My '74 build- "Clifford"

[twoodson]

Sweet - You got it looking good boss. Slow & steady winning the race that's for sure.

[Jonboy]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Cool. I'm liking the gauge conversion.

I hope it works. The tach cluster was out of a '73, and I pulled out the voltage gauge and wiring you put in the truck, along with the original speedometer. I also put in an overdrive quadrant out of the '87.

Originally Posted by 71'tahoe

JonBoy,
I read this thread twice in a row,but didnt see what harness you are going to be using for the fuelie engine. I always liked that truck!

Greg "GT" Tholen

Greg, I bought the harness from fuel injection connection www.fuelinjectionconnection.com . It is a really nice harness, and it was $245 shipped. If there is smoke hidden in a wire, I can usually find it. For teh cost, I figured it wasn't worth the hassle. Everything was wired, and Robert has been really good about answering my questions, too. I was really apprehensive about doing this swap, and there is really no reason to be. It has been really straightforward.

Originally Posted by JohnC

Cool!

Thanks, John.

[Jonboy]

Still moving along. A little slower than I had hoped, but progress is progress. I got the cab bushings replaced tonight, and started swapping out the fuel tank. It has decided to fight me the whole way, so I figured it was about time to come in anyhow. Another bright spot was the original driveshaft sliding right into place. Just have to drill a couple of new holes for the trans crossmember, mount the fuel tank and lines, and it will come back down to the ground. That will be an accomplishment, for sure. After that, it should be just about ready to fire.

[71'tahoe]

Thanks for the info on the harness. Ill look into them.

Greg

[twoodson]

Good job Boss, making some good progress; can't wait to hear/see it fire up.

[Jonboy]

Originally Posted by 71'tahoe

Thanks for the info on the harness. Ill look into them.

Greg

No problem. It's definitely a nice piece for the price.

Originally Posted by twoodson

Good job Boss, making some good progress; can't wait to hear/see it fire up.

Me too, T. Me too.

[JohnC]

Glad to hear it's coming along.

[RandyP]

How'd I miss this? Excellent work so far man! I'm very interested to see how you really incorporated that tach cluster to work with the TBI engine and all.

[SCOTI]

Shotgun!

[Jonboy]

Randy, the tach cluster should be plug and play on your truck, after repinning the plug. There are three wires (tach signal, 12+, and ground) that need to be run. I used a VSS from Jags That Run, it has 2 wires to be spliced. I did mount it at the trans, but the harness I have has a VSS connection there. If you have the old style cruise servo that has a speedometer cable in and out, it can be screwed on there, too. I put it on at the trans hoping that there wouldn't be any bouncing of the speedometer cable.

[Jonboy]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Shotgun!

You're on.

[SCOTI]

Let me know if you need help getting the front clip back on (if it isn't already done).

[Jonboy]

I will. I split it up, so I could get it behind the fence. I am sure I will need help with the hood, though.

[RandyP]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

Randy, the tach cluster should be plug and play on your truck, after repinning the plug. There are three wires (tach signal, 12+, and ground) that need to be run. I used a VSS from Jags That Run, it has 2 wires to be spliced. I did mount it at the trans, but the harness I have has a VSS connection there. If you have the old style cruise servo that has a speedometer cable in and out, it can be screwed on there, too. I put it on at the trans hoping that there wouldn't be any bouncing of the speedometer cable.

So basically it's just wiring up the tach, repinning if needed on the cluster connection, and swapping my speedo with the VSS over to it? It can't be that easy, I mean... a caveman could do that!
I gotta go dig through all my tach clusters now and see what I got to work with!

[Jonboy]

In theory, it should be that easy. If you could cut a hole in the back of the gauge carrier for your VSS optical head, you wouldn't have to spend $75 for an aftermarket VSS, and wouldn't have to wire it in. I have an '87 cluster, and a '79 cluster at the house. I will look and see it it might be that easy this evening.

[JohnC]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

In theory, it should be that easy. If you could cut a hole in the back of the gauge carrier for your VSS optical head, you wouldn't have to spend $75 for an aftermarket VSS, and wouldn't have to wire it in. I have an '87 cluster, and a '79 cluster at the house. I will look and see it it might be that easy this evening.

Did the 87's use VSS when they went to fuel injection, or was it only in the later burbans and such?

[Jonboy]

It was actually earlier, when they started using a TCC.

[JohnC]

Cool thanks for the info.

[RandyP]

I'm probably gonna sound really stupid here, but the VSS on my 87 is just that little connection on the back of the speedo, right? Wires go down to a green ugly little box and that goes off to gosh knows where?

[Jonboy]

That's it. The green box sends a light beam to the back of the speedo head. There are 2 black lines on the drum at the rear of the speedo, and they break the light into pulses, depending on vehicle speed. The VSS I added counts pulses as well, but not 100% sure how they are generated. That signal is sent to the ECM, and is used to control idle, TCC, canister purge, and cruise control. There may be more, I just don't remember it right off.

Are you guys staying busy, Randy?

[RandyP]

We had a very slow October and November, but December picked up very nicely somehow. The first week of the new year though we only brought in a few. I do already have a couple scheduled for next week, but it's about time to pick up the phone and start calling people we've done estimates for and try to herd them in here. Our bank account started really really hurting in November, December helped it some but we need about 3 more good months to really get our heads above water.
Just remember, we're a small shop, one body man, one helper and one painter, plus myself. It doesn't take but about 5 cars a week for us to be happy. Four a week is so so, 8 a week is max for us.

[Jonboy]

We didn't pick up until the Monday after Christmas. From Thanksgiving to Christmas was dead. Seems to keep moving this week. Hope that keeps up. I won't see last month's check until the 15th, so I will just cry then.

[RandyP]

Ya, my painter had a few "not so good" checks, maybe 2/3 of what he likes to see as his minimum. My body tech has a carry built up (that scares me when I see how much it is and I know I gotta cover it if he wants to take it all) so he was good through all the slow spells.
Usually right now we see a big push for all the college kids to get their cars done, but maybe that is what we seen in December, I dunno for sure. I just know only taking in 3 fresh jobs this week sort of alarmed me. Then again, after a month of being fairly slammed, it is almost refreshing to have a slow week. My guys are out working on my 87 right now, taking the headers off and putting the stock manifolds back on. All he had to do was a bedskin on a 2010 Tundra, a door skin and fender on a 2010 mustang and a 8 hour repair on a 2006 mustang. He has everything over to paint so I found him something to do.

[Jonboy]

I know what you mean. My guys hate it when I get something new. I've told them I really don't want to paint the truck, so that has relaxed them a little bit. I do plan on knocking my Mustang in the head and shooting it after it gets too hot this spring. It's had a bit of a checkered past, so I need to get it back to it's former glory. It's black, too. That, and the guy that owns it is fairly particular.

[jasonhall]

I think it is slow everywhere right now..