dec 19, 2023 20:41
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Nice! Glad to hear it. AMS and Spectra Premium have long been at the top of my preferred vendors list for anything they sell because they answer email fast and competently like that. I've sent spectra emails asking for one or two dimensions missing from the rockauto spec chart before and received an email the next morning with engineering drawings. Usually when I email a car parts company I get back "uhhh, what make model and year are you looking for a part for? That one won't fit that sir". If I get any response at all. kastein fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Dec 19, 2023 |
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Dec 19, 2023 23:33
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I picked the flatbed up from the shop today. The transmission is done and reinstalled, and I had the windshield replaced at the Speedy Glass across the street, as a damaged windshield is an auto fail on a provincial inspection. There's noticeable drag in the 2-3 shift, which the shop believes will go away as everything breaks back in again. The guy I've been dealing with there is one of the managing partners, and said that as far as the warranty goes, they know that there will be a pause in use because of my plans for the truck, so they said if anything comes up then to let them know and they'll work with me to make it right. A+, would recommend. I took it for a small test run, and it accelerates/drives and shifts much like the 64 did with the 4 speed. I think the acceleration will also improve when everything is in a smaller format, but I also know that it will never be 'fast', but that's not the point. Now that it's back in the yard, I'm going to spend some time to get the parking brake functional again. I still need to replace the shoes on the driver's side, and I have the cables on hand so they'll also likely get done. Big picture, I'm hoping to get the 64's cab stripped and over to the shop by the end of the month, hopefully on the flat deck. I may get some teardown done this weekend, and I'll take and post photos.
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Jan 6, 2024 03:40
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So, I've been working on the truck, taking photos of the work on the truck, buuut...forgetting to post here.      And, under one of the badges under the cowl panel, I found a cool little Easter egg that revealed when the truck was redone:  In regards to the donor, can someone more diesel-savvy tell me what appears to be missing from this bracket/mount? There aren't any wires disconnected nearby or anything, but something clearly sat there.  In order to get the cab off (and since I won't be using it for anything) I spent some time today disassembling the smallblock motor so that I can pull it and the cab won't have to be lifted over it. All of the panels in the front clip, and the doors that were on the cab are rusty, and are going to be replaced with new. Are they the kinds of things anyone would buy for any reason, or should I just throw them in a scrap metal bin? Captain McAllister fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Jan 22, 2024 |
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Jan 22, 2024 04:05
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Ok, I'm hitting a real snag. I'd like to use the donor flat deck to take the cab and parts over to the resto shop. However, one of the parking brake cables was broken, and there is a ferry crossing involved, so I really don't need any possibility of the flat deck rolling around in transit. I called GM and gave them the VIN, they gave me the part #s which I took to the auto part place, got new cables, and compared them to make sure new were the same length as old. I've unwound and have locked the parking brake pedal in the 'service position', but am still about 4-6" too short to get the cables to connect. I've laid on my back bracing against a frame mount pulling on the cable, and can't get any more to work with. The DS cable can slide through its guide hole in the frame, but the PS cable's hole is smaller, and it clips in place so I can't mess around with it to slide it farther forward. I can get the DS cable to slide forward and connect, but then the PS cable end won't reach the plate/ clip that ties them together. What am I missing? Edit: found a place locally that makes custom cables because I measured the gap and it's actually 10" too short. Edit 2: they don't have the barrel shapes stoppers, they just have the figure 8 type for securing a loop. Edit The Third: found a DIY kit. Captain McAllister fucked around with this message at 08:02 on Mar 3, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 23:40
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Quick update - I finally got the cab and donor ready to go, but couldn't get ahold of the guy who runs the fab shop. I thought it was because they'd been really busy (he's talked about having done some filming for an episode of a TV show). Turns out, he had a fatal heart attack a few weeks ago - he wasn't even that old, maybe in his mid to late 50s  .Some guys from his shop are finishing up one truck that's in there, but nobody is taking over the business. In short, it's a big loss, in a lot of ways. I'm currently trying to find another shop that will be able to help me out.
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Apr 4, 2024 19:44
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Well, poo poo. That sucks.
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Apr 4, 2024 21:55
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'til she or i or the shop owner dies
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Apr 5, 2024 03:06
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Captain McAllister posted:
What was the name of the place? Sorry to hear about the place on the mainland.
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Apr 8, 2024 05:20
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Raluek posted:'til she or i or the shop owner dies Thanks. That's dark. I laughed. Randy had been a firefighter so I'm sure he had a dark sense of humour and would have laughed as well - if he wasn't, you know, dead. Sgt Fox posted:What was the name of the place? Western Equipment have spools of galvanized aircraft cable that they'll cut to length, and they have stoppers. Lordco in Sidney also still have spools of sheathed wire and stoppers. I even touched base with the airplane museum in Sidney, given that they're restoring various vintage aircraft, but their response was that they could help me crimp the stoppers on the cables. However, I found that once the stoppers were crushed/crimped on, they wouldn't fit into the metal cable connectors. When I ground them and shaped them to fit, during testing they repeatedly failed for various reasons. I ended up going through listings on Lordco and Rock Auto looking for replacements the right diameter and length. Not even Raybestos have a database of cable diameter and length (which I find ridiculous). Nobody could tell me "oh, yeah, part #XXXXX is 72" long, 1/8" cable with barrel ends". Captain McAllister fucked around with this message at 06:41 on Apr 9, 2024 |
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Apr 9, 2024 06:38
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