Dano's 91 Navajo "SLB" Build!

Hows it going everyone. :wavey:
I was reading through some of my first posts and some of the old farts mentioned i should start a registry. Now being 2012 i figured i should hurry up and get on top of that. Lets start with the back story.

Well at the end of 2009 i was returning from deployment..

me and my step son. (i am on the left..)

My wife left home to pick me up the day before my ship arrived in San Diego, driving my much missed 2005 Scion TC that i was dreaming about driving home in. well on her way out of town she had a minor fender bender..

She was going 65 and had the cruise control on. She swerved to avoid hitting an animal on the road, when the passenger tires hit the gravel she lost traction and spun out to the left, through a depressed dirt medium and through two lanes of opposing traffic and finally stopped in a 8 foot ditch on the other side of the highway. luckily she was wearing her seat belt and most of the airbags deployed.
plenty of witnesses to the accident stopped and helped her out of the car and i thank God that she only had a seat belt burn. my mother ended up picking her up and and everyone was there to see me return home.

SAFETY WARNING
Always wear your seat belt, always make your family and friends wear seat belt's i don't need to narrate how this story could have been different and the different type of home coming i could have had.

A Few Months Later.. it Happened..

In the beginning..

There was a Navajo..

She was Branded..

But She ran like POOP! :roll:

I am generally a gullible guy, i tend to believe what people tell me. So my supervisor at the time knew i was hurting for a vehicle. he had the Navajo and offered to "let it go" for a grand. The Navajo had just returned from living in Mexico for who knows how long. The power steering box was shot and the speedo didn't work. all sorts of craziness under the hood. it was a mess.. but it ran. i fell for his sales pitch.. "It's... a NAVAJO~.." made it sound mysterious and awesome.

My First repair was the Steering box and the fluid lines, now although it sounded like poop it could be driven.
Then i went to Fallon NV for three weeks, My brother in law is a self taught mechanic, i had a crazy idea and asked him, "Want to figure out what that ticking noise is?"
And so it began the long harsh, expensive, learning experience of learning how to fix your own damn truck. Thus the Navajo named herself "SLB" or.. as i like to call her "Stubborn Little *******".

since then.. till now because i have a nifty little history book that i made for all my repairs, I..

Rebuilt the top end of the motor,
When i did that everything attached to the motor failed,
When i fixed that my fuel system failed. (i have a thread about that)
Blew up the tranny going back to Fallon NV, Replaced.
When i moved passed that my electrical problems started.. (ECC Relay)
Replaced the exhaust headers back.

Now, finally i have a Navajo that has no noise under the hood, runs like a charm and i still cant tell how fast I'm going but I'm fine with that. i got RPM's.

There will be more to come. i will put everything over time as i build this truck into what i want it to be.

Thanks for reading. more pics coming soon!

-Dano

 

[Dano!]

I had another set back,
I hit a snag wiring my cannon plug that i had purchased from Keep it clean wiring. with these cannon plugs you have to solder each wire into the pin, which is fine for me because i am pretty darn good at soldering. i was able to wire one side up nice and clean, but the first wire on the other end of the cannon plug for whatever reason wouldn't cooperate. it didn't matter if i flooded everything with solder or even encase the wire and the pin with solder, it just wouldn't stick. so in the process of trying to remove the pins to drill anchor holes i destroyed that side of the cannon plug.
the plan now is to purchase a military grade cannon plug with crimp on pins. total cost is going to be about 280 - 300 bucks for the whole cannon plug. it sucks.

so in the mean time i am wiring everything else.

i bought wire looms from AZ that are intended for wiring hitch lights, they come with four color coded wires that are bonded together. i stripped one of the colors off. they are 25ft long and are pretty cool.

I used another product from Keep it clean wiring they are guides for spark plug wires, i am using them to keep the tight spots organized.

More to come

 

[Dano!]

I am temporarily unable to work on my truck for the rest of the night. so i have cut my holes in the bottom of my center console, added grommets to "take the edge off" and was in the process of installing the wire harness for the overhead console when i realized i had no idea how to wire in the auto dim rear view mirror.
so after doing some research and getting a wire harness hook up from IAmTodd, i plan on having most of all this wired in tommorow. i will take some pictures because from what i found in my research there isnt any for first gens (when auto dim is concerned)

Now auto dim is added to this project.

 

[Dano!]

Finally the overhead console is installed

 

[Dano!]

I Finally got my OHC installed with the headliner. with all the wires for the switches it barely fit.

This is the cannon plug i decided to use to go through my roof.

Got hooked up with machined nylon wrap

Here is the harness installed onto my roof rack, you see the other end of the cannon plug dangling underneath.

 

[Dano!]

Here is the cannon plug installed. i epoxy sealed it on top middle and on the bottom, no leaks. the whole idea for this project was to have everything removable. now i can just unplug the roof rack and plug in when i need it.

Finishing up wiring my quick disconnects for all the roof rack lights. i had to cut holes in each of the light housings to re route the wires so enable me to have them as removable.

 

[Dano!]

Last of it! i finished the roof rack lights and my fog lights too. first pic is the method i decided to wrap / weather proof my fog light wiring. "performance plastics" electrical tape and self adhering "cherry tape" or otherwise known as "rescue tape"

I wanted all my wiring to go into my ammo can center console so here is a pic of the gaggle i had to face when it came down to my final wiring.

Everything spliced, tapped, soldered, and secured. i knew that the relays would not be pretty because i decided to go with the aircraft grade nickle coated wires, they are extremely stiff and cant be manipulated like regular automotive wiring. the shielding on them is not plastic but some sort of unexplainable "earthy" material. will not melt and is really hard to cut through. the only benefits using this stuff i guess is the added corrosion protection and the anti abrasion properties.

Also just take a moment to appreciate the space i was working in. which was another afterthought, when i put the ammo can on and tried to dig in with wire strippers... i hated myself.

and yes sir that is a french fry.

All the lights are on. i will take some night time pics tomorrow. i need to adjust some of the lights to point where i want them to go. unfortunately the front passenger bracket was welded on crooked and i don't know what i am going to do to straighten that light out.

 

[Tbars4]

..That's a lot of wiring work....but props on getting it all in there..:biggthump

..I didn't notice them but did you add some grommet's in the bottom of the can to keep the wires from rubbing/chaffing and getting cut where they come in at these openings?

 

[Dano!]

Yes sir!
They were hard to find, i had to buy packs of grommets that had two of the size i needed. It was a pain to get it all done but its done. The scariest part was turning everything on afterwards.


Here are the night time pics.

 

[mr cribb]

Interesting build, I like it. I have an idea for the blank space in the overhead console, haha.

Thanks for your service brother I have been there done that and retired early cause of it all, and I would do it all again.

 

[Dano!]

Sorry for the late response Mr.cribb

I appreciate the support. I hope integration back on the other side of the fence is going smooth. I got another six years to go.

What do you got planned for the cubbyhole in the overhead console?