73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Projects Posts (NOT VEHICLES) => Topic started by: BLUE BURBAN on October 26, 2007, 03:32:51 am
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Ok gang This is going to be an ongoing posting of the mods I've done and am currently working on for my 1990 K2500 suburban.
First off a little bit of history on the vehicle. I am the 2nd owner of this burb and when I acquired itin September of 2006 it had just under 87,000 miles on it. I was told the previous owner kept it garaged all the time and didn't drive it much during his 17 years of ownership. He'd bought it in October of '89. It is (was) a basic model with no amedities except for rear heater and power rear tailgate window with defroster and clearance lights. No A.C. No tilt steering, No cruise control, No power windows or locks or mirrors. No nice comfy bucket seats. Dull blue-grey interior with blue rubber matting not carpeted. No rear interior trim.
The first thing I did was was remove the useless cubby-hole above the heater controls and replced it with a 6 disc CD storage unit from a BMW X5 and paint the cluster bezel blue.
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that storage things is cool..... any pix of the whole truck?
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Will be adding more pics as i go along I've got them stored somewheres on one of my hard drives I just have to find them or take more.
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pretty sweet man i never seen a setup like that before.
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On the outside of it, I've added factory original power mirrors that I've had lying around here for about 10 years Added a factory rear air deflector to the roof of it. I won a $200.00 gift certificate back in February at work from a body shop and had the windows all tinted to match the factory privacy glass for a total cost of $249.00 (Gift certificate + $49.00 cash out of pocket) Next I had them "smoke" the clearance lights on top as well as the front turn signals,side markers and taillights. I also replaced the 194 "peanut" bulbs in the clearance lights with the larger and much brighter 921 bulbs. I then ran 2 extra wires up to the outer clearance lights (one to each side) cut the ground lead away from the same 2 lights,reconnected it to the 3 center lights and wired the outer 2 to my front side marker lights so now they flash with my turn signals.
Here's a couple of pics of it from the outside
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My front lights both off and on.
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I've also installed power windows and door locks and recolored my interior trim with the exception of the rear door panels. will be doing them this next spring when it warms up outside again.
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Nice work. Question--why the rear air deflector? What does those things do? Purpose? I have seen them on many burbs and depending on their purpose, i may put one on my Blu Burb http://www.delbridge.net/suburban (http://www.delbridge.net/suburban)
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My dash
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Nice work. Question--why the rear air deflector? What does those things do? Purpose? I have seen them on many burbs and depending on their purpose, i may put one on my Blu Burb http://www.delbridge.net/suburban (http://www.delbridge.net/suburban)
It helps to direct airflow down over the rear window. Greatly reducing the build up of watery road grime and icey snow from building up on the rear tailgate glass.
I also got rid of that tiny ass interior rearview mirror and replaced it with a 5 panel rearview that I bonded 2 extra panels onto now I have absolutly no blind spots!!!
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wow..thats a big mirror :o
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You should patent that mirror....call it the Gigantor Deluxe Day/Night Rear View Mirror....maybe CIPA would buy into it...ya' never know!
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the rear deflector does work. i've had 'burbs with and without and was suprised at the difference in "ceanliness" of the back glass on the 'burbs that had the deflector.
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You should patent that mirror....call it the Gigantor Deluxe Day/Night Rear View Mirror....maybe CIPA would buy into it...ya' never know!
That'd be nice if it wasn't already patented and distributed by RALLY through outlets like NAPA,
CHECKER AUTO, SCHUCKS AUTO, KRAGER AUTO, CARQUEST. All I did was hold up a 5 panel mirror, take some measurements and found I could add 2 more panels to itand have just enough room for it to fit. It utlizes the original mount in the center plus 2 others that I had glued to the glass by a friend of mine that installs auto glass for a living. Had I known of this site at the time I would have taken pics of the mods and install. As it is y'all get to see just the installed version.
On a side note since installing this mirror I haven't had to use the sunvisors at all
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Ok I said many times I was going to do this and have decided the best way to share it with you is while I do it instead of waiting until it was all done and try to remember all the steps I went thru to reach the final result. But first, a little background as to why I'm doing this.......
