What have you done to your square lately??

squaredeal91 · Aug 22, 2024

82sbshortbed said:
They make a puddy that will fix that. I put a hole on mine then smashed some of that puddy on it and it's still holding up. Walmart or auto parts should have it. Waterproof too.

Thank you, I'm wanting to bandaid it for now till I do major changes. Thinking about trans swap nut want to run rpm numbers first. I loosened the cap and It's pretty much not leaking so something topical should work for now. It's a cheap radiator. Long story short it's a gmt400 radiator. I have a correct replacement.

brooksman9 · Aug 22, 2024

Got it cranked back up after pulling motor for cleaning etc. Have to do some tuning. Open headers are so much fun. Hope the neighbors enjoy them.

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WFarm · Aug 22, 2024

Removed the mechanical fuel pump on the 454 Blazer, installed a blank-off plate and after a bit of plumbing and wiring installed an electric fuel pump. Initial tests are great!

There was no obvious place to mount the pump so after looking around I made a bracket and mounted it to an existing hole directly in front of the tank. Got the relay and wiring all neatly tucked away. Turn the key on and hear a whine and engine starts immediately.

May add an oil pressure circuit but undecided right now.

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PrairieDrifter · Aug 22, 2024

WFarm said:
Removed the mechanical fuel pump on the 454 Blazer, installed a blank-off plate and after a bit of plumbing and wiring installed an electric fuel pump. Initial tests are great!

There was no obvious place to mount the pump so after looking around I made a bracket and mounted it to an existing hole directly in front of the tank. Got the relay and wiring all neatly tucked away. Turn the key on and hear a whine and engine starts immediately.

May add an oil pressure circuit but undecided right now.

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Why did you switch? Also those pumps like to be below the fuel level. I just had to do the same thing because the crappy mechanical pumps took out my cam lobe.

WFarm · Aug 22, 2024

@PrairieDrifter
Had two reasons for the switch. First was vapor lock problems. Even with the carb insulated with a phenolic spacer and the fuel line between the mechanical pump and carb insulated I still had problems. Then the fuel pump just quit, second one in a month. The failed pump was too hot to handle, carb and fuel lines were not hot. I attributed this to the pumps being directly bolted to hundreds of pounds of hot iron and within a few inches of the exhaust manifold. I reasoned that the gas/ethanol was boiling in the pump and damaged them.

At this point I was tired of being left stranded! I was hesitant to drive my Blazer and needed to fix the issues.

The electric pump mounted near the tank solves many problems related to vapor lock, especially with a return line which I included. Ideally the pump would be located below the tank, but couldn’t see any obvious, safe locations to achieve this. I plan to re-visit this and fab another bracket if need be to lower the pump.

After installing the pump I drove around the farm and neighborhood, letting the engine get to its normal temp (190-200 deg F.) and would idle it and shut it off and let it sit for 10 minutes or so and then restart and drive a bit more. It did great, a big change from earlier.

PrairieDrifter · Aug 22, 2024

WFarm said:
@PrairieDrifter
Had two reasons for the switch. First was vapor lock problems. Even with the carb insulated with a phenolic spacer and the fuel line between the mechanical pump and carb insulated I still had problems. Then the fuel pump just quit, second one in a month. The failed pump was too hot to handle, carb and fuel lines were not hot. I attributed this to the pumps being directly bolted to hundreds of pounds of hot iron and within a few inches of the exhaust manifold. I reasoned that the gas/ethanol was boiling in the pump and damaged them.

At this point I was tired of being left stranded! I was hesitant to drive my Blazer and needed to fix the issues.

The electric pump mounted near the tank solves many problems related to vapor lock, especially with a return line which I included. Ideally the pump would be located below the tank, but couldn’t see any obvious, safe locations to achieve this. I plan to re-visit this and fab another bracket if need be to lower the pump.

After installing the pump I drove around the farm and neighborhood, letting the engine get to its normal temp (190-200 deg F.) and would idle it and shut it off and let it sit for 10 minutes or so and then restart and drive a bit more. It did great, a big change from earlier.

I figured. I was on my 5th or 6th one as well.

I have a suburban has well. I just dropped mine below that bracket. I do have a lift though, but I think if you spent more time than I did you can tuck between the tank and rear end. I just made a quick L bracket. I got the bottom of mine just below the tank level. Safe behind the rear end.

Very non invasive, didn't mess with any hard lines or nothin. I'm so glad I had a 1 inch body lift too lol

I just had to get mine going, I have to finalize everything and paint the bracket, so it's not the final result just good enough to get me around for a week. The relay will probably move to the back of the bracket or inside the frame rail, they wanted the relay close to the pump.

The angle makes it look way low but it's not.

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Radiohead · Aug 23, 2024

Someone swapped in a newer model column and it never has worked correctly. Brother has one that looks to be period correct but needs some love. So tonight seems as good as any to start removing the wrong column. I want to install the correct version so I have a solid place to disassemble it from. It acts like the screws below the tilt pivot are loose and it won't hurt to lube up any dry friction areas and bearings while I'm at it. All went too easy when I couldn't get the part on the steering shaft to let go of the column at the single bolt joint. So I figured I'd best wait until real light to try again.

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Sure is nice to have a rig you can stick yer light to wherever you need it.

WFarm · Aug 23, 2024

PrairieDrifter said:
I figured. I was on my 5th or 6th one as well.

I have a suburban has well. I just dropped mine below that bracket. I do have a lift though, but I think if you spent more time than I did you can tuck between the tank and rear end. I just made a quick L bracket. I got the bottom of mine just below the tank level. Safe behind the rear end.

