Red_Chili's body swap

Red_Chili

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Aug 24, 2005
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Littleton CO
Oh my that is purdy :thumb:

I'm basically speechless looking at those pics...I plan on having Terry restore my hardtop but now I'm worried the rest of the 40 just won't be up to snuff :hill:
You should see Cheeseman's 4Runner. I wonder when he is gonna pick that thing up? If he leaves it there any longer I'm gonna end up putting door dings in it.:eek:
 

bkg

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Dec 27, 2005
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And yeah, Brian, I plan to do only mall crawling. Where is my Mall Rated sticker?

I KNEW it! :p

Darn small tires make that thing look TAAAAALL!

(btw - appraiser is coming out to the house tomorrow to throw down a number on my truck.. :) )
 

Red_Chili

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Littleton CO
Those are Xota's 35" street wheels, not that small...:eek:
But lessee... what's missing...
two yellowtop Optimas
one bumper with sliders, a swing out carrier, a gas can and a 35" spare
side sliders
rear seats
spares & fluids in the side panels
side panels
rollbar
Caribou locking toolcase with tools
carpet
topper
tailgate with glass

Yup, that'll bring that baby RIGHT down. Notice the shackle angle? I can promise you that 80* is NOT the normal running angle on them babies.

The whole thing sits only 1" taller than before. :whew!:
 

Uncle Ben

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Aug 23, 2005
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Yup, that'll bring that baby RIGHT down. Notice the shackle angle? I can promise you that 80* is NOT the normal running angle on them babies.

The whole thing sits only 1" taller than before. :whew!:

NO! I will not look at it again! I'm trying to get some work done here and dark glasses in my office don't cut it! Hope you have installed a auto-dulling system with manual override in the cab so you can turn down that damn shine when on the trail! Dang, even night runs with you will be like driving on the sun! :rant: :rolleyes: :weld: :homer:











;) :hill:
 
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87Xota

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Sep 30, 2006
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Denver
Well it's time to start putting it all back together again and hope it runs!

The donor body still had all the dash and wiring in place and it was kind of a good thing, I took apart Bill's truck several weeks ago and it would have been hard to remember where every screw and fastener went.

So now that I am taking everything out of the donor body, it will refresh my memory on how everything goes, I hope!

So the donor body has the dash components all removed now.
Dsc03746.jpg


I laid out all the parts on the floor in the ordor that I took them out. I kept the screws and bolts for each component, with each piece as I laid it on the floor.
Dsc03747.jpg



Then I would just find every piece from the pile of parts that came off Bills truck, and install it in reverse order, and use the fasteners from the donor pieces.

This is where I stopped Friday
Dsc03749.jpg


There's a few wiring connections I still need to figure out, but I took lot's of pictures when I took Bill's apart, so I'll look thru those and that should help.
 

Red_Chili

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Littleton CO
And this is the phase that I am more than happy to pay the man to do!
Don't try this at home, professional stunt riders on a closed course, yadda yadda yadda... :blah:
 

Uncle Ben

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And this is the phase that I am more than happy to pay the man to do!
Don't try this at home, professional stunt riders on a closed course, yadda yadda yadda... :blah:

Dashes are actually fun! I used to enjoy doing them when I worked at FOMOCO. Everybody was scared of them so I got all that came through. They paid very well and after a couple you learn some good time saving tricks! I haven't done one in 15 years since...prolly would kill me now! :lmao: :cool: :thumb:
 

87Xota

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Denver
I always kind of liked dashes to, even though I don't fit under them very good.

I worked pretty much all day on Bill's yesterday, but not much photo worthy work to see. Alot of wiring and routing, swapping seat belts, drilling and mounting some of Bill's accesories, installing the column(again)

All the pic's I took during disassembly, really saved my butt yesterday. There's 4 or 5 wires that I couldn't unplug and had to be cut, they were wrapped up in the looms for the computer and went across the dash to the vehicles stock wiring looms, there were a couple that were the same color, but the pictures really helped me figure out where I had originally cut them in relation to the wiring looms, so then I could hook them back up properly.

I used solder and heat shrink to make a good long lasting connection.

