Another Rig in the Crashfab shop......

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So the a/c compressor was going to serve no purpose and was junk (locked up) from being open/not capped. I had told chris about a pully setup that replaces the compressor. He did a little digging and found it.

Dorman 34175 - Dorman Air Conditioner Bypass Brackets - Application - SummitRacing.com


Pulled the compressor.



In the kit it came with bolts and a spacer. I checked the pully alignment and found it needed the spacer--quick and easy....



The only odd thing about the kit is it came with spacers and too small of bolts (8x1.25) so I will have to grab some 10x1.50 bolts tommorow. One other thing I found was the s-10 version of these motors uses an extension tube for the power steering pump and the bracket covers the bolt hole for it. I should be able to notch the bracket and bolt it down.

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Poking along. I decided to just notch the plate. I had to rework the mount for the extension since it was bent up--but got it to fit its happy place. Once done I was able to notch it.



And fits nicely

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The only headers to run on the 4.3 hands down-Sanderson's.....

I had chris order up a set and went with plain steel. Once everything is fitted they will get some high temp stove paint...

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So I have my next plan of action and thats my favorite part---wire stuff....

So I went ahead and ripped everything out of the engine bay that was no longer needed...



I sat for a while trying to figure out where I wanted to put the VCM.. I finally found a happy spot and will start the mount for it next....

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Moving along....

I finally fully figured out how I wanted to mount the VCM and then made the mount for it.



I did have to slightly modify the VCM. Factory there are 2 holes at 2 opposing corners. I simply drilled the other 2 corners(3/16") to match the other 2 corners to give me a good way to mount it. Its perfect with a 15 degree slope down on the connector side.





So the VCM was reprogrammed by Howell (non smog) so I am still trying to figure out what exactly that means..

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So now that the VCM is mounted--time to move onward with the wiring harness. Its a Howell harness with like 15ft too much wire and circuits that are not used. So me being me I like to build my harness's to fit the rig plus I like to incorporate all extra circuits I add into the harness. It just adds up to clean look.

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So time to make some progress..

Lets start with this mess........



After stripping out all un-used circuits and roughly rerouting all power circuits. I like to split up the circuits in case there is ever an issue--helps with diagnosing it.



All ready to start playing with......



Something else I have done with these VCM's. The 5 plug in the middle is only there to connect both internal circuit boards. I always just make a very short loop (removed 10" of wire) and makes it cleaner.



The start of the mess.. I had just thrown the harness in the rig when the wife came wondering into the shop and took one look at the mess and walked out,lol..



Got a dent in it and the harness is starting to take shape...

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I was able to put a lil dent in it tonight.. I got the VCM wiring done and a good portion of the engine done. As my own general rule of thumb I always have the ground circuit for the VCM and sensors associated with the same circuit grounded in 2 spots one being the motor and the other the body.

[demonoid369]

that is some clean work! wish I had a shop I could do that with my jeep. keep it up,

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Originally Posted by demonoid369

that is some clean work! wish I had a shop I could do that with my jeep. keep it up,

Thanks--more to come......

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Moving along. So next I am going to work from the VCM to the body forward.

I decided to start on the driver side at the old alternator wiring and work around the rad support to the fuse box. So the plan is to pull all of the alt wiring out/disassemble the harness all the way over.



Boom--what a mess,lol...



The power cable out of the alt has 2 splices in it--one near the fender passthru on the drivers side and one just outside the fuse box. It was no big deal as I planned to run a new wire across to tie the B+ back into the circuit.



Another reason for tearing into the fuse box is to tie into existing circuits and not run new ones--kinda integrate everything..

So I started by using the existing starter relay. I went to the output (black/white) and tied into the new starter wire. Next I went to the "L" wire (yellow) from the alt(wire passes thru the fuse box) and tied the new alt wire into that. This should be perfect since this alt needs to see a voltage drop to ignite and the "L" wire comes off the alt lamp in the dash.

I am going to use the EFI fuse for the battery feed to the VCM but I will tie into that circuit near the old ECM (along with allot of other circuits). The same will go with all of the ignition feeds.

I also ran the MAF/IAT wiring to to the drivers side (I cannot stand running the harness across the motor from side to side).

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It took some time but I got it all done--looks a little better lol..



Across the radiator support..



And the driver side.



And you can see the wiring popping out for the MAF/IAT.. I will finish that later on..

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One thing I always do is have a main junction for all battery feeds. I CANNOT stand multiple wires at the battery--part of my OCD I guess,lol..

I also mounted a 50A circuit breaker for the cooling fan power feed. I have found this style helps a bunch with retaining the circuit and the spikes you get when it turns on.



I also made the cable from the Alt to the main junction.

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I got the wiring done at the VCM and to the firewall.



Since thats all done I went and threw the VCM back in..

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Here is the radiator Chris had for the project. I am not sure who's it is but it was made for this conversion.



Here is the cooling fan I had Chris get. Its the same one I have been running for years and never ever had a cooling issue--it really moves some good air...



Nice thing about this radiator is its very similar to mine and made mounting the fan a piece of cake...



POS connector--I cut this thing off and threw it at out cat....



I used sealed connectors for the fan..



Fitment of the rad was nice "except" I have a clearance issue with one of the steering box bolts since the inside of the frame is plated with 1/4" for the box. I will have to fix that later.

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I got a bunch of the motor wiring finished up and as far as I can go for now.

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Here is the cooling fan control switch I had Chris order. Its 195 on 185 off.



Here is a little fitment issue I ran across when I was going to install the switch. I ended up just pulling the dipstick tube out for now.



So here is where I came across the first OOPS.

These headers are for a standard 4.3 and not the Vortec version. As you can see there is a problem with the flange hitting the sensor.



On the vortec version this notch is on the top.



So next I am going into the cab to work.

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So I only had a few hours to spend today and went right for the cab. After I unloaded a fully packed cab with stuff here is some of the aftermath..



I didn't realize but the OEM engine harness was in there which is perfect since I needed a few things off it like the temp/oil pressure sensor connectors. One thing I have tried to do in the past was retain the factory dash harness where the engine harness connects and we got lucky and the connectors were still on the harness. This way if the dash harness ever needs pulled it can easily be done.



Since I was going to be spending some time in the cab I decided to vacuum it all up.

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One thing Chris had asked for me to do was correct all of the dash wiring--and let me tell ya its a MESS. I am going to return it to a virgin status so anything Chris decides to do down the road he won't have any problems to deal with (for the most part). But you can simply say HACK JOB!!!!





I also found this in the cab and measured it and its smaller than mine so it will fit.

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Ok I got all of the crap cut out and pulled out--time to do the repair work.

Here is at the harness to the ignition switch...



I ended up rebuilding a good portion of the harness all the way to the terminals--it was a MESS..