November 30 2015

Page 4  The Body Work:

Well not quite sure when to start this part of the Tracker.  There’s a part of me that is really wanting to get at this..  and there is the little voice that says drive it around a bit more.  But lets talk about the plans anyway.

The Interior…  The top half is perfect..  floor not so good..  so most of the interior says untouched.  On the 89 Tracker (years back) I had to strip the whole interior in order to paint it black.  That was the color scheme ( green & black) and all the metal was white.  Lucky me ! This one is black already.  However the doors I’ll be using are not..  But they will be pre-painted on the bench.  I will have to remove the rear side panels to get at the wiring and install new speakers.  I have repaired the rear floor already, so that’s done.   I will have to remove the dash again to wire in the power locks & remote transmitter.  The seats need to come out, and the carpet too.  There’s a bit of patching to do.  All the center console bits need to come out.  They need to be painted to match the dash..  and the light fixed in the PRNDL.  Also I’m very fortunate to have good carpet with no holes..  So clean it while it’s out and back in it goes.   Thus is the interior plan.

The Exterior is another matter.  The rocker panels on both sides need fixing.. and there is big holes on the drivers side.  This will require some tricky reconstruction.   But I like that challenge.  I’m thinking of pipe for new rockers..  stronger.   As far as removing stuff.. that’s a big list.  I would rather remove than mask around stuff.   The paint scheme is simple , SEMI GLOSS BLACK for the bumpers, grill, door handles, mirrors and around the windows of the doors.

It’s called BLUE FIRE METALLIC.. and I think it’s nice and bright.  And contrasts good with the black.  And clear coat will make it pop.

Can’t wait…   I’m going to get the hood and doors and bring them into the shop.. December looks like a good month for doing body work.

This is the hood from the 89 parts Sidekick..  It’s in very good condition.  Only three dings needed filler..  all the rest ( mostly rock chips) sanded out.  I’m only going to medium sand the hood, and spot prime.  the finishing will be done when it’s on the Tracker.  My real goal right now is to clean and paint the underside BLACK.  But get it ready to install.  Same with the doors.

The inner and outer parts of the hood are glued together !  And the middle had come apart.  So I’m using the urethane body glue to fix that..  Here I have some weight on to hold it.   Once the glue was dry (overnight) I painted the ribs gloss black.  Why so much attention to the hood ?  It’s the largest horizontal surface that’s seen.  And the prep work and paint job here reflects on the whole vehicle.

Those labels will not be covered.  There is good info on them.  I need to find something to glue into the inner panels for sound deadening.  It’s my goal to make the tracker quieter and not so “tin can” like.

I set aside the hood and started on the doors.

This is what I’m faced with.  Glued on trim & chrome door bottoms.  The last of the stink bugs where hiding under the chrome.  And I had a lot of glue to remove..  yuk.

Here’s the two doors.  It’s great that I can work on these parts while still driving the Tracker with its original bits still intact.  It’s also amazing that these parts ( off the 89 Sidekick)  are in such good shape. The rest of the body sure wasn’t.  The filler is just a skim to level out the rusty places.  And some scratches need a bit of help too.  I had to spot weld the bottom of the passenger door where the skin was loose from the inner door.  Both doors got new body caulking along the bottom as well as rust converter spray inside and out.  If you are going to fix it …fix it good.   I’m moving right along..  Got the doors all prepped and painted with the gloss black.

And I want to let them cure for a day or so.  Then it’s time to re- assemble them with the power locks and sound deadening.

Not bad for an amateur body guy..   The doors turned out good..

Dec 5 2015:

This morning I really cleaned up the shop..  The plan was to make more room for the Tracker.  So I can work all around it.   The weather warmed up a bit and It was the perfect time to bring the little guy in.  Got right to work removing the doors, hood and top.  Going to take days just to strip the Tracker down for the work.   First I should transfer the door stuff over to the newly prepared doors.  Then the old doors & hood can go for scrap.

Here I’m building a new door.  you can see the sound deadening.  Makes a huge difference to the feel of the door.  And should help with road noise as well.  It’s self adhesive foil backed foam.  Also the power lock actuator is installed.  The windows are tested as well as the power lock.  Doors are ready to install.

Mix & Match

The parts Sidekick had a dark charcoal color to the interior.  Whereas the Tracker is grey.  So I’m mixing things up a bit ..  little of this ..little of that.  The door pockets are Sidekick.  The panels are the Trackers.

Oh I almost forgot .. the new headlight came, and it’s installed.  Looks better than the right side one !  I also decided not to change the park lights for the Suzuki orange yet.  Those screws holding them in place are hard to get out..

One more thing to do before moving to the inside..  Tailgate Time !

The plan was to keep the Tracker’s black tailgate..  Because this one has a rust hole..  But after having a good look at the black one it’s just a bit worse.  So another part of the Sidekick goes on the Tracker.

Now that’s better .. only the holes that are needed ..  the rest are gone.

