Rocket Man's 02 Denali Build Thread AKA "THE BEAST"

[Rocket Man]

Bruh, it's not that deep. Your ass atomizes particles. Does that mean that that's rocket science and your atomizing butthole makes you some kind of rocket ma- Oh...

Isn’t that my rear orifice tube?

 

[iamdub]

Isn’t that my rear orifice tube?

Well-played, sir.

 

[Rocket Man]

Got bored waiting on parts. The new water pump to cowl heater hose came in and I decided to wrap it in the high temp loom I bought. It has a formed bend that I knew wouldn’t work with this loom so I used heat shrink around that part. It didn’t come out horrible, I’ll run it. I also did the main AC line that comes off the compressor. That one looks legit.

 

[Fless]

Got bored waiting on parts. The new water pump to cowl heater hose came in and I decided to wrap it in the high temp loom I bought. It has a formed bend that I knew wouldn’t work with this loom so I used heat shrink around that part. It didn’t come out horrible, I’ll run it. I also did the main AC line that comes off the compressor. That one looks legit.

That spiral-wound hose is similar to what I used to make at Caterpillar as a "spiral winder," but what I made was for hydraulics. 4 ply, 6 ply, 10 ply 3/8" to 1.5". Fond memories of the night shift in Chillicothe, IL. Made miles of that stuff, 52 feet at a time.

 

[Rocket Man]

I got the new Dorman Y heater hose and wrapped the part that goes up to the firewall, it came out good. Then I installed it and the other quick connect at the firewall. During the struggle to install everything that first heater hose I wrapped came undone just as it clicked into the fitting at the firewall. I removed the braided stuff. Damn. So now I have one that looks braided and one that doesn’t. I’m leaving it for now since in order to fix it I either need to either drain the system and wrap it from the engine side or buy a quick connect and cut the one off and do it from up top. Good news is I have no leaks, front or rear. I warmed it up and let it burp, then refilled. Still waiting on the rear AC lines. Supposed to be here Tuesday but so is the next heat wave. I’ll work on it when it’s not too hot.

 

[Rocket Man]

These pics show why it’s so hard to get to those tees with the blower in. Pretty much the only way that was going to happen was with the accumulator out. That hose closest to the blower almost didn’t go back on, it was crooked to get it started and I had to force it. I am super glad I didn’t fu*k up the o-ring installing it, but I ran it up to pressure and no leaks.

 

[Rocket Man]

Since the truck is laid up, it was the perfect time to try the leather repair kit from www.autoleatherdye.com and see what I could do to the second row. I didn’t have high expectations and you can see why. These seats were pretty much wasted due to my dog and the fact they’re 21 years old. But there’s no replacement covers available and I’m sure if I had an upholsterer make some they’d be a few hundred. Here they are right after I pulled them from the truck.

 

[Rocket Man]

Here’s the kit. First I cleaned them with Foaming Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner. It works great but I wouldn’t use it often, it’s probably harsh for the leather.

 

[Rocket Man]

Next I attempted to steam the foam in order to tighten things up. It kinda worked but I also messed up and removed the nozzle on the steamer and just stuck the tool in because I wasn’t getting as much steam as I wanted. Which showed me which parts were vinyl because it kind of melted it in a few spots.

The instructions were to repair any tears first using the glue and fabric you glue in the backside of the tear. I had one that was big enough to do that. Next I used the leather filler and the tiny spatula to fill in scrapes and small cuts. There were a lot of those. The stuff can be wet sanded.

 

[Rocket Man]

Then I used a sponge to do 4 light coats on the dark panels. The color match was pretty good. Being these seats are 2 tone, they’re kind of a PIA. Getting the dye as close to perfect at the seam where the colors meet was hard.