Let it Begin! 87 frame off, vortec, H55... (1 Viewer)

[M1A1cruiser]

So I clearly have some sort of alignment problem:

This is the DS front (obviously front right…?) tire. The PS wear is fine.

If the pics don't show it, the wear on the inside of the tire is radically faster than the outside.

I would guess that I have a toe-in problem - or is it a camber problem?

Is this a clear-cut case of needing to get back into the knuckle and install the proper shims - that's the camber adjustment, right?

Or maybe as simple as correcting the toe-in with the tie rods?

I did the alignment by the driveway method - mark the center of the tire on both sides (i.e. 180* of rotation), measure from point to point, rotate the tires, measure again, adjust tie rod as necessary to be within specs. Did this with wheels off the ground first (for ease of rotating back and forth, measuring again, etc) then with the truck on the ground and weight on the tires. I haven't remeasured this yet but given that the bad wear is strictly on the DS tire I am guessing the issue is not alignment. But I'm not an expert so perhaps the PS tire is tracking correctly and pulling the DS along with it?

The steering doesn't feel terrible. There's some understeer (i.e. once the wheels are set into a turn they will tend to follow that path rather than trend back toward straight) and it's not as crisp as my new(ish) VW but…what'd'ya expect right? Im most concerned with the uneven wear. Granted this will get me some new (bigger) tires but I want to correct the issue before dropping $$ on new rubber!

Thoughts? Advice?

 

[gregnash]

Yeah I would think your assessment is correct in that the camber is off. Interested to see how it turns out for you.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Toe can cause that wear pattern as well I believe.

 

[M1A1cruiser]

Well, (hopefully) my odd wear may have been a bad toe adjustment.

Measured the toe in again and it turns out I was running with ~2" of toe-OUT (the front of the tires wider than the rear) as opposed to 1/4" of toe in. Not really sure if I measured wrong on the first attempt or if stuff is settling. But readjusted and will see how it goes.

I did try a local (chain-type) shop to see if they could confirm my alignment but the gent behind the counter could only reply "I don't know if we even have the settings in our machine for that". So I'll check it again in a couple weeks, watch the wear, and see how it goes. I did rotate the wheels in the process so the normal wear-pattern ones from the rear are now on the front - hopefully that's not the reason the steering/tracking feels better almost immediately.

Funny, with all the s*** I've done to this truck and getting the alignment right seems to be challenging. Prob has something to do with lack of time to play with it and using the L/C as a DD.

More as I know it...
TDC.-

I did pick up the SST (not cheap, but I'm a sucker for fancy s*** I'll only use once...) to work the camber if it turns out to be necessary later.

 

[dirtEJohnson]

Ya find a real alignment shop. There is nothing unusual or mysterious about the settings on these vehicles. They could have easily set it up and at least given you actual numbers.

 

[Str8Razor]

Almost daily driving
Put in a 'Speedhut' tach which takes the signal from the ECU.

.-

Did your tach wire in directly or did you have to use a resistor? I put the supplied resistor in with mine as reccomended but it seems it is only showing half the rpms......Going to remove the resistor and see if it improves, mine is an autometer 8k tach and I got a BD 6.0 Vortec Motor.. Your build looks awesome.......

 

[M1A1cruiser]

Sorry for the slow reply marbles.

I can't remember exactly, but it seems like I did have to remove the resistor. BD includes it and his other guidance/instruction was pretty good so I started from there, but had the same problem you did. Took it out, works great. Good luck.

TDC.-

 

[gregnash]

@M1A1cruiser did you buy your engine from BD Turnkey? If so how much was the cost and thoughts on customer service, quality of engine, etc.?

 

[Str8Razor]

My issue with the tach was the dipswitches were not set right, set em and it works great now....BDs engines are exactly what he says...quality is top notch and his customer service is second to none.....I highly recommend his services...

 

[M1A1cruiser]

BLUF: I'm very happy with Bryan and BD Turnkey.

If I remember right, price to my door was right about $2100 (pm me with an email address and I can send you a copy of the invoice if you want).

Bryan provided a video of the engine on a run stand with the OBD hooked up to his laptop demonstrating the tuning applied, temp, solid oil press all that stuff. That's about as good as you can get from x-hundred miles away. The engine on delivery was exactly as promised and has functioned for about 2500 miles for me so far, perfectly.

Here's my advice regarding swapping engines generally and BD specifically (I won't call it a caution unless the reader of this post is as ignorant of engine swaps as I was during the process): know what you want and communicate as exactly as possible up front. Bryan has the ability to tune what ever you ask for and will add or subtract from his base engines pretty much whatever you ask for. Maybe not the desire to do all our work for us; but it is clear that customer service is important to him so for a price I'm sure he'll build whatever you want.