And the black paint for the inside and we are done for now.

Time to get going on the interior…

Page 5

November 2015

Page 2  Almost Free Parts:

The project continues…

The 91 is waiting for space at Linde Auto to continue.  While waiting I’m stripping down this 1989 parts Sidekick in my shop. As well as  studying those wiring diagrams so I know what to look at when I resume. My Sister’s friend Rich found this 89 Sidekick in a field in Proctor, BC.  He just wanted the extra wheels for his Tracker. The rest he said I could have.

1989 Parts Sidekick :

Very sad looking indeed.. but the motor was reported to run and was intact.  And even though it looks bad there is lots of good parts.  So It was worth the 2 hour trip to go and bring this one back.  If you consider the other 89 Tracker I rebuilt back in 2008. I traveled further and paid good money for those body parts .  The doors off this 89 are in fairly good shape.  Especially the drivers door.  The passenger door needs a bit of welding on the very bottom edge.  But that’s better than patching a big rust hole.  Both these doors are better than the ones on the 91.  So I put them aside for later.  The same goes for the dash, hood and a few other bits.. way better shape.

At one time this was a fancy little guy.  Wired for towing ..so it was a “Dingy”   Now it’s trashed in too many ways to be put back on the road..  And a thousand stink bugs and a few dozen wasps came along with this little guy .. Everything I took apart I found more.. So I had the shop vac at the ready to suck them up.   All worth it because  it’s donating good parts for Rich & I.   This is a Sidekick so it has the orange turn signals which I like..

These are in perfect condition..  Once I polish them up they will look like new.

Check out the difference between polished and not.

Even bigger difference in the park / turn lights from the front.  They get sand blasted in the winter..

The other important part..  for me.. is the dash..  again the 89 had a much better one,  seen here.  And if you look on the left side I tried some restore treatment  wow just like new.

 

So another day or so and I’ll be cutting the body off the frame.  I want to keep the rolling frame and see if I can sell that.   So here’s what’s left..

Not much..  The window goes for recycle..  and so does the body metal.  It’s a lot of work when all you got is a cutoff disc and a saws all.  A plasma cutting rig would have made short work of this.

And this is what is left..  and even though the body is rusted away to nothing this frame  is in amazingly good condition.  If only someone made a fiberglass body that would just bolt right on..  I’m very temped to build my own body ..  for now I’ll just hang on to the chassis.

Now that the parts Sidekick is out of the shop..  I decided not to wait for space at Peter’s shop and bring the 91 Tracker home to get it running.

Damned if it doesn’t just fit on Dave’s landscape trailer.   Quite well to..  So I need to really clean out the shop good and we will have room to work on the Tracker.

Welcome to the my shop .. little friend.   Now to look at the reason for not starting..  Both Dave & I checked all the fuses and they are good..  but no power to the relays.  So I decided that the best way would be to completely remove all the wiring for the stupid remote start. And the way to do that is to remove the dash.. I’ve done this a few times , plus I want to check a few things out anyway.   And that steering wheel has to go..    Sooo  while I was pulling those extra wires out I noticed some ground wires we forgot to attach !

Oh No ! could these be the cause of all the grief..  quite likely.  We’ll see once I get the dash back in..  speaking of..

What a dusty mess..  Air hose & shop vac needed for this.   One very promising thing was that none of the screws holding the dash were rusty or stuck..  This I is a good thing about the hard top vs the soft top..  less moisture gets in.  and the interior stays nice.   A while back when I was taking things apart on the 89 parts Sidekick,  I cleaned the dash and all its bits.  So that one is going back in.. was my plan anyway.   One other thing was to compare wiring harnesses to see if things like a tachometer and the rear window defogger switch were exchangeable.  Yes they are.  Both harnesses have the wires.  I’m thinking of using the Sidekicks instrument cluster because it has a tachometer.

The Sidekick on the left .. and the much more modest Tracker on the right .  But the Sidekick ODO has an extra 90 thousand kms !  So need to think this one through.  In the meantime I got to the cleaning of the dash area..  While doing that I noticed a black box attached to the fire wall hiding behind the ECU..  It’s plugged into the main wiring.. and it says Suzuki on it.. ??  oh well must be important..  Can’t find it on the wiring diagrams though.

Mystery Box..   Looks like it belongs.. and it’s not part of the remote start.. so it stays.   Later I found out that this is the anti lock brake control module.  Another bonus I think !

So I’m in the middle of getting the new dash ready to install..   thinking about adding a clock , USB charge ports.. etc..  And Dave shows up and fixes the  unattached ground wires..  says to me “it will run without the dash” ? right ?  Uh ya I think so..   So I turned the key.. and we could hear the fuel pump !  Wow.  Turned the key more and boom she starts right up..

After the smoke cleared ( from oil and cleaning the motor)  I took a quick video..   Needs work on the water pump..  there is a noise coming from there..  and a coolant leak.   But !  We have a running Tracker instead of one you push !   That’s progress.  Now I need to get the dash back in.   But I must do a little pimping to the dash..

