Diablo Build Update (pics)

[devilman96]

Ah... sorry its been so long... Kept forgetting the camera!!!

The weekend was slow for truck stuff I owed a debit on sandblasting work to someone and ended up doing a flame job on his moped for him... Not my choice of color, pattern or manufacture but its not to shabby looking (was canary yellow and white before)!

Ok the truck... Most of this is the steering column work which has had its challenges to installing... I am using all of the columns switching and wiring which is made for 12V and being the truck is 24V I don't trust it... So its been a lot of relays and diodes to get it working safely and correctly... the only thing that really took some thinking was getting a Chevy turn signal switch to work the Deuce's hazard and turn signals in the factory harness... Thus far its been a pretty cool mod with zero hang ups... Errr.... Wellll.... Unless you count the fact that I have a cruise control knob staring at me which has no function... and Im thinkin... I can remove it... or I can use it... and... http://www.rostra.com/cruise-control.htm If I don't do it... it will eat at me forever!!!

Mike was asking for pics on the ordeal so here is what is going on... which I am sure will be out of order...

The end of the column shaft was removed for fitting a steering knuckle (which was fabricated when I was working on the power steering)

The lower mounting foot was also removed from the column so that it could be slid up the column 4.5 inches lowering the over column height in the truck...

I fabed up a bracket to mount it using the factory hole locations on the firewall, dash and steering column which is shown with all of the parts before welding.

The shafts were mated with a stub shaft inside and then the knuckle and lower mounting foot were tig welded on.

The last few are test fitting photos taken while figuring it all out and working over the beginnings of the wiring work... I painted the column a little while ago so tomorrow when it is dry I will get some pics without the dash showing the mounting locations and the likes...

The wench is ready to be reinstalled so I will get some pics of that in one piece before scratching it to hell and back trying to put it back on!!!

 

[bottleworks]

Errr.... Wellll.... Unless you count the fact that I have a cruise control knob staring at me which has no function... and Im thinkin... I can remove it... or I can use it... and... http://www.rostra.com/cruise-control.htm If I don't do it... it will eat at me forever!!!

What is your plan for a VSS input?

 

[devilman96]

The manufacture says that a magnetic pick up is fine so I should be able to install a crank sensor for RPM and a magnetic sensor on the transfer case output shaft. A wheel sensor would work also but I think would get destroyed quickly off road. I emailed their tech support to see if they have a recommendation on types or PN's that are known for being used with their units.

 

[bottleworks]

Ah, well in that case, I may have a solution. 87-90 Jeep Cherokee with 4.0L engines still used a speedo cable. When Chrysler switched over to their power-train control(87-90 still used the AMC/Renix system), they changed to a standard electronic speedo. Anyway, not the point...

On the higher package Cherokees of the era, cruise control came from the factory. What AMC did was to simply add an inline pulse sensor on the speedo cable. It was tucked under the dash. From the pickup assembly left a 10" cable headed to the speedo head. You could use two of those. One for the speedo and one for the tach. It would eliminate having to fabricate up a reluctor ring and housing for each pickup. Just a thought...

 

[rmgill]

Go Go Gadget Duece!

 

[devilman96]

Yeah im kinda wondering whom stuck me with the Gadget AV... It was NOT my doing... Short list of suspects too!! lol

Bottleworks... Im gonna look into that... Sounds like a much easier plan!!!

 

[Boelt63A]

Actually if kind of looks like you. Just add Red Bull and a cigarette!!

 

[devilman96]

Ha!!... It seems our fearless leader and BFR are the two responsible for the Gadget AV... All though one is completely blaming the other claiming "Im not creative enough to come up with that on my own" ... The last part I am inclined to believe!!!

Truthfully I think Bjorn deserves the AV for his endeavors in designing, modifying, testing, and re-doing his rig... Meant as a compliment of course!! He invents... I just swipe other peoples ideas!!! and speaking of... I was working out how to add a shut down solenoid on my IP when he piped up about one that was made for his LDT in the XM757... Something I have to go hunt down and add on so I can get my engine to cut by simply turning the key off... another stolen idea! lol

Here are some finals on the steering column... I really can not explane why the outer backing plate and power steering reservoir "look" so crooked in the pics but they look straight on the truck... You can see the wiring mass that is taking form and will all be loomed and covered in the end. I never intended to go "this far" with the mods I am doing and if I had to do it a second time I would convert the truck over to 12V.... The switching relays are getting to be NUMEROUS to say the least.

All and all I think the column really looks nice... and the function will make the over all driving experience a lot easier having everything at your finger tips...

Also you can see the remote brake reservoir flopping around on the firewall... Something else I've got to fab a bracket for yet... It never ends!!!

 

[devilman96]

A bit of an update...

I am primarily working on the electrical right now which is taking up a good chunk of time... In the process I am wiring all of the 12V accessories, adding things like door switches, front fog lamps, 4 point strobe kit, dome and map lights, glove and tool box lights plus tying in all of the steering columns functions and integrating the 12 and 24 volt, A/C, turn, horn, hazard, transfer pump, wind shield washer and wipers, blah, blah blah... Its a list and then some. Lots of wire, soldering, shrink tube, loom, relays, diodes, switches and a few re-do's because of leaving something out... I HOPE to have the vast majority of this finished and fully functional tomorrow and I will get a few pics though there is not heaps to show for the work it is taking in a picture.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Is the steering column in for good now?

