Diablo Build Update (pics)

[Recovry4x4]

WOW, its really coming together. Wished I could have made it. Was planning today too but family decided to check into the hospital with heart issues. Folks, I've been around Mike a bit now, by weeks end, you won't recognize this truck.

 

[bottleworks]

Insanely cool! Do you have a finish date yet?

 

[devilman96]

My finish date was a month ago so ya see how well that works... To many hang-ups here and there really stack the time on fast. The windshield and power steering pump were the worse of the two thus far... Simple things like lost shipments and slow shipping are eating me up right now... I think I have at least 4 missing packages floating around or lost... Small stuff but it still a missing link.

If I can get some smooth sailing for a few weeks I will be on the road but I think I will have some parts and pieces that will drag on for months....

 

[Boelt63A]

Color looks great Mike. It looks very close to the Pinz color outside in these pics.

 

[jh1990]

Very cool Mike, I like the black hardware on the OD, looks awesome. Hope all goes well untill you're finished.

 

[devilman96]

Ok nothing as drastic as last weekend but I got the front of the frame painted finally and did some more assembly... This will proably be the last of it for a while, mostly I wanted to get the parts off of the floor before someone screws them up... Before anyone says it... I have to make or shorten the exhaust bracket to get it straight... My truck was a conversion and they did the fender work with a torch so to compensate for the hacking the bracket ether has to be remade or slotted and repowder coated. I have to get on the doors and window frames as well as my wench and bumpers.

Its taking a lot of time getting this back in one piece... I am trying to shim and fit things as best as they can be... Before paint the other day we spent 6 hours pulling the top on and off squaring the window openings. It was a lot of time but in the end I was able to hold 1/8th inch on both sides... The tricky part was the front passenger corner is 3/4 of an inch out of square dipping downward which I guess enplanes why my window use to sit so crooked!!!!

I am also waiting on the camaro steering column to come in before I put the driver side back on, and I have to deal with the drive gear whine coming from the power steering pump, some shimming or shaving to get a better mesh I HOPE will do the trick because at the moment... its ALL you can hear!!! Ah... speaking of... minus doors... the cab is quieter than it was before!

I have started on wiring... that will be touch and go as I am drawing schematics to everything in the process so I can fix it long after the memory banks dump the information! (don't seem to hold as much as they use to)

One thing I can say... It is a hell of a good feeling to sit on a five gallon bucket and make a few passes around the parking lot. The steering is so damn easy and the shortened frame has a great radius. My goal was to make it more "drivable" but keep the usefulness and rigidness of the truck, in pieces and half assembled I would have to say the mission is well past accomplished...

I know you guys whom strive for original trucks are ready to shoot me but hopefully it will gain a little respect for what can be done with a Deuce and win a few hearts over.

 

[houdel]

Looking really good. You are aware, of course, there are adjustable window stops on the bottom of the window mechanism which may improve your 3/4" out of square condition. They are identified as Item # 5 in TM 9-2320-361-20, pages 11-6 and 11-7.

 

[wreckerman893]

Devilman that is one fantastic job.
As to any carping from the purest I would say this: In any automotive hobby involving vehicles you have the stock crowd, the upgrade crowd and the wild mods crowd.
It's your vehicle and you only have to please yourself.
I can see that vehicle with a custom flatbed, a gooseneck hitch, super singles and some nice dual stacks. Maybe once I retire I can build me one.
I am looking forward to the finished product.

 

[jh1990]

Looks great. Hope all keeps going well, can't wait to see it finished.

 

[devilman96]

Ok some fiddling... or.. I am sure it looks like such but I have about 12 hours in machining and re machining parts for the wipers... I started off with a CJ Jeep kit... I needed bases from the kit mostly but they were not long enough to clear the windshield frame so I had to machine longer shafts ... It COULD have worked "as is" if I had faced the rods downward but I intend on covering everything within the headliner when finished....

The motor (as is most of this) is mock up... When I build my overhead console I will incorporate the motor inside as well as insulate the box to cut down the noise (better than air wipers as is)... I just needed to get a plate mounted and work out the rod length and motor angles... So far its damn perfect and will all be hidden from view as planned...

Lastly my gauge panel... This has been done for some time now but I was missing a fuel gauge so I waited to show it... Ken give me 2 blue NOS light covers and being the headlight switches are blue I went ahead and spring for blue LED's to use as back lighting... I will close the back of the panel in with a shadow box to cut down on the light beaming from under the dash... Slowly I will replace these gauges with new but for the time being these will surface... One last detail will be to pull the EGT again and paint the needle orange to match the engine temp... A few things I like about this EGT is that it is temp programmable with a warning light and I could remove the face to machine it to look "closer" in shape and size to the stock gauges.