And bring the 1991 into the 2015’s   A new 12volt plug,  a digital clock, plus a digital volt meter & 2-USB charge ports on a switch.  That’s all the tech you need these days..  for under $50.

Nov 19 2015 :

The dash is all together and in.. everything works fine..

I now have a Trackerkick.. or is that a Sidetracker ?   We ran the motor a bit today as well..  Trying to find exactly where the coolant leak is..   I still think it’s the water pump gasket.  But the motor runs well..  The lights on the dash go out like they are suppose to..

And it was the water pump gasket. We installed a new off the shelf water pump ( cause it was cheap) and no more leak.   Backed it out of the shop.. and let it run to warm up good..  No problems.  Yahooo   So now to put some stuff together again..

and we start with the grill & the top frame.  Notice the blue ?  that’s a piece saved from the 89. It was in better condition.  So I cleaned and painted the backside.  Still looking for a headlight..

Here’s two of the Suzuki Alloy wheels I horse traded for..  I have five. So the spare will look good without a cover.  The plan is to remount the tires that are on the Tracker onto these rims.  Then we are styling!

The plan here is to get the Tracker road worthy enough to drive it around for a few weeks.  I really want to make sure we have fixed all the mechanical things before any body work is done.  So here’s what I need to do:   1 –  Install a tail pipe so the exhaust is going out the back , not under.   2-  I need to repair a few rust holes in some important places where road crap can get inside.   3-  The tailgate handle needs to be cleaned, painted & installed.   4 – And as soon as it’s on the road..  an oil change and the coolant replaced.

I’m trying something new to deal with the small rust holes.  These are holes that aren’t seen because they are covered or under the hood.  I clean them up and treat them with Naval Jelly.  It converts the rust and after 24 hrs hardens to a paintable surface.  Then I’m going to glue & screw a patch over the hole.  We’ll see what I think when done.

This is the tailgate handle from the 89 parts Sidekick.  Even though the metal bits are rusted, they are still strong.   So I’m using the Naval Jelly treatment on this as well.  And yes it seams to work good..  Why rebuild the black one when this will work.

Here in the back seat area I used the rust jelly..  and then I made patches from Galvanized Steel.  Everything is sealed up with urethane sealer.   Later I will paint this area with box liner epoxy or undercoat..  Later.

This is one of the motor compartment patches.  On the other side is a smaller one.  When the inner wheel well is undercoated I think this will last a long time..   With holes here the tires throw water and mud into the motor compartment.. Not good !   Just about ready for the road.  Time for a new page…

Page Three ( Driving the Tracker)

Posted  Oct  2015

Page 1  First Impressions:

There is now 8 pages to this post. Link to the next post will be at the bottom

Once again it looks like I’ve got a collection going..   Once again I’ll show you a photo of what it should look like ..

JUST KIDDING !   but it could look like that..  with a 4 inch lift and some red paint !   More importantly the photo shows the removable hard top.  I like that better than the soft top..   Especially for winter.

 

Here’s the actual one I picked up..   Needs some work..  they all do..   Now Trackers and Sidekicks come in a few different configurations..   The other two I had were convertibles with soft tops.  I like those.. but this one comes with the much desired removable hard top..  Now I think I like that better.   So we will tick a box.  Another good thing .. for me is the auto transmission..  so lets tick another box..   Oooo  power steering too..  Yes one more box.    Once I install keyless locks.. it’s perfect.  In fact if I was to order a Tracker from the factory, this is the way I would want it..  Just not Black.    Well back to the real world.. got to fix the motor first .. and patch up some rust..   A new paint job would be nice..  The 96 Siidekick will have to go bye bye..  as is or for parts..  All depends on weather ICBC will give me the regi or not..

Now I’m no stranger to fixing these.. check out this old post from 2007.  that’s 8 years ago.. but I remember it well.. and have a look at how nice it looked when I was done.  Well I want to do that again..  But I think I’ll not bother with the power windows.

1989 Tracker Project

So this time what did I get..  ?

Lets have a look..

 

A winch on the front.. ok it’s only a cheapy 2000 lb one.. but hey it’s there and it works.   A trailer hitch YES.. I can use that .   Tuck tape holding in the right taillight ?  Have to see why.  Good tires.. really !  Oh and the tail gate latch worked !  I’m in shock.

Ahh but the handle is falling off..  I bet the mounting bolt is rusted off.. I fix.

Rusty rocker panels.. this is the good side !

This is the drivers side..  bad..  but common.  some metal working required for this..  The door skin has come loose too.. but I’ve fixed those before..  none of this scares me..  I’m crazy..

The interior looks OK..  just OK.. the drivers seat has rips.. that steering wheel is ??  weird..  There is wires hanging out from where the remote start was..  And I’m not a fan of those unless they are factory installed.    Most importantly no dog has chewed or drooled , or even left hair on anything.  In other words it’s normal dirt.

