The Black Hole

[KurtECV]

A bunch of hacks! I can not believe that they do such cheap work for a customer.

Do they even realize what kind of damage that wire could have done to the entire truck? Let alone the driver, occupants and bystanders?

That wire got hot, and almost not enough to burn through the wire but turned it into a heating element. Either by a short to power or ground or from putting a little too much amperage through the circuit.

In my professional experience, they put too much amperage through the circuit. 1) because there was still one single strand of copper wire still intact which means that the circuit didn't heat fast enough to instantly cause an open in the circuit (and burn through all the wire and the insulation)

And 2) when you get a sudden spike in amperage the insulation will burn off fast, and the insulation will be black and crisp... The insulation on that wire is completely melted to other wires which means that it was more of a heating element...

Which brings me back to my original rant.
If you own a company or work for a company That deals with modification or repair the vehicles you have to hold yourself and your work to a higher standard than a lot of people and clearly these HACKS do not.

A very possible scenario: That "unknown" bare wire heats up again. Under the dash right next to the bulkhead connector where There is mostly likely more than 150 wires
In close proximity to each other catches on fire.. You may or may not be driving. There are countless circuits that have power all the time... Then you have an electrical fire under the dash, no one knows how bad a situation like that can go. But most people see them all the time with vehicle fires in social media and YouTube.

And let's take a break from That wire and move on to some of the other shotty work that was done... The entire main engine bay harness is completely unprotected in this vehicle. And I'm sure most know that this harness goes right in front of Gmans aftermarket aluminium radiator... Completely unprotected. And 90% of that harness is unprotected.

The harness you hacks had removed from the vehicle, or at the very least, very easy access to, to put wire loom on it.

There are several blunt cut wires Under the hood, within the main engine bay harness. NONE of them are labeled for identification. And exposed to the elements.

I have seen it time and time again in my professional life, you can have water intrusion into the trunk of an SUV And have water wick from a control module located there, all the way to the front of the vehicle And have the insulation complete intact and there is absolutely no copper wire left in the entire circuit. Completely corroded away.

And honestly that's only a few of the things I have seen.

Shame on them (and that's being nice) for doing gman dirty like that. And I really don't give two shts about the details, it is cheap fraud work. You guys hacked up the harnesses and left him high and dry and no were to turn.

And as far as having "custom" wiring diagrams... My 6 year old son could have made better diagrams than those.

I am a professional technician And have been doing this a long time for my age. I can rebuild old holly double pumpers all the way to vehicle that are still being built with fiber optic systems for the 2020 model years... But your finished projects that you delivered to a customer is an absolute atrocity to the professional automotive world.

EDIT: And now Gman still does not have a reliable rig after spending countless hours and money on it. Now it has to go under the knife again and torn apart because you guys did such a piss-poor job the first time.

 

[Dono]

I get the idea the guys doing the work don't know about fuses in circuits.
That just shouldn't have happened. Even hacked, a fused circuit (appropriately sized fuse, of course). I have to wonder what those red wires feed.

I'm excited to see your rig getting fixed up, either way.

 

[KurtECV]

Those red wires.. All the same color and gauge run 4 to wires that All go to the same bulkhead connector.

Looking back at the pictures, Those red wires are about 12-14 gauge and the factory wires are something like 16-18. That's resistance right there. Resistance equals heat...

 

[vroomzoomboom]

what i dont get is why they didnt change the complete harness over from the donor truck to gman's truck. sure you would be pulling the dash, but they have done it before. my first v8 pull took me forever, now dono and i were able to pull a motor, strip it to the long block and back in over a weekend. you learn tricks after doing it so many times, i would think that would have been the easier way to go.

 

[KurtECV]

And the crappy thing is, almost as soon as he got the rig back, they ghosted him.

Hell im pissed about it too... and its not even my rig! Gman just get the black hole down to my shop and I will start going over everything.

 

[Turdle]

OK, at first I was in the mindset of trying to work this out with communication.

And, now we see why they didn't. I don't care who you are, you don't do work like this and charge $$ for it like you are some kind of pro, thinking you will make out like a Bandit when people bring their vehicles to you.

Whatever the circumstances were, you let it leave your shop like that? This is a stain on our forum.






Ok, now to the present.

