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New fella from Oregon

6

6.5stayinalive

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Location
Oregon
I'm Nate, 19 years old, currently going to school to study auto tech. I've had my 6.5 since April '11, and I love it! First and best diesel I've owned. I own two '93 6.5's atm, the maroon looking one I got on a trade a couple months ago. With the exception of the exhaust, everything you see that's aftermarket I've done myself. It's nice to finally find a 6.5 forum, they aren't nearly as easy to find as Cummins/Powerstroke forums. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.other truck.jpgmy rig3.jpgmy rig1.jpgmy rig2.jpgchev.jpgPickup.jpg
 
The second 6.5 has a 5 speed, seems to have bad injectors as far as I can tell (gray/black smoke is the norm, along with constant tapping or knocking), the synchro's in the transmission are pretty wore out (sloppy shifting), but it doesn't pop out of gear. The glow plug relay seems to be working, though I don't think it is actually connected to the glow plugs (last owner decided he wanted to play electrician :mad2:
 
Welcome, from another Oregonian. Where are you located? Going by the backgrounds in the pics, and the Napa calender, eastern or north eastern OR. Where you going to school at, LaGrand?

Did the dash/radio bezel come with the Kenwood stereo? It looks good.

Your red truck is almost a twin to my 94. I don't have the clearance lights or brush bar though.

I like the sub door panels. I found a drivers door panel and put into my 94. I used the four switch panel to power the rear flip out windows in addition to the stock power door windows, and added power mirrors using the sub mirror switch. Someday I'll find a sub panel for the passenger door.

Don
 
Right now I'm located in Walla Walla (going to school), but I'm from La Grande, and that is wher a lot of my pictures are taken.

As for the upper radio bezel, i got it from a local junkyard for $5, popped the outer frame off and belt sanded the edge of the cubby hold down about 1/4" or so (thickness of the diamondplate), and cut the back off of the cubby hole so it opened up to the inside of the dash. At the time that I did this, I thought it was a pretty original idea, but now I see it done all the time haha.

The DS sub window switches can be a pain, it took me a while to figure out the right combination, but only the front two window switches actually do anything. That's cool that you rigged your back ones up to something.

P.S. The PS sub switches are cake; all the wires are the same color, just splice em in and you're done.
 
Right now I'm located in Walla Walla (going to school), but I'm from La Grande, and that is wher a lot of my pictures are taken.

As for the upper radio bezel, i got it from a local junkyard for $5, popped the outer frame off and belt sanded the edge of the cubby hold down about 1/4" or so (thickness of the diamondplate), and cut the back off of the cubby hole so it opened up to the inside of the dash. At the time that I did this, I thought it was a pretty original idea, but now I see it done all the time haha.

The DS sub window switches can be a pain, it took me a while to figure out the right combination, but only the front two window switches actually do anything. That's cool that you rigged your back ones up to something.

P.S. The PS sub switches are cake; all the wires are the same color, just splice em in and you're done.
 
6.5stayinalive said:
Right now I'm located in Walla Walla (going to school), but I'm from La Grande, and that is wher a lot of my pictures are taken.

As for the upper radio bezel, i got it from a local junkyard for $5, popped the outer frame off and belt sanded the edge of the cubby hold down about 1/4" or so (thickness of the diamondplate), and cut the back off of the cubby hole so it opened up to the inside of the dash. At the time that I did this, I thought it was a pretty original idea, but now I see it done all the time haha.

The DS sub window switches can be a pain, it took me a while to figure out the right combination, but only the front two window switches actually do anything. That's cool that you rigged your back ones up to something.

P.S. The PS sub switches are cake; all the wires are the same color, just splice em in and you're done.
Click to expand...

Walla Walla is my "home" town, but I was too young to remember when my parents moved us away. I used to have a bunch of relatives there, but now down to one aunt and a couple of her grandkids in College Place.

