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Astro van cat conversion

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Busy morning...had to help a friend out.
We installed an Easy lift hitch on her pickup/tailer.

Got that done and continued to thrash on THE WLT

Getting all the wiring loose on the engine and chassis.

The lift lugs on the cab are nearly complete.

Front ones bolted on to the lugs the front fenders bolt to by the door hinges.

Re-purposed the flat hooks off some old semi trailer flat strap ties downs that were worn out...(Garage sale thing $5 for a box full)

Cut the straps off and then welded a ring on the outside to grab with the ratchet straps.....

No need to modify the rear lower wall of the cab...
Easy grab under the rear wall...stick some cardboard between the back of the cab and the hook to keep from munging up the cab......:smile::smile:

Early tomorrow we will go for a lift......

If fortune favors the foolish.....the little "Soon to be cat cab" will be swinging in the wind....

Will get pix when it happens......
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
A very good Sunday morning......

Finished welding up the rear grab hooks to lift the cab off the WLT

Things went very very well.

Got the lift frame positioned on the ground and sat the skid steer bucket over the top of the frame.

Rigged up a chain to the D RING on the bucket and raised the lift and placed the frame over the cab.

Hung the ratchet straps on the 4 lift points and tightened things up.

Went for a little pressure on the lift and the back came up about a foot before the front came off the frame.....GOOD ENOUGH FOR THIS LIFT....

Had one hidden ground strap that had to be dealt with.....OFF IT CAME.

Scared up a big tire to sit the cab on.....plop....good to go.

Went through and made a video of all the various connectors and wires.

The starter solenoid wire (Purple) had some how got chopped off...??????

The main heavy feed line (Red that feeds the cab and power) had been violated and got up against the exhaust....melted the wire in two....but the burn was just before the fusible link....

Should not have hurt anything......

As time allows I will dummy up a battery and hook things up to check things out.

I can wrangle all the systems out with the cab on the TIRE and then be able to get at everything to fix anything that needs it.

I saved all wires to the rear for LIGHTS. FUEL GAUGE YADA YADA YADA.

The T5 TRANNY had a backup light switch.....that can be wired into the cable operated auto shifter easily.

Someplace under the dash is a clutch switch......Wires from that will connect to the neutral switch in the new cable shifter.


The thought has been bounced around about using the little pickup box on the rear of the cat......

Maybe do that and add a little canopy too.....:thumbup:

Things are still in a state of flux...

This cab looks like it will be a nice fit on the 2100 frame.

Cab sitting all snug on that big tire for now.

Column still needs to come out....

It is totally trashed.....The tilt is broken and the key tumbler is broken too.

I am in hopes that the accessories like the wipers, heater and such all work.

Snooping around I have not seen any signs of other damage to the electrical sytem.

Manual windows and door locks.

We shall see wassssup as time permits..

Next thing is to get the WLT corpse on it's way to it's new home....

Sounds like near the end of the week it will go away


Before we go for a second pick and a trial fit on the cat I need to get two more ratchet straps that match my good ones.

I had a mismatched bunch this time.....clumsy....I have two that are self retracting.....yesssssssssssssss:smile:

Need two more good ones.....

Before the WLT leaves I need to measure the cab mount points on the frame so I can fabricate the tube riser frames to mount the cab to the cat chassis.

Easier to measure the factory mount points on the truck than try to guess at it....:hammer::hammer:

The width of the S10 cab mounts is almost right over the top rail on the cat tub.

Make a box tube riser rail to carry the factory type mounts and then bolt the entire assembly to the tub.....likely 4 bolts on each side....

A angle riser welded to the box tube and then a plate down over the top rail.


Simple....just need to get good dims before the frame goes away
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Sitting here sucking down coffee this morning and wrangling on a plan to test out the entire CAB WIRING.

Now is a great time to work through all the wiring in the cab/engine bay and make sure EVERYTHING WORKS

Since finding the shorted wires at the starter and the purple solenoid wire broken off/cut waaaaaaaaaaay up in the harness and other cobbled up stuff......

A great time to mock up all the wiring harnesses and connect grounds, hot leads etc.... to a battery and then wring it all out.

There is a lot of wires/plugs that were for things that will no longer exist in the new environment......

Power to run the large cap HEI ( Big PINK WIRE)
Fuel sending unit 0 to 90 ohm sender
Oil pressure sending unit
Engine temp sending unit
Alternator volt meter

All this stuff can be easily mocked up with the cab on the ground (WHERE I CAN GET ALL OVER IT)

All systems can be tested for operation.
Starter
All the gauges
All the exterior lighting
All the interior accessory functions ...Heater, wipers and such

I want to run all the wiring to a central location that can be accessed easily and the engine to the same place (Junction/terminal block)

This will make field service extremely simple.....