I have a small onboard air compressor w/tank installed in my suburban for my train horns & for an on demand air supply for whatever may be needed in the future. I've wanted to put in an air pressure gauge for a long time but didn't want it to look like an after thought P.O.S. install. A buddy of mine was working for a snow removal company at the airport last winter when he came upon an old C70 truck with a factory air pressure gauge and a combination Tach/fuel gauge. I thought it would be pretty cool but one problem - I've got an electronic speedo in my '90 Burb and that cluster just wouldn't work for me. besides what are my chances of EVER finding one of these clusters in a wrecking yard up here in Alaska? So I filed it away in my mental file of things I'll never get to put in my Burb. Then I started thinking. And contemplating. And planning. I would just install a factory tach and a small fuel gauge set up that I got from someone on another site. Well on the very day that instrument cluster shows up on my doorstep I stumble upon 2 other clusters on EBAY that are out of the heavy commercial trucks. the first with a vacuum gauge and the other with the air pressure gauge.
Now being in a hurry to get a bid in and not really reading COMPLETLY THE DESCRIPTION of the first cluster, I negleted to realize that it had a vacuum gauge and not what I thought was a pressure gauge
So I win the bid for both of these clusters and get one already while still waiting on the other cluster to show I decide it's in my best interest to pick up a second electronic speedo cluster to do all my modifications to so my Burb won't be without a dash and undrivable as it's my only running vehicle right now.
Here's what my cluster currently looks like.......
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Now I realize that the flexible printed circuit sheet on the backside of the clusters can't be modified so I'll have to redo it all together. But that's just another step to go over later with y'all. Right now, here's pics of the three clusters I'm going to use to make one housing for my gauges.
My plan is to surgically remove the mounting positions for the air pressure gauge and the tach/fuel gauge and bond them to the other cluster housing so i can mount the gauges properly.
First pic is of the donor electronic speedo cluster notice that ALL of the mounting tabs are intact and all I'm going to utilize from this cluster is the main skyblue housing the gauges set in.
Second pic is of the the donor cluster for the tach/fuel gauge.
Last pic is of the backside of the 2 clusters together.
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After stripping both clusters down to nothing I took measurements, made my marks, broke out my surgical tools(X-ACTO knife set) and started sawing away.
Oh did I mention the anesthesiologist was out sick during this? THE PATIENT WAS AWAKE FOR THE WHOLE PROCEDURE!!!!AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
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DISASTER!!!!!
I was up until 2 am the other night trimming out the lower left side and I cut too wide Thankfully, a little bit of extra trimming of the removed section and some 2 part plastic epoxy will save my clusters backside not to mention mine.
pics 1-4 shows the trial fit of the tach/fuel gauge backing before I epoxy them together.
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These pics shows the S.W.I.F.U.* on the left lower corner
I'm going to be gluing it all together tonight and will post more on saturday
*So What? I F'd Up.
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I feel your pain here man...I took my tach and small fuel gauge from my 75 and put it in the cluster from the 89 Burban donor that I got my 350 TBI and 700R4 from....hope it all works out well for ya
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Nothing a little glue won't fix. :D
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Thanks CHEVY754X4 I hope it all works out as well.
That's true Cap, and 2 part plastic epoxy works wonders plus helps to induce some really funkadelic dreams when not used in a well ventilated room! ;D
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Ok I've repaired my F*U*B*A*R and have installed the gauges for a test fit.
Also marked the backside of the housing for my next step in the project..... REWIRING!!!!
The fuel gauge terminals have been moved lower in the housing and 3 indicator lamps have been currently displaced. The "SEATBELT * BRAKE WARNING" lamps that WERE at the bottom of the original fuel gauge as well as the 'BATTERY" warning lamp that was originally in the lower left gauge hole.
the latter one being of importance since the alternator needs to be excited with an initial power thru draw so it will activate and run/charge like it's supposed to when the engine is started. But I'll decide where to transplant them later.
Here's pics of the repair and test fit. Mind you that the only 2 gauges in the picture I will actually be using are the air & the tach/fuel gauge.
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Well just call me Dr. Frankenstein 'cause I've butchered and reassembled my cluster. Tested all leads and show .03 ohms resistance through each one so everything is good to go.......so far..
Here's pics of the back of the cluster with it's multi-colored spaghetti and homemade terminals. Man the things you can do with a cordless dremel tool!
