Sveins 1999 6.5 Suburban that´s getting "everything I ever wanted" eventually

[svein]

I´ve reached the present! This actually happened on last Friday, I had another session at the garage doing some minor fixes.

The first and most important mission was to install this beauty that my multi talented welder friend made for me in order to get both a temperature probe and a pressure sensor into the fuel line:



Since the car was staying inside, I also took my time to insulate the wvo tank hoping that it will have a happier life in the winter. I just used a 8mm foam sheet made to sit on in the snow, but I´m hoping it will do me something good:


The last project I finished was to swap out my tail lights. I wanted darker tail lights as I´m planning for the car to become black, and at the same time I could do some modifications to the lighting setup and get rid of the extra turn signal lights added by the Norwegian dealer 20 years ago.

I ended up just ordering tail light housings from eBay and some bulb holders. The turn signal/reverse bulb holder fit the hole in the plastic perfectly, and then I did some minor plastic cutting with a Dremel to be able to add the tail/break light bulbs in the two upper holes:


Some of you might have read that I´m struggling with the new diesel fuel tank. Apparently, the previous owner of the tank had hydralic oil on it that he´d gotten hold of from a plastic fabric. Apparently the tank is full of plastic pellets that blocks my filters. sigh

I almost got home when the car died. Managed to drain the first diesel filter a bit and got home, where luckily my latest rock auto shipping had arrived with new pre filters. 15mins later, the car was good to go again!

At last, the sub back home with all 4 tail light bulbs live for the first time in its life! I´ll do more photos of the tail lights once I have some daylight again.

 

[Will L.]

Wow Svein, quite the read. I am confused on the choice of pumps, economics?
Depending on the moisture content, what oils, and what additives you are running- getting proper pressure into the injection pump can become crucial for pump life. It already is important, but even more so with alternative fuels.

Also water seperators becomes crazy important.
(Going to use nonmetric numbers here, you need to include decimal points in C. A variation of 2f makes a big difference here.

Run temps at 5f below water boiling temperature for optimum water separation if not in a pressure altering sealed unit. If you heat to water boil, it will reconstitute into the oil. We learned this doing the primary testing for the federal government at the expense of many public transportation vehicles which now those test results set federal standards. However they did not include all we learned like avoidance of the peanut oils or that temperature separating point.

Best is centrifuge at home, then still run a quality marine (boat) water filtration unit on the truck.

What you are doing at home preparing the oil comes into play also.
From the huge plants and testing we did here, one thing for sure- avoid peanut oil at all costs.

That is a ton of electrical you have added. Those lights infront of the radiator grille scare me. These engines are so susceptible to overheating and the airflow is poor design already. At 210f looking at the temp gauge more than the road infront of you. At 220f you should be in total panic mode and pull over to let it idle back down to 195.
You will find a lot of misinformation out there- the US military is the worst saying 230f is acceptable, but they repalce entire engines in 1/6-1/8 of the usage we get from them. I will agree that I would keep the throttle full and driving if Bullets are flying at me and I am out of ammo- haha- been down that road before.

 

[svein]

Wow Svein, quite the read. I am confused on the choice of pumps, economics?
Depending on the moisture content, what oils, and what additives you are running- getting proper pressure into the injection pump can become crucial for pump life. It already is important, but even more so with alternative fuels.

It´s been quite a project for some time now, so I´m looking forward to it being "finished". I guess that just means maintenance, dreaming of new upgrades and mods. haha.

The choice of pumps was....a bad choice. Apparently, plantdrive has done conversations on 6.5 using the stock fuel pump before, so the thought was to make it "good enough" and since the pumps are rather cheap, I could just have a spare in the car. I did some research and went for the EP1000 instead of the EP309 to get a couple of extra PSI thinking that would help me, but no luck. I see around 5 psi when cruising measured before the original fuel filter manager. As I got the system together and could start to read my fuel pressures, I quickly realized the EP1000 won´t cut it, so I have two walbro frb-5´s on the way. Hopefully I will get them installed by the end of next week!