Since the cab is so easy to get to NOW .....great time to get all the wiring dialed in.....

After all the needed circuits are VERIFIED as operational....the extra plugs/wires can be cleaned up and abandoned in place.

Once all this stuff is in good order the cab can be located on the cat and the wiring stuff will not be much worry....

The main wire harness on the firewall is in pretty decent shape overall....so just a matter of fastening it all up neat and tidy....

The original wire harness anchors that fasten things to the engine/bell housing were loose...likely either engine has been out or tranny/clutch work and the folks doing the work did not care about putting the stuff back.

Typical with many older rigs......hack it together and move on.....until the wiring rubs on something and fries STUFF...... AS THIS ONE DID.


I think I will scarf the Alternator and starter off the WLT to use for test purposes.

The Camaro 305 engine had a SI10 alternator and the WLT (93 S10) has a CS130 alternator (Serp belt)
The plan is to install a good high output CS130 alternator with a V belt drive that will match the 305 equipment.

I have thought about setting up a serp drive...but the older block and heads may not have all the needed holes for mounting.

I need to research this a bit....I want to replace the water pump on the 305 anyway....and now would be a great time to do it.....

But there are caveats.

I do not have a power steering pump or AC pump.

Possibly there are DELEAT idlers available for such swaps....

Anyway.....

And the fun continues.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 

loggah

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Pretty near time to call it the "thiokol 2100 conversion" dont you think !!!!:thumbup::thumbup: This thread has more twists and turns than a boa constrictor !!!!:thumbup::thumbup: carry on !!!!:thumbup:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Yeah it sure has....

Once the cab is sitting up on the 2100 frame we can figure out what to call this thing....:thumb:

Early on in this thread somebody called it a FrankenCat......pretty good description me thinks.

These roll your own projects can take strange twists and turns for sure.....

But overall I am becoming more and more pleased with the S10 cab addition...

The extra ease of maintenance is going to be a good thing.....

The cost for materials to mount the cab is a very small portion of what I had originally costed out to mount the van.....

Some discussion has taken place around here about mounting the cute little pickup bed on behind the original 2100 fuel tank....

A canopy on the bed would make the space quite usable.

The only caveat will be getting into the bed.....pretty high off the ground/snow

There is a lot to be said for refurbishing an existing design and restoring it to original with only minimal modifications..

This hatchling I am working on is definitely going to be unique......

But with all off the shelf parts for so much, it will be an easy fixer if need be....

Never ever wanted an S10.....HMMMMMM "FRANKEN-10"



All joking aside, the S10 switch is really looking good....Much easier to handle with my equipment and I can work alone with ease and not have to round up additional muscle... :thumbup:


I have a pretty good "Minds Eye" idea what the finished beast will look like.....Just remains to be seen if the pickup box gets into the act or not.

The box is a tad long for the application even though it is a SHORTY at 73"

I can add a bit to the rear frame of the cat to hold up the box.....

We will see.

Best part is this switch.... In a few days it will have cost ZERO out of pocket $$$$$$$$

I still need to scare up a good steering column......

The planning and scheming is the most fun....:hammer::clap::hammer:
 
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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
TODAY STARTED OUT GOOD....THEN WENT DOWN HILL.

Decided to clean up the wiring on the front of the cab and get everything sorted out that will be needed to run the 305 once the cab is mounted.

Picture shows everything
Far right side of pic FROM Right to left

Throttle cable....looks long enough to gitterdone...and has the proper fitting on the end.

Green wire.....Engine temp gauge wire

Batch of ground wires

Oil pressure sender (Plug cut off)

Green/blue Backup lamp (Had switch on 5 spped trans)

Purple and Red (Barely visible) Starter solenoid and power feed from starter main lug.

Pink/white Coil HOT lead and white for tach if used

Purple plug hanging low.....with orange wire....Alternator leads.

Got this stuff all sorted out and then decided to clean out the rodent nest in the heater fan......

Then came the mess of pine needles in the AC evaporator box.

Tore that apart.

Took the core out...do not need it.

Discovered that the heater core was leaking....ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH

Ended up pulling the dash off...the previous crew had been in there too...

MORE ARRRRRRRGH....

Heat box cover has two broken screw lugs on the cover at the top...need to scare up a cover and a core.

Column out on the ground too.

Gotta scare up a good column.

Bone yard u pull it tomorrow.

What a mess.

Better to fix this stuff now than later on when things will be far tougher to get to....


A bag of worms....


If good fortune favors the foolish....maybe snag a column and a heater box cover...tomorrow.....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Spent the entire day snooping for parts to fix....THE HEATER Got a good core cover and all the correct screws.....

