The "restification" of a 98 6.5 TD...

[great white]

Today I fixed the cargo light. It's been out since I bought the truck and has been bugging the heck out of me. It's not something I've had a use fro, I just can't stand having something on the truck that doesn't work!

Had to melt the plastic in the bulb housing away to find a corroded strip from the pin to the lights and solder in a jumper.

Bumped out a couple dents in the extended cab while I had the interior out chasing down the snag and "rust killed" some beginning rust inside the panel and cab corners.

Also spray foamed the double skin roof on the passenger side. The annoying metal "ring" noise when you slam the door or tap the roof panel is gone...

 

[SuperTuscan]

Today I fixed the cargo light. It's been out since I bought the truck and has been bugging the heck out of me. It's not something I've had a use fro, I just can't stand having something on the truck that doesn't work!

Had to melt the plastic in the bulb housing away to find a corroded strip from the pin to the lights and solder in a jumper.

Bumped out a couple dents in the extended cab while I had the interior out chasing down the snag and "rust killed" some beginning rust inside the panel and cab corners.

Also spray foamed the double skin roof on the passenger side. The annoying metal "ring" noise when you slam the door or tap the roof panel is gone...

Can you explain more about foaming the panels? I thought about doing that for several reasons, one of which is noise insulation. The reason I didn't do it was due to the possible rust within the panel. I'd like to have a way to coat the insides of the panels and kill any rust before I apply foam.

 

[great white]

Can you explain more about foaming the panels? I thought about doing that for several reasons, one of which is noise insulation. The reason I didn't do it was due to the possible rust within the panel. I'd like to have a way to coat the insides of the panels and kill any rust before I apply foam.

The roof on my 98 ext cab is double skinned in the front. I simply shoved the foam can nozzle in and sprayed it full. I had the interior out so access was easy.

You do not want to do this with the headliner in place!

If you do go this way, make sure you cover the interior with drop cloth, wear latex gloves and tap up any holes you don't want foam dripping out of . I taped things up, then quickly covered the hole I was working with with tape. The foam expands and it will come out. There's virtually no way to get it off something (interior, your skin, etc) once it touches it.


As to rust, dunno. Time will tell if it was a good idea or not....

 

[great white]

Yippee!

Car code cable (for setting timing/TDCO) and Auber 3 bar boost gauge showed up today.

Got some work to do this weekend.....

 

[great white]

I've had an idea rolling around for a while now....

My truck has the rear "flip out" windows. Now, there's no way you're reaching the passenger side rear window to open or close it if you're driving. Drivers side is just plain dangerous to try and reach while driving.

Since I've got power windows in the ol' girl, manual rears kinda bugs me.

So, here's my thought:

Most minivans have power rear flipper windows. The range of movement is pretty small, much like the trucks rear windows. I've used them before on other projects and if you find an older Chrysler minivan, the lever is cable actuated and the motor is remotely mounted. The arm is pretty much what you would need too...

See where I'm going?

Power rear flipper windows for my extended cab.

After a bit of fabbing and wiring.....just a project for the future....

 

[jrsavoie]

The local locksmith fixed the cargo door lock on the Tahoe for $40. Swapped and rekeyed so all my keys are alike. The Suburban goes in next for it's barn door lock fix.

Little bit O' work done today.

I pulled the driver door panel off and swapped in my smooth outside door handle. I was going to swap in the 98 lock tumblers into the 89 handle, but the lock is seized solid. So now I have an ignition key and a separate door key again. :rolleyes5:

Well, I guess its' not so bad. Now I can hide a door key on the truck without leaving an ignition key there also.

I also swapped in my MB quart components while I was there and pulled out about 10 pounds of dirt and dog hair. The speaker magnet just clears the window when it's full down. The passive crossover is screwed to the door cassette in a nice pocket in the door panel. It all fits like it was meant to be there.

To bad the imaging sucks in the stock locations...

 

[great white]

Well, sitting in the truck right now, looking at car code.

Just finished moving the IP to the drivers side, fired 'er up, warmed up, initiated TDC learn and now tdco is sitting at -1.94.

First try!

:thumbsup:

 

[Crankme69]

Yr living right, took me 2 times!

 

[great white]

Might dial TDCO back some. Kinda rattly right now and not that big of a diff in power......maybe a bit rougher too.

Car code gave me a scare while fooling with it. Tried the injector shutoff test. Worked normal until I got to #8 cylinder. Initiated the test, and no change in engine even though the screen said testing.

Holy crap!

I thought I had a dead cylinder!

Backed out and initiated the test a second time and engine stumbled as you would expect........phew, scary stuff....

 

[Crankme69]

I'm prolly gonna dial mine back to -1.5ish for the winter...

 

[great white]

Installed the 3 bar sensor for my Boost gauge today.

I tapped a 1/8 NPT hole on the drivers side of the upper intake and threaded in a barbed 90 degree fitting. Then, 1/4 fuel line (nice and thick, fiber reinforced and fuel/oil resistant) from the barbed fitting.

Made a nice tidy little bracket (sprayed with some "bake on" 900 degree cast gray) that spanned the front and rear bolts, slipped the line on to the sensor, screwed the sensor to the bracket and bolted 'er all down.

Next, I ran the electrical lines from the sensor into the cabin using an existing hole. Wrapped it in some split loom and taped the ends. I slipped the wire into the factory split loom where possible to keep it all looking factory.

Looked damn good...As in "OEM" good!

Bolted the painted intake plenum cover on and you'd never know it wasn't bone stock...

Just the way I like 'em!

Tomorrow:

Finished wiring and mounting the boost gauge next to the EGT gauge in the cubby delete panel......

 

[Turbine Doc]

Might dial TDCO back some. Kinda rattly right now and not that big of a diff in power......maybe a bit rougher too.