I am glad the BH is now in some competent hands. Gman is so lucky his truck didn't turn into a roadside spectacle--bonfire.

 

[KurtECV]

Completely agree Turdle.

 

[gmanpaint]

Tim, I was led to believe they was pulling the dash, and swapping the complete donors harness, inside & out. As in replace the entire cluster with the donors, replace the GEM, and everything else electrical in the dash. As in strip the engine bay, and install the donors electrical components and harness. This is what I was led to believe was getting done. Not so, as the smoke dissipated, and the mirrors shattered eventually.

I was confused with them, because of things they said they would do, VS what they actually did. The parts that wasn't installed, and returned to me, the way some parts was installed, was not what we agreed upon, and what I paid for. I was in shock when I seen how the harness was installed, and I told them I wasn't happy with it. They took offense like school girls, and got mad.... As in.... How dare I, say that? It was all downhill from there, and one of them instantly unfriended me on social media, followed by his close friends. Doing damage control already. lol

My doubts intensified with them, when they told me they installed the rebuilt trans, and I asked for the converter details. (Detail oriented mind, and of course I want details.... Completely normal to me, but not them I guess) Here is an example of one of the convo's we had, before everything went to hell between us.

What did you install? .................."Good one, Stock"
What stall?.................................."Whatever stock is"
What stall speed is stock?........" Good question"
(Ok, so now I'm a bit worried, more questions....)
Ok, so in other words, at what rpm's will the converter kick in, and allow forward movement?..... "Whatever stock is"
(Ok, so maybe this isn't his Forte, and maybe his partner has more knowledge on this)

I am asking because I am curious how the new converter is going to react with the stage 2 shift kit installed, and a tune later on..... "What does a convertor have to do with any of that?" (In shock right now, biting my tongue here)

Ok, since we went thru the trouble of rebuilding the trans, adding the shift kit, and this rig has an atlas, and $1k in thick wall drive lines, it should be able to hold up to a slightly higher stall than stock...... "I don't get it"

Torq convertors play a huge role in performance, and one day, I will get around to adding HP to this new engine. I would like to think this rebuilt trans is going to be able to handle everything about to be thrown at it. The tuner will want to know stall details. "Yeah, I don't know anything about this stuff, we let our trans guy handle it all. I will have to ask."
That is just a portion of the same convo that took place that day, attempting to get a grip on exactly they was doing / about to do.

From this point forward, I was concerned about anything on this rig that wasn't a stock item.
This concern was instantly heightened the moment the rig was returned to me, before it even came off the trailer. Remember the post? Puking antifreeze onto the trailer, front pass brake froze up and tire dragged down the trailer, Atlas stuck in Front low range, with shifters jammed up, wires dangling loose everywhere, etc.... When opening the hatch, to see my unused new parts I sent with to be installed (part of the original deal) sent me into overdrive with fears and concerns. I started inspecting and found a bunch of issues instantly and called them, but no answers. They responded to a text a couple of times, but this communication didn't last long. Over the next couple of months, I made a list of the things they did, and fixed most of them as I went. That list has over 50 items on it. There is still enough left undone, that it shocked the Professional Tech, when he saw it. In a nutshell, everything Kurt seen wrong, is something I just haven't got to yet, and in the case of the burnt wires, I haven't found yet.

Tim, what confuses me is.... Just because the rig is highly modified in the suspension & body, what in the world does that have to do with swapping out the stock engine / trans? Those components was completely stock as far as electrical goes. Sure the 95 had quirky components in it, but if your hired to do a complete OBD2 swap, none of that matters, as it is all being replaced.

 

[gmanpaint]

I get the idea the guys doing the work don't know about fuses in circuits.
That just shouldn't have happened. Even hacked, a fused circuit (appropriately sized fuse, of course). I have to wonder what those red wires feed.

I'm excited to see your rig getting fixed up, either way.

I wrote down the wire colors those red wires go to. I downloaded a bunch of diagrams last night, and going thru them to find out exactly what those wires are for. I think they are for the 95's Gem, but the diagrams will tell me what they are "IF" they are indeed the stock wires. Until they say (might never happen at this point), what was done to what, it's all a guessing game.

Apparently, there are more ways to kill a rigs value, other than user abuse, age, and accidents, it seems.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

not to throw more worry at you, but it makes me wounder what kind of shape the motor is in now.