Found the proper dash pad NUTS that are self centering that go by the windshield.....

Found several other little bunches of proper screws...

NO GO ON A COLUMN.

1993 is a Bastard child and none of the yards had any...NONE AT ALL.

Found a couple online....BUT THEY WANTED 40 PRICES FOR THEM.

Mid run on the Gen 1 S10 trucks are pretty much all interchangeable .....Not the 1993 or 1994....Both are odd.

From there we go into the Gen 2....Noooooooooooooooooooooo...

Came home empty handed and unhappy.

Butttttttttttttttttttttt.....Took the old column apart and looked the entire thing over well.

The Windshield wiper switch seems to be the big hangup....but there are other glitch's too....

Decided that this mess is a bridge too far.

Cut the base of the old column off and tossed the rest in the scrap.

Plan is as follows.

Add a hollow tube to the old base and then fabricate a flange for the top (Where the wheel would be)

Add needed area to mount a heavy duty truck type ignition switch.

Add short round pedestal to mount a big truck universal turn signal switch unit (Has lever and 4 way flasher lock)

Add a small appendage to mount the needed wiper switch stalk.....

The wiper switch will plug and play.

The "Multifunction" set up will be not so all in one....

The Turn signal function will be by itself, the wiper will be on it's own and the high beam lights will be a button like we saw on the floor of rigs years ago.

The steering will be done using the twin lever brake application units I had planned to use in the van.

I had though that having the steering wheel do a 1/8 turn thing Right/left would be a cool deal....

Become a nightmare....

All the parts will now be readily available off the shelf stuff... I LIKE IT....


So.....I have the original column base (Bolts to firewall)
The cradle that bolts up under the dash with the two nuts.

Will get after the tube and other materials to get the original wiper switch, an ignition switch (Push button start ) and a separate turn signal unit.

I have a factory electrical schematic book coming tomorrow.......

Just need to wring out all the wire colors and lay things out.....

Be a simple little job to gitterdone.....


This beats the hell out of chasing a hard to find column.......


Soon as the heater core gets here that part can go in and the dash can go back together.

Several of the factory screws and other stuff had been lost or otherwise violated by previous folks....scaring up the tid bits.....

The glove box door latch was trashed....found one
A couple of the lower valance panels were either missing or broken.

Did not see any of the tan ones....may grab a selection of different colors..

Red, gray, and a couple other options to fill out the needed parts


FRANKENCAT......ALL THE WAY....

Keep it neat and FUNCTION ABOVE ALL ELSE MUST BE 100%


The hollow pseudo column will allow the air lines to feed up through from the front to the control valves and then back out....Will keep clutter to a minimum


I really had not thought that finding a column for a 1993 S10 would be this tough....So many of those rigs out there.....
But a one off year model on this part really makes things get hinky.....

Ah well.


Moving ahead....
 

KickerM

Active member
Site Supporter
GOLD Site Supporter
Thiokol 2100 + S10 = T10 or T2110 ??? Lol keep up the good work!
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
FrankenCat-T2110

C-M-R FrankenCat T2110


CMR Initials for the Ranch here (Cloud Mt. Ranch)

Be easy to add the letters to the grille..... Sort of like DMC...LMC....YADA YADA...YADA

We are getting closer.....

Sorting through the schematic on the cab and the connectors DO NOT match whats in the real world (IN THE CAB)

The WLT is a late 92 production titled as a 93 and the switches are different.

The wiper switch had bare spots and other damage to the wires up close to the switch.....needs a fresh one before I install it.


Got to looking at the plug that goes into the dash harness and it is totally different than the 93 switch.

Some snooping and then discovered the issue.

Tilt wheel/With pulse wiper/ Without cruise control.

Anyway....I am not popping for several hundred $$$$ for a wretched column that may or may not be worth a !@#T.......

Custom stalk with the air valve levers and custom signal and wiper switch.


I have seen mid run and transition model rigs that can drive ya nuts with stuff that is not in any parts book...at least and fit......


Sucking up coffee and looking at the original steering wheel mounted arrangement I had for use in the van....

Cannibalize that setup and use the valves/bracket and the hand rest bar.

Be easy to fashion a plate to go onto the new "Column....control stalk" and mount the steering controls.....signal switch, wiper switch, ignition switch... all right handy....

Ordered up the heater core.....as soon as that gets here I can get the dash back off the floor and remounted....then we can look at the operator control station layout....


Today is the first rain we have had in nearly a month.....rather damp out this morning.....

Looking like once this heater/dash thing is sorted out the cab will actually be pretty well set.