Also water seperators becomes crazy important.
(Going to use nonmetric numbers here, you need to include decimal points in C. A variation of 2f makes a big difference here.

Run temps at 5f below water boiling temperature for optimum water separation if not in a pressure altering sealed unit. If you heat to water boil, it will reconstitute into the oil. We learned this doing the primary testing for the federal government at the expense of many public transportation vehicles which now those test results set federal standards. However they did not include all we learned like avoidance of the peanut oils or that temperature separating point.

Best is centrifuge at home, then still run a quality marine (boat) water filtration unit on the truck.

What you are doing at home preparing the oil comes into play also.
From the huge plants and testing we did here, one thing for sure- avoid peanut oil at all costs.

The VM2 fuel filter holders from plant drive are coolant heated with a water separator/sediment base. I run one for the diesel line to preheat the diesel some and reduce the risk of thermal shock to the IP, and one for the veg oil line. When the car is up to full operating temperature, I measure the temperature at the filters between 80-85C (176-185F) now in the winter. Hopefully it will show a bit more once the spring is here and the ambient temperatures rise above freezing.

Both fuels also flow trough the original fuel filter manager, so I have the water separator and the water in fuel sensor there intact.

The restaurants around here seem to either be using rapseed oil or palm oil in their fryers. I only pick up rapseed oil, and use cold up flow settling to clean it. I leave the oil in the containers I get them in for at least a month to settle, then I pump the oil trough 50micron filters into my settling system which consists of 4 200l drums. One header tank that drips into the bottom of the first barrel, then it overflows to the 2nd barrel and is introduced to the bottom of the 2nd barrel, until it overflows trough to the final barrel that I collect the clean oil from. Then I pump it trough a 1micron filter before using it in my car. I´ve been building the "refinery" parallel to the car project, so it´s almost up and running. Plan is to fill/tap from it once a month, so the oil settles for two months before I use it.

That is a ton of electrical you have added. Those lights infront of the radiator grille scare me. These engines are so susceptible to overheating and the airflow is poor design already. At 210f looking at the temp gauge more than the road infront of you. At 220f you should be in total panic mode and pull over to let it idle back down to 195.
You will find a lot of misinformation out there- the US military is the worst saying 230f is acceptable, but they repalce entire engines in 1/6-1/8 of the usage we get from them. I will agree that I would keep the throttle full and driving if Bullets are flying at me and I am out of ammo- haha- been down that road before.

I used to be an electrician back in the days, so adding relays and wires is something I perhaps find a bit too easy. It´s a lot of relays, but basically I´ve just distributed the loads onto individual circuits/relays, so it will be easier to fault find down the road.

I´ve been running with the offroad lights for some months now, and I´ve never seen temps above 90C (194f) on the dash gauge. Mind you, this has been in the winter, so I´ll be sure to keep an eye on the temps as towards the summer. I´ve seen quite a number of 6.5s around Norway with even bigger offroad lights, so I don´t really think it´s going to be an issue. We are extremely happy that one week in the summer we have 30C (85F) outside. I´ve always been taught that the car should never be above boiling point - that corresponds well with your guidelines above. I once had a old Volvo truck overheat on the way up from a undersea tunnel , and that was NO fun! But I do agree with you - if bullets was flying, I´d keep the throttle down as well!

Actually, an old school trick I learned in my younger van days was to put a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator on the coldest day. Driving in -30C (-22F) the 6.5s can have some trouble keeping the inside of the car warm..

 

[svein]

Progress on the wvo system today..or at least so I thought.

Collected the new walbros, and the fittings had arrived, so I was eager to get them mounted!

Got the old pumps out of the car, and measured for the new bracket and made holes to mount it. I was a bit to quick - I´ve mirrored the holes. Luckily I could just turn the bracket upside down and make new holes!



