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Progress Thread for my Golden Rodeo (lots of pics)

1K views 7 replies 2 participants last post by  Neutron 
#1 ·
Ok, I've put a few posts about it in the "what did you do this week" thread, but I decided to do a proper build thread for this truck.

So far, I've just been working on getting a functioning transmission into the car, so lets start there:

Here's a pic from the ad I got it from


The truck had reverse, but no forward gears would take.

Luckily I have a parts rig with a good transmission. (My 01 that got me from Maine to here) So it came out and got new input seals, output seals, new filter, and a few o-rings



Good New England corrosion:



I welded up my own adapter to put the transmission on a standard 3 ton floor jack.
Earlier pic with the donor trans:



And a pic of the bad trans coming out:



I had to make an EXTRA shallow 17mm, my little bench top lathe came in handy:



I also made a low profile driver for it:



and it did the trick, even on the bolt that was badly cross threaded into the TC.




Working outdoors has made it slow going



But now I'm to the point of re-installing the valve covers (they needed new gaskets), and putting the intake back on.

Speaking of valve covers, getting the driver's side off is nearly impossible.

I ended up dismounting the brake booster to access the rear bottom bolt.



I also have some stuff in store for the interior, which I will expand upon later.



 
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#3 ·
Ok, so the weather has dropped nearly a foot of snow on my work space, so it may be over a week before I'm able to finish up my valve cover gaskets.

I was going to hold off until I had made more progress, but I'll divulge some details of my interior work.

This:


is an extension harness that I made for the POWER/WINTER switch plug. I'm relocating the power/winter switch to the dash over next to the power mirror switch.

Why?

Because I'm swapping the brown leather seats out for some sandstone leather seats that are out of the parts Axiom my father has. The front seats from the Axiom happen to be power units with HEAT. And the only good spot to mount the switches for them is the double switch location in front of the cup holder.

I have the full harness for the heated seats ripped out. I just need to prep a few things and trace out a couple of wire and they will go in, once I get a chance to lift the carpet in the Rodeo.

If I can figure out if the axiom carpets fit the rodeo, I will swap out the sandstone carpeting too.

The rodeo is an LSE with factory window tint and sunroof. So I think the heated power seats are a fitting addition.
 
#4 ·
Well, I've had a little bit of time and decent weather.

I've painted the valve covers and gotten them back on. Installed the heater pipes, and I was working on the intake manifold when I did something stupid.




oops

 
#5 ·
Last Sunday I got most of the truck back together and filled up the transmission.

Over the course of this week I got just enough of the interior back together to take it for a spin around the neighborhood.

Discovered a few issues, like the front axle won't engage 4wd, and the dash cluster won't light up. So I have a few little projects to work on before I can move forward with the seat swap et al.
 
#6 ·
Neutron said:
Last Sunday I got most of the truck back together and filled up the transmission.

Over the course of this week I got just enough of the interior back together to take it for a spin around the neighborhood.

Discovered a few issues, like the front axle won't engage 4wd, and the dash cluster won't light up. So I have a few little projects to work on before I can move forward with the seat swap et al.
Well, one of those things was an easy fix. I left the dimmer switch disconnected. DOH!

My power/winter button looks very nice in its new home:

 
#7 ·
So, it's been a while since I posted an update, and I finally got some stuff done to post about. I still don't have my heated seats installed, but I did get some mechanical stuff done. The truck had bad balljoints, and the original ISC shocks were beyond blown out. The truck needed new brakes, and it needed a half shaft.

I stole a half shaft off my parts truck. I already had some brand new front brake rotors laying around from my last truck (that never got installed) so I ordered some pads and I knew I needed 1 rear rotor and the other looked excellent, so I did a cardinal sin and replaced only the one rear rotor. I found some KYB gas-a-just shocks on rockauto clearance so I got them for the front. Then I found some moog CC782 jeep springs on Amazon clearance for under $45, so I bought some 1st get rodeo gas-a-just shocks to go with them.

And how about some pictures....

New Front Brakes, shocks, and a CV shaft:


New rear brake


The clearance springs and the Gabriel shocks that turned out to be too short:


Cut this much off the springs:



Installed, almost:


Balljoint flip:


All done!:



It's actually a good bit high in the rear still. May have to trim a little more. Don't really want to go any higher than 2" in the front.
 
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