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Thank you for visiting my S10 conversion site.
"Door Repairs"
Sept 29, 2007
Replaced Window weatherstrip/window guides and door hinge pin with bushings.
Repaired door handle return springs with a "redneck" return spring, lots cheaper than 2 new inside door handles.
Dec. 25, 2007
Installed the black plastic grill that I bought on eBay, that arrived cracked in 2 places.
The seller refunded half of my money for a damage adjustment.
:-)
From
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Feb. 16, 2008
I removed the headliner and sun visors. The headliner's foam backed cloth had separated from the styrofoam backing. I gave up trying to repair and reglue it to the styrofoam backer, so, I brushed the backer with a stiff brisle brush and spray can painted it with Dutch Boy Blue #3732. The color came out good so i also did the sun visors using the same proceedure except I had to use a paintable calk where the stitching had broke the cardboard visor backers. then painted them to match the liner.
Mar. 1, 2008
I bought a set of Aluminum brake drums on eBay. These were Standard equiptment on some GM automobiles.
When I installed the Aluminum brake drums I found that the rear wheel cylinders were in poor condition and the right rear wheel had a leak.
The leak did not have the strong taste of brake fluid so, it may be the axle seal. I will just have to wait and see for sure.
I installed wheel cylinders that are the correct bore for power brakes because, in the future am going to install a power brake booster and master cylinder assm.
These S10 Wheel cylinders are BUGGERS to replace! The retainer clip is a total pain, both getting it off, back on and latched.
I used a large "C" clamp and a 1 1/8" 12pt. socket on the clip side to get the clips back on and I still had to try several times to get both sides of the clip latched.
You can see the difference in the bores of the wheel cylinders, the larger bore is for manual brakes and the smaller new cylinder is for power brakes.
I cleaned off the brake shoes with carburator cleaner before I reinstalled the brake drums.
Mar. 24, 2008
I cleaned out the floor in preparation to install the preformed Royal Blue carpet, from theautotrimstore, on eBay.
I taped down the seat belt warning wires with duct tape.
Mar. 27, 2008
Installed the switch on the transmission shifter.
Ran the wires through clear heat scrink tubing and out under the transmission boot.
Used heavy duty scissors to cut the carpet and pad for the shifter hole.
Used an pointed awl to find the screw holes through the shifter trim piece, then installed the screws.
Mar. 29, 2008
Blue Indian Blanket seat cover from ebay to cover the seat.
The seat was in well used condition and was going to have to be filled with high density foam to fill the worn areas.
I bought a used eggcrate foam pad from the Deseret Industries. I cut the foam pushed it in the holes and taped everything into place with duct tape. This was a big mistake!
Aug. 30, 2008
The duct tape quit sticking, slid around under the seat cover, and the whole thing turned into a gooey mess in the hot sun.
I redid the job over and cut foam to fit nicely into the holes and used heavy thread to hold it in place.
I cut vinyl from a used seat to cover the damaged areas and then I did a "running stitch" all around the edges of the patch, and I went around 2 times to make sure it was going to hold.
I tied 2 seat cover cords on the sewn loops where the bottom and back rest meet.
I layed the seat cover over the seat and pulled the cords to hold the cover.
I tied the edge cords up to the seat springs so the cords would not rub against the seat adjustment tracks.
With the seat all of the way back it was touching the battery charger.
I made two, 1/4" plywood blocks to put under the rear seat brace.
Now the seat is not touching.
All done!
I connected a 12 volt battery to the truck electrical system and tested to make sure the radio, speakers and dash lighting all work properly.
All of that stuff works!
Apr. 2, 2008
The one of the upper control arm bushings has separated and needed replacement. I changed both of them on that upper control arm.
The bushing removal was easier than getting the new bushings in and seated with out the Special Tooling from GM.
I made a tool for the occasion, a couple af short pieces if 1 1/2" pipe and a 2" bore inner bearing race.
I cut the bearing apart with a cutoff disk in a angle head grinder and also cut a section out to where "it" and one of the short pieces of pipe would slip over the control arm shaft.
