Month: August 2007

It has take me a while to finish this project, mainly because I wasn’t sure exactly were I wanted to go with it. After searching for available options (outback draws, truckvault, etc) I decided to DIY this project, sort of. I found a company called Joey Bed in Oregon that sells sliding bed and drawer systems, mainly for trucks and RVs. The also do custom applications as well. I decided to do a two level setup. Originally they were both connected, but I decided there would be times I didn’t need the top drawer and could use the space (especially when taking the dogs with us). I cut the stacked drawers apart and welded tabs to each half for later reattachment. I also put a top/floor between the two halves. I mounted the bottom drawer to the floor of the truck using 1/4 thick mounting tabs under the floor deck similar to the Milford Cargo barrier mounting tabs. The bigest problem here was the fuel tank is very close. If I were to do it again I think I would have removed the tank and placed larger mounting tabs. I don’t think I will be able to reach the draw max open rating of 500lbs before the truck floor fails.

The Vehicle speed sensor adapter I had finally broke (shaft sheared off) and I figured it was time to revisit my attempt at using the stock VSS in the speedo cluster. I didn’t want to try the home built buffer again, so I started searching the web. I found that there is an actual GM part that is reported to be on many of the F body cars and Cadillacs with 5.0, 5.7 and some 6cyl with TBI. The part number is 25071437 and is called the “4 out buffer”. I found mine on ’87-’88 Pontiac Trans Ams. It takes in the 4kppm signal the VSS generates and splits it into a 4k signals and two 2k. The two 4k is for the electronic speedometer and the 2k goes to the ECM and cruise control computer. The biggest problem was finding one of these at the wrecking yards.

More description and pictures can be found at GMThunder (bottom of page) Also, read the rest of the GMThunder web site for great info on EFI conversions and tuning.

To wire it up, I connected the pink/black wire on the VSSB to the pink/black wire going to the ECM (hot in start and run). I connected the black/white wire to the black/white going to the ECM (ground). The purple wire connects to the green/black wire at the Toyota “Emission Computer” connector. The brown wire connects to the brown wire going to the ECM VSS signal.

I still haven’t gotten it to work properly yet. I get the signal from the VSS, just no outputs from the buffer. Will have to check my wiring.