The Wanderers build

[superbuickguy]

In today's fun. I had to run one more wire to get the plow to work. I did. It didn't. Thankfully there are more than a couple people who know about snowplows up here....
a normal solenoid has two large lugs and two small lugs. This allows you to either use positive dc voltage to trigger the solenoid or negative. The solenoid with the truck only had the one terminal.
Guy at the plow shop said you have to make sure the solenoid is grounded to work.
The control uses negative voltage to start the pump. Yet the one wire solenoid only triggers with positive...
then it dawned on me, the solenoid was bolted to the positive terminal on the battery. I must be too far removed from my redneck engineering training to not instantly realize what was going on.
The fix is this

I also got tips on how to bleed the system so it wasn't complete stupidity - as it's not simple to bleed the western plow

 

[superbuickguy]

spent the last couple days on investigating this.
To recap - not developing boost/limited boost.
There are a quite a few things that can cause this but let's stay with injection, turbo sizing, and timing for now.
Thus this list is:
- bad pump
- bad turbo
- incorrect pump
- incorrect turbo
- timing.

Thus, not enough fuel creates colder running motor and won't develop full boost. Timing does much the same. Turbo sizing - if I didn't already have the same turbo on a DB4 pump (1994 suburban), I would have bought a new turbo. The 94 installation (which is the same exhaust manifolds as is on my Blazer) - will boost to 20 psi if I wanted to get a good look at my head gaskets, but is limited there to 11 psi.

Timing should be straightforward except that GM timed each motor on the assembly line to the pump... thus, it's possible the timing could be wildly off (and reserving this check for later as I don't want to buy the tool). Fact is timing does affect the boost, but I've owned a lot of 6.2/6.5 turbos (GM and every aftermarket) and found that it's not that critical - so again, may circle back here. Oh, and I have checked the actual timing order as I couldn't tell you what the lines came off and may have installed a line incorrectly.....

So let's talk pumps. DB2 pumps come in a dizzying variety and were produced until quite recently.... they range from 6.2 pumps to 6.5 pumps to 6.5 turbo pumps... now add marine applications and it would be easier to get a wrong (read, small) pump. I just checked numbers, is a DB2 xxxx-4911. A 92-93 6.5 pickup 200hp pump (this info is hot off the press as I'm still searching). That is, 3/4 ton/1 ton truck....

the last 'easy' check is to find a pressure gauge (electronic) to make sure I'm getting at least 5-7 psi fuel pressure on the back side of the fuel filters - thought here is that I used a mini-duramax filter set and they limit the flow because they were designed for a 40 psi system (shouldn't matter, but I'm beyond the easy fixes).

In other news, I learned a lot about the cold weather starting system on this pump - and did make a mistake that I need to correct.... I didn't realize the cold weather start package added fuel in the start cycle - it's not connected at the moment and I do need to get that connected because it seems GM may let that affect the warm weather running too...

 

[superbuickguy]

upcoming with the plow - the rams are both messed up, one is frozen, the other is bent from trying to move the other

but on to other fun stuff

dang, pulled a muscle tonight spreading salt so wife doesn't toboggan down our hill tomorrow... before that call to duty...
this arrived awhile ago but starting to envision how to mount it to the tailgate, it's rated to 300 lbs

one of the problems - the original cable is sticking... and the new one is different from the old

needed to remove to fix and make it so it can work (fast idle solenoid)

see one of its problems?

dang, ouch....

 

[superbuickguy]

problem 1
the cruise control arm lost its keeper key

clipped

problem 2
there is no way to keep the wire on the high idle solenoid with the dual thermostat crossover

solder wire to tab

problem 3
cable sticks

problem 4
cable hole too small

filed

 

[superbuickguy]

Commentary about the stairs... they seem to have natural heights but it's hard to adjust so that it's solid feeling

With that said, my utility Labrador Luigi tested it and approved it

thus, it is lab tested and approved
so the cable... not enough travel, which got me thinking that perhaps my turbo issues are cable looseness related
so sleaved the old one - we will see tomorrow

big hole

shim (aka rivnut)

lugnut

 

[superbuickguy]

