Onebadsss
Full Access Member
Nice work! Truck looks great!
Growing up doesn't have to suck
- Thread starter iamdub
- Start date
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iamdub
Full Access Member
I find it refreshing to spell out my thoughts and I enjoyed the stroll down Memory Lane for the Tahoe and especially the S10. I went from thoughts of "Damn, I haven't scratched much off of my to-do list" to "I just can't leave anything alone" to "What else should I do while I'm working on [insert modification here]".
We'll talk when the rest of your beard fills in.
It fills in just fine with peach fuzz from a bearded clam.
Chris, I'll just call you Dub as well if that's ok with you. I admire your determination and desire to do the impossible that most would just patch it up, not you. You are to be commended on you work ethics, superb. Your Tahoe is one nice ride, and your added touches makes it yours now, well deserved. Good luck to you/yours.
David g.......
Thank you, sir! I'll certainly continue my obsessive behavior when modding the Tahoe as I did with the S10. I do these things to challenge and surprise myself, but the recognition from others is especially appreciated.
Nice mods. I no longer have my Yukon
When I sold the S10, I told the new owner directly to his face, through my tears, of many of the special touches. I couldn't nor was I gonna tell him it was babied because everything saying otherwise was permanently (and shamelessly) documented on the interwebz. I wanted him to appreciate the thought and work put into it. Although, as I typed up this thread, I was going through some sad times. I learned from a member on S10forum that my truck was for sale and that the guy I sold it to let it sit for the 14 months he owned it. The forum member ended up buying the truck for $5,500 less than what I sold it for. We've been texting back and forth as I've been helping him diagnose and fix the issues it developed from sitting. It kills me to know that I actually had a chance to get my truck back for almost 1/3 of what I sold it for. But, at least the current owner is actually driving it and appreciates how solid and responsive everything is. If I can't enjoy it for what I built it for, I'll at least accept that someone else is enjoying it.
What good is knowledge and experience if it's not shared?
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Onebadsss
Full Access Member
Amen brother!
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iamdub
Full Access Member
Are you guys seeing the pics in this thread? I'm seeing them like Photobucket left them alone for whatever reason.
Nothing really special to update, but I could/should at least post here the little things I've done most recently. I'll just copy and paste from the threads I already posted these in:
I finally did this. I found a switched 12-volt wire on the passenger side of the dash and ran a spare phone cord to it. Sure, there may be a switched source in the mirror harness, but probing the connectors on the side of the dash with my meter to find what I needed and tucking a flat phone cord in the headliner was way easier. I spent less time actually doing this start-to-finish than I did researching where I MAY find a switched source.
The next day, I dicked around with the catch can:
I think I can see why they would have the air come in to the top and through the filters first, then out through the body and into the intake.
The oily air comes in and is "stalled" by the filters. The oil coalesces in the filters then runs down through the seven holes in the round aluminum piece to drip to the bottom of the can. At this point, it is too heavy to ride the air stream and can't be drawn up into the tube in the side of the body to be pulled into the intake manifold. If this happened in the reverse order with the inlet coming into the side of the can, the oil mist would still be in the air inside the can and it would have to pass through those seven holes then get caught in the filters. But, it relies on gravity to let it fall back down into the can. This is kinda hard to do when you have a vacuum pulling on it, trying to hold it up. At least with the flow going in the direction as intended, gravity is helping because the collected oil falls to the bottom and can't be picked back up into the air stream. Also, if the oil collected in the filters is dense enough, it can restrict the flow, raising the vacuum acting on it. This will make it hold in the top even more and be pulled into the outlet hose and ultimately into the intake manifold, defeating the purpose of the can. The body of the can would basically just be like a larger diameter inlet hose.
So, I'm fine with the flow going as the designers say. Maybe it's just that this design is not as efficient/effective as it possibly could be. Maybe the current design isn't "bad", it may just be "insufficient" for the amount of scrubbing that needs to take place My simple test for now is to add a second stage of coalescing filtration- just add another filter to filter the filtered air.
It's simple. Just slip a stainless steel scrubber around the filter tube:
It looks like a mess in that pic, but the center is still open so the oil draining out of those seven holes can drip straight to the bottom. I thought about using some thick aluminum or stainless wire to make a support to hold the scrubber up in position so it wouldn't fall down into the bottom of the can. But, when slipping it into the can, I had to use a small flat blade screwdriver to help it clear the threads and feed it into the can:
Between this friction and the exposed threads of the outlet fitting protruding into the can "snagging" the scrubber, I don't think it'll fall down.
On the flip side of all this, I really don't have a way to test the effectiveness. I did pop off my intake tube (Airaid MIT) to (1) inspect the inside to see how well the AEM filter was doing and (2) to look into the manifold to see if there was still any puddled oil.
