M1007 - CUCV Suburban Clone Build Thread

[Csm Davis]

I have had the Cowdog on the road a little over 3 years now. 4 years ago when I bought the H2 wheels off Craigslist. They had BFG all terrain tires on them with reasonable tread. Except they were 2007 or date coded. I have needed new tires from the start but life kept eating the money needed to get them. Maybe I have too many projects as well?

Anyway with full summer here again I have been hesitant to drive the truck much above 40 mph. The old tires at 40 psi were rock hard, the steering was very darty if that is an actual word and the ride not pleasant. I put other things on hold and got a new set of shoes last Friday. Loud range E. At 65 psi this truck is now super smooth on good pavement and enjoyable on broken up back roads.

I did 300 miles today of mostly open highway 70-75 speed limit. 2 psi of boost with 650° EGT at 75 mph. This thing just eats the miles away now. I’m still waiting for a few parts to get shipped so I can finish the passenger side swing away gear holder. Once that is done. I think it will finally be ready for an Overlanding weekend trip once the weather cools a bit and I save some fuel money up.

I have no clue what mpg I got blasting along like that. I will fill up this weekend and hopefully it won’t be too bad.

Are you still running humvee rims? If so 65 psi sounds a little extreme, maybe do the chalk test. Most of the humvee rims are stamped 55 psi max.

 

[Barrman]

No, H2 wheels. I still haven’t figured out a way to paint them flat black that I think will last through the first rainy drive.

 

[Warthog]

Eastwood powdercoat?

 

[Another Ahab]

Are you still running humvee rims? If so 65 psi sounds a little extreme, maybe do the chalk test. Most of the humvee rims are stamped 55 psi max.

I guess I should know what that is.

But I don't.

What is the "the" chalk test?!

 

[Barrman]

Put an inch wide or so chalk mark across the tread. Drive straight for 100 yards or so. Get out and see if any chalk is left. Chalk in the middle means under inflated. Chalk on the edges mean too much psi.

I haven’t done the chalk test yet because the mold flashing is still on the tread. Very, very thin lines of extra rubber across the treads on all four tires. More than 500 miles on the tires and all the flashing is still there on all the tires.

 

[MWMULES]

Found some old pic's of my M1007 from 1993! I got it from a GSA auction in Kansas 1992 and it was US Forest Service puke green. A year after these pictures were taken it started to rust away, turned out it spent it's forest service life at Kitty Hawk in the dunes.



​

 

[Barrman]

Ohhhhhh....Hidden rust is a heart breaker.

 

[MWMULES]

Yep I replaced the rear wheel wells and 2 years later rusted out high above the repair panels. It got so bad before I sold it that when I would shut a door, a chunk would fall off! Had my M60A3 bumper numbers on it and had a MP at FT Indiantown Gap started to write me a ticket for not having a log book! He didn't notice the Kansas plates on it.

 

[Barrman]

So Colton who is now a 22 year old senior in the A&M Corps of Cadets had an interesting summer. The airport here in town he has worked at for years is getting the runway repaved. No planes in or out means no need for a helper doing maintenance. He stayed in College Station and did meal delivery during the shut downs. Which let him find a years broken and sitting 1977 Goldwing GL1000. He redid it and loves it. So did his girlfriend who is now his fiancé. He actually used the Honda as part of his proposal.

Anyway, it seems I did something right raising him. Because he is looking for a parts bike to keep his running. He thought he found two a few weeks ago 230 miles away. He took the Cowdog with a trailer to go look at them. It was a drive for nothing since the bikes were just rusted away junk. He wisely drove away empty.

The next day I was driving the Cowdog and while driving in a construction zone heard a thunk. Seeing something black bouncing in the mirror I didn’t think about it any. Until I went to pass a slow car and noticed I had no boost on the gauge. How did he break my mechanical boost gauge?

Once home I traced the boost hose and found a slight kink. I replaced it with oil psi hose and still no boost reading. Plus, no EGT now. I had a very difficult time during the build getting my oil temp, EGT and boost psi gauges and their wiring into the A pillar mount I got from 73-87.com. I figured the EGT gauge fault was caused by me while messing with the boost gauge. I let everything alone until the weekend.

I started by pulling the Banks intake plenum to verify there were no obstructions to the psi attachment. It looked good. But there was an open 1” NPT hole in the back of the plenum! I didn’t remember the hole, much less putting a plug there. But the Banks parts list has a 1” NPT plug listed. It isn’t shown or mentioned in the installation manual though. That must have been the black thing in the mirror the other day. A quick trip to the hardware store had another in the plenum with teflon paste and tightened down hard with a wrench. Because I don’t have a memory of ever installing or tightening the original one.

