Author Topic: Hello all.  (Read 35374 times)

Offline jeremy.farlow

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #165 on: February 19, 2022, 02:52:17 PM »
Totally honestly, once the flatbed is totally sussed out and roadworthy I don’t plan on ever driving it again… you have to understand the hierarchy in me and the missus’ relationship.

It goes:
HORSE
Truck
jeremy

If I had entered the relationship with a big-boy pickup I’d still only be capable of second place.

Honestly I’m cool with the whole arrangement. I get copious time to do with what I may. It’s also good that both of us have a different safe place away from the house. That alone seems to head most squabbles off at the pass and is surely nice when squabbles do start.

In any case, leading up to the accident in the Ford I had been having literal nightmares about a MUCH smaller accident. None of which came close to the reality that fixing her truck became. I had nightmares just telling her about a bent bumper…

Also, that blue oval in the grill… makes me want to vomit.

She was quite good about taking care of maintaining HER truck before I went and got in an accident in it. She’ll do the same from here on, once I get it to improved from how I got it state.

I’ve got a car-hauler borrow lined up, open-ended for the next couple weeks. I’m looking to fill that Ford hole in the shop with a GM product as soon as I can. I’m expecting to redo several things, I started rushing when the old shop sold and I’ve got too much into that suburban to cut any corners.



Be safe



Jeremy

Offline Shifty

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #166 on: February 21, 2022, 08:14:33 AM »
Thanks for the update Jeremy!
87 V20 Standard Cab Longbed (current)

87 R30 3+3 Longbed (days of yore)

98 C2500 ext cab longbed

Offline jeremy.farlow

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #167 on: July 01, 2022, 06:34:59 PM »
Hi guys! Hopefully y’all haven’t completely forgotten me.

It’s been a while.

I’m wrapping up this work project:





As soon as this thing leaves the suburban is taking its spot.

I am very relieved to announce that I just pulled the front four spark plugs and didn’t find any trace of water. Oil is at level and oily.

It’s still most prudent to tow it to the new shop.

For those just joining the very first time my suburban went outside it rained… and the entire intake and every cylinder filled up with water. Apparently past Jeremy did a *much* better job on V2.0.




My drains seem to have worked pretty well. I scooped plenty of leaf crap out of the air cleaner pan, but no water.

I’ve been absolutely dreading finding a very expensive engine completely full of water.

One less excuse.

Stay tuned.




Jeremy

Offline JohnnyPopper

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #168 on: July 01, 2022, 07:04:51 PM »
Glad to see you're alive and well ;D

Almost tear'd up when I saw your power plant... :(

I hope things go well in resurrecting her to her former glory  ;)
1957 Apache 3100 235 Inline 6, 3 on the tree
1973 C-20, 3+3 454 4BBL TH400  Water Injection
1978 K-10, 350 4BBL TH350 NP203 M.M. Part time Kit/Hubs
1980 C-10 under construction

Offline jeremy.farlow

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #169 on: July 01, 2022, 07:30:10 PM »
Oooohhhhh!!! I am getting excited!

The Good:
A lot of the work COVID Jeremy did seems to be holding up quite well:

The engine isn’t full of water and most of the stuff I made seems to have stood the test.





The Bad:
COVID Jeremy did a really crappy job on the dashboard:



COVID Jeremy also did not get the truck as weathertight as he had hoped to:



COVID Jeremy did use enough scotch guard to make the water puddle in one place, but water is definitely still getting in. The storm earlier today was by no means “prolific”.

Thankfully I’m in the south, so I have a “water problem” not a rust problem.

The Ugly:
The thing needs a bath real bad:




Sitting again on “maypops”:



I’m surprised any of those tires are still keeping air.

They’re what came on my Ford:

I’ve got six of the same American Racing wheel ready… just have to spring for tires.

Here’s me and the missus “fleet”:

SOOOO socially irresponsible. There’s like 23 liters of displacement lined up there. Me and my 15.5 liters being the majority share. Thankfully neither of my trucks are intended to do long hauls. And as stupid expensive as gasoline currently is, diesel is even worse.

The bandaid has officially been ripped off…

The Whale:

Will ride again.

Be safe


Jeremy

Offline Shifty

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #170 on: July 02, 2022, 01:39:10 PM »
The whale is having a rough patch....  :-\
87 V20 Standard Cab Longbed (current)

87 R30 3+3 Longbed (days of yore)

98 C2500 ext cab longbed

Offline jeremy.farlow

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #171 on: July 02, 2022, 05:43:50 PM »
Hi Shifty, long time.

I went back and read a lot of this thread last night after making my posts… it’s kind of eerie to see how quickly things changed…

Point being, we’ve ALL had kind of a rough time these last couple years.

