In reply to eastsideTim :
Wiring is definitely the thing I'm dreading the most on my own LS swap.
In reply to eastsideTim :
Wiring is definitely the thing I'm dreading the most on my own LS swap.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
I think going off the beaten path did not help me. There's a much simpler fuse/relay setup on the lt1swap site that I didn't use because I didn't want to tie as many things to as few fuses as it had. I'd have had it together a lot faster if I had gone that route. As it is, if it weren't for wae's help, I wouldn't be this far, either.
When you get to the point of assembling terminals and connectors, you are welcome to borrow the collection of crimpers I have acquired for this project. I've also probably got more connectors than I will be able to use for the rest of my life.
Edit: I should take a picture of the overall wiring situation under the hood. It's a total mess right now, but I am hoping to actually make it look reasonable after testing is complete.
Here's an overhead view of where things stand.
I think there are one or two original cut bulkhead wires I need to connect to the engine harness, but the others need to be gotten out of the way. Also, there are a lot of loose wires in one of the engine harness connectors that I do not need right now, but may end up using in future updates (cruise control, 2nd fan control, etc). I think for safety's sake, I am just going to put some heat shrink on the end of each unused wire and bundle them up as much as I can.
Connected the last wires to the driver's bulkhead, and did some cleanup on wiring that won't be used this go around. I still need to terminate a bunch of ground wires, and figure out the final mounting for the ECM. Didn't feel like messing with the wiring anymore, though, so I switched over to the hydroboost lines. I started trying to fit the booster to pump line that an online guide said works, but couldn't figure out how, so I pulled out all the other lines I've got laying around. Lots of time spent feeding them around other crap, and nothing fitting. I was getting tired and frustrated, so decided to walk away before I messed something up.
I think in the next week, I will fiddle with the hoses I have a bit more, and if they don't work, price out parts and tools for making my own lines, and see if it seems to make sense to do that. I am missing one of the hoses that the guide I looked at said I needed, so I may need to include that in my calculations. For one of the lines I have, it might work if the master cylinder is properly attached, so I may have to give in and bench bleed the Astro master cylinder, and install it soon.
Between a lack of time (and motivation), it's been a while since I worked on the S10. Weather was nice today, so I figured I could go out and work on it with the garage doors open for the first time in ages.
I hadn't had a chance to check the driveline angles yet, to see if I need to swap out the angle shims at the rear axle. I'd been holding off, as I needed to rotate the driveshaft a bit, and to do that, needed to get a jack under the rear end and throw the transmission in neutral. The driveshaft to rear end angle isn't great, but the transmission to driveshaft angle was terrible, and is going to cause more work to be needed.
IIRC, for a leaf spring car, the front u-joint angle should be somewhere between 0 to opposite the rear u-joint angle, and the rear u-joint should be more than what I have, to account for axle wrap under acceleration. I'm going to need to shim the rear of the transmission up quite a bit, which is going to lead to a couple of issues:
After that, I decided I'd get the new master cylinder in, so that brakes will be at least somewhat functional, and I can try to figure out the hydroboost lines. Double checked that the fittings were going to match the S10, and started setting it up for bench bleeding. Noticed the end of it seemed kind of big, though. Took a quick measurement and it is actual bigger the the S10, so won't fit into the hydroboost unit. I guess there are multiple ones available for the Astro, and I ended up order the wrong one. Yay. Guess I'll try to get the correct one, or see about getting a rebuild kit for the one that I pulled from the junkyard.
These, combined with other issues, kind of have me wanting to just go with manual brakes and manual steering, just to simplify a lot of work, but I know if I do that, I won't drive it as much when it is done. I'm going on a short road trip soon, and am hoping it can help me clear my head and get back to working on this more often. Work is picking up more, though, so a lot of days, I either don't have time, or I don't want to do anything once I'm done with work.
Hey, the break I took from working on the S10 was under a month - barely. Today, I bench bled a replacement master cylinder and installed it. Then moved on to messing with the hydroboost hoses again. Still no luck. One of them might work if I can bend the steel line some without crimping it, but I have my doubts, so it is looking like it will be easier to just make lines. I've already started figuring out which o-ring fittings will be needed, and will order them along with some high pressure AN hose, and whatever tools will be needed to assemble them.
I did pick up some bolts that might fix my spark plug wire clearance issues on the passenger header, and may mess with them a bit later.