Other then having to replace the heater core (for the reasons of 1) get the rats nest out that's plugging the defrost vents, 2) to have heat, and 3) to keep from rusting the floor out)
it's done

it's still a very rusty truck, but it's well equipped for snow removal

inside view with the controls

I did end up replacing the side shift rams $200

and replacing the solenoid with one that I can ground to engage

old 350, turbo 400, np203

and before you give me grief on the t-case, it is still awd - which is actually a benefit... it also could become the start of a dual case t-case in the Blazer - most 203s have t-350s in front of them, not this one.... anyway, that's a 'unlikely' project but still, it does add value to the truck

All in: the receipts
$1800 for the truck with the other plow
- 800 for plow sale
$800 for the plow on it now
$200 for the rams

$2000 for a working snowplow... that already has chains

 

[superbuickguy]

So I've been working on the Heep but there was a snow pile

and, while the Heep doesn't run, the Blazer does

 

[superbuickguy]

belt on

nose back on

underside is pretty much done, so I need to move it off the lift to the middle of the shop to get on with wiring and such

 

[superbuickguy]

time to throw parts at it

oops... plus one of these intercoolers

problem 1 - wastegate level is aimed the wrong direction

and the elbow won't work... think I'll start with the fuel side of things.... tomorrow.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

and before you give me grief on the t-case, it is still awd - which is actually a benefit... it also could become the start of a dual case t-case in the Blazer - most 203s have t-350s in front of them, not this one.... anyway, that's a 'unlikely' project but still, it does add value to the truck

I don't know if there would really be a better option for a chained up plow truck. You can just run it in 4wd all the time and it won't hurt anything. It isn't like a tire is going to lose traction out of the blue or you will be lifting tires.

 

[superbuickguy]

I don't know if there would really be a better option for a chained up plow truck. You can just run it in 4wd all the time and it won't hurt anything. It isn't like a tire is going to lose traction out of the blue or you will be lifting tires.

I've preached for a long long time that chains are the absolute best traction device there is for soft surface. On the plow truck (which never, ever sees pavement) with chains it is amazing. Our driveway his some substantial climbs - the truck has more traction then the plow springs have holding power on hills that 4wds struggle to climb after it's been plowed....

 

[superbuickguy]

I swear I should just attach this stuff with a zipper - but eventually I get it right...

the goal here is fuel issue first, I did note the bolts were bottomed on the intake - so there was yet another leak going on there.... I may look for studs... make this a 'never again' problem...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I've preached for a long long time that chains are the absolute best traction device there is for soft surface. On the plow truck (which never, ever sees pavement) with chains it is amazing. Our driveway his some substantial climbs - the truck has more traction then the plow springs have holding power on hills that 4wds struggle to climb after it's been plowed....

I push snow and drag out 4wd's with a chained up 2wd tractor lol.

 

[superbuickguy]

I push snow and drag out 4wd's with a chained up 2wd tractor lol.

reminds me of the time I pulled up on a Subaru stuck beside the highway in my reasonably large GM Squarebody truck. He was all excited that I was going to pull him out of the snow.... I grabbed a snow shovel and in 5 scoops had him out.... I probably wouldn't have even remembered if that look of disappointment hadn't hit his face the moment he saw the snow shovel....

 

[superbuickguy]

time to figure out why the gauge circuit it blowing fuses

installed

now to finish the other stuff
to get the lid off the IP, I need to remove the water inlet

I bought this large vacuum canister - I figured I'd use it occasionally.... oh no, I use it all the time, it doesn't need pressurized air (it has a pump) so it's really easy to use to lower the level in the radiator

did I have to take off the intake? probably not, but good thing I did because I found a leaking gasket

no turning back now

picture for posterity

am I really sure I want to do this? if I do it wrong, it will blow it up....

fun fact, the return spring and this tiny spring are mentioned absolutely nowhere in all the videos

so let's put a space here - the spring goes inside the shaft (as you will see shortly), the throttle return spring (which is on throttle shaft) is an utter PITA to reinstall.... basically, it's a two hand, no tools effort... if you have big fingers, you probably should hire a kid.

where the spring goes

back together, notice I had to also remove the throttle linkage? you can't get one of the bolts off the thermostat housing with it in place

two thermostats is better than one

cover reinstalled

with antiseize

It's mostly back together, I ran out of time but I also need to let the sealant dry before I start it.

and my Colorado's transmission is stuttering in 4th gear at low rpm .... 162,000 miles and I've not been terribly nice to it.... so I need to get my 30k wrecker transmission in it.... anyone want to lay bets on whether or not I get the Blazer done in time to daily it while I do a trans swap?