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2004 Yukon XL 2500 LBZ

My daughter and I were talking about just that the other day. wondering what it would take to convert this VW into a stick shift! I figured just a stick shift parts car along with possibly reprogramming the computer, then it's off to the races ;)
 
DieselPower magazine did an article on just such a conversion about 10 years back by a guy who had built his VW diesel in his Jetta to about 400hp (it was WAAAY more than just an ECM retune, it involved new turbo, injectors, injection pump, engine internals, etc) and backed it with the manual transmission). There also was a stand-alone article on a shop that specialized on the auto to manual swap a couple of years later, too. You should be able to find those in DieselPower's on-line archives.
 
Ended up getting the compressor plumbed up to make it functional for now. Ran two lines, one to each bumper so i can hook up from there and put a switch under the hood to keep the number of holes/mods in the dash to a minimum.
Just some basic brass couplers stuffed inside the bumper for now. I’ll figure out a more permanent mount another time. Used braided stainless hose off the compressor, connected to Flexzilla air line using oetiker clamps.

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It is finally happening.... What we call "West Coast Cancer" :(

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So I'd like to figure out a temp solution to keep this at bay for a couple months till I can get to the body shop and get the hood repainted.
I also have a few small spots on the roof, but planning to spray the roof with color matched linex armor (as well as rockers). So that will be resolved.

I had thought about flaking off everything that's separated so far, and wet and the edges lightly, then wax it really good.
Anyone have any simple ideas? It doesn't have to be perfect, just want to keep it from flaking off while driving. Thankfully its just the top surfaces which are easy enough to fix. the sides have held up really well.
 
That looks like it's just the clear coat. you can flake it off and wet sand to feather the edges, then hit it with light coats of a good rattle can of clear coat. that should restore it for the time being until you have the repaint job done.

when flaking it off, hit the edges with short bursts of air from the compressor glow gun that way you get anything that is "about" to peal up before wet sanding feathering the edges.
 
BigDogYJ said:
Awesome. I’ll give it a shot. I only need it to last a few months. Planning to repaint it properly in the spring. The roof is getting linex’d along with the rockers hopefully soon.
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when you say linex, are you talking about the spray on bedliner coatings? one of the guys here at work was suggesting this for my truck instead of repainting my hood and roof. the guy showed me how it comes. already sealed in quart cans where a spray gun attaches to the top of the can. all you do is mix in hardener and your preferred color, shake and spray! I thought that was neat but wondered how long the coating would last on a vehicle before it started to fade out like old rubber or plastic turning a dingy color.

are there other advantages of these coatings like insulating or sound deadening properties?
 
The diy ones have mixed reviews.

You have to have pro shop do the spraying
To get the real line X or real rhino liner which are the ones that when double thick are literally some small arms bullet proof- they do great for sound deadening and help insulate (at least stop heat in summertime some).

They both have multiple color choices now, definitely get the uv protection with colors.
And they have the regular rough texture, and now a new texture that is only half as rough.

There are guys that moved here with trucks and jeeps- body rusted with small holes- nothing 1” - and they put duct tape inside the door and sprayed it like normal. You cant even tell where the holes were. Totally saved the body. One guy that did it smacks rocks / small boulders off roading - couple years later and no damage still.

I am crying now because a shop here wanted to do my hummer for $1,000 with the green when it first came out - then use my hummer in ads. I didn’t do it. SMH.
 
I just might at least get the roof done. that will beat listening to the pelting sheet metal in a rain shower LOL I think both Line X and Rhino sell the sprayable kits to the public now. the nice thing about them are you can do one panel at a time as a diy and not have to hit it all at once! since my truck is beige, I would want to find a similar color. I guess to keep it looking good over the years, instead of only armor-all-ing the tires one would have to use it in a pump sprayer for the whole vehicle after a wash job!!
 
Yeah I was planning on taking it to a shop to take care of the roof and rockers to get them sprayed to match the body color with LineX Armor (the half texture option) which has the UV protection built in to keep it from fading. I had a black lined over the rails sprayed on my old GMC pickup with LineX Xtra (the UV inhibitor) and it still looked brand new 5 years later after a good power washing.

I thought about spraying the hood as well with lines but I was really hoping to keep it mostly stock looking and if the hood is sprayed with lines I feel it would lose that look. We'll see.

$1000?!? 😳 Thats a steal.