Wiring to connect all the existing wires to the engine will need to follow after the cab is mounted....

Need to use all the S10 sending units....

GAWD I HOPE THOSE ARE NOT BASTARDS TOO....:bolt:
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Picked up a fresh heater core today....Got that sucker buttoned back up.

Tomorrow the dash gets bolted back up.

Picked up some tubing today to fabricate the Pseudo column .....

Wrung out the linear ignition switch and things are ready to cut the original plugs off and install a regular "Turn type....ignition switch in the operator station.

Going to have to engineer a turn signal switch mounting base.

Rewiring the setup to accept a heavy truck signal switch...although doable is not worth the PITA.

A factory switch is a known quantity and will plug right into the existing harness....JUST LIKE LEGOS....

Also the wiper switch is all part of it too.....

May have to tweak stuff for the dimmer switch....

May be workable to mount the factory dimmer switch too....


I want as much easy to fetch off the shelf stuff as possible.....

Stuff that can be had at any parts house if need be.....


Been a busy day.....

Be safe troops.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Got busy this morning and wrangled the dash back into place in the cab.

Seeing these done in video's of the factory building the rigs makes it look easy.....

Well, a hydraulic jack and a chunk of 2 X 4 (WOOD) really goes a long way to helping get that bad boy positioned and hold it so the bolts/screws can be installed.

Up by the windshield there are 4 sliding type nut assemblies that are made to allow the screws to move the nut into position and then the screw threads into the nut.

Cute little gizmo..

The lower dash bolts were missing, and that was not good.

Several other fasteners were either wrong or missing.

The glove box and door assembly as well as the radio bezel/cover were missing several screws.

Rocker area/carpet hold down plates (Plastic) was broken on the LH side.

Made a shopping list and we headed to the bone yard this morning.

The selection of 88 to 93 S10 rigs is well picked over now....but we got most of what was needed.....

Took the items off the donors and dropped then in sandwich bags with little tags..

Nice to get the factory stuff back in the mix....

The screw holes on the glove box area of the dash were all stripped out.

PLASTIC

Got some JB Weld

Mixed up a batch and forced the JB into the screw holes.....will let cure over night and the align the parts and drill a small hole in the screw bosses.

Hopefully this will allow the fasteners to get a grip again.....

Vacuumed out the cab WHAT A SUMP.....:shitHitFan:


Just about got the design for the Pseudo column done.

I can get the top column housing new for $21

This is the part that has the multifunction switch in it (Just below the wheel normally)

The new housing can be modified easily to allow the entire Muti switch to mount and work correctly.

Far easier to get this all put together and have a factory switch set in place and also one that plugs into the factory wiring harness....


The factory column mounting cradle (Right below the dash trim cover and has 4 bolts holding it to the column) is usable with the new set up....

The trim panel will fit back up and give an overall finished look to the arrangement .....

Tossed the ash tray and it's slider in the garbage .....it was just under the radio..... also removed the heater lower trim cover....Not really of much use, and just more screws to mess with.....

Keeping things neat and uncluttered.

The radio that was in the rig was junk.....tossed it.

Eventually a good AM/FM CD player is likely.

Still need a couple arm rests for the doors.....The RH side is still good, LH is Franken Color....and trash.

Will try to find a matched pair color wise...

Franken Color is fine....just want a decent set.

We are gaining on it.

Hope to be able to rig up and do a trial fit on the cat here soon.

Some 4x4 wood posts across the cat tub will work OK for a mock up.....

I am excited about seeing the cab on the cat.

Thinking about an Orange and black Zebra type paint scheme.....Will stick out for sure....


All for now......

Tired....been a busy day....:hammer::hammer::hammer::hammer:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
OMG....SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO COOL

That would be sweet.....but wraps are not an economical undertaking..

We had a little "Smart Car" a few years ago....I looked into doing a wrap on the front end with just some flames.....it was going to be in the $500 range

I think this Cat is going to get a 2 or 3 color rattle can Camo job....:thumbup:

Actually, other than some very casual...fast moving thoughts the paint scheme on the cab has not been in the forefront of my thoughts.

Other than getting the tub sort of spiffed up a bit as I move forward...paint is just a distant idea......

Thank you for the cool ideas though......:ThumbsUp:
 

Puckle

Well-known member
SUPER Site Supporter
Hi Snowy, just spent all morning wading through all 33 pages of your thread - quite an epic - makes War & Peace seem like a little light bedtime read!
Seriously though, great posts, full of useful info and cool idea's - I particularly liked the N nut spanner - going to make one of those myself.
Keep up the good work, looking forward to seeing the end result.
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Thank you for the blessings.

Yesssss..this has been an epic journey for sure.