Ok bonus !  There is a newer stereo.. with a key fob remote.. that doesn’t work!  But where’s the vents ?   In the parts Tracker.  I hope.   An Ash tray !  yup they still thought is was a good idea 20 years ago..  Just watch that disappear and a USB charge port in its place.

Bonus #2..  the lowest kms on any of the Trackers I’ve seen..  206,000.   So to me this all adds up to a good Tracker to make nice again..   I found a place to get new body parts to replace the rusted and or missing bits.  If I can’t make my own.  Welding in new metal is the only way to make it right.. and last.   Once the mechanical stuff is fixed up then we’ll see what the budget allows for.   so off to Linde Auto for the motor work.

Bonus #3  A very nice K&N washable filter.

Before it left I washed the motor down.  And some of the dried on mud.  I also removed the back door handle to see what was broken.  Sure nuf one of the mounts was gone..  So it’s strange that the mount rusted away to nothing.. and the latch is still ok.  hmmmm

Here’s the latch..  way better condition than the one on the 96 Sidekick ?  Missing is the handle / license plate cover..  I’m rebuilding the mounts in the shop.  When the body work is being done the latch is removed as well.   On the 1989 Tracker I rebuilt  I painted the handle satin black and installed it after the body was painted.  Same with the door handles..

Pretty nice eh..   I would like the same look but with a blue similar to my Polaris 400.   It looks good blue & black.

Oct 27  2015:

The start of the motor wows..

Today we rolled the 91 into the shop and checked out some things..  First thing was a compression test on the four cylinders.  They were all low.. but consistently low.   Then we removed the valve cover and checked the cam and lifters..   All is good no loose stuff.   However it seams to the trained eye that the valve timing was 180 degrees off.  That would not help the compression at all..  We then went a little deeper and removed the timing belt.  well what we found was a loose drive pulley .. The very important one on the crankshaft..  It had enough play in it to throw the timing out anyway..

Here’s the little bugger..  If you look inside you can see that the keyway is widened.   I read on a forum that this is a common thing.. and that this bolt MUST be torqued properly.   So the hunt is on for one of these..   so far no luck.   Oh and just to be sure there are no other issues.. we ran a pressure bleed down test of the cylinders..  This test tells the truth about the valves..  It showed no problems !  yah !   so no need for a head gasket..  or a valve job..   So I ordered just a few things.  valve cover gasket, timing belt,  fan belt and new plugs.

Oct 30 2015 :

Well I got the 1989 parts sidekick home and removed the motor parts I needed to finish up the 91.   The Timing belt sprocket was in perfect condition.. and fit tightly on the 91’s crankshaft.  And the rest went good to..

Just need to put the rad back..  and the air intake .. and we’ll see how or if the motor runs.

Oct 31  2015:

More motor wows..

So before I got too much put back together.. I decided another compression test would be a good thing to do.  Just to make sure that all the things we thought were bad..  really were.  Well the test was a surprise.  And the compression was no better.  In fact very low.   So out came the air bleed down tester for another try.   And that’s when Peter realized that he had read it wrong..   Instead of a 10 % air loss it was actually  90%  loss.  This means that it is most likely the pistons and rings that are bad.   So that is bad news for the motor.   Fortunately the parts one has a motor too..  and supposedly it ran fine..  So we took the tester to the parts Sidekick and it passed with a real 10% loss in one cylinder and 5% in the rest.  very good..  So   MOTOR SWAP !

Nov 1 2015:

This morning Dave and I pulled the bad motor from the 91 Tracker..  And then went to my shop and pulled the motor from the 89 Sidekick.

 

I swear by looking at how nice it looks that it was rebuilt.  I gave it a very quick bath.. and loaded it up into the truck and took it over to the Tracker..  We had a close look at the subtle differences and just swapped everything over..  everything but the core motor.   Some things were changed in the two years..  so the 89 motor got an UPGRADE..  so it’s now a 91.. set up for the auto transmission.  We should get the re- install back in the Tracker tomorrow.

Nov 2 2015:

Today we worked half a day, and got the motor back in.  Most stuff is hooked up too.  Lots of cursing over motor mounts and hard to get at bolts..  and wire looms.

Hard to tell from the other motor because the nice bits were used like the blue valve cover.  But believe me this one has good compression.

Not much left on the bad motor.  I may just rebuild it.  But not yet.   The rebuild kit is about $300.   So I’ll keep the motor for now.

Nov 3 2015…  A work in progress:

Finished all the last of the “hooking up”   and right at the end of the day,  turned the key.. no fuel to motor.  !   Can’t here the pump.. There is no way of knowing just how much is wrong.. till you test it all.   So we had to give up the space for another job Peter had.. alas we pushed the poor little guy out to the healing yard..  will have to leave it there till the bay is free again.   I’ll get the wiring diagrams and do some studying.   I do suspect the wiring for the remote start..  Parts of that have been removed.. but I’ll need to put it back to factory.   This post is getting long.. so it’s time for a second page.