While I am mentioning LED's... I also bought LED's for the glove box and tool box along with pressure switches so those areas are lit also. Lastly I have a dome light from a Ford Mustang (black, dome and map) which will be installed in the rear of the over head console and again is blue LED... I am not going for the "pimp my ride" look but am trying to keep it matching, functional and NVG friendly.

 

[WillWagner]

devilman96, I've been watching your progress for a while. You are a true master. Can't wait to see the complete finished truck. Keep up the awsome work, it looks like it's paying off.

 

[devilman96]

Thanks Will... I think I am more the master of screwing up perfectly good metal... and starting over... If ya only knew how many times I remake things some weeks!!! lol...

Truth is... A lot of these mods are not mine... But come from everyone on the site. When I was researching trucks I would spend hours searching and reading here, all of the way back to the old site pouring over different ideas, complaints, ways to improve, things people loved, hated, or wished they had / could do to their trucks... Though my methods and processes are my own the ideas belong to everyone... I could have dreamt a lot of this up on my own but SS and everyone whom contributes here has really helped me to roll this up into one big, but short term project with some cool results. Guess you could call it learning through others experiences because I don't have much time under my belt with MV's....

I hope when I am done I can do a few TA's on the harder stuff and or show how I did each one of these things... That way anyone whom has been thinking "man I would really like to do blah to my truck" will have a little more direction to go by with a relative cost in both time and money.

 

[bottleworks]

How's the truck coming along? Any updates? Have you plumbed up the new oil filters to the engine yet? Made the A/C Lines yet?

 

[devilman96]

Ah yeah... I took the weekend off... No one faint or anything lol!!! Went to play redneck in the woods... A few outta "season" thingo's may have had some difficulty in maintaining vital signs... Wish it would been for longer!!! and no grief... 2nd weekend off in 3 months of this truck!!!!

My digital cam is still in the back pack so I need to dig it out... I am working on the "new to me" tilt steering column (Chevy), front wench, all of the bumpers, etc... My last bouts of "refinishing"... Will get some pics up in a few days when it all looks a little more interesting than watching paint dry. Steering column is going to be a hoot... I am wiring in all of the controls for the turn, hazard, horn, high beams, ign switch, wipers, delay... and kinda flirting with the idea of installing the cruse control via the column also. Its taken about 10 hours worth of work to integrate the 2 systems on paper and then chase down the proper relays, diodes and such to work with the 24V and 12V. Physically installing the column is a BREEZE... EASY EASY EASY MOD!!!! But getting the electrical worked out really takes some head scratching.

I don't mean to disappoint but the AC lines and oil filtering stuff are on the bottom of the bottom list... David Doyle has offered to dig up some history and information on the LD's filtering system (as he has the time) and before I move any further on the oil I would like to use his provided information to confirm / deny what I am using for data... I don't foresee any problems with my current plan in any way... However... I intend on doing a very lengthily and detailed TA on the mod when done and I wish to cover the ALL of the bases... If I am to do that I need to have my duckies in line before hacking my truck up and then having to say "well I did this in the picture but later found that blah would have been better"...

Planning.... Scary stuff I tell ya!!!

 

[Boelt63A]

One of the many little sayings I remember frim the Army.

Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!

 

[Recovry4x4]

Looked at Mikes truck lastnight. This thing is going to be wicked cool. No detail has been overlooked. Everytime Mike gets close to finishing something, he goes off the deep end with a wild new mod. God only knows whats next, he's pissed at the doors.

 

[devilman96]

Yep... the rubber band factory in the back my head keeps saying the same thing over and over... Scrap these steel "going to rust no matter what I do" doors and start over by fabbing new ones outta aluminum... Im thinking the average 2 year old with a square a slide ruler could have designed something better to begin with!!!

Its the window frames and other mods that will have to be redone over and over every time a door rots out... Which is often in FL...

 

[alphadeltaromeo]

You mean it won't be garaged??? *wink*

 

[devilman96]

Well not so much of a "truck" update but I am getting the wench back together... Missing a seal, I was given 4 numbers as the seals but there is a 5th located under the shift shaft if you tear the winch all of the way down. Otherwise I think it looks pretty damn good, the green and black is a nice combination.

Sorry the pics are so poor, I am using my phone as I am STILL to stupid to remember to get my camera out of my back pack from last weekend...

 

[ida34]

You have to rebuild you wench? Was she complaining? I assume you meant winch. Just kidding.