I have mentioned it a coupled times....rebuilding an existing design and getting it back to running order is a decent task.....Designing and building a Franken Cat is another story all together.

Trying to make all sorts of things work can be a daunting task.

As was probably evident in your read.....sometimes things sound great, but then there comes an entire flock of flies to get stuck in the ointment....

I was a field service engineer in the wood products industry for many years....

The term "Engineer" was a "Title" READ AS ....THE HAPLESS SOUL WHO GOES OUT AND MAKES STUFF WORK WHEN IT WILL NOT..

Goes sort of like this....

We the unwilling, are doing for the ungrateful....we have done so much for so long with so little....we are now qualified to do anything with nothing...


Been at remote mill sites and had to deal with making stuff work that was not made right and the engineers back at the plant have no clue....

Adapt, make due.....gitterdone.

This project has certainly made some twists and turns.....but I am pleased where it is now and how it is progressing...
 

Puckle

Well-known member
SUPER Site Supporter
yeah, know what you mean - I was a marine engineer - can't call for help in the middle of the ocean, just got to get on and fix it
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
YUP....THAT'S ABOUT IT



Today the new Pseudo column came into being.

With the lower 6" of the original column cut off and a piece of 2-1/4" heavy wall exhaust tube pressed onto the original stub....things started to grow.


Drilled and tapped 2 pieces of 3/4" x 1/2" bar stock and bolted them to the column cradle....

Tack welded things up and did a trial fit....SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET

Actually fit back in easier than the original column did.....:thumbup:

Yanked it out and welded things up good.

The tube is quite a bit too long at present.

Going to scare up a piece of 4" aluminum round stock tomorrow and start whittling on it.

I need the aluminum bar to fit inside the column tube and then back to about 3-3/4" so the turn signal switch housing (Multi switch) will slip over the aluminum.

The bar will protrude through the switch housing enough to allow a cover plate to go over the signal switch.

Then the mount for the steering valves and the rest of the operator station will bolt to the end of the aluminum stub.

Should end up with a very compact operator station that will be easy to service if need be.

Pics of the cab with dash back on (The glove box is all back together now)

The JB weld in the screw holes worked like a charm...Drilled out and screwed the original screws back in....:thumbup:

The new column in flux....

All bolted in....

Gotta see what shakes in the morning.....need some 4" aluminum about 12 inches long

Gonna make a lot of shavings with that bad boy.

But I think the design will work well and allow factory parts to plug in....

Just like Legos.....

Ignition wiring, Wiper wiring cut off due to the other crew trashing the plug.

Going to rewire the ignition to use a panel mount rotary switch and so the big plugs go bye bye....

The dimmer switch will get swapped to a big toggle switch or ????/


The multi switch set up for the dimmer is a tad iffy with my new column.....

OH...BTW

I discovered a LOKAR shifter the fastens to the tranny (TH350) and they offer various length shift levers.

Very very good chance that the cab will position on the cat so the shifter will sit right in the factory hole in the tunnel.

Far better than a cable shifter.....much easier to install and work on if need be.
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Yarded the column back out and trimmed it to the needed length.

Look closely at the one pic looking in the top end of the column and you can see the milled hole on the right hand side just above the column saddle.

This is to allow the air tubing to come up the column and out and feed the air valves that mount on top of the operator station.....


Turned up a "Spud shaft" to weld into the top of the column and allow the Signal switch and multi function switch to mount.

The sleeve collar that will end up being welded to the spud shaft.....need to weld 3 pieces of bar stock to the spud shaft and then get that unit back in the lathe and machine the unit to allow the sleeve collar to be welded on.

The slots past the bar stock will allow wiring to pass down through the area and connect to the dash harness......


The one piccy shows the upper column switch housing hanging on the spud shaft.

When complete the spud shaft will stick past the Signal switch housing by 1/16" or so.

The angle operator station will fasten to the spud with one 3/8" grade 8 bolt on center and one 1/4" bolt near the top edge of the spud to keep the assembly from rotating...

The completed operator area will have the two air steering valves, the signal switch and the multi function switch, the dimmer switch and a rotary ignition switch to the right side....

Quite a bag of goodies to cram into the area.

After mocking things up it still allows good visual of the Fuel gauge, Oil pressure gauge, Volt meter and engine temp gauge...

Speedo was/is a waste of time....A tach mounted above the head lamp switch on the far left of the dash will be far more useful .....

One might ask about WHY SUCH A CONVOLUTED LASH UP to get the switch housing mounted...

I wanted a chunk of 4" aluminum bar to whittle down.

Nobody in the area had a short chunk of 4" alloy.....and they would not cut a bar.....


