Gas motor.. 12 volt .. & painless wiring harness

[JUNKYARDJOHN]

There are plenty of daily driver, stock CUCVs here to illustrate that they are as dependable as any mechanical vehicle. Yes, I am a moderator.

Mine sure aren't. Just my luck to have the only two non-starting, electrical problematic, leave you on the side of the road cucv's on the planet. I had a 82 1/2 ton civilian 4wd truck that ran over 1/2 million miles. heck... the stock 305 it was born with went about 300,000 miles. Yep GOODBY MILLEDGE & HELLO H.P.. Ya never know... I might find a dog with a greasy sting up it's butt that needs it pulled out. I love the way they look. ..sitting still.. but I'm all full up with lawn ornaments & my plastic pink flamingo's don't require company. John

 

[JUNKYARDJOHN]

Originally Posted by Recovry4x4 There are plenty of daily driver, stock CUCVs here to illustrate that they are as dependable as any mechanical vehicle. Yes, I am a moderator. You know... I've been out in the shop working on my projects pulling wiring harnesses, fuel filter assemblies, radiators, glow plug controller do-dads & more selinoids & sending units & brackets than you can shake a stick at, most of witch I can't name let alone tell you how they work or even what they are supposed to do. (I'm just a simple country boy... well.. elderly southern gentleman now I guess)This statement has been running around & around in my head. Don't have any idea why....it just has been. I don't mean that I been obsessing about it or anything like that... it's just popped into my mind a few times. If you look at any page.. & look at the posts.. not all of them mind you.. just say oh 1000 over the last say.. 5 years & compare all the people talking about some kind of trouble they are experiencing.. either mechanical, electrical, design flaw or good old funny matianance or lack of it by some well meaning 19 year old grunt, & compare the number of them to all of the people bragging about their trouble free, dependable, daily driven trucks... well sir... I think I would have to beg to differ. Now don't get me wrong as I love my trucks... but this old country boy can tell the difference between a rainstorm & when someone is pissing on my leg. John

 

[86m1028]

John
Im with you on the gas motor swap.
Im about half way thru a swap with a 99 vortec 350/4l80/205 swap right now.
You CAN make the stock 6.2 motor reliable but at the end of the day it's still a GUTLESS motor.
As you can see there are also a lot of people on here swapping out the turbo 400 for a 1/2 ton 700r4.
The way I look at it is if I want to putt around the yard I can do that with my riding lawn mower.
I want to be able to drive my truck, use it & still be able to go over 50mph.

Do do a build thread & keep us posted.
ENJOY that gas powered truck !!!

 

[1bonehead]

John:
go for it and roll Dow the road the way you want.

Maybe someone else want to buy the diesel stuff from you here?

 

[JUNKYARDJOHN]

John:
go for it and roll Dow the road the way you want.

Maybe someone else want to buy the diesel stuff from you here?

Thanks... I'll try to post some pictures up, but I'm not exactly what you'd consider electronically literate. I've never texed, twerted ,tweetered or any of that stuff... shoot I don't even own a cellphone. It's not that I'm too stupid to learn (I went thru colledge, owned my own business & all that) but I'm 58 & had a ton of medical problems, & am just not willing to put forth the time or effort sitting at a computer 2 or 3 hours a day. At this point in my life I figure I'm only allotted so many hours on this planet, & have about a scrillion things I want to get done. Sitting here typing ain't one of em. John

 

[CUCVLOVER]

Thanks... I'll try to post some pictures up, but I'm not exactly what you'd consider electronically literate. I've never texed, twerted ,tweetered or any of that stuff... shoot I don't even own a cellphone. It's not that I'm too stupid to learn (I went thru colledge, owned my own business & all that) but I'm 58 & had a ton of medical problems, & am just not willing to put forth the time or effort sitting at a computer 2 or 3 hours a day. At this point in my life I figure I'm only allotted so many hours on this planet, & have about a scrillion things I want to get done. Sitting here typing ain't one of em. John

I hear you buddy. I'm 18 and still a caveman lol. Engines, ATVs, trucks, mechanical stuff I'm good. With a plug, well that gets interesting sometimes lol.