Very non invasive, didn't mess with any hard lines or nothin. I'm so glad I had a 1 inch body lift too lol

I just had to get mine going, I have to finalize everything and paint the bracket, so it's not the final result just good enough to get me around for a week. The relay will probably move to the back of the bracket or inside the frame rail, they wanted the relay close to the pump.

The angle makes it look way low but it's not.

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I re-mounted my pump this morning. Now it’s right at the bottom of the tank, but not sticking down below it. The new bracket has an offset in it to move the pump back away from the differential. Lowered it down to verify I had plenty of clearance before tightening everything up. Almost looks like I bolted it to the tank but have about 1/2” clearance between the tank and the bolts that hold the pump.

Last step will be to sleeve and secure the wiring and then this project is done!

Thanks for the feedback on pump elevation. I had read this but then became focused on just finding a place for it that completely forgot its supposed to be near the bottom of the tank. So, you caused me a sleepless night but likely prevented future pump problems so I’ll call us even. :laughing1:

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DoubleDingo · Aug 23, 2024

squaredeal91 said:
Yeah. Tire kicked up a rock and it's my fault for not having a deflector shield lol (fan shroud)

Check out Northern Radiator for a direct copper brass replacement. Not cheap, but better than plastic aluminum

Grit dog · Aug 23, 2024

WFarm said:
@PrairieDrifter
Had two reasons for the switch. First was vapor lock problems. Even with the carb insulated with a phenolic spacer and the fuel line between the mechanical pump and carb insulated I still had problems. Then the fuel pump just quit, second one in a month. The failed pump was too hot to handle, carb and fuel lines were not hot. I attributed this to the pumps being directly bolted to hundreds of pounds of hot iron and within a few inches of the exhaust manifold. I reasoned that the gas/ethanol was boiling in the pump and damaged them.

At this point I was tired of being left stranded! I was hesitant to drive my Blazer and needed to fix the issues.

The electric pump mounted near the tank solves many problems related to vapor lock, especially with a return line which I included. Ideally the pump would be located below the tank, but couldn’t see any obvious, safe locations to achieve this. I plan to re-visit this and fab another bracket if need be to lower the pump.

After installing the pump I drove around the farm and neighborhood, letting the engine get to its normal temp (190-200 deg F.) and would idle it and shut it off and let it sit for 10 minutes or so and then restart and drive a bit more. It did great, a big change from earlier.

If it’s close to the bottom of the tank in elevation and not a long run, it’ll be perfectly fine.
I cooked 2 or 3 inline Edelbrock cheapo pumps in a couple tanks of gas each when they were located in the engine bay near the OE pump location. Can’t for the life of me figure out how the previous owner(s) actully drove the truck anywhere. Because it had been electric for a long time.
I then ran good clean power from a relay and relocated the same cheap inline pump down close to the tank switching valve but not below bottom of tank level. And it’s lasted for a couple few thousand miles now. (Truck is a Sunday driver).

JamesSam · Aug 23, 2024

Got the power window switch connector. While I was ordering it I decided to go ahead and get a new regulator since the OG one is looking pretty rough. They arrived a couple days ago. I guess I will give this a shot. I'm optimistic...

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Redfish · Aug 23, 2024

I did a couple things to it. One I am not exactly proud of but it's only temporary.

I installed a saddle blanket seat cover. It actually matches pretty well. I am ashamed to admit that I like it. I always figured that these things were for rednecks that were too broke to have their seat properly re-covered. That is actually sort of almost true here...

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Redfish · Aug 23, 2024

The second thing I did was install a new Skyjacker steering damper. I installed a no-name O'Reilly's damper when I first got The Truck but it is already leaking all of its oil and y'all know I don't put a lot of miles on this Old Truck.

The pic shows my next project, a set of Skyjacker Hydro 7000s for the rear.

I loved the look of the old Rancho shocks on a 4wd when I was a kid...Obviously I never grew out of it. These look like I wanted my "Dream Truck" to look back in the '80s.

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JamesSam · Aug 23, 2024

Redfish said:
The second thing I did was install a new Skyjacker steering damper. I installed a no-name O'Reilly's damper when I first got The Truck but it is already leaking all of its oil and y'all know I don't put a lot of miles on this Old Truck.

The pic shows my next project, a set of Skyjacker Hydro 7000s for the rear.

I loved the look of the old Rancho shocks on a 4wd when I was a kid...Obviously I never grew out of it. These look like I wanted my "Dream Truck" to look back in the '80s.

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I have Ranchos on my truck. The PO had them on and I thought the flashy red and white looked awesome under the carriage and I didn't want to change things up to much when I replaced them. 3 of them were completely out of gas. Only one was still functional. I also had to match the steering damper with the shocks. Looks good. I bet Skyjackers are sweet.

ChuckN · Aug 23, 2024

Redfish said:
I did a couple things to it. One I am not exactly proud of but it's only temporary.

I installed a saddle blanket seat cover. It actually matches pretty well. I am ashamed to admit that I like it. I always figured that these things were for rednecks that were too broke to have their seat properly re-covered. That is actually sort of almost true here...

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I have no problem with that blanket- I think it kinda looks snazzy.

What have you done to your square lately??

squaredeal91

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brooksman9

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WFarm

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PrairieDrifter

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WFarm

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PrairieDrifter

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Radiohead

That guy on the Columbia

WFarm

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DoubleDingo

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Grit dog

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JamesSam

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Redfish

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Redfish

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JamesSam

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