Using a couple of "C" clamps pressed the bushing into the control arm bores until the bushing flange extended out 1/2" from the control arm.
Apr. 7, 2008
The lower ball joints were worn to where there was no ridge left protuding at the bottom near the grease zerk.
This job would have been easier if I had removed more of the parts that were in the way, but, I supported the upper A frame with a 2X4 block of wood and worked around the stuff.
I supported the lower A frame with a floor jack and removed the lower ball joint cotter pin, loosened the retainer nut until there was about 3/8" gap between the nut and the spindle boss.
I inserted a pancake 12 ton porta power jack between the ball joint studs and pressed the lower tapered bolt from the tapered spindle bore. It "POP"ed free.
I borrowed a ball joint press to remove the old joints.
Using the same ball joint press, with the bushings in revised positions, I pressed the new lower ball joints back in the lower A frame.
It was a real bugger to get the ball joint pressing squarely into the ball joint bore, but finally succeeded.
I torqued the nut to 90 Ft Lbs, and lined up the cotter pin hole by tightening a little more, as needed.
Installed the grease zerks and filled the joints with grease until the boots were full.
Apr. 9, 2008
I replaced the damaged front bumper with a new and lighter weight fiberglass front bumper.
The fiberglass bumper does not have the holes cutout for the turn signal lenses.
I feel that if I do cut the holes for the turn signal assemblies that the holes would weaken the bumper and maybe it would cause the fiberglass to crack.
I decided to use the S10 lenses with a LED stop, turn and park lamp assm.
I found a couple of 6" oval LED Red lamps that I could make fit behind the S10 amber lens if removed from it's housing and be ground down to make fit, from Six States Equiptment.
I remove the stock S10 turn park lamp assm. and carefully cut the lens from the back.
I used a bench grinder to remove the black plastic from the parting line of the Amber lens.
I chamfered the outside corners of the lenses so that they fit into the turn signal pockets of the fiberglass bumper.
Now lets see what can be done to make the LED lamp fit from the back into the s10 turn signal lens.
Remove the Red lense by breaking the glue loose from around the edges and pry it loose.
Grind the LED board edges down to where it will fit into the S10 turn lens.
Cool, they fit! I seal them in the amber lenses with clear sealant and test them with a 9 volt radio battery.
I did not realize that the LED's, even though they are clear when not in operation, that they are Red when powered!
Even when covered with the amber lense they shine through Red!!
I feel that they are TOO Red for front turn and markers, that I would just be asking for trouble with the police.
I found a set of Amber oval turn, park LED Assm. on ebay and will do the same cutting and grinding to them when they get here as I did to the Red LED lenses.
CRAP!! 
CRAP!! 
I will remove these from the S10 lenses before the clear sealant sets.
The Amber LED assm. that I have ordered will have the same wiring socket on the back, so I can go ahead and cut the holes for the wiring sockets in the fiberglass bumper.
I centered the lens assm. and drilled holes through the face of the lenses and down through the fiberglass bumper on each end and secured the whole thing in place with 4 each, #6, 32 X 1.5" Stainless Steel screws and nuts.
Good enough until the Amber LED assm. arrive in the mail.
Apr. 14, 2008
The Amber LED assm. came today.
I cut them apart and used the clear silicon sealant to seal them in the lenses.
Apr. 15, 2008
I installed the Amber LED park and turn signals tonight.
I am going to use "Belting bolts" to attach the fiberglass bumper to the front frame.
The bolts are 5/16" X 1 1/4" long. I rounded the flat heads slightly so that the edges of the bolt heads fit against the bumper surface.
In preparation to installing the new fiberglass bumper I maked and drilled 13/32" dia. holes in the bumper to clear the Belting bolt's square shoulder.
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Apr. 16, 2008
I felt that there should be some padding between the belting bolts and the fiberglass bumper to prevent undo stress the the fiberglass.
I found these outlet draft stopper things and they look like they will work for padding, let's see if they will work.
