Skiers Lodge - Build Thread

[Nosferatu49534]

Back again after another nice trip to our brothers in the West. Driving in the mountains and in the coast of Norway sure isn't fast, but pretty. And I don't like to go fast in the old chevy either, so slow and steady it is.

Beautiful scenery. Slow and steady wins the race.

 

[Swedeski]

My truck just turned 19 years this month. It rolled of the assembly line in Canada in April 1998.
View attachment 397858
As You can se in the upper right corner. Also found the date stamped on the frame when I improved the rust protection last year.

Took advantage of a booring rainy day and got my rpo codes sorted out. Seems like I was fooled by that Canada maple leaf on the sticker. My truck rolled off the assembly line in Pontiac, Michigan. But it got the rpo code Z49 which is "export canadien modification mandatory base equipment".
Well that might not be so important, but there is some useful information like gear ratio, transmission and transfer case to be found in those codes.
Also found out that the "Pripps blå" color on the truck is actually "dark adriatic blue metallic" - fancy!

 

[java]

Wow it must have been really raining! :Wow1:

 

[Swedeski]

"Improving the looks" step 1.
The old tail light assemblys had three out of four mounting points broken on both sides. So the interwebs brought me new ones. As with most aftermarket parts...not a perfect match. Had to trim the plastic on the backside, so the bulbes would fit. Now I don't have to worry about the tail lights rattling off.

 

[Swedeski]

Step 2. Mirror swap. One of the old ones was cracked. The interwebs brought me yet again another package. As with most aftermarket parts...it was not a perfect match.
Getting three nuts off, change to new mirrors, put three nuts on required basically every socket, wrench and tool I got. Pretty crammed in there, and offcourse I dropped a socket in the door. So I had to take the panel off to retrieve it. Well, well new big towing mirrors in place.

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[Swedeski]

Step 3. Installing my fender flares which I have had for awhile. Go to town with a grinder, spray some rust inhibitor spray and cover it up. The back wheel wells where good but the front ones are really bad.

 

[Swedeski]

Before and after.
Pretty safe to say it went from a wacky old truck to...well a nicer looking wacky old truck. A couple of stickers and a hi-jack and a shovel mounted on the outside and I would asume it's a full blown expedition-overlanding-earth roaming-offroad-vehicle....right?

 

[Nosferatu49534]

Before and after.
Pretty safe to say it went from a wacky old truck to...well a nicer looking wacky old truck. A couple of stickers and a hi-jack and a shovel mounted on the outside and I would asume it's a full blown expedition-overlanding-earth roaming-offroad-vehicle....right?

Looks great.

 

[java]

Busy weekend! Looking really good.

 

[NorthwestNorthernOntario]

Nice job on the towing mirrors. Were those "Rock Auto" as well? I need a set of those for my Suburban. When you look at those grades with all the switchbacks on the passes, I think 15 mpg. is awesome. I can also understand why the vehicle inspections are concerned about brakes...:Wow1:

 

[Swedeski]

Nice job on the towing mirrors. Were those "Rock Auto" as well? I need a set of those for my Suburban. When you look at those grades with all the switchbacks on the passes, I think 15 mpg. is awesome. I can also understand why the vehicle inspections are concerned about brakes...:Wow1:

Found them on ebay. Got the cheapest ones that where electrical. They made a trip around the world: made in Taiwan, exported to the US and then shipped to Sweden.

 

[Swedeski]

Realise it's been way overdue since I last checked in here. We have been using the camper some this summer, but just short trips.
Since my other POS - truck finally took the last dive I'm again relying on the chevy as a daily driver. So today I treated it with a oil - and - filter change and a new belt tensioner pulley. That was also overdue, as you can see on the picture. Other then the plastic ridges where starting to fall apart, the bearing was giving up too.

After I got stranded by the ECT-sensor earlier this spring I was browsing all kind of sensors on rockauto. Came to realise that basically all of the sensors in the "Economy" segment are manufactured in China. I am a true believer in good parts and spending a couple of bucks more on quality products. But I have put together a "spare part kit" with some essential sensors, that will come along in the truck. I payed in between 7-10 dollars each straight from the manufacturer. So why do I not change them right away? Well if I where at home and had a sensor related problem. I would get a quality part to replace it with (or use the cheap one to see if ut fixes the problem, then get the good one). I'm thinking that when I'm out in the middle of nowhere, I have nothing to loose popping in a cheap component if it fixes the issue until I get back home.
And would I buy all these sensor the price here in Sweden would be about 5-8 times the amount. So trying to save some cash but still be prepared.
Hopefully the truck will keep on running and we will have some nice weekends this fall to go camping.

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[Nosferatu49534]

Realise it's been way overdue since I last checked in here. We have been using the camper some this summer, but just short trips.
Since my other POS - truck finally took the last dive I'm again relying on the chevy as a daily driver. So today I treated it with a oil - and - filter change and a new belt tensioner pulley. That was also overdue, as you can see on the picture. Other then the plastic ridges where starting to fall apart, the bearing was giving up too.

After I got stranded by the ECT-sensor earlier this spring I was browsing all kind of sensors on rockauto. Came to realise that basically all of the sensors in the "Economy" segment are manufactured in China. I am a true believer in good parts and spending a couple of bucks more on quality products. But I have put together a "spare part kit" with some essential sensors, that will come along in the truck. I payed in between 7-10 dollars each straight from the manufacturer. So why do I not change them right away? Well if I where at home and had a sensor related problem. I would get a quality part to replace it with (or use the cheap one to see if ut fixes the problem, then get the good one). I'm thinking that when I'm out in the middle of nowhere, I have nothing to loose popping in a cheap component if it fixes the issue until I get back home.
And would I buy all these sensor the price here in Sweden would be about 5-8 times the amount. So trying to save some cash but still be prepared.
Hopefully the truck will keep on running and we will have some nice weekends this fall to go camping.

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Love the spare sensor set up. Never hurts to be prepared.

 

[Grenadiers]

Do you have to copy the pictures all of the time? Don't hit 'reply with quote'. Thanks.

 

[Swedeski]

All labeled up and good to go. Cause I asume if I ever need them, it will be far out in the outback with no cell coverage so googling won't do me any good. Thinking of also printing a version of all fault codes for the exact same reasons. I can pull the codes to my phone even if I'm offline, but that doesn't help if You don't know what they stand for.

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