My specific example. I knew I was moving to CA and wanted to try to replicate as much of the smog equipment as possible (EVAP valves, purge valves, solenoids, canisters, etc, etc). But Bryan uses the purge valve port (pretty sure I've got that terminology...mind is slipping with school...) in the intake manifold for his intake air temperature sensor because he removes the MAF and uses a speed density/closed loop tune for his engines. So when I went to put the purge valve back in that place...well that caused me some headache. Bryan knows more about engines that I probably every will and I'm sure if he stumbles across this while googling his name someday he'll curse me for putting the smog s*** back in there and messing up his product. But, my point is, if I'd been able to tell him what I wanted up front I would have saved myself a lot of time searching around in the wiring harness for the sensor leads and grounds that feed the ECU that go with the components I wanted to put back. Bryan takes the out efficiently, but there's a lot of wires to trace to re-do the removal work!

BD was also available to me throughout the swap for (ignorant and surely annoying) questions. Anyone who has the patience to dig through my thread - much less this post - will see that I get obsessed with the wrong thing quite easily. He helped me with alternator wiring, fuel supply, cooling, you name it. An email was answered within a couple of days at worst and usually the same day. Keep in mind that he has absolutely no obligation for eternal engine swap support - he sells a product and that product works and that could be the end of it. But he kept helping diagnose pings and challenges months after I bought my engine! A good guy!

OK, so that's a veritable novel saying what "marbles" said above but I think some of it bears amplification.

All this reminds me that I've been meaning to shoot a little video to post up of the engine compartment with the swap all done and everything working to send to BD Turnkey and to post here. Let me get through a graduate linear algebra midterm, a probability and stats midterm, and a week-long programming exercise and maybe I'll get on that.

Thanks for the question. I always like the opportunity to ramble on, on this valuable forum.

Best,
Travis.-

 

[SNLC]

How long of a wait for your motor from BD?

I have talked to him a few times and always seem to get the, no engines in stock, sold out. Not ever been given a wait time or asked to be put on a list. As such, have looked else where.

Cheers

 

[gregnash]

It is good information and they are based out of Reno so literally their shop is within distance that I could run by an take a look at an engine when/if I decided to go that route. I had heard good things about them but you are the first that I have seen that has used them here on MUD so I was just curious if your feelings were the same.

 

[scrapdaddy]

I'll chime in. Got a 5.3 from Brian, in my 55. Haven't got it running yet, but every time I had a question, he was very helpful. I believe the problem is finding low mileage trucks to harvest the motors from. Shipping was painless and instructions are very complete.

Travis keep up the good work!

 

[Str8Razor]

I'll chime back in on this, I wanted a lower mileage motor from BD Engines, in talking to him I think he gets lots of tire kickers, to find out who is serious about purchasing he takes a non refundable 500 dollar deposit....once I gave him that he procured me a LQ4 with 60k on it and the carfax to back it up, I have called him on weekends and odd hours and he answered the phone, he goes above and beyond to make sure that his product is what he said it is and it works well in your application.....He also updates a thread with his inventory here http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/moto...-3l-6-0l-turnkey-engines-starting-1995-a.html , I watched that thread for a while before I decided exactly what I wanted, the motor I was looking for never popped up in there, it seems his motors are becoming more in demand due to the successes of many of his customers and the user friendliness he has developed with his 3 wire set-up......

 

[M1A1cruiser]

Again, pretty much what "Marbles" says above, but here's my specific details.

I first emailed him on March 23d 2012 and he emailed right back saying to just keep in touch if my interest remains; kind of what has been said "nothing right now, but let me know if you're serious...". I emailed him a couple more times (about weekly) stating that I still was interested and to keep and eye out for an engine for me.

I think he does keep a list ‘cause he reached back to me on April 9th stating that he had an engine inbound (i.e. he had found one at a yard…) and that it’d be ready to ship “mid May”. At this point I sent him a deposit and he put me down as committed. He sent me a preliminary invoice and carfax vehicle report from the donor truck.

May 23d 2012 the engine shipped.

As referenced above, I’ve been in comm with him as recently as Jan 5 2014 asking engine related questions that he did his best to answer quickly and accurately — imagine trying to diagnose an engine via email and youtube videos. I’m not a paid endorser but I’ve got no complaints.