Next Page 2

 

Re-posted from and old document .. Sept 2007:

Because I am starting to work on a new Tracker project .. the 1991 Tracker .  I thought it would be nice to reference this old post.  This was the second Tracker that I have had, but the first one to need TLC and work.

Introduction:

I couldn’t say no !  The lady accepted my offer of $800 for the 1989 Tracker sitting in her snow bank.  So now I have another project for after I finish the reno’s in the house.  I had one of these before in the fall of 2000.  That one I bought from a co-worker for $3,500.  and I still had to repair some rust plus I bought a new top for it. It was so much fun to drive … cheap on gas, 4×4 and a convertible too!  I felt then that it was worth the money. Unfortunately that little Tracker came to demise in the hands of my Daughter one snowy day. There wasn’t a corner of the Tracker that wasn’t bent & twisted.  She was ok, only shaken up a little. A testament to a good roll-cage design. It was unfixable so I sold it for parts to a guy for $500.  and that was that.   I missed the little guy….

So here I’ve found another one.  And although there is some rust problems , it runs good and the top is new.  These are the things that we found with the first inspection. Please note that we haven’t pulled the wheels off to check the condition of the brakes and other driveline stuff. So this is just the obvious stuff and what I know from driving it home from Christina Lake.

• Driver’s door is bad, it’s rusted and has a dent in it, and the interior latch & panel are broken.
• The gas tank leaks, probably rusted through on the bottom from mud collecting on top of the skid-pan. ( later I find that it is the filter that leaks..not the tank)
• The floor in the back is badly rusted through, and the backseat is missing. This will happen if the top had leaked. And the seat would not have been secured anymore.
• Quite a bit of play coming from the drive shaft. U-joints are worn
• Tailgate latch was so badly rusted that it broke off.
• A few bits & pieces of the interior are missing, glove box latch, ashtray and the dome light.

Well we need some positives here…so

• The motor runs good , does not burn oil and it started right up after sitting for months. There is only 175,000 km on the odo
• All the electrical works good. Heater is good too, Battery looks new
• The tires are fair, about half worn, they are on steel rims that have only a little surface rust. And the spare is good too.
• Top is NEW and works good.
• It drives good, steering was tight, and the brakes seem to be good…no pulling

Gathering the pieces:

So now I’m going to spend some money collecting up all the parts & pieces needed to fix the Tracker up to my standards.  But I’m setting a total budget of $2000 dollars ,and that includes the $800 to buy it.  So away we go to see what we can find.

The price of a new gas tank was $150, so I’m not going to fool around with an old one.. so I bought that and two new u-joints from Lordco, total $220. Later I exchanged the tank!

I phoned around to all the wreckers in the area to see who had Trackers.  A place in Enderby had two in the yard.  So I paid them a visit this weekend.  For $350 I got a complete drivers door, a matching door panel for the other side, a complete tailgate, the back seat, glove box, ashtray and a set of nice floor mats.

From E-Bay I got a shop service manual for $35, and  Keyless entry system for $40 also I splurged and found a power window kit for $200.  That’s a total of $1645 so far… I’m  getting very close to my $2000 dollars so I better wait to see if there are more mechanical issues before I go for those nice alloy rims at the wreckers.

The Ultimate Tracker:

My goal for the Tracker is to have it fixed up so that it’s impressive as well as just running good. So this is my plans and hopefully I stick to the budget:

• Mechanically …running great.. not just good, but A-1 no unsafe stuff
• Fix all the rust and repainted. I may keep it white but all white no black trim and that stripe has to go… My preferred choice is sunset orange and keep the black trim with all the exposed interior painted gray
• Sound proof the body.. give it a more solid feel, quieter and not tinny
• Undercoating , mud flaps and vent shades to keep the rust away
• Power windows and power locks with keyless entry
• Purple neon interior lighting. (just too cool )

March 2015

Let’s not put the cart before the horse..  This truck was important at the time we were selling the Jayco and buying the Challenger fifthwheel.  This is just one of many vehicles that came from ABH car sales while I worked there. It came with the fifthwheel hitch.

You could tow anything …really anything.  The biggest gas engine 8.1 L Workhorse power train.

Such nice condition !  I kept this truck till 2019.

It’s in so many of my “go fetch” photos. Many tips to the coast. And many trips hauling other fifthwheels like the one above.

Or how about the Acorn / Scamp trailer all the way from Sunshine coast.

Sad to see it go… but I wasn’t using as much in 2019.