In complete honesty, building this truck kept the COVID lockdowns from affecting me worse. The whale… it’s been sitting, but it could be A LOT!!! worse. I’ve been avoiding pulling those plugs because I was nearly sure the engine would be completely full of water. Nasty, rusty, crappy water and the first two steps on my list would be:

Remove engine

Rebuild engine

An hour or two with a pressure washer is gonna get me *almost* where I was… thank God, not fully two years ago.

My new shop is as ready as it will be to receive my project, the missus is happy with her flatbed ford… and aside from work, I’m in the headspace to do the project justice.

I won’t promise to be as prolific as I was during the COVID lockdowns portion of this thread, but it’s back on and soon!

I’m mostly happy with the decisions I made with the time I had… and I’ve had plenty of time to think about a suitable, strong finish.


Stay tuned!!!


Jeremy

Offline Shifty

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #172 on: July 04, 2022, 10:42:22 AM »
Looking forward to the "re-hab" pics and stories...
87 V20 Standard Cab Longbed (current)

87 R30 3+3 Longbed (days of yore)

98 C2500 ext cab longbed

Offline Mike81K10

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #173 on: July 04, 2022, 08:57:41 PM »
Always enjoyed see the White Wale's transformation from the beginning.
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." -Benjamin Franklin

Offline jeremy.farlow

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #174 on: July 22, 2022, 01:00:55 PM »
This is happening:



Offline jeremy.farlow

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Hello all.
« Reply #175 on: May 03, 2023, 02:51:10 PM »
Whelp. The Writers Guild of America has decided that I need some time off. I couldn't agree more. I've gotten really tired of looking at the dang suburban. I've been doing some small stuff here and there, but I was READY for the news of the strike hitting this week and went full in.

I undid some of the work I did back during the COVID lockdowns. While mounting the sensitive electronics under the dash *seemed* like a good idea at the time, I still haven't gotten the standalone transmission controller working as it should, so I went ahead and rerouted a bunch of wiring and put the ECU and TCU in a *MUCH* more accessible place under the hood:

I got the engine running for the first time since 2020 today. It took a set of plugs and draining the old fuel. With new high-test in the tank the beast started right up and settled into a decent idle straight away.

The Beard seats were another of those: "seemed like a good idea at the time" things... Turns out that race seats are meant to utilize a crash helmet. My head never touched the headrest. Plus, every now and again you want some recline in your life... not an option with the fixed race-buckets. These are OBS-Ford captains chairs:


WAY, WAY, WAY better!!!
I also finally got around to replacing the slap wore out rear seats. Found a really nice replacement set on eBay. I've had them kicking around for a while, but here they are mounted:


I'm gonna try for Navajo-blanket seat covers to disguise the front seats application.

There are still some transgressions from 2020 to be addressed and some things I hadn't gotten to yet. I haven't decided if I'm gonna try another attempt at repairing my original dash or just eat it and buy a new dash cover. I was really happy with my earlier repair... until the truck sat. It cracked twice as bad as it was initially. I may be able to fix it, but I'll take advice from the membership here.

Beyond that, I'm planning on taking a drive tomorrow and seeing what falls off. I think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and put a transmission in the truck. Even if the stock 4L80e isn't actually fried I have to imagine it won't last long with nearly double torque and HP. I'm also planning to spend tomorrow morning on the phone with TCI... assuming I'll be spending the TCU back to them.

Then there's "The List"...

Oops... drivers window crank needs scratched off.



Be safe




Jeremy
« Last Edit: May 21, 2023, 11:14:35 PM by jeremy.farlow »

Offline Shifty

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #176 on: May 03, 2023, 03:55:47 PM »
Excellent to see you back at it Jeremy! 
87 V20 Standard Cab Longbed (current)

87 R30 3+3 Longbed (days of yore)

98 C2500 ext cab longbed

Offline jeremy.farlow

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #177 on: May 03, 2023, 04:58:14 PM »
It's been WAAAAAAYYYYYY too long. Life does get in the way. I'm not sure how long the writers will be on strike, but I'm guessing work will be sparse for me for at least a month and likely two. I hope to be driving the burb to my first day of work back. Glad you're still around Shifty, and everyone else.

Someone help me figure out what to do about the dashboard.





Be safe



Jeremy

Offline Shifty

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #178 on: May 03, 2023, 05:19:10 PM »
If you're into a bit of fab, why not a more classic, all steel dash from a 50's maybe early 60's truck (have to widen, I'm sure)?  Way classier than our plastic/metal generic originals....
87 V20 Standard Cab Longbed (current)

87 R30 3+3 Longbed (days of yore)

98 C2500 ext cab longbed

Offline jeremy.farlow

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Re: Hello all.
« Reply #179 on: May 03, 2023, 05:51:25 PM »
I have considered building myself a dash. It would likely be aluminum, not steel. It isn't off the table, but I have enough other stuff that I'm not *really* wanting to take such a big bite right now.



Be safe



Jeremy