I have made some progress the last couple of days.
Got the old shocks off and the new ones on.
Noticed the rear bump stop/spring thing-a-majigs were wasted.
Got some new ones even though I plan to ditch this rear-end around fall for the 10.5.
Rear suspension is looking alot better. I hope the way it drives reflects the time and money invested.
It seems to sit higher with the new shocks on all 4 corners.
I got the junkyard hydroboost pedal cleaned up, the pin is closer to the pivot on the Hydroboost pedal on the left.
I cleaned and test fit the booster and master cylinder.
With the right parts Hydroboost is a bolt-on swap for a G1500 Express.
My harness was a mess due to lack of space when doing the 0411 swap a few years ago. I started cleaning up that aspect of the harmess but in doing so basically am having to do the swap over again.
PCM back in the holder only have the "BLUE" side left to rework, install the hydraulic hoses, install the booster, bleed the brakes, and hope the engine starts and everything works correctly after the wiring harness work. This project has kicked my butt! Oh and I finally ordered wiper cowls and grille clips that GM wants a small fortune for.
Last edited by Fast355; 05-19-2015 at 07:50 AM.
You are going to love the hydroboost. I have converted my 79 cherokee and 93 wrangler and I will NEVER go back to a vac booster.
79 Jeep Cherokee, AMC 401, T-18 manual trans, hydroboost, 16197427 MPFI system---the toy
93 Jeep YJ Wrangler, 4.0L, 5 speed, 8.8 rear, homebrew hub conversion and big brakes, hydroboost, 2.5in OME lift, 31x10.50's---the daily driver
99 Jeep WJ Grand Cherokee limited, 4.0L, auto, 2wd, leather and power everything, 99% stock---the long distance highway ride.
Attachment 9042
The lever (green arrow) is part of a spring wound around the cable take-up. The lever contacts the stop (blue arrow) when the brake pedal is released. This causes the spring to "unwind" slightly and release the take-up. The take-up is spring loaded and attempts to "wind up" the cable and take up slack. When the pedal is pressed the lever moves off the stop, the spring around the take-up contracts, and the take-up is held tight so the park brake can be applied.
So it looks like I need that K30 parking brake pedal assembly and the instructions on how to make it work. The parking brake has never applied very well on this Express. In fact if you set the parking brake, put the trans in gear, at anything above idle speed the van will move with the brake set.
The G30 cable needs to be cut shorter to work with the K series pedal. On the actual cable are two crimped steel "beads." One is at the end of the cable, the second, a larger rectangular bead, is about 4" - 5" from the end. We cut the "extra" 4-5" off the end and insert the larger rectangular bead into the new pedal. Red arrow shows bead... it must be cut in half.
GMC offered "2500" vans for upfitters for years that had few observable differences from the half ton cousins.
Let me see if I follow. I bet the G1500 cable is the same, atleast on the pedal end. The K30 (Is this the HD truck or your normal K3500 4x4) pedal bolts right on, cut the extra off the cable by cutting that rectangular bead in half.
I know they offered those. While they are extremely rare, I have seen a couple of conversion vans on G3500 with 454s and 8100s. Most notable one I can remember was sent to Quigley first for a 4wd conversion then went to a high end conversion company. 8100 + 4x4 + Conversion and was pretty tricked out.
I KNOW!!!! I have driven these with Hydroboost and don't understand why GM cheaped out so much on these Express vans as even the same vintage Astro/Safari vans came with Hydroboost.
Then again the brainiac that is truly to blame is the idiot that felt the need to offer a 1/2 ton van as an upfitter package for a conversion van. Should have been a 2500 series as a minimum with all the extra stuff it is carrying around. The weight killed the 4L60E TWICE in 78k miles (4L65E spec rebuild went in at 38K) and the 8.5" died shortly after the 4L80E went in. Then again it gets driven a bit hard and was not exactly stock for the 4L65E spec trans and the 8.5s death. As big and heavy as these vans are, NONE of them should have had the 8.5 or the 4L60E for that matter.
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