cphilip drills another hole in his Truck....

[cphilip]

I forgot to show you this a while back. I converted my Block heater cord to a plug in the front of the bumper for ease of access and neatness. If you do not know these things have a block heater in them that is used to help warm the thing up in realy cold weather. Not that we use them down here but the cord just kind of hangs up under the bumper. And often it corrodes and is hard to fish around under there an find. So this idea was given to me by some guys over at the Diesel Site and I went and did it some time ago. Its realy neat and tidy. However it does require some bravery to drill a 1 7/8 inch hole right through your chrome bumper. But it came out nice and I think it looks like it belongs there.

The Plug is a Marinco unit I got from Bass Pro Shops and it is used on Boats for attaching anything that is like 15 Amps or less from shore power. So its water tight and sturdy for outdoor environments.

First one here is close up. It's that black round thing on the bumper over the tag. It has a rubber cap that closes and inside there is a male plug you just attach an extension cord too.

[cphilip]

and at a distance is this one.

[Lone Gunman]

Daring... very daring. But it looks pretty good.

[SpongeBobSquarePants]

looks like someone is a clemson fan hell yea GO TIGERS i am so getting a sclorship and playing football there. o and of course thie www.clemson.edu/paintball

[cphilip]

Alright Sponge!!! Good to know that. Yes we will play some ball when you get here.

Ya! Its scary drilling perfectly good stuff alright. This is the second hole in something that this truck has seen. First one was the hole into the Exhaust Manifold to mount a Pyrometer probe. That had to be drilled and tapped for threads. Now that was nerve racking for sure. But all is well.

[shartley]

Nice clean job Phil. I probably would have put an enclosed box for it on inside of the bumper myself.... but you evidently have WAY more guts than I do when it comes to putting holes in things.

[Gecko]

heh need a block heater for all those frigid winter nights in carolina? What does it get 30 degrees on a bad night?
I think it's about 20 out now..
Tonight we are supposed to hit single numbers
Nice install though

[yeahthatsme]

nice.

that took some bravery...

[cphilip]

Well actualy Sam one option was to make a plate for it and install it between one of the openings. But I am planing on putting some grills in those opening so that would make both your suggestion and that one inoperable. So that kind of forced me to chose a location that would be easily acessable after that was done. So there was realy little option left. Either the bumper or the fender!

Oh yea I have never used it. Except to check it out the day before I did this so I could make sure it was working before and after the switch. Most people do not even hook them up unless its below Zero. A few like to in the teens in order to get a quicker start on the vent heater flow. Most of them just get a big timer and set it to come on like 2-3 hours before they are going to crank up in the morning. They say it helps get the heat in the truck up faster so they can be warm. These Diesels are cold natured beast when it comes to wasted energy given off as heat. They are so efficent that you have to do things to them to help them heat up faster like partialy block the Exhaust for a while and such. There is an automatic device in them all that does that. Its in all of them even the ones sold down here. So even in the more moderate climates people do use them not to start the thing but to aid in the comfort level of them. I only did it one morning just to test it and I had it plugged in for an hour. It was 20 degrees that morning. And it did get up to temperature several miles before it normaly would. However it realy needs two hours to realy see a difference. I plan on testing it out the first cold day every winter just to make sure its functional. I do remember a minus 19 here many years ago. But that is sure rare.

Another thing people do not realize is we down here do not get winter blend fuel. So we have to be prepared with our own additives. And we also do not switch our oil viscosity like they do up there. Because we cannot do that just for a few days at a time. So the extra heat we sometimes need to apply a few times to get that thicker summer oil flowing good. Good oil flow is essential in a high compression machine. Keeps the wear down. So where as people up North may plug in at minus 10 we would at 10. And we would have to add some antigel to our fuel too. They would not. it would pump right out of the tank for them. Course the are rewarded with crappy fuel economy during that time while we enjoy better fuel economy all year.

Oh and its like 35 here right now. Snow coming in later today and tonight. Low in the mid teens this weekend and highs in the low thirties forecast. It does get cold up in this corner of SC. We are 1500 feet above sea level from the coastal areas. That makes some difference.

[bornl33t]

Originally posted by cphilip
Most people do not even hook them up unless its below Zero. A few like to in the teens in order to get a quicker start on the vent heater flow. Most of them just get a big timer and set it to come on like 2-3 hours before they are going to crank up in the morning. They say it helps get the heat in the truck up faster so they can be warm. difference.

Remote starter: Priceless

(sorry I hit the edit button and I ended up posting in here. Moving it. cphilip)

[cphilip]

Hehe! Well there are indeed a few folks that hook those up. But they still hook up their block heaters too. Cause these Diesels just will not come up to temp when not under a load. And they idle too slow. About 680RPM. So they sit there forever and still not hot. Only way to do it is either heat em or just get in em and drive em. Although if you could stick a remote on your Auxiliary Idle Controller and do it after you remote starte it then you could get some benifit. Say Idle it up to like 1700 RPM or so. Then it would start heating up some. I know that can be done but not sure if you can do it from a range or not. Plus you have to have an AIC in there with a remote.

[cphilip]

heh... A few more holes now to mount the Prodigy Brake controller. When will it ever end?

[cphilip]

One with it out of the pocket mount. Nice touch on this controller is not only does it work like a champ it can be easily removed and put in a pouch or even moved to another vehicle.

[SpongeBobSquarePants]

hehehehe cphil has a CB radio. This is big papa phil we got 409er on 77 and 1st. lmao

[shartley]

Nice job. I always hated drilling into things... more so the interiors of things. LOL

I miss my truck!!!!! I have been talking to Kim and we may see if we can buy it back from my in-law. I sold it to ONE in-law, who then sold it to ANOTHER of my in-laws, and THAT in-law is totally rebuilding the engine.

It is an 88 GMC Stepside with High Seara package. Wooden bed floor, and the whole 9 yeards. I miss it so much!

Added... yes, I had a CB in my truck too.