Bad News ... Good News (Turbo Build)

[Zygoat]

how about an update!

ok its a big one but its got pics, so read it.

ton of stuff happening in life right now, just got back from a wedding in San Fransisco, (i have pics, convince me to start a tread).

the title of this thread is proving more and more true. my girlfriends mom (as mentioned above) has cancer,... again. so the "mass" that she had removed was a tumor. good news is that they caught it early. they have been watching her super close as she had cancer 7 years ago and they spotted this tumor 2 years ago and have been watching it. the just decided to remove it. so she has to have kemo (sp) again for 6 months. not great. but she is recovering really well from surgery and she has been through this before, only worse, so im optimistic. shes pretty tough. she had a piece of her lung and part of a rib removed and was out of the hospital in under a week.


ok on to the car. finally been able to work on it some. i have been concentrating on finishing the front hood latch support.

i had to hack the old one to hell to clear the i/c and keep the a/c....u/c?

so i had to fab the bottom portion from scratch.

those are two identical brackets clamped together,i had to use two because one was not wide enough. it was kind of tough to get two identical ones out of steel but i got it sorted out.

welded together and cleaned up. the bottom is notched to clear the oil filter bracket.


welded on and mounted for mock up.


close up of oil filter clearance.


heres a pic showing some of the detail work on this bracket. i radiusd (sp) all of the corners. which involved cutting to shape, filling in with weld, then shaping with a die grinder. i have done a ton of little work like that. all told i have at least 3 days into this bracket.


it sits now all prepped for paint. after that the front should go together really quick. then i can get to driving it again!

also i have finally tracked down one of my big problems. the tranny was leaking into my x-fer case. this is how the tranny fluid got into the vacuum ball, explanes why my tranny fluid was always low, yet i could not find a leak anywhere (as it just filled up the x-fer case, but did not leak out) tricky little bastard. i think this was the cause of the stalling when shifting into gear. due to not enough fluid in the torque converter, and also the "slipping" when shifting under heavy acceleration. i am working on that right now. i am ready to pull the x-fer case. unfortunately i forgot my chilton at home (80 mi away) and there are like 3 different housings, and im not positive how its supposed to come out, i think i know, but i want to be sure. any one have any info, help, pics? (truck info in sig)

other than that i will be working some more tomorrow and will post up.

STAY TUNED!

[rentedmule]

the bracket looks like a factory piece, nice work!

[Zygoat]

ok UPDATE

as promised. and with 10 mins to spare (almost midnight)

i modified the power steering cooler to clear the ic, took almost exactly 1 hour.



you can see how much farther it sits back now, flush with the core support.

here is the ic finish mounted over the modified ps cooler.


here is the finished hood latch support.


here is a close up of the oil filter mount and clearance.


sorry for the bad pic but this shows how its mounted to the core support. it goes all the way through, this is exactly the same as the oil filter mounts.(it is removed in this pic for clarity).


then after all that was done i went and saw IRON MAN! with my girl and her family as well as my patents. had a really good time. great movie really liked it, looking forward to the sequel that i know is coming. then i had dinner with the girl and got back to work.

i decided to polish my turn signals, as i want the clear look/euro style(like my headlights) but i am flat broke from this project and i have all of the stuff to do it so it was free.

then i decided to write a how to, so check it out.

[Zygoat]

still waiting on the mods approval so ill give you guys the good parts.


BEFORE



AFTER



and installed in my bumper.


what do ya think?

im not a huge fan of the euro stuff but i think when its done tastefully it looks good, i just think most people get WAY to carried away with it.

[UR50SLO]

I used a intercooler almost exactly like that on my wife's GN several years ago. I got it off a Procharged kit. (300.00) back then used.

It worked great!!!! You've got a very good core there that should cool and flow fantastic!
~Scott

[Zygoat]

yea thanks i think it should work really well, i got it off ebay for around $100.

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

The turn signals look really good. As does everything else! keep up the good work and keep us posted.

[Zygoat]

thank you very much.

i did a lot of work today, but most of it was little stuff behind the scenes. trimming and cutting to make everything fit.

here is a pic of my new headlight mounting bracket. i know not really all that exciting, but mine was destroyed in the crash and i have been without my left headlight for over 6 months! so to me this is a big occasion.


here is a pic of the turn signals with the bulb installed. (i think they look great)


and here is the result of all that "behind the scenes" work. (sorry im so close but my back is against the garage wall and the camera was so close to my face that my breath fogged up the screen). aka best i could do.


in reality the i/c and everything behind the grill are not nearly so visible. the flash really brought them out.

i am very excited to have the front back on! it is starting to look like a truck again!

STAY TUNED!

[TreasonAgainstCaesar]

are you going to install the grill inserts, or leave it like that?

just an idea on the signals, see if you can find the silverstar bulbs, they appear blue when off and make clear lenses really sweet. I have them in my clear turns (98+ front end), and like them a lot. so they probably make them for yours, too.

[bespurcell]

Wow! Awesome work. The hood latch support looks OEM.