With the new hardware, the plug wires should fit, but it'll be snug. Along with the power steering hose hardware, I ordered some spark plug boot protectors, just in case. Famous last words (that I think I have said multiple times before), I hope this is the last expensive order of parts before I get the truck on the road.
Tight spaces are biting me again. The high pressure connection at the power steering box is very close to the power steering pump reservoir. In doing some test fitting, I cannot get the AN fitting to thread onto the adapter. I believe once it is on, there will be clearance, so I may have to remove the serpentine belt and loosen or remove the driver's side accessory bracket to get it installed. I do have one minor concern with this, though. When I fix the driveline angles, the front of the engine will tip lower, and reduce clearance further. I need to do some thinking. I chose the Earl's style hose and fittings, due to simpler assembly procedure, but they don't have a tighter radius fitting than I have. I'll have to do a little digging around and see if any else makes a compatible tight radius fitting.
Edit: Just had a thought. While I'd rather not use any intermediate fittings, I suppose I could use a tight radius AN -6 fitting to clear the pump, then connect a hose end fitting there.
Had a lot of other things to do today, but did go ahead and make and install the hose between the hydroboost and the power steering pump. It was a little harder to put together than regular AN hose, but not too bad.
I also ordered fittings so the other hose can be routed around the PS pump. The temptation to make the order big enough to get free shipping hit, and I ordered up a couple cheap mufflers that should work for the truck.
The other high pressure line has been made and installed, but final install took about 2 hours, dealing with getting the hose end in place, then threading it on. It kept wanting to crossthread. Had to take several breaks because my hands kept cramping up. I am still not sure what I did different to get it to work, but I really hope I never have to remove it. Wanted to get some other stuff done this weekend, but needed to deal with taxes, and wanted to spend a little time on other projects.
Cut into the floorpan for clearance for the transmission cooler line, once the transmission is shimmed up. Before cutting some metal out to create a patch when the hole now is, I decided to shim the transmission first, and check out driveline angles. The news is not good. They are improved, but the driveshaft-pinion angle could afford to be bigger, and the transmission-driveshaft angle is still in the wrong direction, not to mention, ideally, it should mirror the driveshaft-pinion angle, so they are almost 3 degrees out from that.
Worse, I'm hitting the limit of travel for the transmission. When it is lifted enough for me to fit the shim loosely, something is hitting the transmission tunnel or the firewall. If it is just the fuel lines, I can pull them and run them along the frame rail. It may be something else, though, as the tailshaft looks to be getting very close to the transmission tunnel, which also means I don't have much room for any more adjustment beyond where it is anyway. If it isn't an easy fix (like the fuel lines), I see two options at this point, neither of which I really like:
This one is feeling like one step forward, a dozen steps back.
Edit: I suppose another option might be to hunt down a 4L60E, but that likely means another driveshaft, too.
After a brief inspection, with the shim bolted in place, and the transmission not supported by the jack, here are the problem areas:
It's looking more like the truck is going to have to go back to stock height, if I want to be driving it any time in the near future, since it really needs a smaller shim(or no shim) on the transmission mount.
After yesterday's last post, I headed out to my storage locker, and retrieved the stock suspension components, and a set of front spindles from a 2003 Blazer. Today, I pulled the rear leaf springs, and replaced them with the stock ones. Took some measurements, and the driveline angles improved, but I still had all the problems the shim had caused. I pulled it out, and took some measurements. The angles didn't mirror each other well. I found a 5/16" shim that came with the crossmember kit and tossed it in (the original was 3/4"). It is bolted to a different location in the mount assembly, and the bolts I had were on the edge of being too short. For my notes, they were 10mmX1.75, 25mm long. I'll have to order some slightly longer ones, just to be safe. Anyway, with that here are the driveline angles:
Not great (I'd hoped for closer to 3 degrees), but at least they are in the right direction and are close to mirroring each other. Should be okay for normal driving, but when I hit the drag strip, I'll want to set up the slapper bars pretty aggressively, to keep everything in line. I had kind of hoped to be able to grab at least a 1" lowering block, as I think with that, I could adjust the coilovers up front to level the truck up. But, it looks like it is not to be, for now.
Since I had to empty the bed out to get accurate measurements, it would be wise to unbolt and tilt it out of the way soon to install the fuel pump and sender. Also, with the stock suspension, there is a lot more room under the back of the truck, so I can get back to working on the parking brake cables.