I wasn't aware they had a DIY LineX product. I've heard of several other brands. that could be interesting.
 
so I buttoned up the "house" battery wiring project I started a few weeks ago.
It may look a bit messy but I promise you all the connections are soldered, heat shrunk, fused, and sealed up. There's just some wires that are longer than necessary, so after I give this a trial run over the next week or so, I plan to trim the wires down and neaten it up a bit so it looks a little more organized. But here it is:
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Primary circuit breaker on the right side feeding the RedArc DC to DC charger, which is fused on both the input and output to the battery. Above the Redarc charger is the Victron BMV-712 Battery Monitor/Shunt. The battery will sit on the wood platform in front of those. The battery also feeds the blue sea systems 6 circuit fuse block above the jack. The yellow wire is the main 4ga fed from the solenoid mounted in the engine bay which is triggered via ignition hot to power up the DC to DC charger when the truck is running.

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This is with the Battery in place using lashing straps and footman loops. On the far left is a Victron GlobalLink 520 which allows the BMV to connect to Victrons online web portal for monitoring and reporting of the battery health and SOC, etc. The GlobalLink comes with an LTE SIM card which has dedicated service included for 5 years with no monthly fees. The Battery monitor is sitting on top of the battery in the picture which will be mounted better shortly.

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Mounted the Battery monitor panel against the back wall of the stock storage pocket. Only mod was to trim the pocket to clear the battery casing. I plan to plastic weld some plastic panels around the battery to close it in, so its not seen as easily.

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Fuse block and circuit breakers are reachable by pulling the factory storage cubbies in the back just as if you were gaining access to the jack and tools.

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All hidden and looks 100% stock from the outside. Pay no attention to how filthy it looks. I know I know it needs a good cleaning. But so far success. It's powering the ARB fridge and a couple USB ports on the right side. I'll add an additional USB port on this left side closer to the front so its reachable/useable by 3rd row passengers.


So now as it sits, the 100ah lithium house battery powers the fridge and USB charger ports. That battery is charged by the RedArc DC to DC charger (BCDC1250D) via an ignition controlled solenoid from the dual 180Amp alternators connected/wired just like the factory option.
In addition, I also wanted a way to keep the fridge on and keep the house battery charged while parked/camped, etc (ie. shore power). Since the RedArc did not offer an AC input I ended up using a 25Amp Victron IP67 Bluetooth controlled charger put into Power Supply Mode. This connects directly to the RedArc charger bypassing the solenoid. This allows the RedArc to charge/maintain the house battery in the back while keeping the fridge and USB ports powered up. To monitor the house battery I installed a Victron BMV-712 which utilizes a ground side shunt to monitor all power in/out of the house battery. This allows me to keep an eye on voltage, current and state of charge.

In addition I also wanted an onboard charger/maintainer for the Primary Start/engine batteries under the hood while parked/etc. So I also mounted a Noco Genius 10Amp single bank on board marine charger (fully submersible as well) to keep those batteries charged/fresh. I installed a Victron Battery Sense module to monitor the voltage of this primary battery bank as well.

I installed a Noco bumper mounted plug which connects both battery chargers as well as the factory block heater. I installed a waterproof switch on the block heater cord so I can keep that turned off until absolutely necessary. So now when parked/needed/etc I just connect a single extension cord to the plug mounted in the passenger corner of the front bumper.

The Victron Battery sense connected to the Primary truck batteries is connected via bluetooth to the BMV which monitors the House battery. The BMV is connected to the GlobalLink I mentioned above which allows me to monitor both battery banks remotely as long as there's LTE service where the Truck is.

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Ok I think thats all for now. Time for dinner then need to clean up my mess and got everything organized back to where it belongs.
 
BigDogYJ said:
Yup! California to Tennesse. Well be there about 3 seeks then making our way back home mid january. Expecting to get 19-20mpg. No trailer this time.
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Ok, sounds great. Which end of Tennessee, east or west are you going to stay in? We have members on here thats in the great state of Tennessee, plus I am across the state line on the east end of the state.
 
BIGR said:
Ok, sounds great. Which end of Tennessee, east or west are you going to stay in? We have members on here thats in the great state of Tennessee, plus I am across the state line on the east end of the state.
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We’ll be mostly staying west just south of Nashville near Franklin. But may venture out over to the East side for a day or two. Planning a pretty straight route out there along I-40. But on the way back we might mix it up a bit and check out a different route.
 
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