I also had to buy 7 each, U Nuts that fit #10 - 24 Machine Screws, & 7 each, 1/2" long flat head machine screws, to attach the air dam to the bumper.
Then Installed the bumper.
Apr. 17, 2008
I cut off the OEM S10 front turn signal lamp sockets and wired in the new Amber LED pigtails.
The cord goes to a battery charger to supply the 12 volts to test the lighting. The park and turn signals check out okay.
Apr. 19, 2008
I made the Red LED stop and park lamps fit into the rear S10 stop and tail lamp assm.
I used pieces of black plastic to fill around the LED assm and sealed the gaps with clear silicone.
TEST
.....Park..... & .....Brake lights.....
Apr. 22, 2008
The Aluminum tube step bumper from eBay came today, it only weighs 7 lbs!, (mounting brackets need to be built).
Apr. 26, 2008
I bought (2ea.) 6" X 8" X 1/4" thick pieces of Aluminum plate to adapt the 1995 Toyota 4 Runner, Aluminum tube bumper to the S10 frame.
The plates bolt to the bottom of the S10 frame and to the tube bumper brackets.
The S10 jack hole under the tailgate is just the right size to plug in a licence plate light, with out modifications!
I did have to remove a little metal from the top corner of the licence plate.
COOL!
May. 15, 2008
I installed the new weatherstrip around the doors, put the sill plates on, and cut floor mats to fit.
Jun. 12, 2008
I have a feedback problem in the turn signal and lighting circuits, each would work when the other was not on, but, if the turn and the park lights were on them the turn signals would stop blinking and the turn indicator would stop blinking, also, the turn signals would energize if the park lights were on, even without the ignition being on...???...???
I removed the dash thinking that the instrument cluster did not have a good ground, but, that was not the problem.
While I had the dash apart, I lubed the speedometer cable and checked all of the dash and indicator lamps to make sure they worked.
The problem was in the "original" S10 front marker and turn signal wiring. GM uses a floating ground to get a "wigwag" effect when the turn signal and front corner indicator light blink with the turn signal.
I am going to have to find a way to isolate each from the other, any ideas?
Jun. 13, 2008
I decided the easiest way to stop this floating ground problem is to just to cut the wire that brings the power from the park light circuit, put some shrink wrap on the one end, and put a ring terminal on the other lead and attach it to the truck frame.
By doing this, I will not have a park lights on the outside markers, but, I will have turn signal lights that work in the markers and I feel that the turn signals are more important to be seen.
My sons told me I could have used a couple of diodes in the circuit, but, I could not understand, over the phone, what they were telling me.
You can see the arrow pointing to the cut and tubing covering the (dark) park light wire. I did this modification to both side markers on the truck.
Jun. 18, 2008
I could not get any power to the "purple" starter solenoid wire.
I traced it back to the Ignition starter switch.
Replaced it with a new one.
Aug. 25, 2008
I drove the truck to work for the 1st time today after the conversion is complete
and found that even though the speedometer works that the odometer does not work. DANG!
Now I have to pull the insrument cluster to repair or replace the odometer... The brittle plastic is very hard not to break anything.
Sep. 20, 2008
Well, I have been driving the truck for the past 4 weeks using a portable GPS to keep track of the miles that I have put on the truck.
Last week I went to the wrecking yard and got a used instrument cluster and found that the odometer in that cluster was bad too!
But, I did see how it came apart and what not to do in trying to fix the stuck odometer.
I decided today is the day to pull the dash back apart and FIX the odometer in the S10 EV!
Just for my satisfaction, I will set the mileage back to show the actual miles of EV usage todate.
I am removing all of the stuff needed to get the cluster out..
The gauge cluster is out!
Disassembly of the cluster, the screws take a 7/32" socket.
Remove the 5 screws that hold the clear lens to the front facia. Remove the lens.
Remove the 2 screws at each end of the front facia trim, and remove the 3 screws that hold the speedometer head to the back panel.
Carefully lift the gauge group away from the back panel. The fuel gauge connections will disconnect as the cluster is separated.