The fact the I won't be able to get the look and handling I want (and having to spend more time undoing/redoing old work) is really killing my enthusiasm for this project. I could go much more radical, and tear into the firewall and floorpan, but that'll take forever at the rate I work. If the engine was sitting about 3/4"-1" farther forward, there would also be fewer problems, but the driver's side header pretty much won't allow for it. I could buy a different set of headers, but couldn't guarantee I won't run into the same problem. The solution for now is to try to get it running and back on the road as quickly as possible, so I can have some time to enjoy it this summer and fall. Maybe that'll rekindle some enthusiasm.
Bolt depot doesn't stock 10x1.75. Hmm, maybe those bolts were M12, not M10 - I'll need to pull one and double check.
I need pay more attention to the markings on bolt heads. I'm used to the chassis on this thing being metric, but the aftermarket parts are SAE. Found some longer bolts in my stash, so the crossmember-to-transmission mount bolts are dealt with. In case anyone is curious, 14 tpi is very close to 1.75mm threads.
Maybe I should turn it into a dump truck.
I was busy trying to get ahead on household work and errands, since the next few work weeks are going to be rough, but the good weather also meant I spent some time working on the S10. Decided to tackle the fuel pump and fuel sending unit. Since it was just me working on it, lifting the bed off the truck was pretty much out. I didn't want to cut an access hole in the bed floor, either. So, I removed the front four bolts, and loosened the back two. Did a little carpentry:
I used that to give the jack enough height to lift the bed at one of its crossmembers. Just to be safe, I inserted 2x6 blocks of wood between the bed and frame as I lifted it. One bonus of this being a Florida truck, all the fuel lines came off fairly easily. Oh, and all the work I did of keeping the evap system when I installed the 305 was for naught. The evap line was disconnected near the fuel tank. Once I got the sender out and compared it with the new one, I realized I'd made a mistake. My educated guess of which one among the 4-5 available for a 92 S10 was incorrect. Rather than continue playing guessing games, I just installed the 255LPH pump in the old sender and reinstalled it, since I want to drive this again before the heat death of the universe. Took a while to get the locking ring on, but it finally went. For the fuel lines, I did salvage the o-rings off the new sender to install on the old one, they looked pretty bad. There is also a chance the sender is good, and fixing the messed up wiring a ways back will cause it to read again. Here's hoping.
I left the bed elevated, so I can hook up the heavier gauge wire to the harness there. I think I will also put together a test rig to connect straight into the relay slot on the fusebox and hotwire the pump to make sure everything works and nothing is leaking. I really hope I can get the time and motivation to do them during the week, but I suspect they'll be dealt with next Saturday. I'm also kind of debating leaving the bed tipped up until I get the exhaust installed, might be nice to have a little extra natural light under there while I'm figuring it out.
Did manage to get some work done on the car this weekend. Tested the fuel pump, and ran a thicker wire from the pump forward. Once I get back to working on the cab, I'll drill a hole, and run that wire, and the one from the relay up in, and hook them to a high amp switch near the driver's seat, for a little extra security.
Also, fought with the parking brake cables a bit, and finally got the passenger one out, in pieces. The new one doesn't fit as well as I'd like, due to the Jimmy/Blazer having a gas tank in a different location, it wants to pass through where the S10 tank is. I'll have to make some changes, but I think I can get it to work. May need to fab up some brackets, or cut out and reattach some that are already there. Also will need to come up with an intermediate cable to attach the rear cables to the stock front S10 cable. I still like this solution better, as it keeps the cables away from the upcoming dual exhaust better than the stock layout would. Worst case, I keep the cables tucked out of the way for a while, and figure it out after the truck is up and running.
Last thing I tackled was temporarily running some exhaust pipe off the passenger header. There's a lot of room on the passenger side of the engine compartment for the header, but where it attaches to the exhaust is very tight.
Rather than tack weld or clamp anything, I found out that gorilla tape does a good job for this. If only it was heat resistant enough to use when the engine was running. I was able to get this whole assembly out through the engine compartment, though, so I'll be able to weld up something similar to this, and then clamp or v-band it to the rest of the exhaust where there is a lot more room to work.
I'll pull this all apart, cut the brackets off the header and exhaust pipe stub, reinstall the header, figure out how the O2 sensor bung needs to be clocked, weld it together, then work my way backwards.
Cut the bracket off the header, and cut the bolt hole area off the exhaust extension for some extra clearance, and reinstalled the header.