 

Feb 2015

I’m at it again…  changing vehicles.  After watching all the new ones on the lot.. come and go.. and driving the Dodge for six months.. It was nice to drive… yes..  But I’m seeing a lot of problems with all the gadgets in the new vehicles.   I’m seeing too much crap..  TPS sensors..  back-up warning sensors..  All very exspensive to fix when it starts screwing up… I’m going back to simple..  I bought this truck back in January… it was a good trade.. looked after well.. and I got it cheap.   So I just took it home.. parked it while I thought about what to do.. WELL  I’m keeping it..I’m fixing it up… and I’m going to use it !   Here’s the details about the truck:

• 1994 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 4×4
• Regular Cab Long box.  Seats 3
• 350 V-8 with 4 speed auto , 4:10 gears
• 213, 000 kms.  New Transmision
• Features:  power windows, power locks, siding rear window, AC, Cruise, chrome bumpers & grill, box liner. towing setup.

I love to pimp out my ride !

And everything listed above is a good place to start. I’ll be adding :

• Keyless remote locking
• New multi media stereo with touch screen.
• Back up camera.
• Gull wing tool box.
• Reworking the rack to include side rails and a removable rear rack for the kayaks.
• Installing the fifth wheel hitch.

New pull out towing mirrors.I know what your thinking… Rob your adding all those things that you said would break !  No.. not all..  and what I’m adding will be better quality.. and independent systems..  New vehicles have computers that run all those gadgets..  And to replace some of those things… the back up camera on the Dodge costs more than $300 to replace.. The very nice one I bought was $24.  The new stereo I’m getting is a Kenwood  for $250.  The remote locking system was $26.  The truck already has the power locks.. I’m just installing a box with an antenna  that will flash the lights and it has a little security light.

Here’s the lock system…  I have bought and installed these before..  they work good..   And these fobs are better than others I’ve seen.

And Here’s the Camera that I’ve chosen.. Color / night vision..   The housing is all metal not plastic..  and on the screen are the lines that help with the distances..   Only the price is cheap.   And !  factory back up cameras are just that.. they only work when you are in reverse..  Very annoying when you are maneuvering to hook up a trailer,  and that is what I want the camera for..  Therefore I will be having a switch on the dash to turn on the camera when I want it.

These are the mirrors that should be arriving any day.  Not power..  They fold away, and you just pull them out for towing…  Perfect !

It was a slow day at work so I brought the truck in for an interior wipe down.  And I took a few photos.

These photos are of the way I got the Chev..basically untouched.    That wood box has got to go..  And that mesh screen too.  I doubt I’ll be carrying things that would break the window..   I would rather have a good view.

All I’ve done is wipe it down a bit.. the carpet and seat need a good cleaning.. But that’s all.  As you can see it’s in great shape. And my favorite color for a “easy on the eye” interior…  Brown. 🙂

The only piece I found broken is the cover for the fuses. It’s missing a tab.  I can fix that.  or find one at the wreckers.

What no drink holder in the pocket !   you’re lucky to get any for this year..  but there is two (pull out ) on the dash,  so no worries.  Even though it looks great there is so much fixing up I could do to this truck..  The tailgate has a little bend in it..  The passenger side window is pitted from what looks like grinding too close.   The lights could use a polish..

And these fender skirts could use new paint..  Satin Black  of coarse.  And I would give the rims a fresh coat of paint too.  All this will be done in time.. But first it’s getting the mechanical stuff dealt with.  And once I’ve collected all my goodies I’ll set to work one day “Pimp’n”

The truck had it’s service and check up..  No problems !   Wow.  I thought for sure there would be something needed..  The steering is just me expecting it to be as nice as a new truck..  And the loud exhaust is just that … a loud after market muffler..  combined with the holes in the fire wall letting all the noise under the hood into the cab..  and Yeah.  It’s noisy.   I can fix quite a bit by sealing up those holes and adding some sound deadening in key places.

The mirrors came today and I had time to install them too.  A perfect fit and not too to hard to do..  These will be sooooo nice when towing a trailer. Remember they are manual adjust.. and you pull them out for towing… so cool and simple.  These same mirrors ( but power of coarse) are found on newer heavy duty trucks.     I’ve also picked up the new Kenwood stereo while in Kelowna ..  and I bench tested it last night.. Also  Perfect.  Just what I want.  But I’m not going to like it with the crappy factory speakers..  So I’m searching for some nice replacement ones..  I also got a smokin deal on a tool box for the back..$25.  Yup.

I’m a dummy … I sold the truck before doing anything else.

Aug 2014:

This was a good deal… and we felt it was time for a truck up grade..  The decision was made to advertize the Avalanche and see what happened.. it sold within a week.. so home came this LOADED.. Dodge.  Just in time to go camping..  So I had to get some racks installed for the kayaks..

These quickly put together racks turned out to be great..  And this truck has 100 more hp than the Avalanche.. so the trailer is no problem..  Has trailer mirrors and factory built in controller.  In fact it has every option possible for the year..  Nav, heated /cooled seats, back-up cam, remote start…. on and on..  Check out my new plate.. yup “robeye”.  The Interior is very nice .