Remove the 3 screws at the back of the speedometer gear head that hold it to the front cluster face.
Remove the 2 regular screws that hold the blue back panel and rotate the blue panel to access the screws underneath that hold the gearhead.
Separate the gearhead,
I removed the intermediate combination, RED, worm gear, looks good.
The other gears had only minor wear and checked out ok. :-)
I filled the kitchen sink with hot water and a small amount of baby soap to submerse the speedometer needle and odometer unit.
I sloshed it around in the hot water being carefull not to touch the odometer painted numbers with my fingers because the paint will soften and smear the numbers.
I worked the odometer end gear back and forth with my fingers until I could spin it though several miles without it binding and getting stuck.
When numbers finally turned freely I chucked the RED worm gear in a "reversable" cordless drill and set the gear into mesh with the odometer gear and spun it with the drill in reverse.
I would stop the drill every 15 or 20 seconds and submerse the odometer unit in the water and slosh it around again. (this cooled the gears on the shaft as well as flushing more dirt out of the odometer.
After a few minutes and several "Thousand" miles, I used a screw driver to lift the odometer shaft free of the holder.
I "carefully" removed the plastic retainer from the back of the odometer and after all of the water had dried from the odometer, starting at the single mile end of the odometer, I rotated all of the tumblers forward, until the 10 mile tumbler was at "O", then I held that tumbler from turning and rotated all of the tumblers at the left end until the 100 mile tumbler was at "O".
I did this in progression until all of the tumblers read "OOOOOO.O".
I replaced the plastic retainer and then with all of the metal tabs dropping into the plastic slot in the gauge panel, I snapped the odometer into place.
I added up all of the miles that i have driven the S10 since it was converted to an Electric vehicle and spun it to the correct NEW EV Miles on the truck.
I think this is legal to do on my own vehicle, and also the vehicle title has the "Odometer reading of "inexcess of mechanical limits" for the miles.
I reassambled everything and I have a odometer that reads actual converted EV miles!
While I had the dash out I added a headlight on reminder buzzer.
I bought the parts at Radio Shack and assembled them like in the photos.
I attached the buzzer under the dash with 2 sided tape, and plugged the connections into the fuse block connections.
The RED wire goes to the dash light fuseblock connection and the black or blue wire goes to an ignition connection.
The buzzer sounds if the lights are on and the ignition is "off".
Sep. 27, 2008
I bought a Paintless Dent Puller on eBay and set about to remove the majority of the smaller dings and dents,before taking it to the body shop for a paint job.
Plus I want ed to see if I would be able to use the slide hammer puller attachment that I have made to pull the larger dents.
It works, put on some dents I pulled them just a little too much, now they are too high, so I had to tape them back down with a PDR knock down tool.
Oct. 3, 2008
I drove the S10 to Snake River Auto Body to have them give my baby a fresh coat of paint.
Oct. 6, 2008
I went to Snake River Auto Body to make sure that they did not have any trouble starting and driving the truck into the shop. (no problems)
The guys have allready started to get the panels repaired.
Oct. 9, 2008
I took in the a left front headlight bezel to replace the old one that was damaged from the prior owner going through a barb wire fence.
While I was there I checked to see the progress....or was it that I just wanted to see my baby and that was my excuse...)
WOW! I did not realize that there was so many little dents in the truck that needed to be repaired.
Looking like it is about ready for primer, and soon some pretty white paint.
Nov. 28, 2008
I went in to check on the progress... it is in the Paint Booth!
I should have it sometime this coming week, YES!
Dec. 3, 2008
Checked on the progress... it is just out of the Paint Booth!
WOW, It looks beautiful!
Dec. 6, 2008
Sat., I went in to help Rick reassemble the S10, It was a full day putting all of the stuff back on and finding all of the fasteners.
I drove it home at 6:00 PM tonight. BIG EV Grin!
Jan. 17, 2009
We had some warmer weather today and I was able to get the truck washed,
also I applied the green horse graphics to both the passenger and drivers doors.
I bought the heavy vinyl graphics from eBay.