So I designed the thing again and made it a fabricated part....

Machined the spud shaft, the sleeve collar and then weld them together....

Cost was far and away cheaper to do it with a machined fabrication......

A bit heavier.....but such is life.

One more bag of worms to take care of.

This morning while sitting in the cab...the light was right to see that the the driver door hinge is shot.

Going to need to remove the door and weld up the outer part of the hinge pin holes on the top hinge and the massage them a bit and install new pins and bushings....

These bad boys are in bad shape....


Having the door fall off would suck....


Now is a great time to gitterdone.....


Very easy to grab the door by the widow casing and lift it off.....

The hinges on these older S10 are welded to the door and thew body....not serviceable as a part.....

Pins and bushings, but when they wear this far....:shitHitFan: Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
I waited on finishing the column housing adapter until the new one got here today...Glad I did.....

The new one was made on the left side of the pond.....and the internal dimension was a tad different.

Had to stick the sleeve back in the lathe and take about .030" off the OD

Also had to make a mill cut where the bottom cap around the signal switch lever slides in...

Tad bit of mods to the inside of the lower cover to allow the sleeve to fit.

All good to go

Tomorrow the Spud shaft gets mated to the sleeve and things will come together........


A few pics.

Really nice having all the parts fitting up together to make a complete package......


With a bit of luck we may see some major progress tomorrow to the operator station...
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
A great day today

The operators station is definitely coming together.

Finished the machining on the spud shaft and bored the bottom portion out to lighten the part (Portion that plugs into the column)

Decided to make the spud shaft a bolt in item.....

Getting the metal head assembly all cozy with the switch head assembly is not hard....but does take a bit of finesse to snake the wires down into the metal part....and having the ability to get it in your lap to fool with it seemed like a plan.


The aluminum valve mounting plate fastens to the end of the spud shaft with a bolt.....

The steering valve assembly bolts to the top of the valve plate.

There is a nice spot just slightly out from the original Key location to mount the new ignition switch.

Be close to the heater controls....sort of on and angle in the corner.......


I took the hand rest assembly and shortened it about 1-1/4" and it fastens to the valve mounting plate.

The soft foam noodle and dowel will be back between the brackets.

The S10 dash is a tad more compact than the original setup that I had for the Van.

Getting to use all the parts....Well.... most of them :hammer::hammer:


A bit of trimming has to be done on the right side of the valve plate where it slips into the dash gauge recessed area.

The nylon air line will sneak up out of the column and curve around and into the valve ports... (Push in type/quick release)

The Orange hammer is sitting on a perfect spot to mount a tach....Right above the head light switch assembly.....Easy to remove the switch panel and access nuts/screws to hold the tach base to the dash....


Tomorrow the hand rest center dowel gets cut and then reinstalled with the black foam pad....


These little projects definitely take time.

Still waiting for a couple bearings....Coming out of Macedonia....(Super deal off ebay....hurry up and wait.....Two 6014 ball bearings)

Once these are here the dop boxes and gears can go back into the OC12


What a job these Franken rigs can be.....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Pretty well wrapped up the operator station .

Will need to install the new switches into the column head and do the final fit on the new ignition switch. (The original switches were used as mock up's)

Got the ignition switch mounting plate done today and installed the foam pad.....

Pretty happy with the layout and overall feel of this set up....

Getting the air tubing into the valves will not be at all bad either....


The one caveat was getting the head lamp dimmer switch to operate as it did in the original layout.

The original rod was missing....so not going to sweat it.

Likely add a single pole double throw toggle switch just to the left of the LH steering valve.....

Don't figure I will need to worry about much traffic..... :th_lmao:


Gotta get the ignition switch and install it.....


Some pix
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Had to mend the fence in one of the horse paddocks this morning. 100 F weather coming starting later today through Monday ARRRRRRRGH

Now onto more fun things to do.

Cat cab has a real bad set of hinges on the driver door.

Bushings are totally wasted....and the hinge too.

This may get UGLY.

Got the Skid steer over by the cab and rigged to hang the air hoist on...

A little lift on the door and tap out the old hinge pins and then see what we have to work with.

From what I can see it is going to involve some serious fooling to get this fixed.

I hope it is only the top hinge.

The bushings are gone and the hole is totally elongated to the point of NOTHING LEFT.

Likely make a new piece to replace the old end where the hole is and use the remaining side of the hole to locate the hole in the new part.

Machine a slab off the new piece to allow it to blend with where the old part was.

Bolt the pieces together before drilling the new hole.

Once things are fit and aligned....cut off the old chunk and lay ion the new pieces.....weld in place.

Sounds good....WE SHALL SEE....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Good news.

