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May 26th 2024: We've got a gauge cluster
I purchased a Dakota Digital VHX cluster a bit ago and have been working up the guts to install it. It's an expensive piece of gear and frying it would make me very sad. I picked up a PAC-2800BT fan controller too and this weekend I threw caution to the wind and got it all installed. I wrapped the water sensor in some high temp wrap to keep the exhaust from burning through the insulation and I've zip tied it to the motor mounts so it's not actually in danger of touching the steering shaft.
Wiring wasn't too awful but did take a few hours since I am running everything through that plug on the firewall. I was able to connect most of the indicator lights directly to the fuse box which cleaned things up a lot and, while the picture makes it look pretty messy, the glovebox is actually nice and clean. I do still need to wrap the low voltage wiring harness, but other than that electric is done enough to pass safety inspection!
July 6th 2024: 4Lo, gas tank and bled brakes
| The brakes still don't feel right. The pedal can go all the way to the floor and I'm 90% certain that isn't normal. I've tried all of the traditional bleeding methods and just haven't managed to make the brakes feel any better, so it's time to bring out the power tools. I made a power brake bleeder out of a 3d printed cap, a mason jar and a vacuum pump from harbor freight and pulled every bubble out of the brake lines with no change. Turns out, I just had my brake rod adjusted too short and needed to turn that out a bit. This thing stops violently now, so I'll need to adjust it a bit more I think. | |
With the truck stopping like a boss, now it was time to get the gas tank replaced. here is where I found my first big chunk of rust rot. I'm not doing body work until winter, but this piece had to be replaced since it was the only thing separating the exhaust pipes from the gas tank. I grabbed a piece of sheet metal from home depot, banged on it until I could weld it into place and then covered it all in POR15. I also cleaned up the tank straps and will probably leave them bare.
The vacuum shift mechanism had hard lines from the valve body and totally rotted rubber lines to the vacuum motor, so I decided to be extra and made 6AN adapters from the transfer case to new hardlines to the vacuum mechanism. I also welded up a shift arm and made some linkage to attach a shifter to the HI/LO mechanism on the transfer case ,meaning I now have 4wd and independent HI/LO. Basically twin stick with just one stick. After that, I started putting body panels back on and trying to align things. I'm going to need to loosen the body mounts and shift the tub a bit to get everything to line back up, but oh man we're so close!