I put everything back together and went for a test drive. WOW! That plug must have been leaking boost the last 13,000 miles and 3-1/2 years. Sure, I had boost before. I also had annoyingly high EGT reading to go with it. Basically, the truck ran great but never as good as my expectations while building it. Now it was a totally different dynamic. Performance was markedly improved in every way. But, since I didn’t have a working EGT gauge. I didn’t really get on it or push the boost up.

I did shock myself in the rain pulling into traffic across a road though. With traffic coming in both directions I got into the throttle pretty hard. Once sure I wasn’t going to be a wreck, I was watching the mirror for any block smoke. Which used to happen when in it hard from a stop. No smoke. I looked forward just in time to see the tach at 3400 rpm just when the transmission slammed into 2nd gear and the rear end jumped! That never happened before. Neither that high an rpm for the throttle I gave or the tires breaking loose.

To fix the EGT gauge meant pulling the A pillar mount off. I decided to get rid of it and move the three gauges to my center stack. That was done the next weekend. Thankfully, the EGT problem was a wire pulled from the plug at the gauge. It pushed right back in. Time for some real driving now!

Flat ground cruising wasn’t much changed. taking it up to 80 mph in a 75 zone still only had 2 psi of boost. But getting there sure was faster. Then with the cruise set. EGT settled down to 650°. I didn’t have that low an EGT at 70 before. Yesterday Jennifer and I went to the store together. Driving home we got behind a fool going 40 in a 65 talking on their phone. When I passed I just pushed down and we went. When Jennifer who could now see the gauges and spent the trip listening to me talk about what they should read announced 10 psi of boost I was amazed since I had never gotten over 8 psi momentarily before. Then she announced 11 psi and I was just smiling like a looney. Steady throttle, steady double digit boost, 80 plus mph and EGT never over 950°. Much, much improved. I am going to try driving a tank full without hot rodding to see if mpg’s are going to increase as well. It will be tough not using my new found power though.

So, out of the hundreds of fasteners I installed on that truck, all the detail things I did correctly and all the tolerances I measured to make everything just so. I didn’t get the full potential because of a simple pipe plug that I must have saved until later and never got back to.

Now to dig out my eBay bought MT480 timing unit to see if there is more hidden performance waiting for me.

 

[Another Ahab]

So Colton who is now a 22 year old senior in the A&M Corps of Cadets had an interesting summer. . He redid it and loves it. So did his girlfriend who is now his fiancé. He actually used the Honda as part of his proposal.

Congratulations, and best wishes to the lucky couple!

 

[m715mike]

Anyway, it seems I did something right raising him.

Tim, that is one heck of an understatement! Young men like Colton are few and far between. You and Jennifer did a great job raising him!


Back to the Cowdog.... So, wow! A pipe plug? Who’d-a-thunk!

 

[Recovry4x4]

Outstanding Tim.

 

[Barrman]

Thank you gentlemen.

I topped off this morning. 432 miles on the tank that was filled the day I noticed no boost. All the hot rodding around, daily driving to work and over 200 miles of 70-80 mph cruising still got me over 14 mpg. It was actually .24 below my total average since new. (These mpg apps for the phone are better that the little notebook and calculator I used to carry around.) Sure, that includes trailer pulling as well. Anyway, I am encouraged that my normal 68-72 mph highway mpg of 18 will go up. I will find out in the next few weeks I guess.

 

[Recovry4x4]

We'll just call that an unregulated waste gate.

 

[srs78]

Good day to all. Just sharing photos of my “m1007”...”

 

[Recovry4x4]

Good day to all. Just sharing photos of my “m1007”...”

Nice looking burb. Any plans to add lockout hubs? Where is far east?

 

[Barrman]

That looks good. I like the running boards and how your rear cargo doors actually look closed all the way.

 

[srs78]

Nice looking burb. Any plans to add lockout hubs? Where is far east?

Thank you for your kind words. Lockout hubs are in the plans, however this chinese virus has negatively impacted my logistics. Far East = Philippines where Clark AFB and Subic NB where at...

 

[srs78]

That looks good. I like the running boards and how your rear cargo doors actually look closed all the way.

Thank you. A reasonable amount of effort and luck got the rear doors looking proper.

 

[Another Ahab]

Good day to all. Just sharing photos of my “m1007”...”

Sweet! A beautiful ride.

How does the plate cover the winch, hard to tell, does it swing down?

Or do you physicall have to remove it for winch access?