There's only 2 wires under hood that i'm having trouble figuring out, all the other wiring is attached.

I also swapped over the two rear wiring looms from Bills truck, they might have been the same on both vehicles, but I know Bill's are correct so I used his.

I did find one interesting difference, the door jamb switches for the dome light, were different on the two bodies, the donors switch had a slightly wider terminal, then Bll's did. So they had to be swapped too, weird!

Today I plan on installing the throttle cable, e-brake handle & cable, and then i'm waiting on Bill to bring back the cleaned up A/C evaporator box, then the rest of the dash can go together.

This thing may be ready to run early next week :)
 

Red_Chili

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Got the AC evaporator in the truck in the parking garage, along with one seatbelt latch thingie that somehow ended up in my garage. FORGOT the positive post though dagnabbit!!! I need to make a short 1/0 cable to go to it anyway though. I think I may have the parts hanging around or can swing by the store.
 

87Xota

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Sep 30, 2006
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Denver
Yesterday I did get the upper dash in and gauge cluster, throttle cable, e-brake, spreedo cable, and later when Bill brought me the evaporator case, I got that installed.

Bill did a few hose stretching modifications so that the A/C hose to the evaporator would reach the new body lifted position ;) , he also installed his rear under mounted batteries, and he helped me figure out a few wires I wasn't sure about. So we powered it up, and we had power at the column, dash lights work, etc.

Found one wire to the starter wasn't connected to anything up by the inner fender. Took me forever to find where it went, turned out it was spliced into the stock wiring loom and it had pulled out so cleanly, that there was just a little hole in the tape. So I hooked that back up and now the starter engages.

I just need to hook up the fuel hose underneath, and then I can see if it will start.

Maybe today i'll have it running :thumb:
 

Red_Chili

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Littleton CO
WooHoo!
I have the pretty new driver's seat to bring - in plastic so it won't get dusty. Also the positive post and some 1/0 and crimp ends so the power connections will be uber clean. And my BFH-powered megacrimper and some lovely red shrink tube to seal things up against galvanic corrosion! Friends don't let friends do copper sulfate.

I know you can't stay late tonight and neither can I, but I can get up there around 3.
 

Red_Chili

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The Chili moved under its own power last night! :thumb:

It should be less than a week now before I write the big check and the Chili comes home to Casa Morgan. Of course, then I get to redo all the custom wiring, do Herculiner on the floors, put in the freshly cleaned carpets and new-to-her seats, assemble the new soft top, replace the front main leaf springs...

Gotta be done by the end of September. Gotta slay me some turbogoats!
 

RockRunner

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Roxborough
Bill,

How did the seats turn out? Did they clean up nice? About two weeks after you bought them a guy contacted me from Pirate asking to buy them, never fails. Hopefully they will serve you well, can't wait to see the "red cherry" in person.

Also, if you find a way to really get your soft top tight across the top let me know. Mine sags a little in the middle pooling some water on top.
 

Red_Chili

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Littleton CO
I tried to clean them and realized I could spend about $40 in cleaner and end up with crap, or spend $25 with the fine Mexican folks down at Scrub's Carwash and have them turn out nice. So I did, and they did. They do a nice job down there on the South Side Scrub's Carwash. Thanks for selling me those!

They also cleaned my removed carpet for $16, well well worth it.

My old softtop kinda had low spots in the middle. It never hurt nuthin'. I've not yet assembled the new one, as Terry's shop tends to be really dusty with all the sanding and stuff. Same with the carpet.
 

Red_Chili

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Littleton CO
She's running... She has new front main leafs... the dash is in (minus all the geegaws I pulled out beforehand)... she is sitting on her final wheel/tire configuration... getting close!
 

Shark Bait

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Aug 23, 2005
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Parker, CO
She's running... She has new front main leafs... the dash is in (minus all the geegaws I pulled out beforehand)... she is sitting on her final wheel/tire configuration... getting close!

Pics?
 

Uncle Ben

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Aug 23, 2005
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She's running... She has new front main leafs... the dash is in (minus all the geegaws I pulled out beforehand)... she is sitting on her final wheel/tire configuration... getting close!

She? Dude.....you just don't learn do ya? :rolleyes:;)
 
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