I experimented with the extension in multiple directions, but was only able to find one direction where the )2 sensor would fit, and the wouldn't be enough room to screw it in. The plan, then, is to get an O2 sensor bung and weld it into the exhaust somewhere farther under the cab. I did discover another problem - a straight shot from the header to under the cab is not possible, it'll run into the area where the floorboard meets the firewall, even though that area has been hammered back quite a bit. I have some 2.5" mandrel bend material from when I made the y-pipe for the 305. I think I can cut two small equal sized segments, and weld one to the header, then weld the next one clocked about 180 degrees, to keep the direction I want, but gain clearance. To make sure I get a more precise cut than I could with an angle grinder, I think I'll see about grabbing an exhaust cutting tool when I order parts tonight.
I also cut and riveted in some patches for the hole I cut in the floor. A little cardboard aided drafting helped in figuring out the sizing.
I checked to see if any local parts stores had seam sealer in a squeeze tube, (not sure a caulking gun could have gotten to all the spots on this) but no luck. I bubba'd it, and just slathered on a bunch of jb weld. At least it should be watertight. Later this week, I'll clean up the area, hit the top side with some paint, and the bottom side with some paint or undercoating. It'll be nice to have this together so the carpeting can go back down, and the seats can go back in, and there'll be more working room in the garage. Plus, that'll help me figure out where the wiring for the fuel pump switch needs to come in from.
Kind of hoping I have enough uninterrupted time next weekend to try to get most of the exhaust put together. I think that is the last really big job left for the swap.
Had family visiting on Sunday, so didn't really get anything done then, but did manage to hammer away at the exhaust on Saturday. With the passenger header not allowing for a straight shot to under the car, I started cutting up some mandrel bend material, and trying to tack it together to allow it to clear the cab.
After welding and test fitting, the angle was off a bit. I tried grinding a straight pipe to get the right angle, but it just wasn't working. Added another bit of mandrel bend, then put the 45 degree pipe on, after fitting it with a O2 sensor bung.
Final fitting after getting it all tacked together worked out quite well.
Fully welding the pipe did not work out great, with it sometimes seeming to have not enough power, and others instantly blowing through the pipe. I played around with the settings, verified the gas flow was correct, but was never able to get it perfect. Had to do a lot of building up of material to fix some of the blow throughs, so it looks pretty ugly. Bad enough that I did not take any pictures. I didn't think about it until after I was done, but I tacked everything together when the welder was hooked up to the usual circuit I use through an extension cord. For the full welding, I didn't want the to use the cord, so I hooked it to a closer outlet. I've had issues with breakers slowly failing, and causing brownouts, and I wonder if that was the problem. I do still need to reinstall it and make sure the welding didn't significantly warp it, but I am guessing it should be fine.
Anyway, I may have screwed myself over a bit on the material I used. I think I need about 75 degrees of mandrel bent pipe to get the driver side header aimed in the correct direction, and I can't remember if I was depending on the piece I hacked up. If so, not too big of a deal, I'll order some, it'll just slow things down a bit. The driver's side exhaust will need to snake over the shifter cable to cross over to the passenger side, but that should not be as difficult to make as the passenger header extension. It'll also unbolt from the header, so should be easier for me to test fit.
Yesterday after work, I pulled out the exhaust kit and mufflers I've accumulated for the project, so I could do a little mocking up and laying out.
Not everything is there, have some adapters and a couple more straight pipes, too. It is looking like I may only need one straight pipe, and one or two of the 180 pipes, so I'll have some spare material to stash for the next project, or to sell on.
First, I threw together my planned over axle setup, so some measurements could be taken.
It is looking like this will fit, which is nice, as there was concern there'd need to be a 90 degree bend after the axle to run the muffler sideways. It may require welding the hanger to the muffler body, but I am assuming that should be okay. I want to run this dual-in/single-out muffler to keep from having the sound of two disconnected banks of the engine, since there won't be an x or h-pipe.
A few notes I need to make before forgetting everything:
This weekend is looking bad for doing actual cutting/welding, with the high temps and constant risk of popup showers. I try to do all cutting outside to keep abrasive material out of the garage, and don't want to constantly be hauling tools and material in and out of the garage dodging rain. I'll try to get some other smaller jobs done when I have time. Also, as I was laying under the S10 figuring stuff out, I noted how easy it would be to run a couple of pipes out from under the passenger side of the cab, if I didn't care about noise and emissions.
Not enough time to open up the garage and start hacking exhaust together tonight, but I did get out there and take some more measurements for the driver's side. I think it is going to be a full day affair for me to cut up and weld a pipe to run around the LCA mount, then snake its way around the transmission and the shifter cable. Hoping to do that this coming weekend.