Got the bracket mounted. It will be just two M6 bolts holding the two walbros, but only one of them will run at a time, so I hope it will work out:


The WVO walbro is in place and coolant line zipped to it:


The coolant lines are still running parallel with the wvo from the tank thru the LP prefilter:


Went for a disappointing test-drive after I´d mounted the diesel side pump as well. Only 3-4psi output from the walbros. Slightly higher when I started running veg oil, but it went down as well to around 4psi, and down to 2-3 on WOT. I´m debating where to look for improvements now, and I am really questioning the new hose barbs on the walbros. I´ve put so much work into getting the wvo system running now, so I will have to find a solution! Not giving up!

 

[svein]

Long time since the last post now! Been a lot of work, and Aldo the truck has Been running smooothely!

Did an oil change today on 253500kms. Man, what a PITA to get that oil filter off! Had to run to a nearby store and buy more tools, but got it all done!

Something good came out of buying oil from my repair shop. When I greased the points in the front a couple of weeks ago, grease was leaking out on the side. They said it was completely normal and nothing I needed to worry about. im still not sure though - what do you guys think?


I have also spotted some bad rust holes at the frame on the front passenger side. Had a closer look at it today, and it was worse than I thought. I hope the car-welder guy I know is able to fix it for me quickly!

Under, on the inside:


On the outside:


Gave the car a good wash , and as I wrote this, it started raining:

 

[ak diesel driver]

grease coming out the side is from too much grease

 

[svein]

So I figured! but i was afraid i killed them and needed to replace them?

 

[ak diesel driver]

Only real damage would be splitting the rubber boots. Unlikely though

 

[WarWagon]

That's some nasty frame rust through!

You still using the Anzo clear crystal headlights? How did they work for you?

I returned the Anzo I got for the 3500 Dodge as the beams had vertical lines in them of extreme bright/dark. The Dodge Dealer was really proud of the NOS "old" DaimlerChrysler era branded OEM headlights: even at wholesale prices.

Yet the knock-off headlights we got years ago for the 1993 Chevy worked out ok. Not sure what name they are.

 

[svein]

Yes, wasnt happy when I found that rust! Gotta Get it fixed asap before it gets Even worse!

I am quite happy with my anzos. They Are not completely Even, but not as bad as you describe...and they made a world of difference from my old ones!

 

[FellowTraveler]

Svein, good build....fix that rust and sand blast the entire chassis encapsulate it and it should last a long while. I've spent many years in a salt environment on the nature coast and always spray salt neutralizer everywhere under my 99 burb every chance I get.

 

[svein]

Thanks! The rest of the frame is actually quite good, it has been treated with tectyl, so it´s actually quite nice. I am however planning on spraying on some fluid film wherever I can once I have the dodgy part welded! I´ve heard so much positive about fluid film, and a kit isn´t really expensive either, so I´m thinking I´m just gonna go for it and keep re-treating it every year.

 

[svein]

Suddenly found myself with some vacation days again. Sun was shining, and I just couldn't´t resist doing some work on my Suburban!

Fixed some smaller and bigger issues that´s been bothering me:
-Cleaned out the ac blower motor hoping it would cool me down more. It didn't. I really need a gas refill..
-Swappet my grille with a grille from a 95 suburban with less cracks than mine.
-Swapped my tank fill neck, hoping that will fix my minor diesel leak. Next fill-up will show...
-Cleaned the lenses of my offroad lights and swapped the lenses around so they are finally symmetrical.
-Grinded off all the rust that re-appeared around the body, primed and painted it. Hopefully I´ll find time to spray it with rubber paint soon!
-FINALLY got around to fix the ugly holes from the rear turn signal lights the Norwegian dealer put on it 20 years ago! It doesn't look the best in the world, but I´m hoping that my rubber paint will take care of the finish once I get around to it.