I used masking tape to secure the top of the graphics to the doors sprayed water to wet
the door area where the graphics were to be placed.
Then peeled the backing off and carefully centered them smoothed them with a squeegy.
Then removed the top cover layer and made sure all of the edges were stuck down.
Green Horses for Green Horse Power . :-)
Jan. 23, 2009
I purchased a "Electric Vehicle" sticker, from ebay, for the rear of the S10.
Jan 24, 2009
The truck has some play in the steering, I found that the Idler arm was loose.
I installed a new Idler arm, from Schuck's Auto Supply, McQuay-Norris #FA 1013.
Jan 29, 2009
The truck has been "bottoming out" on even small potholes so I replaced the worn out front shocks.
I installed a new Monroe Gas-Matic #59301, from Schuck's Auto Supply, McQuay-Norris #FA 1013.
Jan 31, 2009
I took the truck in to Commercial Tire and had them check if there was any other steering components that needed to be replace before having the steering aligned.
The center link was a little loose at the steering pitman arm so I replaced it with a McQuay-Norris #DS 1047, from Schuck's Auto Supply.
Mar. 7, 2009
This last week I have noticed that the right rear brake, when applied, has been grabbing.
Last year when I had this brake drum removed and installed the proper brake wheel cylinder for power brakes,
I found that the old wheel cylinder had been leaking and maybe even that the axle seal could have been leaking.
Looks like the axle seal is shot allowing the axle oil to contaminate the brakes linings.
Causing the brakes to grab.
To replace the axle seal:
The axle oil must be drained by removing the rear axle cover.
Removing the special bolt that retains the differential gear shaft.
Pushing the differential gear shaft out far enough to push the axle into the housing to remove the axle retainer "C" clip.
Then slide the axle out of the housing.
Replace the seal.
clean up the brake linings with brake cleaner or fuel injector cleaner.
and put it all back together.
Simple enough....
OH CRAP!!
The special bolt that retains the differential gear shaft is broken off inside of the spider gear housing!
The other part of the bolt is about 1/2" inside of the gear housing and NO way to get a hold of it to pull it out.
I tried gently tapping on the housing with a hammer, nope.
I tried using a small screw driver with a magnetic tip to pull it out, now I am becoming more frustrated.
I thought maybe if I remove the small 3/16" rare earth magnets from the charging door safety switch
and super glue these small super strong magnets onto the end of the broken bolt, maybe,
I could thread the broken bolt back into the hole and use the magnet to attach it's self to the broken piece and
then unscrew the broken bolt out with the magnet bringing the broken piece with it.
It is worth a try, what have I got to loose!
COOL! It worked! I was able to slowly unscrew the bolt and bring the broken piece out with the magnet.
After it was out I can see there is part of one thread left on the shank of the broken piece
and so while screwing out the broken bolt the broken shanked piece screwed out with the magnet attached bolt.
It's a ........ Miracle!
I called my local Chevy dealer and they had a new bolt on the shelf.
Here is a photo of the receipts.
I pulled out the old seal cleaned the brake lining and inside the brake drum with carb. cleaner.
Installed the new seal, and put a small amount of grease on the seal lip for lubrication.
Put the axle back in, replaced the axle "C" clip.
Installed the special bolt that retains the differential gear shaft and torqued it to 20 FTLB.
Reinstalled the cover, and filled the axle to the bottom threads with Cat TO-4 50W drivetrain lube.
Installed the brake drum and wheel.
Go for a test drive!
May 29, 2009
I felt I could get better oiling protection and lower turning resistance with a synthetic ATF lubricant in the 4 speed transmission .
So changed the stock GM ATF transmission lube from Dextron ATF to AMSOIL Synthetic Dextron III ATF.
The transmission lube change took 2 Quarts to bring the level to the bottom of the transmission level plug.
Oct. 19, 2009
Now that the cooler weather is here the speedometer cable has became very noisey in the cool mornings.
So, I removed the gauge cluster and used Lithium spray grease to lube the noisey speedometer cable.
Next Audio System.
More next time...