By my limited experience, I can't imagine needing an engine to swap in RIGHT NOW. It's a long term process with lots involved (as all the posters here recently know...) and plenty to do while one waits for the motor. If anyone is looking for a good product at a decent price (really...look at some of the other threads where the engine doesn't come with the ECU or the TAC module (gas pedal) or the wiring harness is fried or the rings are blown and you don't know 'til the swap is done...that's 95% of the reason I went with as close to known quantity as possible. With a turnkey (and that probably goes for any...I'm really not shilling for BD, it's just the only experience I have) you avoid a lot of the pull your own parts. But you pay for it.

best,

TDC.-

 

[M1A1cruiser]

Popping up for help again after a bit. About 3000 miles on the swap now. All is well but little tweaks pop up now and then.

So, cooling…

I haven’t had any overheat issues but it seems like I’ve got some pressure issues.

Cooling has been fine until recently, no leaks no overheat (temp measured directly never goes above 210 – towing, uphill, summer…) but I am losing coolant somewhere causing drips/small puddles underneath...

My radiator cap routinely vents coolant to the (unpressurized) overflow bottle and I think relatedly I have some sort of, untraceable coolant leak; I don’t think it has to do with the radiator core itself – I hooked a pressure test up to the radiator alone, while out of the truck with negligible drop in pressure. I have also tested compression across all cylinders to try to find any cracks in the block or head and run the pressure test on the radiator while in the truck – again with negligible drop in pressure.

I have read the BillaVista cooling page and it states that under normal temps/pressures the radiator cap should not need to vent – that it’s only a blow-off for excess pressure.

“If the system pressure reaches the cap’s pressure rating, the cap’s spring is compressed, forcing the valve open and allowing coolant to escape through the overflow tube to the overflow tank. After such an event, as the system cools it contracts, creating vacuum that opens the other spring- loaded valve, in the rad cap, allowing coolant in the overflow tank to be sucked back into the radiator.”

I have tried to mirror the Chevrolet cooling system as much as possible; I don’t have a surge tank, just a vent tube from just below the cap to the overflow tank. But, if I understand correctly that’s just a matter of WHERE the pressure is contained, not whether it IS contained…but maybe a surge tank would allow containment of the pressure/air pocket better than just a RAD and overflow tank?

The only thoughts I have at this point are:
Maybe it’s the steam tube???? That thing is hot and under pressure…is it containing the pressure until it gets to the radiator.

Also, maybe the “other spring loaded valve” is not opening and not letting the overflow back to the rad and causing some leaks out of the tube that can't get back into the RAD…of course eventually resulting in air pockets…

As always I'm open to thoughts from the community...

Thanks,
Trav.-

 

[M1A1cruiser]

Having a hard time with repairs vs. time so I'm tossing this up in classifieds to see what happens.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/ca-87-fj60-5-3l-v8-5-speed-arb-lockers-etc.863882/

Maybe there's another one in my future (or a 40 or a VW bus or...???) but this L/C has served it's purpose (it seems I have more fun building than driving...) but for now this one is driving me crazy! Or I should say "not driving" me crazy.

Starter solenoid clicks but no turnover and I don't know where to even begin with that (not to mention the lack of time I have with grad school!). So maybe it's a sign that it's time to go...

Thanks for all the help over the years. Maybe I'll be back with a new project once we get to next duty station and I have a nice little shop to work in.

best,
Travis.-

 

[M1A1cruiser]

So, as soon as I put the charger on the main (starting) battery, I can crank the starter and it turns over immediately.

I have just replaced the starter (new solenoid came with it) and the battery. I guess something is draining the battery (although this never happened before...) BUT is it just a lack of charge on the battery that would solenoid not to pass enough juice to the starter? The solenoid shows ~12.3V at the stud when just sitting there; I'll check it again after it charges for a bit.

I don't drive it as much as I used to so maybe that drain has always been there and it just charged enough in between drains to never show.

If this is an easy chase, maybe I'll come down off the ledge of the classified ad. I really don't have the time I used to but...this newly cropped up problem is really a pain...

 

[scrapdaddy]

Oh No! Sorry to hear Travis, I've always enjoyed reading your build thread. One hell of a wagon. You've done everything right with it, so the starter has to be something small, maybe let someone else look at it. Stepping away for awhile helps me regroup.

Best of luck with it,

Ron

 

[M1A1cruiser]

Thanks Ron,
As always (whether philosophically or cruiser build expert-ness-ly) you've got good advice. I've calmed down a little.

Given that it starts when I zap the battery with a little more juice, it makes me think it's just a slow drain somewhere and that the solenoid and starter and all are fine when used regularly.

That doesn't really help solve the base problem and I'm not really a "put a band aid on it" kinda guy. I want the sh*t fixed! So I don't know where the drain is...all of my accessories are wired through the 'on' piece of the ignition circuit so I thought everything is dead when the key is off, but obviously not.

I guess I'll poke around at the fuse box with the multimeter and see if there's still current going through somewhere even when the key is 'off'.

Again, thanks.
Trav.-