Car code gave me a scare while fooling with it. Tried the injector shutoff test. Worked normal until I got to #8 cylinder. Initiated the test, and no change in engine even though the screen said testing.

Holy crap!

I thought I had a dead cylinder!

Backed out and initiated the test a second time and engine stumbled as you would expect........phew, scary stuff....

I think -1.5 for you will be sufficient, power delta between the -1.94 & -1.5 isn't that great you'd have to be dialed in on a dyno to notice IMO.

Winter ops @ -1.94 are LOUD even in mild winters we have in MS, a guy here at hotel in NY asked what was wrong with my engine, "That is the loudest Diesel I have ever heard".

Me with my turbine dampened hearing loss ears could not figure out what he was referring to ):h

 

[great white]

I think -1.5 for you will be sufficient, power delta between the -1.94 & -1.5 isn't that great you'd have to be dialed in on a dyno to notice IMO.

Winter ops @ -1.94 are LOUD even in mild winters we have in MS, a guy here at hotel in NY asked what was wrong with my engine, "That is the loudest Diesel I have ever heard".

Me with my turbine dampened hearing loss ears could not figure out what he was referring to ):h

That's what I'm thinking.

I do know that when I clanged the injectors for new, the clatter was pleasantly suppressed. Just enough to know it was a diesel, but not so much that it was annoying.

Now, with -1.94 set, it's pretty close to the worn injector noise.

I plan to "glue" a measured tape (in MM) to both the IP housing and the timing cover just to make adjustments a little bit easier. Need that visual reference.

Last adjustment I used the scribe marks and a few bits of "calibrated wire" to measure the movement I would need for -1.94 from where the IP originally was (needed to move about 1.5 MM) and got it on the first try....

 

[Turbine Doc]

with your car code you may be able to reset TDCO without moving the IP, PM Matt Bachand we tweaked mine & his both with his CC laptop tool once we had moved the IP to enough "window" to set the TDCO.

 

[great white]

with your car code you may be able to reset TDCO without moving the IP, PM Matt Bachand we tweaked mine & his both with his CC laptop tool once we had moved the IP to enough "window" to set the TDCO.

I believe you are right, I kept firing off TDCO test to see what I'd get. -1.94 three times, -1.75 once, -2.02 once and a -1.84 once.

BUt, I also want to turn the pump back to the scribe marks so I can "glue" my 1mm increment tape to the IP housing and the timing cover. Then, re-time it for somewhere closer to -1.5...

On another note:

I finished installing my Auber boost gauge next to the EGT gauge. Looks good! The amount of adjust-ability and flexibility of display is nothing short of astounding. PSI/Bar/start at 0/star at atmospheric/high memory/low memory/alarm/ warning lights/ eternal signaling/relay control/ auto dimming with headlights/ choice of display color (read,green or blue) etc....

You have to be used to reading digital gauges though or needles may be a better choice. I watch digital (well, crt cockpit gauges) all day so it's info at a glance for me and accurate to a decimal point.

I'll try and snap a couple pics later if anyone is interested.

Next up:

Boost fooler adjustable from the drivers seat (yup, keeping the vac system)....

 

[Crankme69]

Please post the pics!

 

[great white]

Please post the pics!

Here's a quick one:

 

[great white]

Couple pics of the sensor and bracket:

I think it looks god enough to pass for a factory install at first look! (well, once that bright green weatherpac connector gets a little bit dirtier) It all hides up out of sight when the engine cover is on any ways.

best part of it is, it's just a stock GM 3 bar sensor. If it craps out, a replacement one is only as far away as the nearest parts store.


I'm now toying with the idea of adding 2 stroke oil to my next tank. I picked up a bottle of Shell Nautilus TC-W3 ash-less oil. Seems to be a lot of "hub bub" about it and I might find out for myself what all the noise is....

 

[Crankme69]

That looks very clean nice JOB & thanks for the pics!

 

[great white]

Went out today to dial back TDCO as -1.94 is just too damned noisy!

Opened the hood and stared at that damned AC compressor and dual thermostat housing for a couple minuets. I cursed the GM engineers a coupe more times. I wasn't looking forward to all the trouble just to get to the drivers side IP lower nut and making enough room to turn it with a stubby gear wrench.

I've done it a couple times now, and let's just say it's not that "enjoyable".

So, instead of "f"-ing with it all day, I took the day to fab a few things to make the job a little easier.

First, lets fab up a wrench for that nut so we can get to it without having to take off any more than the Upper intake:

I started with a 15MM (5 degree turn) gear wrench head. The one in the picture (chrome part) is part of a set from 8-19MM.

It's only the heads though, as they are meant to go into a special handle. Canadian tire was selling the set for 10 bucks in "the bargain bin" because the handle had been discontinued and no longer available.

I machined a steel block into a holder for it, then bent up an arm from round stock and welded it on to the block. The handle is from an old broken tool I had lying around.

Zip out to the truck and sure enough, slides right on the nut and turns it without removing a damned thing! (well, I did do a lot of test fitting while making it).

Perfect!

It may even work with the upper intake on, still have to test that out but it looks promising.

A shot of engine black makes it all neat and tidy (it's hanging because it's drying).

Total cost - about 15 bucks.

Well, most of the day is shot by now, so I might as well make something to turn the IP:

Bit of round stock, little bit o' bending and a shot with the welder fixes me right up.

Handle came off an old grinder I was throwing out (Used up and pretty much burned out).

It sits just right in the engine bay to clear everything and give me enough leverage to massage the pump (again, lots of test fitting while building it).

Another pass with the black engine enamel and things are nice an presentable.

Total cost - zipp. All leftover stuff....



Didn't get a chance to dial back TDCO (spent the day fabbing and it started that miserable drizzle crap), but tomorrow life will be so much easier...