MR HYDE IS COMING TO LIFE

[Dr Jkel]

Ordered new fuel pressure regulator...Should be here next Wednesday.

[f5journal]

This story confuses me a bit Jkl. Back on maybe page three, say 6 or 8 month ago, they messed up the paint and took the truck essentially back apart. This during an agreed deadline to complete period

Is this huge laundry list you are working on stuff that was messed up since then, or before then. It seems from the first few pages of this build that the truck is worse off than in the beginning

[garcmol]

Originally Posted by f5journal

This story confuses me a bit Jkl. Back on maybe page three, say 6 or 8 month ago, they messed up the paint and took the truck essentially back apart. This during an agreed deadline to complete period

Is this huge laundry list you are working on stuff that was messed up since then, or before then. It seems from the first few pages of this build that the truck is worse off than in the beginning

There is a lot to this story. I assure you, this builder has made some hefty empty promises and has yet to deliver on the majority of what was contracted. 6 to 8 months ago was the end of a very very very long road and again was a disappointment.

John got duped. No other way to describe it. He has a big heart and gave this guy every opportunity to come through on something.

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by f5journal

This story confuses me a bit Jkl. Back on maybe page three, say 6 or 8 month ago, they messed up the paint and took the truck essentially back apart. This during an agreed deadline to complete period

Is this huge laundry list you are working on stuff that was messed up since then, or before then. It seems from the first few pages of this build that the truck is worse off than in the beginning

F5,

Confusion is the word of the month. In February one week before the truck was supposed to be finished I went and saw the truck.....It was completely apart...I was told then it was for touch ups, and to ensure the ghost flames were buried and you would not be able to see or feel the edge of the flames.

Now that I have the truck in my garage I am seeing things like chipped paint, runs, sanded places that haven't been buffed, and trash in the paint like fish eys and dust particles. Since there is a different paint used on the cab and bed they tried to touch up some of these places and now they stick out like a sore thumb.

These issues I am having now are because I am taking a hard look at EVERYTHING especially since the motor was held in by one loose motor mount bolt. It really becomes a safety issue for myself. I have to check everything to ensure that the truck does not fall apart from loose bolts or ends up in flames because of electrical issues etc.....neither of which would be good going down the highway at 70mph........

[Dr Jkel]

Friday December 2, 2011

Today we moved the A/C condensing unit closer to the radiator. The spacing was too far away and would have cause no air flow through the condensing unit, this would inturn caused too much head pressure on the A/C compressor causing a whole other set of problems.

Installed the new plugs since the others were fouled out. While installing the new plugs I noticed one of the plug wire boots was melted almost down to the wire. Looks like it was laying on the header.......Had to order another wire boot from Summit Racing.

3 Hours spent on this day.

[Dr Jkel]

Saturday December 3, 2011

Got up kinda early hoping the majority of issues ( hopefully all of the issues ) had been determined and thinking that we should be able to pretty much tie up the mechanical part today except for waiting on parts that are on order.

Checked over the entire motor one more time to make sure all was good. Took off the air cleaner since it had been crushed,trying to see if I could straighten it out a little. First thing I noticed was the filter was very dry. This filter is supposed to have oil in it...So I straightened out what I could and Matt had the air filter oil so we cleaned it and re-oiled and reinstalled the filter.

Finished running the brake lines and got all of them installed and hooked up.....Then we started to bleed the brakes.........So we removed the wheels/tires from the truck. Something looked funny on the rear end but I really couldn't tell what it was it just didn't look right....Then it hit me.....the drivers side caliper was installed higher than the passenger side caliper was. After further inspection of the rear end it was determined that I had 2 right side caliper mounting brackets instead of one left and one right........Don't know what to really do about this at this point....will have to see what the options are.

Fixed the rear electrical connections with waterproof connectors, fixed the tail lights so that they are level across the back of the truck instead of one up and obe down, fixed the wiring in the tail light connectors that fell out.

Started mounting the electrical harness, brake lines and fuel lines to the frame. They had all been zip tied together and braided stainless steel lines tend to rub holes into electrical and brake lines. Also found some more wires that had been run though holes in the frame without rubber grommets so we installed rubber grommets where needed.

Starting to think that alot of this was done on purpose..........

While Matt was doing things like that I decided to see if I could line up the front grille/bumper since it was not level on the truck. I took off the chrome headlight rings and saw RUST around 2 of the mouting holes on the rings, of course the screws that held it in place were rusted. These screws were not stainless or more importantly not the chrome screws I bought..........

As stated before the drivers side door would not shut properly...surely it just needed alignment. SO Matt suggested that we get the door mounted first and then fit everything back to the door eventually ending up with the grille and bumper...seemed reasonable to me. So off comes the front fender, and cowl piece.