 

[svein]

So this weekends "easy project" was adding a boost gauge, and mounting my cab lights that I have had laying around for ever.

I started off on Friday by testing out cab lights positions at home, before driving to the warehouse:


I went to the warehouse and realized my 1/8npt-27 tap was missing. I fabricated some plastic plates to glue to the cab, so I can mount the cab lights in them, and then drove across town to buy some accessories. At the end of the evening, I had happily mounted a boost gauge and broken the ground to my fuel temp sensor, which is quite essential in the veg oil setup.


Saturday therefore become devoted to relocating the fuel filter manager, my vegtherm and my little gauge probe, so I could get the gauge probe out from it´s hidden location under the intake manifold. Fuel filter lifted and twisted 90degrees, vegtherm mounted to top of intake, and the gauges Hidden on the side of the upper intake:

At the end, I had everything nicely hidden under the turbo power hood. Somehow in all the confusion, I´ve unfortunately managed to lose one of the 5 cab lights, so I guess that project is off until I can order a replacement one. Oh well!

 

[Trucker2k16]

I have just gotten home from a long work travel. I spent my evenings the past month planning and buying everything I need to go ahead and upgrade the car to accommodate my wishes. My very patient girlfriend had been swamped in deliveries the last days before I got home, and the week I´ve been home I´ve been collecting two packages a day! Haha!

As Soon as I had a possibility, I went ahead and swapped the headlights. I went with a pair of Anzo clear crystal headlights from rock auto. I have to say it was a nice swap! I will revisit the topic later to upgrade the headlight cables.
View attachment 55811View attachment 55812
It took the evening to finish off the project. I have to say that I am not very impressed with the quality of the anzo lights. While fiddling with the adjustment, I noticed that the corner of one of the park lights was broken. Turns out that there is two tabs with air in between - they are designed to break!
View attachment 55814

At last I finished for the evening: Ill shoot better photos later, when it´s not dark!
View attachment 55814

Oh man anzo has been a nightmare for me 6 months later and yellow

 

[MrMarty51]

I found in a wrecking yard a 88 Chevy pickup with the four rectangular glass headlamps system, got that for 25 cents a pound and installed those on My 2000 k3500. Fits perfectly and even the grill has the proper notches to fit around the lower sides of the lamps, or maybe it was the upper sides, I dont remember without going out and looking.
Now I can adjust the dims and the brights separately from each other and man do they ever light up the road when on bright. LOL I also installed a relay so that the dim lamps are on when the brights are on too. Like they say, four eyes is better than two. LOLOLOL
I believe those four glass bulb systems for the 1500 series 88 year trucks can be purchased through rockauto too.

 

[svein]

I remember years ago I had a van with sealed beam headlights. I was rebuilt to european specs, so it had H4 housings. I swapped two of them so I ended up having h4 bulb with low/high beam, and a set of hi beams in addition. That was bright!! So far I’m still happy with the anzos..and my lighting in general. I guess my aux lights help me quite a lot in the night there.

 

[Trucker2k16]

Amazon has glass lens covers assembly that i went with and spyder rear led lights

 

[svein]

Ive been looking at spyder projector lights for the front. A part of me dreams about it, and a part of me thinks the old halogen lights is a key part of the gmt400 look!

 

[Jaryd]

I found in a wrecking yard a 88 Chevy pickup with the four rectangular glass headlamps system, got that for 25 cents a pound and installed those on My 2000 k3500. Fits perfectly and even the grill has the proper notches to fit around the lower sides of the lamps, or maybe it was the upper sides, I dont remember without going out and looking.
Now I can adjust the dims and the brights separately from each other and man do they ever light up the road when on bright. LOL I also installed a relay so that the dim lamps are on when the brights are on too. Like they say, four eyes is better than two. LOLOLOL
I believe those four glass bulb systems for the 1500 series 88 year trucks can be purchased through rockauto too.

Got a picture of the lights installed @MrMarty51?