After getting the driver door off the cab (Little skid steer holding the load)

The hinge bushing holes were not as bad looking as I originally thought.

Worn ????? YES...But not nearly as bad as I thought they were.....

Peened the holes after getting the new bushings in.....

Not spiffy new looking....but quite usable..

The pins were the ones the cab came new with back in 93.

The lower bushing in the upper hinge was a tad sketchy.....there was concern that the bushing could slip down as there is no "thrust" on the bushing head.

I decided to make an aluminum "C" SPACER.....and pinch it closed to keep the bushing from dropping......

Door closes nicely...WITHOUT having to swing it from Montana to get it latched.

A gentle shove and "CLICK" all good.

With the door repaired I am looking at a trial fit onto the cat chassis....Maybe tomorrow.....


The extension I built to set the engine will work well to set the cab onto the frame.

Need to cut some 4x4 (Wood) to sit across the cat tub and rest the cab on.

Several things will be in focus once the cab is REALLY IN THE POSITION IT IS GOING TO LIVE.....

Wiring, other plumbing, location of the cab Vs the engine, transmission in relation to the hole in the floor (The LOKAR shifter looks promising)

Just a lot of stuff can be looked at carefully to see wasssssup and how things are going to work together.....


This part of the program has been getting me excited for quite a while.....

Actually seeing THE CAB on the cat frame will be a milestone.....

Had certainly hoped for the Astro van....but the S10 cab is going to make the build and subsequent servicing much much easier.....

This afternoon the though of the pickup box getting into the mix started creeping into my mind ......:hammer::hammer:

The rear wheel house areas (Right and left) will be a fine spot to mount air tanks for the steering.....

Some creative sheet aluminum can direct warm air off the big azz exhaust pipes to warm the air tanks....

Just a thought.......



Ahhhhhh....the little silver tool......SPRING COMPRESSOR

Worth every penny of the $20 it cost.

The door detent spring is a beotch to deal with....this tool makes it a snap.

GM used this spring in many vehicles.

Some folks use 3 zip ties and a C clamp ...../clamp the spring and then zip tie it....insert and cut the ties...

The tool is much easier........

Overall....a great day.......
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Weather was just too hot out yesterday to do much heavy work...

Finished stripping the last few tid bits needed off S10

Oil pressure sender, Temp gauge sender and the original master cylinder....

The gauge senders mostly to be able to make sure the new ones I get are correct.....and the originals will likely be fine to do my initial testing of the wiring and all the systems before mounting things permanently.

The master cylinder will give up it's bolt flange to allow adaptation of the air treadle valve that operates off the original brake pedal.. (I want the original brake pedal to operate as a safety in case an inexperienced operator is at the controls and wants to STOP NOW and panics)

The master cylinder flange will slip right up onto the vacuum booster as it always did.....but simply make adaptation of a E3 valve easy.....


Grabbed the S10 frame and hauled it out to the back lot and parked it pending the arrival of it's new owner......

Another chapter completed.

Going to get outside at first light and hook up the lift rig on the skid steer and see about a test fitting of the cab on the cat chassis......


Some nice 65 F weather would be quite welcome.....another scorcher today......


Later troops :thumbup:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Out at the Buttcrack of dawn this morning....very very warm last night.

Got the skid steer into position, lashed on the lift extension and hung the air hoist.

Hooked on the lifting rig and got things all set up.

Made a few preliminary picks to get the cab level (Adjusted the slider beam to get it just right)

Picked the cab up and with the Skid steer boom all the way up I had to curl the bucket some in order to get enough overall lift.

There is still a little bit of elevation left for a pinch....but not much.

Cut some 4x4 posts 5 feet long and tossed them across the tub to set the cab on.

Fiddled about to get the cab set on center.......

The Fore/aft setting appears good.

Plenty of room aft of the cab to fit the factory 2100 fuel tank back into the stock location......


3'-5" to the bottom of the doors from the ground... Tall drink of water for sure.

Gonna need some good steps to mount this beast.....Even when stepping up off the top of the tracks...:thumbup:

I am just amazed at how much room around the engine there is.....

The elevation on the cab is great, and the cab is located nearly identical to the 2100 stock cab Fore/aft.....


Took about an hour after rigging to get the cab situated by myself.

Lowered it onto the 4x4


Decided after spending another hour or so fooling with adjusting the location that I am going to fabricate the cab mount beams on location before removing the cab again.

Going to use 3-1/2" x 1/8" box tubing and add the platforms for the mounting biscuits.

A flange on the outside of the tub rail and an angle on the inside with bolts to fasten the beams to the tub rail.

Be easy to locate once there are drilled holes......


I need to get the tubing and a set of urethane body mounts.


