tim292stro's M1009 (formerly math1960's)

[tim292stro]

Reel it in gentlemen...


So far no re-occurence of the smokescreen, but it's going into the shop tomorrow morning to be certain - I've delayed the hydroboost work to make the fuel system my priority.

 

[Another Ahab]

Oh, yeah, your thread.

DOH!

 

[Drunkle Scuzzy]

I'm glad to see you are daily driving the M1009 and taking care of the issues as they pop up. I love these old trucks and would like a Blazer too... always loved K5's growing up, and a diesel Blazer is even cooler!

 

[tim292stro]

New fuel lines are on, and new high pressure hoses for the power steering and hydroboost are in. Truck starts completely differently now (sounds fierce and ready to fight!). Steering even feels a bit more responsive. I think I still have a leak to chase down though, the driver's side floorboard shows some "wetness", which I continue to believe is a seal going on the hydroboost. That's already on the list...

Next is going to be mounts, but that will start to address some of the noise level issues, so I need to take those final few sound measurements under the hood. I can tell the engine mounts are shot by shifting from reverse to drive - there is a "thud" as the whole drive train tightens up the other direction... So engine/transmission mounts and u-joints are on the next work order, then suspension (springs and shocks). Then the original exhaust is going to get pulled out and redone - the mufflers and underbody pipes are looking a bit spent.

I have the rest of the window and door seals for the remainder of the body now, so I'll be able to replace all of the rubber that keeps the weather out. There is underbody cancer/rot that has been found so I'll need to address that by cutting into and replacing the floor of the truck when I do the bodywork at the end of spring and beginning of summer.

 

[joshuak]

Sorry to read about cancer/rot hopefully it's not that big of an issue.

About your seals, if I'm not mistaken you purchased a kit and then pieced together the missing ones. If so, may I ask whom you purchased them from?

Thank you.

 

[tim292stro]

LMC. I'll dig up the full order part numbers when I get home tonight.

We'll see how the floor pan rot goes, I will have to cut and weld to fix, and I'm finding other patches now that I'm cleaning more of the metal. It is what it is.

Looks like I'm also going to be changing jobs in the immediate term, so that'll have me a bit distracted for certain.

 

[Another Ahab]

Good Luck in the new position, tim292!

 

[joshuak]

LMC. I'll dig up the full order part numbers when I get home tonight...

Thank you, no stress on my behalf. Their catalogs arrive every month it seems, I was curious who patronaged.

...We'll see how the floor pan rot goes, I will have to cut and weld to fix, and I'm finding other patches now that I'm cleaning more of the metal. It is what it is.

...and it always will be.

Times 2 on AAhabs wishes.

 

[tim292stro]

Been dabbling with some 3M Diamond Grade reflective sheeting, I'm sticking it to magnetic backing which makes it removable:


For exaggeration of the FMVSS required retroreflectors I'm putting 4"x9" panels on the front and rear fenders in Red and Yellow:


At night the size and enhanced reflectivity gives the truck a little extra "pop", even with aggressive backlighting:


To come, a 6" fluorescent yellow-green stripe along the bottom rocker from wheel well to wheel well, and a 1.5" fluorescent yellow-green inverted "L" at the top rear edge of the doors (like what I had done on my Toyota in white).


Lastly, I'll be putting a reflective chevron panel on the tailgate (don't have it yet).


Yes it clashes with the 3-color NATO idea, and it doesn't really fit the look, but since it's removable think of it as the M1009's PT belt:

 

[Another Ahab]

Are you thinking the magnetic backing is better than adhesive; maybe for cleaning, is that your thinking?

 

[CUCVLOVER]

Been dabbling with some 3M Diamond Grade reflective sheeting, I'm sticking it to magnetic backing which makes it removable:
View attachment 616435

For exaggeration of the FMVSS required retroreflectors I'm putting 4"x9" panels on the front and rear fenders in Red and Yellow:
View attachment 616436

At night the size and enhanced reflectivity gives the truck a little extra "pop", even with aggressive backlighting:
View attachment 616437

To come, a 6" fluorescent yellow-green stripe along the bottom rocker from wheel well to wheel well, and a 1.5" fluorescent yellow-green inverted "L" at the top rear edge of the doors (like what I had done on my Toyota in white).
View attachment 616438

Lastly, I'll be putting a reflective chevron panel on the tailgate (don't have it yet).
View attachment 616445

Yes it clashes with the 3-color NATO idea, and it doesn't really fit the look, but since it's removable think of it as the M1009's PT belt:
View attachment 616439

Looks cool.
Why are you making the truck glow in the dark? Just wondering

 

[tim292stro]

Are you thinking the magnetic backing is better than adhesive; maybe for cleaning, is that your thinking?

Two reasons:

1. I have committed to doing this truck as close to factory/deployment-ready as possible - everything I do that is not "DoD Authorized" must be un-do-able, magnets come off
2. I have yet to do body work and paint, at which time I will have to remove the reflective tape if applied directly to the existing paint. This way I only needed to do the build once, I can remove them to clean yes, but I can also remove them for other reasons. Then I can stick them back on when I need them again.