 

[JUNKYARDJOHN]

Yep.. I've often said that I'm about as technology adept as a trained ape. I mean I might as well figure it's some kind of a magic box cause I sure don't even begin to understand it. Heck I don't know why or how a simple telephone works, but I'm sure glad it does. John

 

[MountieM1010]

I'm 62 and I have a lot of experience with small and big block chevys. My buddy who is a retired mechanic has already suggested I get a 400 small block, build it up and replace the 6.2. But for now I'll stick with the 6.2 as it has low mileage and is running very well. I only bought it a few weeks ago and am working on some of the little electrical problems now. Once done we will see how it goes. Just trying to keep it as stock as possible for now. But I cant blame you for wanting to change. You do what you gotta do to keep it on the road.

 

[JUNKYARDJOHN]

THANK YOU.. I'm 58, plan to keep these rustfree trucks for the rest my life, (I drive approx. 2,000 miles annually & have three trucks) & want to make them as trouble free as possible. I'm not at all interested in making them a rolling tribute to all of the brave men & women in our armed forces. I'm not a military vehical collector. That's not what I had in mind when I bought them. They are just for me to use every day & probably won't ever see a parade or convoy even as a spectator. John

 

[rustystud]

I replaced my 6.2 years ago with a nice 383 cid Hi-Torque engine. I got tired of all the stuff going south on that engine. After the electrical fire I totally gutted the truck bought the crate engine and rebuilt the transmission and transfer-case. It runs great now !
I'll take some better pictures tomorrow of the engine.

 

[67caprice427]

I'm just about there myself, after bring mine home on a stretcher.................

 

[usabamaman]

I'm just about there myself, after bring mine home on a stretcher.................

I am checking to see if anyone has helped you figure this out yet. I am hoping on the best for you and your machine.

 

[rustystud]

Here a few pictures of my 383 engine. It has more torque then the old 6.2 and better mileage too. I had to make some adapters for the radiator hoses and a few other little tweeks here and there but overall I'm very glad I did this engine swap.

 

[67caprice427]

Hi there- IP took a dump, so I'm going big block. I know I can use the IP hot wire for my distributor, but what about the starter/ charging system. Can I remove all of the under dash relays and the associated wiring? BTW, what is the purpose of the 3 condensers that are in a jumper harness to the wiper motor. Thanks, I'll probably have more ?? as I move forward.......

 

[Recovry4x4]

Noise suppression on the wipers, can be eliminated. You can do away with the starter relay and volt gauge relay if you are going 12V with your big block. I have a friend in Lake Worth that installed a big block in his and used an entire civy under hood harness. Worked great and I got extra harness stuff.

 

[rustystud]

Noise suppression on the wipers, can be eliminated. You can do away with the starter relay and volt gauge relay if you are going 12V with your big block. I have a friend in Lake Worth that installed a big block in his and used an entire civy under hood harness. Worked great and I got extra harness stuff.

That's pretty much what I did since I had an engine fire that took out the whole firewall harness. You can get the whole front harness from almost any junk yard since these trucks all use the basic harness.

 

[MountieM1010]

That's pretty much what I did since I had an engine fire that took out the whole firewall harness. You can get the whole front harness from almost any junk yard since these trucks all use the basic harness.

Wow! your conversion looks great. If your gonna do it you may as well do it right the first time.

 

[rustystud]

Wow! your conversion looks great. If your gonna do it you may as well do it right the first time.

Thanks ! Of course it took me several years to get here ! In fact it took several months (working weekends only) just to clean-up the engine compartment. I don't have any pictures, but it was totally gutted ! Thankfully I was able to sell the engine for $500.00 ! which helped with buying new wiring. I then painted everything and then went to work on the wire harness. Then I installed the engine and everything else.

 

[67caprice427]

Yours does look great. I'm just starting on removing all the diesel stuff and trying to identify what wiring I'm going to need, if I can't find a civvy harness nearby; junkyards down here scrap & shred inventory very quickly, and since I can't really afford the not so painless wiring harness...... Same as you, it'll be weekends cleaning up and detailing engine compartment before any new parts even get near the currently greasy pit of pain.

 

[rustystud]

Yours does look great. I'm just starting on removing all the diesel stuff and trying to identify what wiring I'm going to need, if I can't find a civvy harness nearby; junkyards down here scrap & shred inventory very quickly, and since I can't really afford the not so painless wiring harness...... Same as you, it'll be weekends cleaning up and detailing engine compartment before any new parts even get near the currently greasy pit of pain.

Yeah the "Painless Wiring" stuff is not painless when it comes to COST ! That is also why I went with a used harness myself.
I also rented a "steam cleaner" after I removed the engine and transmission and transfer-case. I completely cleaned that whole truck ! I figured I would get my money's worth out of the rental.