While taking off the cowl piece I immediately noticed that the bolts were extremely hard to get out...must have been cross threaded......NOPE....As I remembered from years ago certain bolts have fine threads and certain ones have coarse threads.......Yes sports fans you guessed it, the wrong bolts were put into the wrong places...So now I have to go back and see if we can re-thread ( tap ) these holes, especially since they are blind nuts welded into places. Finally get the cowl and front fender off and start trying to adjust the door.

I am really confused why the door doesn't line up. I was particularly anal about the gaps when this started and before one drop of paint was put on the truck I actually checked all the gaps on the cab area......Here is where my inexperience and ignorance showed.

First the door bolts were not tight and allowed the door to move. The door seemed to bind not matter what we did. I even lined the door up with the placement holes what were put into the hinges. ( These are drilled holes into the hinges so that they could easily prient the door when it was re-installed, this was done long ago)........So Matt gets inside the truck as I close the door to see where it is binding.

It becomes quite obvious as to what happened. We removed the door rubber, re-set the door by the drilled holes and started to tighten the bolts. Immediately we notice that the bolts won't get tight.....hmmmmm so we take them out one at a time...Yep you guessed it...wrong bolts used so now the door blind nuts will have to be re-tapped since the wrong ones were used. Also the striker bolts were wrong and will have to be re-tapped.

We tightened up the door bolts as best we could and aligned the door. Closes perfectly, back gap is dead on all is fixed...NOPE... we reinstall the door rubber, shut the door and it will not close.

So to make a long story short, evidentially when the new rocker panels were installed the flange that holds the door rubber was not straight thus causing the door to bind when closed. It is quite apparent that when the body work was done, gaps aligned that all of the fitment was not done with the door rubber installed. Now it is a problem because the door won't shut. We started beating the door rubber flange back into place in small intervals, re-install the rubber and checking the fit.

We did not get it finished today but will get it right at a a later point........ We did check the passenger side door for fitment issues and besides the missing mounting bolts these passenger side seems to have similar issues. The problem with the passenger side is that the flange is too much inward which will cause massive amounts of air to enter the truck at speed. So we have to beat the drivers side in and passenger side out to align the doors properly to ensure we have no outside air coming in.

We ( I ) decided to quit for the day, frustration was building especially after I checked the bed and saw that no mounting pads were used to install it, staright metal on metal. I had recently bought new bed mounting pads because Mark said he would need 2 sets to make the bed align correctly.....So the set I bought originally and this new set are nowhere to be found........They are only 8.95 a set but the pattern is becoming quite clear that parts I bought are not on my truck to include the transmission.

I also noticed on my invoices that I was charged for 4 pints of brake fluid.......After we ran completely new Stainless steel lines and I filled the Master cylinder I realized something must have been wrong since it took a little less that one pint to fill the master cylinder and not 4, I might have believed 2 for bleeding purposes but not 4....more of him overcharging me and using parts I paid for on someone elses vehicle. Come to think of it how did he really bleed the brakes with so many leaks........

Time to quit for the day.

[Dr Jkel]

Sunday December 4, 2011

Didn't really do much to Mr. Hyde today.....Basically cleaned up the shop, organized the tools and put them back into place. Started adding to the list of things to be done, and things that need to be checked.

Matt has determined that every bolt must be checked, and took the battery out of the truck for now so that I don't get the urge to crank it.

When I first heard the truck I was kinda impressed at the sound of the cam...kinda sounded like Dr Jkel.......Well basically from what Matt told me by looking at the specs on the cam that it is not a real big cam. The sounded I was hearing was coming from vacuum leaks, too much fuel pressure and fouled out plugs....So I really don't even know what it sounds like at this point.

Our plan is to be able to crank it Wednesday night after we get the fuel pressure regulator valve. Matt seems to think we can have all of the mechanical issues resolved by Wednesday, well not all but enough to drive it and see what else we find.

I know the transmission has to come out and be gone through but at least I will be able to drive it to the shop where they can take it out properly instaed of on my back with a creeper.

Matt wants to get the truck hot enough, do a drivability test ( Yes the same test that I was told had been performed, NOT, just another lie and stall tactic) to see if any other issues arise. Especially with the electrical........but at this point who knows.

Matt seems to think that even if we have to completely disassemble the entire truck that within one month we can everything fixed worst case scenario.

BUT at least Mr. Hyde is home, in my possesion and progress is being made, that is a good thing in a sea of alot of bad things.

[CamaroKid300]

Jooooooooohhhhhhhhn!

War Damn.

How you been dude? Long time no talk!

[Dr Jkel]

Originally Posted by CamaroKid300

Jooooooooohhhhhhhhn!

War Damn.