I also got back to working on the ECM mount. One of three holes drilled in the inner fender, and one bracket made. I need some more metal to make a second bracket. Once that is done, I'll need to pull the inner fender to drill a couple mounting holes, there is no room to fit a drill where it needs to go. I think for now, the fusebox is the only thing bolted down, so it should not take too much work to remove. When I work on the exhaust, I'll also weld up some gussets on the brackets to keep them from fatiguing. When I am getting metal, I may also see about grabbing some rubber washers (if I don't find any in my stash), to help dampen any vibrations, though I suspect the ECM should be able to handle them.
Another weekend, a bit more progress, and a bit more added to the to-do list.
I finished bending some metal for the ECM mount brackets, pulled and drilled the inner fender, and did another test fit.
The fuse box will mount right behind it, and evap canister right in front, so it is a little snug. While working on the exhaust today, I welded some gussets to the brackets, since I was worried once the weight of the ECM was on them, they'd eventually fatigue and break. Also, quickly spray painted them. The fender liner is back in already, and whenever I get out to work on stuff again, I'll see about permanently installing this. This, and installing the power steering cooler are pretty much the only thing keeping me from putting the fender and front bodywork back on.
Today, I finally got to working on the driver's side exhaust. Similar procedure to the passenger side, lots of test fitting, cutting, measuring, welding, repeat ad infinitum. It is not exactly how I want it, but it is close enough. Still very close to the lower a-arm mount, but I was able to snake it around.
Here it is going under the transmission crossmember, which is causing me to confront another couple things I need to do sooner rather than later.
First, the yellow wire is one of the fuel pump wires. I had been planning on running them under the car to the center tunnel, then into the cab near where the cut off switch will be. Now, I am thinking, to keep it away from exhaust heat, they'll need to go up into the cab on the driver's side, then maybe I'll run them under the carpet to where I want the switch to be.
Next, and much more important, the fuel lines are passing only a couple inches above the exhaust pipe. They were okay with the factory 4.3 and the 305 swap, since the y-pipe ran under the bellhousing. But having them that close above the exhaust seems like tempting fate. I think I need to cut them off at the frame rail and get rid of the convoluted path they take up the center tunnel. I'll keep them along the frame rail, then up the firewall and over the brake booster to get them to the fuel rail. I need to figure out where to add some flex line. Obviously, firewall to fuel rail is needed, and I may be able to use the factory connections there, but would it also make sense to have have a flexible line when it makes the jump from frame rail to cab? And do I need to try to run a coiled line anywhere, or will some AN hose be okay? I do have some 3/8" aluminum fuel line in my stash, but I don't know if I should use that for the feed line, or if I should get some steel line. I don't have anything for the 5/16" return, so presumably, I'll just get steel for it.
This'll put the rest of the exhaust on hold until it is completed, as it'll be a lot harder to work around if it is there. Also, my welder was acting up again today. I checked everything I did last time, and also verified wire feed rate was smooth, and the ground seemed good. Just to cut the chance of burn through next time, I'm going to switch down from 0.030" to 0.025" wire.
Fittings are ordered to redo the fuel system. I'm just going to use my existing AN -6 hose and 3/8" aluminum tubing for both lines, I think I should have enough. Not going to reuse the factory fuel rail connectors though. I am really glad I am not adding up how much this project has been costing.
Ran into some issues with orders getting lost in shipping, but I think it is mostly resolved now. I did go ahead and run the fuel pump wiring into the cab today, so a little progress has been made. I should have all the fuel line stuff I need later this week. Work is probably not going to be too insane this week, so I might even accomplish a bit on weeknights.
After some considering and reconsidering, I ran the new fuel lines. I decided as few connections as possible was the best answer, so I threw out some of my older, more complicated ideas. Please critique this, and let me know if you see a problem, don't really want to cause a fire in the future.
For testing, I first ran the pump without hooking the supply line to the fuel rail, running about 1/2 a gallon through, in order to flush out any crud I may have missed when I cut, flared, crimped, etc. Verified I didn't see any leaks on the supply side. After hooking it up, I ran the pump for several 10 second cycles, checking for evidence of leaks each time. None visible. I tossed my fuel pressure gauge on for one of the tests, and saw 60 psi. Finally, I ran a paint marker over each joint, so I could do a quick visual check and see if anything starts to come loose.
Here's the pictures:
Any questions/concerns? Does this look reasonably safe to you? If not, any suggestions?
I'm going to start back on exhaust work, but can still switch back to this if anything looks really bad.
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