This photo was taken by me for the lot..  hence the price tag..  I’m a console type of guy.. so this suits me just fine..  And I’m very fussy about gauge placement, and Dodge got it right in 2010.  I also don’t like cheapness in the trim.  They got that right too. The knobs feel good to the touch. And everything is trimmed nicely.  Even the top of the dash is stitched leather… nice.

A Second Scooter for the shop.:

1982 Yamaha CV80

80 cc

5440 KMs

I’m not going to count the parts machine as a Scooter.. it’s just a bunch of parts…. which will be very handy for getting this new one on the road again. So this I will call the second scooter, and it came to me NOT running.. BUT this is a complete Scooter, with registration..and with a few extra goodies . Another front fairing with a windscreen, and a nice lockable trunk box for the back.  And upon a closer look .. almost perfect body parts..  I say “almost” cause it’s missing just a few trim pieces, and I found two small cracks.

And why was it not running ?

This is what I found…  A 12 volt battery was installed in the trunk ? not the proper place.. not the proper battery. The Scoot has a 6 volt system and fortunately the 12 volt battery did no harm except to have possibly  burnt out the start light.. So with the proper battery it turned over nicely ( but won’t start) and there is lots of spark.  Electrical stuff ruled out..

So I moved my attention to the fuel stuff.. the carburetor.  I suspected this first, but it’s easy to check the spark and rule that out.  After I removed all three covers and poked around a bit to see that the hoses are all hooked up proper ( I have studied the hose routing carefully) Yup it’s all there.. dirty but it’s all there.  So I pulled the fuel line off to see if the petcock is working.. yup there is lots of fuel to the carb. So a dirty / plugged carb is most likely the problem.  But that’s no problem for me.. ..The other day I rebuilt / cleaned the carb from the parts scooter.. and so I simply swapped the carbs.  And that did it ! fired right up.. ran great.  So I put more air in the tires and off down the road I went.. It’s raining so just a short trip.. plenty of power too.   WE HAVE A WINNER !

When I got back to the shop I tried all the lights and the horn.. they work fine.. It looks like the speedo and fuel gauge are working good too..

So I need a plan..

And here’s what I would like to do..  New tires, New drive belt, New battery,  New flasher relay, New paint…new Color ! and of coarse all this means a tear down and cleaning.  The complete “ROB” treatment.. I love this stuff.. now that I know it runs I want to get at it.. I have lots of spare parts to choose the best ones from.. I have a near perfect seat.. new looking brake shoes, good cables. So away we go…..

The Rebuild…

What can I say.. I’m a cleaning nut.. So I’m stripping down the scooter.. and tomorrow I’ll take the greasy parts to the solvent tank.  The body parts will get a bath with “Superclean” degreaser.  Same way I cleaned the red CV80.

What’s left on the scoot will get a Degreaser bath as a whole.. before I remove the motor & drive.  I’ve removed the Gas & oil tanks , carb (it’s already clean) , muffler and cooling shrouds from the motor, air box and the electrical stuff from the rear… This evening I cleaned the dash gauges and replaced the burnt out bulb, tested the others. I cleaned the front flashers , and while I was in a cleaning mode I cleaned the carb that wasn’t working.. Found the float to be way out of adjustment. So it should still be good and used again.

Stuff I’ve found so far:  The front brake cable is seized.. I have a good one.  The carb was in need of a bath & adjustment. Done.

For reasons unknown I could not log into my Blog and keep current… all is good now. so I’ll catch up … cause I got a lot done.

As I said I’ve been busy taking every part and cleaning them.. in the case of these switches ..improving them.. cleaning the contacts and applying my electrical grease.

Here’s a photo of the pile of parts & pieces that I’ve cleaned and made ready for re-assembly.  I ‘ve done painting all the pieces that are black .. I use a satin black paint that is for bumper’s & trim.. great product.

This is the fork after it’s rebuild.  Carefully greased and repainted.

Well “Bahama” blue to be more precise.. I told you I would change the color !  No more white.  This color looks great with the satin black.

Shinny… Yes.. I love what the clear coat does for a paint job..  As soon as the parts are completely cured.. it’s time for putting things back together.  But not until we do a little extra with some pin striping..

Check out the side panels ..and the decals I made.. plus black pin stripes… Looks “factory”

It arrived in the mail !

I’ve got the highly coveted European “Hercules”   tail light. Read more about this in the Red CV80’s Blog.  They never came with North American CV 80’s. now I can shave those ugly lights off of the rear rack. You can see in the photo the white piece that would be used instead.  Total Upgrade !

I had a problem with the paint on the fender.. my bad .. I tried to add satin black to the bottom.. and in the process ruined that paint.. So I had to sand off the bad and repaint the fender.. here it is all fixed up with the clear on.. nice !  Next step pin stripes..  Really close to putting things back together..

I’ve got the front all together now.. minus the wheel..  need new tires first.  Note: the front brake cable is no longer hanging on the outside of the fairing. Check the photo at the top of the post !