So far the jury is out on the throttle cable.....probably about a foot longer than stock.

The shifter for the tranny is also still a big ????????? A cable shifter.....possibly the Lokar tranny mounted unit.....

Plenty of room to service the engine and do other things needed for the build.

Been a great step forward today.....


Sitting in the command chair IT IS A LONG WAY DOWN.....
 

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Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Slow day today.

Fooled with the new mounting plates where the cab urethane mounts go.

Got the ones for the front of the cab under construction now.

Had folks stopping by and that held up getting much done.

Located the needed 3-1/2" box tube at a local steel yard.

Good there.

Sitting in the shade sucking on a cold one and had a thought.

A second cab from an S10 will fit backwards on this build and make a lovely second crew compartment.

Rip out the dash and all the unnecessary crap.

Leave the heater and the wipers.....

Will make a nice little cab for more people.....

Might even mount it the same way as the front cab......???????

Instant extra room.....

What say yee ??????
 

loggah

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Put a sleeper on it !!!!:smileywac, Dont have more then one cold one!!!! If you get a cab off a railroad section car they look in both directions !!:smile::smile:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Not a bad idea........

After spending some time sitting up in the cab (Making Snow cat noises):th_lmao:.....I am thinking seriously about not using the original fenders, hood and core support.....

Instead fabricating a light tube frame tilt hood assembly that has a pretty extreme slope to it toward the front.

Sort of the like the droop nose Kenworth trucks.

Taper the front down to where it nearly matches the original 2100 nose width.

Having the big open fenders to need to cover up makes no real sense.....

A custom snout (Ant eater)

Install a fair sized LED light bar on the nose for forward lighting.....
(We have one on the Skid steer in place of the little stock work lights)

These put out huge amounts of light and draw very minimal amps.

A lot of interesting ideas come to mind as far as lighting goes.....

The industrial/truck lighting sources are pretty well stocked with easy to work with items.

The low beam wiring in the cab can easily be used to run a small LED bar and then the high beam set to run a BIG AZZ road burner.....


We are definitely at a crossroads with many options available to explore before jumping onto the front end construction.

The anteater nose is really interesting......

The forward visibility will be greatly increased.

Also will add to the FrankenCat theme too :thumbup:

And another damned fool crusade begins :hammer::hammer:
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Spent the morning cleaning up the cab mounting hardware.

The upper/lower steel cups and the bolts.

The front cups were a tad groady.....a fair amount of rust and such were the dirt had collected around the rubber biscuits.

Parts are not cherry, but quite serviceable.

Got the stuff cleaned up and some rust kill paint sprayed on them.

Did some measuring and some designing on the "Anteater" hood.....


Definitely gonna be different looking.....


Gonna build a rectangular box affair from the air inlet at the cowl down to just below the AC/HEATER box to cover the heater, firewall and the power brake booster.

A faring down each side with a shield to keep sloppy slush and such from getting blown into the engine bay.

The anteater hood will follow the taper of the tub and slope up to meet the firewall box assembly.

Slope on the snout should be about a 30 degree slope.....

Visibility out the windshield should be sweeet....

Still sketching and measuring......in a few days will get some materials and start construction....


This is going to be a BUILD IT ON SITE JOB.....BUILD IT TO FIT....
 

Snowy Rivers

Well-known member
Back to more way too mundane things....

Engineering the front cowl cover box (Or whatever we want to call it)

The box will sit down right where the rear of the truck hood used to sit in the water drain area in the air inlet cover by the windshield.

I want this fabrication to trim out the adaptation between the S10 cab and the new custom "Anteater" hood

The issue of keeping water from drizzling down over the top of the engine came to mind.

Generally most rigs have a rubber seal to help keep out the water.

Decided to head down to the bone yard and see what could be scared up that would be readily available later if need be....to see if my idea had merit as well.


The S10 does not seem to have much in the way of a seal....book shows one, buttttttttttttt the rigs at the yard did not have them......

An entire area of GM vehicles to snoop through and yesssssssssssssssssssssss
found the perfect weather strip to use.

2007 Pontiac GrandPrix :thumbup:

The right shape and a bit too long so it can be fit perfectly to the cowl vent cover.......:thumbup:

Best part was the price...found 3 of them all in a row and all very nice. $9 for the lot....

The new cowl cover will be a bolt on unit that can easily come off to access the firewall to deal with Wiper the wiper motor and a few other goodies.

Likely this assembly will wind up being made from 1/8" aluminum tread plate pop riveted to 1 inch square tube..

I am thinking that the Anteater hood will also do well being covered with tread plate.

Simple and rugged.....


No need to paint it either.....:thumbup:
 
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