That's an ingenious way to get a bezel. I like it when I see someone your age showing that kind of initiative. You're using your head in the right way. Keep up with your schooling, with the kind of ability you've shown with the bezel you've got a real good chance of making it good with the auto industry.

The bezel that is around your new Kenwood radio, did it come with the radio? If I'm seeing what I think I am I like that styling.

You aint kidding the sub window switches are a bit of work to figure out. Their wire colors didn't match what was stock in the pickup. I went to a wrecking yard and pulled the wire loom out from under the dash of a 93/94 sub, stripped it down so I had only the window and power mirror wiring left. With some collaboration with another 6.5 enthusiast via e-mail and some time spent getting wire diagrams through the local library I was able to get it all working. I did not have any wiring for power mirrors in my 94 so I was working from scratch.

Don
 
handcannon said:
Walla Walla is my "home" town, but I was too young to remember when my parents moved us away. I used to have a bunch of relatives there, but now down to one aunt and a couple of her grandkids in College Place.

That's an ingenious way to get a bezel. I like it when I see someone your age showing that kind of initiative. You're using your head in the right way. Keep up with your schooling, with the kind of ability you've shown with the bezel you've got a real good chance of making it good with the auto industry.

The bezel that is around your new Kenwood radio, did it come with the radio? If I'm seeing what I think I am I like that styling.

You aint kidding the sub window switches are a bit of work to figure out. Their wire colors didn't match what was stock in the pickup. I went to a wrecking yard and pulled the wire loom out from under the dash of a 93/94 sub, stripped it down so I had only the window and power mirror wiring left. With some collaboration with another 6.5 enthusiast via e-mail and some time spent getting wire diagrams through the local library I was able to get it all working. I did not have any wiring for power mirrors in my 94 so I was working from scratch.

Don
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't know what to think of the area yet, I don't really know anyone around here yet. I'm living in a camp trailer in an RV Park, and they don't want people working on their rigs here. . . it's killin' me!:prrr:

Thank you, I came up with the idea to put the gauges there because I had already installed an aftermarket stereo, I didn't really use the cubby hole anyways, and pillar gauges seemed too cliche. Honestly, I'm more proud of the sub switch conv. because I'd never seen it done before (always hated the stock switches, always ended up locking the doors instead of rolling down windows in the dark), and the wiring was quite a bit harder than I thought it would. I don't know if I'm ever going to actually hook up the switches that would go to the back windows of the sub, I might end up wiring in switches from a 2 door tahoe instead. I'm rambling now, but you get the idea.

I'm not sure what you meant about the bezel around the Kenwood. The dash-colored plastic piece that the stereo mounts in with the vents? I originally got one from a junkyard, but it was cheaply made and fell apart, I got the one in the pic off ebay a few months back for around $20, much more sturdy. They make a couple different designs for the same part, but I tried to find one that looked closest to stock. The only thing I don't like about the stereo is it covers up the vents when it's opened, considered making my own, basically flipping it upside down so the stereo was on top of the vents. The idea is still on the table for future plans.

You definitely had the right idea stealing the door harness from a sub for the mirror wiring. I didn't bother because my mirrors aren't power either. I saw some pics a couple days ago of people taking towing mirrors from a 2nd gen Dodge and mounting them on this bodystyle Chevy, and they look pretty clean. If I ever did something like that I'd probably do what you did and grab a sub harness to hook up to the window switch to power the Dodge mirrors, but that's a long way off for a broke college kid lol. Maybe someday. . .
 
6.5stayinalive said:
I don't know if I'm ever going to actually hook up the switches that would go to the back windows of the sub, I might end up wiring in switches from a 2 door tahoe instead. I'm rambling now, but you get the idea.

I'm not sure what you meant about the bezel around the Kenwood. The dash-colored plastic piece that the stereo mounts in with the vents? I originally got one from a junkyard, but it was cheaply made and fell apart, I got the one in the pic off ebay a few months back for around $20, much more sturdy.

