Builds Project Bluebird and the tale of an engine rebuild (1 Viewer)

[maxbob002]

I’ve been working in 30min sessions due to life and work so progress has been slow. I spent some time making fuse panel and compressor mounts. Of course it took way longer than expected but I’m happy with the outcome. They are 16ga steel from Lowe’s. It bends well but is sturdy. The vise and a dead low hammer worked well with nice 90deg bends. The radius of a quarter made a nice round corner on the bracket corners. A 60grit flap wheel on my angle grinder made short work of the corners. Painted them and got everything mounted today. The arb wiring loom is nice but will need some modifying to work with our dash lights. The fuse block wasn’t mandatory but I really wanted to clean up the terminal connections.

 

[maxbob002]

Finally mounted up the block and compressor mounting today and worked some on the wiring.

Earlier this week got the third member back in.

First installed the 2.8mm c clips per directions. But with a feeler gauge and math the 3.0mm ones worked better. Basically you measure the space between the axle end and thrust block with a feeler gauge. This showed I needed a 2.99 clip. It’s a snug fit but talked with arb this morning as long the block slips in it should work.

 

[maxbob002]

Next up is all the wiring. I’m installing some lights on the bumper and wiring up my gauge lights to the dash lights at the same time. There was a pic a while back on Facebook that showed switches mounted where the ash tray goes. Turns out these little blocks just pop right in without cutting anything. There is a small gap but barely noticeable once the switches are centered.

 

[maxbob002]

Spoiler, I’ve got a fun button now.

I spent most the day doing wiring work. Not a lot of fun pics of that.

Wired up these amazon special lights. I used a relay and put it behind the headlight.

Like others a used the cigarette lighter dashlight circuit for backlighting with both the switched 12v and ground. The cigarette circuit was used for the switched 12v power to the arb wiring harness also. For the ground to make the switches light up, i left a ground from the arb harness unplugged. For the backlight ground I made a simple harness to plug into each switch that connected to the cigarette lighter circuit. The green wire is the ground FYI. Red one gets 12v when the headlight switch is on. I left the blue/white connected to the cigarette lighter circuit.

Part of what took so long was wiring up the Bosch gauge backlights also. Figured now was as good a time as any.

 

[maxbob002]

Just got back from a test drive with the kiddos to McDonalds. Everything went great aside from neg battery terminal was loose. Gears were quiet and things were smooth up to 70mph. Interstate test later. It’s had a 75mph vibration for a long time that I thought was tired. Hoping this fixes it. My girls said we celebrated by getting the best happy meals ever.

 

[maxbob002]

Cottonland Campout was a blast. Bluebird did great the two drive to and from Canton as wel as all the dirt roads @wngrog took us down. I had a bologna sandwich at the Ebenezer store and it was delicious. My new dome lights came in the day before I left so they went on when I got there.

At Winn Dixie getting some supplies

 

[maxbob002]

These are a few of the pics I took on the day tour that I almost missed. These guys were on a mission and left me with a quickness in the camp. Thankfully my man @Dustin Messina has his cell on.

Below @wngrog pics of course came out ridiculously awesome.

 

[maxbob002]

I couldn’t get together before the camp out with @Dustin Messina but scored this roof rack and tent on the way home. Huge thanks and can’t wait to use it. My girls were super excited.

On the way home I did get a check engine light that was on twice for 15-20 sec then gone. I’ve since pulled the codes and they were the same bad o2 sensor and running lean codes that I assume @wngrog was getting. I’ll watch it close and may end up swapping a fuel pump. I also ran the tank the lowest I ever have before on the trip so that may have sucked up some junk. Granted there was still like 5 or 6 gallons in the tank. The real casualty of the trip was my power antenna. I have a switch to force it down when I go in the woods. It works when I use it unlike this time. A round evergreen bush tree thing bent it pretty good. It still goes up and down to about 6” from closed. May just let it be for a while.

 

[wngrog]

Power antenna???

 

[maxbob002]

Power antenna???

Yes I had put a universal one on a while back to replace the universal spring one that was ugly and rusty. For some reason I don’t have an installed pic but worked great since last September and still works except the bent section.

 

[wngrog]

This needs an update Doc

 

[maxbob002]

Agreed and appreciate the call out. I’ve been neglecting the thread for a while. The windows got tinted and ac tuned up. This MS heat is no joke this summer. The girls and I went to Talladega National Forest in July. First time sleeping in the tent. It was awesome aside from sweating nonstop for two days. We hiked and swam in the Cheaha Falls until a snake claimed the swimming hole.

Found a cool closed bridge on the way in and stopped to check it out.

 

[maxbob002]

I installed a Smittybilt console with a tuffy drink holder. I drilled four holes in the floor of the console and got some longer bolts to use the stock mounts in the floor

The next project was installing a Jeep hardtop lift to get the tent on and off by myself. It took a long long time. I measured a ton because it needed to be in a particular area but also be somewhat centered visually from two sets of lights. In the end works awesome. I highly recommend this method on tent storage.

This is as low as it goes given where I put the eyelet for the line the raise and lower. Good enough to go on a trailer or sawhorse.

It’s made by Hoister direct and uses a pulley loop reduction system to decrease the effort to raise and lower. It has a builtin lock that if you let go it should just stop movement. I haven’t tried it but it takes enough effort to get it to lower I don’t worry about it falling.

 

[maxbob002]

First off, a huge thanks to @wngrog, Bluebird got a lift. It was a pain but certainly not as bad as some the stories I have read on here. I went with OME medium and love it. I wish this was the first thing done to the truck after purchase. The old suspension was so worn out it was scary in turns.

We only had to cut two shackles. Bonus I only hurt myself once. Cut my finger which is healing nicely now.

Before

After.

 

[maxbob002]

Got around to swapping in the replacement power antenna. It’s a universal one that come with several different mounting pieces.

I grounded it to the windshield washer reservoir bolt and had previously run a power and radio on wire. There’s a switch in the glovebox to force it off to use while off-roading. I’ll be sure to remember it next time.

Also found a better pick of console. Don’t order the gray one FYI. It clashes horribly with the interior. I sent it back and got the black one.

Last update is that I increased base timing from 7 to 11 degrees. It really woke up off idle to 2k rpm and overall runs better. It is almost peppy now. I haven’t run enough to see if mpgs are better or not. I’ve had some 14 mpg averages earlier but have been stuck at 10-11 for a while now. I also verified that I have an intake leak. I new it was there but thought the remflex had sealed it. It’s on the todo list to go chasing at some point. Appreciate those who read all my ramblings.

 

[Dustin Messina]

Blue bird is looking great! That lift changed the look. Very nice.

 

[wngrog]

Poor thing got beat up this weekend.
Give us a report

 

[LETSROLLEM]

First off, a huge thanks to @wngrog, Bluebird got a lift. It was a pain but certainly not as bad as some the stories I have read on here. I went with OME medium and love it. I wish this was the first thing done to the truck after purchase. The old suspension was so worn out it was scary in turns.

View attachment 2063230
We only had to cut two shackles. Bonus I only hurt myself once. Cut my finger which is healing nicely now. View attachment 2063229
Before

View attachment 2063231
After.

Looks great! I read through the thread and may have missed it, but what size tires are you running?

 

[wngrog]

Looks great! I read through the thread and may have missed it, but what size tires are you running?

33x10.50-15

 

[LETSROLLEM]

33x10.50-15

Thanks