The “BELUGA” is now gold as per theme.. used to be chrome.  I sure hate those “after thought” turn lights.. they are a sloppy fit. To get the flush ones like they had in Japan would be awesome..  but they are hard to come by.   Robeye Restore.. you bet. I want to sticker my best work.

Sunday Nov. 24, 2013

Today I got quite a bit done.. It really isn’t hard to put things back together when it was only a week or so that you took it apart.  And I’ve done this before..

As you can see most of it is done..  I just put the sides on for the photo..  I’ve got to solve the problem of missing edge pieces for the front fairing.. Then I can put the front all together..  I tested the electrical all out and seams fine.

Need the rack on to make it more complete.

This scooter in looking “spiffy” The blue and the satin black look so nice together.  The turn lights work way better with the new electronic relay.  May still spring for those LED lights !  I got some black door edge trim  from the auto parts store and it works great to replace the missing trim on the front.

The blue scoot is all together now .. runs good.. so I ran the fuel out of the carb.. and moved it to the basement for safe storage till spring.  Only one thing that seamed not working good was the fuel gauge..(stuck on full)  so I’ll check that out in the spring. Most likely a simple fix… I plan on using the blue scooter next year..

Any updates to this posting will be on my new BLOG… HERE

New Project for the Shop

This is a Yamaha CV80.. also known as a Yamaha Beluga.. You can read more about them : http://www.motorscooterguide.net/Yamaha/Riva80Beluga/Riva80Beluga.html

And You will find out why at first I turned down the offer to buy two of them.  They don’t rate well compared to other Scoots.  But this time the guy who had them just wanted them gone.. and so I paid him for the tires, battery & other parts and took them home.  They are twins .. One has registration and the other is an ICBC write- off.  Most of the body plastic is either gone or broken, but it runs.  In other words a good parts machine.

The one closest in the photo is the good one.. hard to tell cause they are both in pieces.  The wiring harness in the good one was bad so he was in the process of changing it.. But before I tackle that …it’s bath time !  So I removed the rack, seat, gas tank , oil tank and the air box. That way I can clean better.

So here it is all stripped down and clean.  I wanted to get at some of the workings.. especially the vacuum lines that work the cold start.  The more I put back together the harder it is to access stuff..

One thing that I noticed ..is that the rear body piece of the scooter could have been a cool looking tail light. They used the same mold but molded with white plastic. In Europe it’s a tail light.  We have rules for how wide apart the turn lights have to be. So Yamaha used the conventional North American set up. Which does look nostalgic.. good for a 1982 scoot.

Everything is all back together..for now.. I’m still waiting for a battery so I can start it up.  I only have to glue one piece of the body , the rest is in great shape. In fact it’s still shiny as you can see. I polished up the rear rack and painted the licence holder.. looks like new..

Yeah ! Got the battery and put some gas in the tank ..and oil in the oil tank.. and she fired right up .. runs great. No adjustments needed.. so I took off down the street.. Plenty of get up and go for my liking.. Weeeeee   I forgot how fun they are.. So I put all the rest of the body panels on.. 100% like new.. EXCEPT the turn signals would not flash.. Hmm I’ll try them with the motor running.  And I’ll take some good photos too.

Here are those good photos:

 

Hey I did a good job of erasing 31 years…  It helps when something is well made.. The only rust I found was under the rubber floor mat.. and that came right off.  Winter is fast approaching so I think I’ll cover and store this Scoot till next spring.  But I will be tinkering with the parts machine.

The Parts Scooter:

Well aside from some missing parts.. there is some “hard to repair” damage to the parts Scoot… SOOO it’s never going on the road again. I’m taking it all apart. That will allow me to check which bits are good and which are worn out. I also got to have a good look at the carb.  It’s missing the throttle valve, but the rest is in good shape. I’m understanding how things work now.. I’ve read a E-book by a CV 80 enthusiast on rebuilding one… full of very good info and tips on how to keep it alive. Plus He delved into the history of the CV80. I’m also learning how to take the whole scoot apart and put things back together.  I have a better wiring diagram that came from the E-book author.  That and my service manual are giving me a good understanding of the electrical system. Now with all this vast knowledge I’m thinking about buying yet another CV80 and doing a complete rebuild this winter.. There is one for sale in Kamloops that I’m looking at. (photo below)

This one is white. Started a new post for working on this one HERE.   Owner says he used it lots.. has 5500 kms on it and now has starting issues.  I now know where to look to fix those. Also you may notice the front fairing and windscreen.  I have one as well.. came in the box of parts.

Also I’ve ordered a new flasher, and bought a European tail light.  I’m looking into LED lights as well.

The parts scoot is proving to be very useful.. both as a teaching tool and as a source  for good parts for the new scoot on the block.. I’ll get back to the Red scooter in the spring.. For now I moved it to the storage in the basement.

Work on the white scooter is coming along so nicely ..and I’m very fond of the new color .. I decided that I will keep the white (now blue) one and sell this one..

SOLD the red scooter… here’s a photo of the two before the red one went off to it’s new home.