In pic 3, the light socket above the air line fitting is my battery warning indicator
The 2 twisted brown and white leads in the last pic are for the brake warning light and the seat belt light I've still got to decide as to where I'm going to mount them. It ain't pretty but it is functional. besides once installed you'll never even see the backside.
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Here's the face of the gauges. I painted the inside of the housing white to help reflect more light to the gauge faces. I'd tried the "chrome" paint once before but it didn't do as good of a job as the white does IMO. I also dicided to paint the needles too. I got tired of the faded florescent orange color
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After hooking up the tach harness I installed the cluster to double check everything and this is what I found.....
1. Only half the dash lights are working.
2. The S.E.S. light isn't working.
3. The turn indicators are bass ackwards.
I pulled the cluster back out and recleaned all the connections to make sure I had all the epoxy schmegmah off of them and also swapped out the turn signal teminals. put it all back in and every thing is ok so far. Next step is to start it and see if it all works
Fired up the engine and discovered that the tach only works when I rev the engine over 3000 rpm then it drops back to "0" as soon as I let off.
I decide to pull the cluster out, disconnect the tach and plug in the other tach/fuel gauge assembly only to find out IT DOESN'T WORK EITHER!!!! I then pulled the tachometer from the cluster I bought from "TOO MUCH STUFF" on here and plugged it in to find out that it works but hasn't got the fuel gauge in it's lower quadrent like I need.
So before I start pulling out my hair and launching tools thru the walls, I looked at the back of the tach face and discovered that I can simply grind away the 2 tiny mounting rivets that hold the face of the gauge to the main workings of the gauge then simply swap the faces from one gauge to the other.
So out comes the trusty cordless dremel with a small tapered grinding stone on it and I started grinding away on the heads of the rivets of the good tach, grinding away until the face is loose from the back section, slight tug on the face and the needle pops off the shaft with out breaking(whew! thank ya lord!!!) I then do the same thing to my whitefaced tach/fuel gauge but from the backside of it so I don't bugger up the face I removed JUST the tach motor from the face and left the fuel gauge alone since it works. Then using the same screws I used to hold the terminals to the back of the cluster, I mounted the tach/fuel gauge face to the working tach motor. Reassemble everything and run back outside in the sweltering heatwave we're experiancing up here right now (28* above 0) and get it all installed again start it up again to see the tach is working!!!!
Kinda... well... sorta.......
Now I find I have to remove and reposition the needle to make sure it's reading right while using my FLUKE meter as a digital tach and comparing the 2 together. I had to reseat the needle about 4 times in order to get it right but now it reads the same as my fluke at various RPM's. So it's all good MAN!!!!
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Looks good! It isn't surprising that the tach clusters you got from Ebay were bad. 90% of them are. When i used to buy/sell them I would ask them for a small video of it hooked up to see if it would operate. Most would say is it sold untested, which 100% of the time means they got it, paid too much and hooked it up and it didn't work so they are trying to make a few bucks on them. The 75-up versions can be rebuilt though, I new of one guy that did them at one time.
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Looks good! The 75-up versions can be rebuilt though, I new of one guy that did them at one time.
Really? Any chance of remembering who it was/is? And if they may still be doing it?
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Let me see if I can find the info. If not I can get you Dave Cross' addy he is the tach cluster Guru, he may have their name...
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Let me see if I can find the info. If not I can get you Dave Cross' addy he is the tach cluster Guru, he may have their name...
Knowing you're probably busier than a quadrapalegic treading water, I was just curious if you'e had any luck yet?
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I have been busy today working on the Jimmy. I haven't found it yet, but I have another box to look in. I will check it tomorrow.
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I have been busy today working on the Jimmy. I haven't found it yet, but I have another box to look in. I will check it tomorrow.
Alrighty. thanks for the update.
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This is the guy I was talking about, I have heard he does good work: www.tachman.com He was on CK5
Here are a few more that I found.
http://www.instrumentsrus.com/gm.htm
http://www.clocksandgauges.com/gpage1.html#2
http://www.speedometershop.com/rep-pag.htm
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Man that was some nice work - Good Job!! ;)
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This is the guy I was talking about, I have heard he does good work: www.tachman.com He was on CK5
Here are a few more that I found.
http://www.instrumentsrus.com/gm.htm
http://www.clocksandgauges.com/gpage1.html#2
http://www.speedometershop.com/rep-pag.htm
Thanx Chris! I'll check them out