 

[KurtECV]

Dont think that gman, we will get BH fixed up right.

Fix the wiring PROPERLY. Reinstall the harness, identify faults in all systems and repair them as needed one by one. Some faults will always be there dew to the nature and lever of modification to the rig.. but once we identify that those are false faults, make a mental note of it and move on to the next problem and/or upgrade.

We will work through each vehicle system, systematically and correct any failures.

 

[gmanpaint]

Tim, engine seems fine overall but it did let out a nice white puff of smoke on startup last night. Has done that a few times, but only on startup. Thought it was because or the 1309 injector timing, but that has been corrected. Might be a sticky valve.

The only thing that has me concerned, was the level of rust that was on it, when pulled from my donor rig they chose ( I paid for it a month before they got my rig).

The donors exhaust manifolds must have been fubared, as they told me they had to replace them with a set they had laying around, not using.

The rust is starting to flash thru the flat black rattle can paint they put on the block, to hide it.

Other than that, it has some good pep to it, and pulls hard all the way thru the rpms.

 

[gmanpaint]

Thanks Kurt!

Means more to me than you know.
1/5 of my life has been dedicated to this rig. It is personal to me. Nothing much I own has a sentimental value to it, like this rig does.

It has survived its journey with me, thru good, and bad times. Its responsible for making many friendships, and many admirers over time. It's not something that was hobbled together, to destroy over a year of woods wheeling. It still has yet to reach what it is intended for, but the finish line is in sight, with the 2nd half of this build. The adventure trailer. I have at least 10 more years of life left that I can use these to fulfill my dreams of getting lost in nature, exploring our beautiful country by dirt roads.

 

[KurtECV]

I wrote down the wire colors those red wires go to. I downloaded a bunch of diagrams last night, and going thru them to find out exactly what those wires are for. I think they are for the 95's Gem, but the diagrams will tell me what they are "IF" they are indeed the stock wires. Until they say (might never happen at this point), what was done to what, it's all a guessing game.

Apparently, there are more ways to kill a rigs value, other than user abuse, age, and accidents, it seems.

Thanks Kurt!

Means more to me than you know.
1/5 of my life has been dedicated to this rig. It is personal to me. Nothing much I own has a sentimental value to it, like this rig does.

It has survived its journey with me, thru good, and bad times. Its responsible for making many friendships, and many admirers over time. It's not something that was hobbled together, to destroy over a year of woods wheeling. It still has yet to reach what it is intended for, but the finish line is in sight, with the 2nd half of this build. The adventure trailer. I have at least 10 more years of life left that I can use these to fulfill my dreams of getting lost in nature, exploring our beautiful country by dirt roads.

In the short time we have known each other and going through your threads i know how much that rig means to you and to this forum.

I am going to take my time and do it right and address problems as we go along. Being as it is winter coming and the wheeling season for most is almost over that will give us time to make it right and be ready for the spring wheeling season

 

[gmanpaint]

Thank you Sir!

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm glad to know you will have some competent help with going through that wiring etc, I was worried for it when you got it back. I took months to rewire my 99 when I rebuilt it, I had the interior gutted and wires strewn all over the place. It took a long time, but in the end I made it all safe and proper, OEM connectors where possible etc. It's easier to work on good wiring than hacked up stuff. Hopefully you can sort out the bad parts soon.

 

[gmanpaint]

Thanks for the concern Don. You have been a big help over the years to me with electrical work, on various mods. Your support has been, and is always, very much appreciated.

2 steps forward, one step back, is an appropriate name for this issue.

 

[KurtECV]

Sorry Gman. I should have informed you about this before..

SoundRacer

It makes V8 swaps much much easier!

There it is Gman. When you bring BH here, I'll pull the 302 and install that.

And I'll do you a solid and loosen the seat mounting bolts so when you mash the skinny pedal your "v8" will kick you back in the seat

 

[gmanpaint]

Could of had a V8! ( smacks forehead)

 

[gmanpaint]

BH kindly reminded me about the messed up front Pass side sticky caliper today. Just another thing to add to the return from TX repair list.

Rained for a day, ground was wet, and I had the right wheels in the grass. Had to use this rig today for a parts run, and made a mess for me to clean up. BH you Richard.