I'm very pleased with the cleanliness of the inside of the intake tube. I was a little disappointed, but not surprised to see the light glimmering off the puddled oil at the back of the manifold. I'll address this when the motor's torn down for a cam swap/AFM delete. At that time, I'll see if there are additional components I can add to the PCV system to improve the filtration as much as physically possible. Maybe it just needs progressively finer methods of filtering the air, ending with something like a fuel filter like this:
Or this:
Nothing really special to update, but I could/should at least post here the little things I've done most recently. I'll just copy and paste from the threads I already posted these in:
I finally did this. I found a switched 12-volt wire on the passenger side of the dash and ran a spare phone cord to it. Sure, there may be a switched source in the mirror harness, but probing the connectors on the side of the dash with my meter to find what I needed and tucking a flat phone cord in the headliner was way easier. I spent less time actually doing this start-to-finish than I did researching where I MAY find a switched source.
The next day, I dicked around with the catch can:
I think I can see why they would have the air come in to the top and through the filters first, then out through the body and into the intake.
The oily air comes in and is "stalled" by the filters. The oil coalesces in the filters then runs down through the seven holes in the round aluminum piece to drip to the bottom of the can. At this point, it is too heavy to ride the air stream and can't be drawn up into the tube in the side of the body to be pulled into the intake manifold. If this happened in the reverse order with the inlet coming into the side of the can, the oil mist would still be in the air inside the can and it would have to pass through those seven holes then get caught in the filters. But, it relies on gravity to let it fall back down into the can. This is kinda hard to do when you have a vacuum pulling on it, trying to hold it up. At least with the flow going in the direction as intended, gravity is helping because the collected oil falls to the bottom and can't be picked back up into the air stream. Also, if the oil collected in the filters is dense enough, it can restrict the flow, raising the vacuum acting on it. This will make it hold in the top even more and be pulled into the outlet hose and ultimately into the intake manifold, defeating the purpose of the can. The body of the can would basically just be like a larger diameter inlet hose.
So, I'm fine with the flow going as the designers say. Maybe it's just that this design is not as efficient/effective as it possibly could be. Maybe the current design isn't "bad", it may just be "insufficient" for the amount of scrubbing that needs to take place My simple test for now is to add a second stage of coalescing filtration- just add another filter to filter the filtered air.
It's simple. Just slip a stainless steel scrubber around the filter tube:
It looks like a mess in that pic, but the center is still open so the oil draining out of those seven holes can drip straight to the bottom. I thought about using some thick aluminum or stainless wire to make a support to hold the scrubber up in position so it wouldn't fall down into the bottom of the can. But, when slipping it into the can, I had to use a small flat blade screwdriver to help it clear the threads and feed it into the can:
Between this friction and the exposed threads of the outlet fitting protruding into the can "snagging" the scrubber, I don't think it'll fall down.
On the flip side of all this, I really don't have a way to test the effectiveness. I did pop off my intake tube (Airaid MIT) to (1) inspect the inside to see how well the AEM filter was doing and (2) to look into the manifold to see if there was still any puddled oil.
I'm very pleased with the cleanliness of the inside of the intake tube. I was a little disappointed, but not surprised to see the light glimmering off the puddled oil at the back of the manifold. I'll address this when the motor's torn down for a cam swap/AFM delete. At that time, I'll see if there are additional components I can add to the PCV system to improve the filtration as much as physically possible. Maybe it just needs progressively finer methods of filtering the air, ending with something like a fuel filter like this:
Or this:
2011SSVHOE
I'm an egual oportunity offender
If I'm correct , that's one of two brown wires that are switched. I've used one for my blue tooth that I since removed, cuz it was a POS.
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iamdub
Full Access Member
I don't recall, but I can easily check if someone wanted to know. I was reluctant for so long to even probe around because all I read about was how there are no switched 12V sources or maybe there's only one hard-to-find one and everything else was data circuits. Well, I quickly found a ground and then probed the larger wires. My second try had 12.xx with key on and 14.xx with engine running so it definitely wasn't a data circuit. Just one of those things that I should've tried for myself before diving down the research wormhole.
2011SSVHOE
I'm an egual oportunity offender
I actually found a utube video of some guy installing something that needed a switched 12v. You would think that gm would provide a safe fused and switched 12 volt supply, it would on cast about 20cents per vehicle.
PG01
Supporting Member
There is, under the dash drivers side, rap, switched, ground, constant....
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iamdub
Full Access Member
Especially in a vehicle designated as a PPV/SSV. Like there would be an upfitter kit with fuses and relays with a plug-and-play harness, like Ford with their factory accessory switches.
...actually, there's a LOT one would think GM would've done/would do otherwise, but this ain't the thread for that!
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iamdub
Full Access Member
Yeeeeeeah... But, my back is too shot to be crawling under there. The side of the dash was just too convenient and a shorter run. I recall reading about that wire block under the dash, though.
