Belinda the Beluga Whale 1990 Chev r3500 build

[SuperBuickGuy]

the BBW is here
needs a paint job... really, that and a headliner and I'm calling it a day (okay, and fix the a/c system)


clearly I made my trailer the correct length

and about that "Colorados can't tow"

ha
it even has an engine

454/t400
and now with the reassembly

and first fixit.... it came with new mirrors.... lipstick on a whale... those go on the Blazer, but I need to create a pair from the 10 or so I already have


the mirror donor


plans, make it tow. Eventually, if I like it... 8.1/Allison and a 5/6 drop, tint, paint. though for now I'm spraying the bare steel so it can be used.

[silver_bullet]

I like the idea of your future plans for her!

[silver_bullet]

I would probably try to incorporate a fold up rear seat for when your four-legged passengers decide to go along for a ride? I’m not sure if you could adapt the new style front seats to her.

[DanStokes]

She's a big ol' gal. Some guys like 'em that way and who am I to question your taste? BTW - looks like somebody squirted the ol' gal with house paint or something. Are you going to have to strip her?

[SuperBuickGuy]

She's a big ol' gal. Some guys like 'em that way and who am I to question your taste? BTW - looks like somebody squirted the ol' gal with house paint or something. Are you going to have to strip her?

it's eastwood epoxy paint.

[SuperBuickGuy]

little more work
sanding

never dawned on me they shortened the frame... but here's the piece (glad I grabbed it) though I wonder if this is what you do when you move the receiver hitch up?

was all ready to go get a key made for the door when I found this behind the license plate


woohoo

[SuperBuickGuy]

A/C
the pump was frozen, turns out it's still good so I have a spare...

and here's the problem. They put the wrong seals at the back of the pump... turns out the ones sent with the new pump were wrong too....

new pump - it's aluminum for weight savings

installed

and now working

[SuperBuickGuy]

time to assemble a mirror

and assembled

and together


thankfully Dan can't see the terrible work I did to make it one color


but it's together enough to use it and that was the point. Soon enough I'll blow it apart and paint it correctly - but until then....

[DanStokes]

Looks good to me as a functional starting point. Guessing she's not going on the show circuit.

[SuperBuickGuy]

and second problem. fuel pump remains on when the key is in the off position.... (and for bonus fun, whatever tank the switch says... that pump is on).

[silver_bullet]

Bad relay?....just a guess...

[SuperBuickGuy]

Bad relay?....just a guess...

nope

here's the image of the wiring harness... I'll explain where I'm at in the next post

[SuperBuickGuy]

for some reason the wire going to the switch is staying hot at all times. I'm pretty sure the tank switch is supposed to be on the 'switched on' power side of the fuse panel - thus it is doubly confusing as to why this is happening. The wire that's staying hot is the tan/white wire

so now the question is whether or not the computer is staying on (not going to sleep) or there is a fault within the computer. I've checked the fuel module, replaced the tank switch, checked the relay...

hmm, but now I'm thinking that maybe if a ground was bad that it would never shut off.... easy enough to check (oh and it's 109 degrees outside right now so that will slow things down a bit).

[silver_bullet]

[SuperBuickGuy]

it got pretty warm so I didn't get back to this today... tomorrow I'll start tracing why I've got power to the tan/white wire 24/7