Looks cool. Why are you making the truck glow in the dark? Just wondering

Demographic mostly here (OMG how many times a week people nearly drive right into me no matter what I drive!!!), and to fit my lifestyle and usage. I acknowledge it's "bad enough" I'm driving a truck painted in a manner that intentionally makes it hard to see, but I often find myself as a good samaritan at traffic incidents. When I want to be seen, I need to make certain I'm seen. I am cognizant that if I stop on the freeway in the dark even with my lights on, I'm not that likely to be seen until someone wipes out my M1009 given the lack of attention of today's drivers. So I'm taking a cue from the Air National Guard when they loan their Helicopters to domestic wildfire fighting:

May look a little funny (not as cool as full on theater of battle dress), but it serves a practical function. I'm not suggesting that what I am doing is the end-all-be-all of not getting hit - but with good practices, planning, and execution I should at least mitigate my risk. From there it's a personal choice if I what to take the risk of being a good samaritan or not that really determines how much risk I'm taking. From the post accident perspective, I'm doing a fair bit of CYA - if someone says they didn't see the Blazer, I can point to the oversized reflective markings and bright colors in intelligent locations (they enhance the shape/outline of the vehicle, they don't hide it or make it difficult to understand). From there it's the dashcam's job to help me out with what both I and the other driver were doing)

That said, I'm planning to build a few extra magnetic pieces with the left-overs that cover the FMVSS reflectors and will match the CARC paint scheme, and a snap-in cover for the headlight and turn signal bezels with the same matching paint, and mirror covers. If I want to go the polar opposite of "highly-visible" and go "super-stealth" (not just dark, but completely non-reflective), I will be able to pull the license plates and cover the lights that either catch or intentionally reflect light. I believe they fielded something very similar to avoid glints from anything (windows, mirrors, etc.) from catching light that satellite cameras could pick up...

 

[emeralcove]

While I am not a fan of reflective tape, I sure can't argue the logic and the magnetic sheet is a great way to have your cake and eat it too. I was driving my daughter's white Camry two weeks ago on the freeway with stop and go traffic, the first slow down I had enough room in front of me to accelerate forward so were weren't hit but 5 minutes latter the same truck same situation except no room to safely "jump" forward so I yelled "we are going to get hit" again and bam, the truck hit square on the back of the Camry to the point you could almost read the paint transfer of his license plate. No one hurt, the other driver had insurance, lost a bit of time waiting on the Highway Patrol but no one had to be towed. I kept thinking how ticked off I would have been if I had driven my M1009 because repair parts would not be as easy to come by. magnetic reflective tape sounds a pretty good "real world HEADS UP" device but is only a minute to return everything to camo stealth. Thanks again for another great idea.

 

[CUCVLOVER]

I definitely see your point Tim. I have almost been hit in my truck and in other vehicles (all large stuff no cracker boxes at my house).
That's why I keep a triangle set, flares and orange flags in my truck and have plenty of marker lighting on the flatbed. I think I will set something up like your doing eventually. Also a yellow caution light is good to. Harbor freight usually has the round ones that go on top of the truck and flash. I am going to put on each side of my headache rack on the 08.

I definitely would love to know why people in the smallest cars want to play chicken with the biggest trucks.

Thanks for the post and keep it up!

 

[Another Ahab]

I'm sorry you had that incident and glad there were no injuries. I can't tell you the number of times I look in my rear-view mirror and say to myself in those kinds of situations (ALL kinds of stop-and-go here around D.C.):

- "I sure hope that clown is going to stop"

 

[o1951]

Been dabbling with some 3M Diamond Grade reflective sheeting, I'm sticking it to magnetic backing which makes it removable:


Where did you buy the reflective sheeting and the magnetic backing?

 

[tim292stro]

Reflective sheeting is available from a wide variety of places. I have purchased mine from: Grainger, eBay, sign shops, craigslist, various safety supply shops and catalogs... I now have a large collection of different tapes and sheets for various uses (bikes, cars, trucks/busses, etc...). The chevron stripes I'm going to give a new (to me) vendor a shot: www.chevronpanels.com - I'm not advocating or compansated to recite their name, I have just stumbled across a few of their youtube videos and hunted them down. They have both pre-made chevron panels or kit parts for the DIY. For my use I'll be buying a pre-made strip 60" wide by either 12" or 17" high. These guys do also have varying colors and widths of tape and they are willing to cut by the foot.

Magnetic sheeting is also available for various places, I got mine from a cut-off of a roll at a local sign shop. 30mil high-grip is the minimum thickness to stick a "sign" on a metal vehicle at freeway speeds - I ran a non-reflective strip of this on the Blazer for a few weeks at various wind and road speeds to make sure it wouldn't go flying off before I put the reflective tape on it. I was trying to get the extra-strength 60mil magnetic sheeting, but I was having trouble finding people who would sell less than 50feet.

I ended up settling on a 30milx24"x10foot roll cut-off, cost me $35. I have rolls of yellow and red reflective tape already, so the fluorescent yellow-green and the chevron panel are going to come from that web-store.

...

a yellow caution light is good too...

I have a lighting enhancement plan too. More on that later