 

[devilman96]

Yeah its a fixture, The dash still holds part of the bracket and that has to come in and out a few hundred more times but otherwise fully funcitional.

 

[bottleworks]

Any progress on the cruise control system?

Following in your foot steps, I have found a filter head with should work as is with the 51970XD oil filter. It has an adjustable by-pass, but can easily be made to not by-pass. The 15 seconds of zero oil pressure is killing me at every startup!

 

[Opie]

Glove box lights? Wow, how civilized! (Says the guy who was rummaging around the floor of his truck in the dark looking for his house keys tonight.)

 

[Armada]

Gotta love creature comforts!

 

[devilman96]

Hey guys... Again sorry it been so long Im taking no time off its just a matter of doing many small things that really are not of any interest... Or at least it would be like taking pictures of paint drying or grass growing!

I have finished the wiper delay... Man what a challenge it was getting a Chevy steering column switch to work with a Jeep motor off of a 12V system being activated by a 24V system... I ended up making my own delay timer just because everything you buy from auto applications does not have a diagram with it and I got tried for burning up 45$ delay modules!!! So a refresher course in circuit board building was needed. It functions nicely and works just as it should (ABOUT TIME)!!!

I got the bumpers finished and wench reinstalled... I think it looks pretty good hanging up there again!!! I will leave the front bumper off for the time being as I still have to do the AC lines and it makes accessing the front of the truck so much easier.

On the oil system.... I have decided to do a little experimentation with someone else's diesel *grinz*... I installed the filtration system on a diesel genset at work that is currently running 24/7 (and will be for the next 14 months)... I will get some pics of the set up next time I check on it but as of day 16 the oil was still crystal clear as if it was just put in, I've never seen anything like it on a diesel.

I am painting the 2nd dash today... If you remember I had clearance issues with the first that I jumped the gun on building so I am back to modifying the stock dash which came with the truck. I like the lay out better on this one and this had been one of the few times where a plan has fallen through to work out for the best.

Speaking of... I wanted to install a fuel cut off solenoid to work with the key switch... Bjorn's XM project gave me the idea of installing a solenoid from a LDS-2 engine. After buying it and looking at the differences in IP's I've abandon using the part so Bjorn is getting a spare. I will wack and hack about anything but IP's are a big no-no in my book... Screwing up a vital part to make something "look" cool isn't worth the risk and defeats the purpose if it doesn't function reliably. I have gone back to the original plan of using a Woodward 24V, I did the mock up with a 12V I had so the bracket is done and I am just waiting on the solenoid to show up now... Hopefully Monday and I will get some pics of it up.

Pics... Hopefully in order... My wiring mess while working on the wiper delay... My chicken scratch for a diagram of it.... a finished diagram for the turn signal system I built last week (important for future troubleshooting)... and the front and rears of the truck...

 

[devilman96]

Ah... BW... forgot about the CC system...

Following your suggestion using a Jeep pulse unit which was a great idea, or at least got me going in the right direction... Woodward controls makes a inline cable pulse set up designed for trucks and busses which can be installed in both the tach and RPM cables which will work with the Rostra system... Its FAR down the list but sometimes finding the right parts is 90% of the battle... So the plan is shaping up as using the steering columns CC switch (fits the system plug and play)... The Rostra CC module... and Woodward's pulse units...

FYI the system comes with its own switching so that could be used on any truck, on mine it makes more since to just install to the column as is...

Your gonna need a 12V system though, or maybe you have it already?

 

[devilman96]

I was told I take to many pictures of parts and not enough of the over all truck so here are a few... of that... then I was told to take some closer pictures of other stuff... picky picky picky!!!


I got the doors painted today... Dash is taped and drying so pics of that to come yet... and I decided on servo valves on my 4 wheel drive and forwarding system rather than the military toggle switch... It will clean up the dash and makes plumbing everything much easier so a few shots of the valve body.

 

[Stretch44875]

What's your plan for a bed? tires? With all the bells and whistles are air lockers in the works?

Are the electronics going to be waterproof? Adding any fording capability?

Beautiful job, wish I could get one built for me!

Dennis

 

[devilman96]

I wish I could get one built for me too!!! ... That way I don't have to go through this crap!!

Bed... Currently sitting in Kenny's back yard... (im so sorry this is taking so damn long)... I am going to cut the stock deuce bed and then very proably build a slant back hatched cover like the HUMMV's have... I think it would look pretty cool on the back...

Tires... 395's... rims are undecided... it will be some time before I get to that...

No air lockers but I will be installing lockers front and rear with front lock outs....

All primary electrical is waterproof... all secondary is not... however I could gut the whole system and it will still crank, charge and drive.

Forwarding is being added, I am pressurizing even the wench... However will a leather interior, carpet, and over 1000$ in stereo, GPS, 2 way, and many other gadgets (no comments) in the cab I would never forgive myself if the water got over the rocker panels... The idea is... in a "oh $hit" situation im 100% capable... Otherwise I can drive in total comfort...

 

[mangus580]

do do, do do, do, Inspector Gadget!