How you been dude? Long time no talk!

Cornhole,

I am sending you an e-mail.

[Dr Jkel]

Monday December 5, 2011

Decided to see if we could get the drivers side door to shut properly......This turned out to be alot harder than I thought. We adjusted, beat, banged and tried everything I thought I knew about adjusting a door.

We did get it to close but not properly. It is a little better than it was but certainly is not correct at this point. Will have to let the body shop adjust this thing cause I am all out of idears.

Checked the tracking on the fuel pressure regulator and it is supposed to be here Dec 6....So maybe I will be able to listen to it run. Supposed to rain until Wednesday evening so maybe then I will be able to drive it.



2 1/2 hours tonight.

[Dr Jkel]

Just received notice that the fuel pressure regulator has been delivered so maybe tonight it will run. Will take about an hour to put the fuel rails back together so hopefuly I can hear it run the way it is supposed to tonight.

[garcmol]

Originally Posted by Dr Jkel

Just received notice that the fuel pressure regulator has been delivered so maybe tonight it will run. Will take about an hour to put the fuel rails back together so hopefuly I can hear it run the way it is supposed to tonight.

That would be great!

[Dr Jkel]

Tuesday December 6, 2011

1 Step Forward 3 Steps Back..........

This seems to be a repetitive things here lately, just when I think things are going forward then something else comes up.

I received the fuel pressure regulator and at the time I purchased it I was led to believe it was a custom made part by Street and Performance.........Well it ain't. The regulator is a common everyday part that was used on Buicks with Multi-Port fuel injection...so besides shipping I paid about 30.00 too much but live and learn.

Got it installed and cranked the motor. I immediately I noticed a different sound and not a good one. So after checking it was determined that the header gasket was blown, of course I do remember having to tighten the header bolts so it stands to reason that is why it happened. After everything was done I pulled the gaskets and they are just a cheap set of gaskets. So have to get new header gaskets....a good set will run about 35.00.

Was not able to run it very long because it kept cutting off. Not real sure of the reason yet but we think the computer was killing the motor because all of the sensors are not hooked up, plus trying to get the coolant filled ( getting the system purged of air ). The computer was not seeing the right temperature, the oil temperature was not registering so a few little quirks have to be worked out. We are thinking that because we took the battery out that it may have had something to do with it and the computer basically need to learn itself again. We checked all the vitals on the motor by using a scanner and hopefully it will work itself back into running correctly. We also adjusted the serpentine belt since it seemed extremely tight.


So with that on hold for a day or so ( it is raining cats and dogs right now so we can't really drive it and get it up to temperature) we decided to bleed the brakes.

First we took off the passenger side front wheel, decided to check the wheel bearings especially since the drivers side was so messed up and you guessed it the passenger side spindle was cross threaded as well. Best we can tell is that they used a metric nut on standard threads and just forced it on. Will have to re-thread the spindle.

Then we took off the rear tires....immediately I noticed that the lug nut sizes were different since the same socket that fit the front didn't fit the rear........Once we got them off it was quite evident that two different styles of lugnuts were used......One has an acorn looking bottom and the others have a flat bottom.......not to mention they used an impact wrench and cracked all the chrome on the lugnuts........They are a cheap set so new lugnuts will have to be bought.

Thought to self....kinda looks like he just threw something together.

So we start bleeding the brakes and I soon realize that there is a leak at the proportioning valve.......I bought a Willwood adjustable valve, one that controls the front independantly plus the rear. We mounted it inside the frame rail to clean up under hood a bit.

Well seems that when it was tightened we cross threaded one of the lines and it would not seal. This is totally on us so we took it off and it will have to be tapped.

So since nothing else could really be done I checked a couple of other things, mainly the firewall......It has no insulation, no Dynamat, no undercoating or anything to protect the interior from engine heat...........

Good thing is it did crank and run, no water was in the oil after we ran it and that we found the leaking header gasket. The motor issues are kind of normal I am told as far as the computer is concerned...Once we get all of the sensor hooked up it should work itself out once it sees the proper readings.

So I decided to get a little of my Adam's Polishes and clean up the motor since it is all chromed out I thought making it pretty would be a good thing especially since it was pretty dirty............What I discovered is why it was so dirty....I guess to cover up all the scratches in the chrome. Just about every piece is scratched up from the alternator to the intake and fuel injection unit.

At this point it was time to quit for the night.....just really frustrated with what we are finding that is wrong. There is no way he did a drivability test on this vehicle, like he told me he was doing for 3 days, there is no way he changed the oil after he broke it in like he told me he did since there was water in the oil. How in the world do you scratch up chrome when you know what the truck is supposed to look like.......

[The Stig]

:( man, it's getting to a point where I'm scared to read your build thread.