You definitely had the right idea stealing the door harness from a sub for the mirror wiring. I didn't bother because my mirrors aren't power either. I saw some pics a couple days ago of people taking towing mirrors from a 2nd gen Dodge and mounting them on this bodystyle Chevy, and they look pretty clean. If I ever did something like that I'd probably do what you did and grab a sub harness to hook up to the window switch to power the Dodge mirrors, but that's a long way off for a broke college kid lol. Maybe someday. . .
Click to expand...

If you ever decide to power the rear quarter windows your wiring is almost done already. All you need to do now is to run the power output from the rear window switches to the rear quarter windows as the switches already have power to them as part of providing power for the front window switches. The hard part is in removing everything from behind the front seats, the jumpseat and all the plastic panels, and fabbing mounts for some window motors. I used rear quarter window motors from a Pontiac Montana.

About the bezel around the Kenwood, yes I'm meaning the dash colored piece that surrounds the vents and the radio. So you found it on e-bay. Do you have the info on who the seller was, maybe a link to his site?

I found powered, heated, lighted, and extendable mirrors on e-bay that look exactly like the tow mirrors found stock on the 2000 and up GM pickups and are supposed to be a plug-n-play for the 90's era pickups. What the sellers don't tell you is that to have the plug for all these options you have to have a 98 or 99 vehicle (plug is not to be found in earlier rigs). I found all the wiring plugs I needed from later 90's rigs,the sub harness, and wiring diagrams and made an add on loom to accommodate the mirror. I've seen the write ups for the Dodge tow mirror and almost went that direction, until I found the mirror I now have. Either way you will be faced with some major wiring unless you opt for no power options.

I fully understand about the money situation. I'm on disability and had to do some real scraping to come up with the funds to do the mirror swap.

I don't get up to the WW area very often, but next time I do I'd like to meet up.

Don
 
handcannon said:
If you ever decide to power the rear quarter windows your wiring is almost done already. All you need to do now is to run the power output from the rear window switches to the rear quarter windows as the switches already have power to them as part of providing power for the front window switches. The hard part is in removing everything from behind the front seats, the jumpseat and all the plastic panels, and fabbing mounts for some window motors. I used rear quarter window motors from a Pontiac Montana.

About the bezel around the Kenwood, yes I'm meaning the dash colored piece that surrounds the vents and the radio. So you found it on e-bay. Do you have the info on who the seller was, maybe a link to his site?

I found powered, heated, lighted, and extendable mirrors on e-bay that look exactly like the tow mirrors found stock on the 2000 and up GM pickups and are supposed to be a plug-n-play for the 90's era pickups. What the sellers don't tell you is that to have the plug for all these options you have to have a 98 or 99 vehicle (plug is not to be found in earlier rigs). I found all the wiring plugs I needed from later 90's rigs,the sub harness, and wiring diagrams and made an add on loom to accommodate the mirror. I've seen the write ups for the Dodge tow mirror and almost went that direction, until I found the mirror I now have. Either way you will be faced with some major wiring unless you opt for no power options.

I fully understand about the money situation. I'm on disability and had to do some real scraping to come up with the funds to do the mirror swap.

I don't get up to the WW area very often, but next time I do I'd like to meet up.

Don
Click to expand...

Aha! I figured you must have taken the vent window motors out of a minivan. Very cool idea, I wouldn't mind seeing pictures of it.

As for the dash kit, I found an ad from this company on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-1989-C...shboard_Installation_Kits&hash=item3595af3288

Yeah, I imagine it would be a lot of wiring; nevertheless, nothing that can't be figured out. Like I said, I'm not planning on doing this swap anytime soon. I have a few minor mechanical issues here and there that I need to tend to before I start messing with things again. Nice to meet a like-minded guy interested in subtle modifications.

Absolutely! Get ahold of me next time you're up this way.

-Nate
 
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