[THEFERMANATOR]

Don't have any pics, but I have been busting my tail on this thing all week. My pins for the fuse block just came in today so I can get back to wiring again soon. While I was waiting on my terminals for the fuse panel, I decided to hook up the transfer case shift linkage and I also got a shift linkage mount bracket fabbed up. the DURAMAX shift cable will not hook up to the early cloumn, so I had to buy a new shift cable(mine wouldn't stay on the shift arm as the nylon in the end that locks it on was worn) and custom fab my bracket as the 95 cable is 2 inches longer than the DMAX cable from the mount point to the shift arm. It is pretty tight under there as the 2" setback put the cable mount RIGHT next to the U-joint for the front shaft. I was able to get a 1/4" of clearance on the crossmember and a 1/2" on the shaft(may ned up bringing it in closer to the shaft if it hits the crossmember). So I can now shift it through it's gears in the trans and transfer case.

I pulled the tank out and removed my 5/16" return line and opened it up and installed a 1/2" feed line and will use my old 3/8" feed for my return and I have the fuel cooler off and am about ready to mount it under the truck as well as my KENNEDY lift pump. I discovered that the DMAX metal lines will not clear the steering linkage on my SUB, so I hooked up my nylon covered diesel line right to the quick connects and was able to get them over the lock portion so I could double clamp em on there. And I will just use nylon covered diesel flexible line for the bulk of the fuel system. The tranny cooler metal lines didn't clear my front axle mount with enough room for mmy liking even after some tweaking, so I got some AN hose and AN fittings and will just plumb the cooler system that way. This really sucks as I had already had the original lines done up with hydraulic line in place of the old rubber line.

While the fuel tank was out I did the rear gears today since that BIG opening made getting to the diff EASY as pie. The GM 14 bolt 10.5" rear axle is actually pretty easy to build compared to the DANAS and CHRYSLER corporates I am used to building up. The tough part was torquing the pinion nut. This required a 4' 3/4" breaker bar and socket to match and locking the pinion yoke down in my vise. This allowed me to stand on the bar as my impact with 600 foot pounds could BARELY budge it(I had it in the press to install the front bearing and bring up the slack to the crush sleeve, even at 6 tons of pressure the crush sleeve didn't compress). It looks like I lucked out as my G80 looked BRAND NEW inside. I went ahead and pulled it apart and inspected the governor, and all the clutches were good and tight and all of the governor teeth were intact. I'm going to pull the rear hubs tommorrow and replace the axle seals since I'm this far into it. And hopefully get the fuel system plumbed as well.

I got my shipment from ALLIGATOR today, and will hopefully get my TCM tommorrow. That CORSA muffler is one BIG SOB now, espescially compared to the diamond eye that came in my exhaust kit. So I will have a 6.5 3" downpipe and a 4" straight through muffler for sale soon. Little by little I'm getting this thing tackled, but it's the little details that will KILL you in a project like this. I spent almost 2 hours trying to bend and fit the fuel lines in only to find they wouldn't clear the steering linkage after doing ALOT of bending and cutting on em. And you don't realize how much time you can spend bending and fitting a 1/2" feee tube and soldering and epoxying it in. The best way to describe it is an old saying we used in drag racing, "OEM = A complete list of all items that MUST be replaced or modified when building a performance vehicle."