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I ended up having to start the USB charge bank over. The 3D software I used to design the circuit can't handle outputting at 1200dpi (which is what the laser printer does) so I have to go through a convoluted method of using MS Paint to fix the poor resolution. Paint doesn't know how to print without borders, so that led to a scaling issue between the output I was working with from the 3D software. Once I adjusted for it I was able to make a new board that all the components fit properly:




You might notice the heat sinks are all angled funny. So I ordered a bunch of 12 x 12 x 15 stick on heat sinks. They actually measured 14 x 14 x 16. Kind of annoying, but oh well, it will work.

After fighting with the 3D printer I finally managed to pull off a 40 hour print. It was printing perfect leading up to this particular piece, when it decided to randomly stop mid-print. It's an issue it's been doing on and off, the general consensus has been that it's signal interference between the SD card and the controller. I won't get into it too much other than to note something that stopped working before that I had to change I've now changed back to the previous non-working state and it's working again... This is the most complex part of the intake that I plan on 3D printer-ing:




There's a slip joint piece that will connect the silicone 90 degree elbow to this piece, that's on the printer now. Then I'll have to change the airbox again a bit and print a piece to connect the airbox to the elbow. This should allow me to change the air filter with only needing to remove one worm clamp.


Exhaust progress is ongoing. Having fun with TIG welding, trying new techniques, and wishing I had a water cooled torch and more control over settings (not that I dislike the TIG welder I have, but I'm ready for the next step).

Good thing you kept the explanation of the 3d printing issues simple because I barely understood what you were writing. Nice weld job too. Also, that interior looks really well kept.

Finished welding the exhaust today. All that's left are gaskets (trimming the 31311 gasket from a '05 Cobalt) and tips.

Gap fill:


That should be enough clearance to the axle beam:


Getting the spare tire out was a trick. The tire iron is supposed to fit into the shaft, where looks like what used to be roll pins locked the flat end in place so it could turn. Yeah, rust happened to it so that wasn't working. Ended up being able to shove a different piece of scrap rod in it and it was tight enough to turn it and drop the spare. The steel wheel is all rotted around the bead and it's not sealing, so just going to toss it. Most likely going to remove the spare tire holder as well.

Worked on the parking brake cables today. The old cables were 90% fine, the one rear section to the drivers side wheel wasn't freely moving though so in addition to the differences in the way the cables connect to the brakes I decided to get both rear cables new from the 05+ vans that fit the rear calipers. Intent was to use the original front section of the cable with the two new rear pieces. Enter first problem:


The threaded portion of the drivers side cable is a different thread than the original was. So I decided to make a new adjustment nut.




Mistake #1 was using a class 10.9 bolt. Killed close to a dozen harbor freight drill bits and a harbor freight M6 tap getting the threaded hole made, but it worked out since I did have some quality bits and taps on hand that I try to not use so they don't wear out. If I had known the threaded portion was different I would have bought the new parking brake equalizer as well but it looked way different so I wasn't sure. It's different because it's shorter, so I have to have the adjuster screwed all the way in to use these cables with the original front cable and equalizer:




I did have to flip the retainer clips left to right because of the differences between cable routing. Which is another interesting point because the correct mounting point for those clips was there on the 99 even though disc brakes didn't make an appearance until the 05 refresh (AWD doesn't count, the whole axle beam is changed out for the AWD stuff). So it's like GM originally meant to have disc brakes optional equipment, but it was delayed due to cost or something.

Next up, more cables! The throttle cable is half done, the new wire rope and end stops and conduit assembled with the U-van firewall mount and pedal clip:


Need to source an H-body cable to put the throttle end on.

Also started making the new cables for the sliding door; It's turned out to be more invovled than I initially expected because the 10' section of cable I'd ordered actually measured 9'8" which is 2" short of what I need. Since I expect that I'll have to replaced the cables on the second power sliding door from the donor, also fix the other door on the donor, as well as have enough to finish this second cable... I ordered twice as much cable as I needed to do it all so I don't have to worry about running out. Besides, it's not that expensive and I'm sure I can use it elsewhere.

Almost done with body work. Plan is to get some paint layed down in the next two days while the weather is cooperating.













Exhaust tips arrived. Had to cut out a decorative oval shaped hole from inside them, as it would have restricted flow. Cheapest 2.5" oval tips I could find!


Plan for the next few days is to complete this cycle of mid-project-garage-cleanup, get the exhaust gaskets in, fit the tips, finish making the new cables for the throttle and sliding door, and start putting the interior back together. Once all the modules and dash parts are connected I'll hook up a battery and see about loading up a tune. I haven't looked into the windshield replacement yet, I'll try to schedule it after the paint goes down and I know I won't need corrections.

I have a huge list of minor parts I need to grab from the salvage yard, but all the u-pulls are still closed right now. If they don't open up soon I'll have to scrounge parts off the parts cars that I need for future projects...

Well, the paint situation is going to be a situation. Despite Duplicolor having an 'exact match' to the paint code for this van, it is not in fact an exact match. Unfortunately with some colors it's difficult to judge that before the clear goes on. It's close, but a complete let down.





(Before you judge this, note that only the door jamb will be visible once the exterior trim is back on)








It looked way closer until the clear went down. In direct sunlight you can see a difference but it's way more noticeable in most other lighting conditions.

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to go all in on the body work and paint now (lots of minor dings and let's face it, the existing paint is trashed) or just leave it as is and correct the repair areas (and maybe work a few others) later. If paint wasn't $300 a gallon I'd just do it all now.

Starting to look like more than just a minivan at least:

I'm not sure on the price point but it's probably a lot easier to wrap it vs. getting a similar result with a DIY paint job.

I've been considering wrapping vs. paint for a while now, but I keep going back and forth on it. From a DIY cost perspective it looks like getting enough material to wrap everything is not significantly different, depending on color/finish, but either way you still have to do the same amount of work to fix the body issues. I guess the biggest factor is that I've already invested in the spray gun and associated consumables so it would cost me more right now to get into wrapping. I guess it's the same reason I never got into plasti-dip either.

I guess my point is wrapping will take less effort to get a good result. Painting is an art with a hundred things that could muck up requiring a redo right up until the clear dries.

A wrap might be right in your wheel house Matt, I have confident you could do it very easily probably on the first try after a couple of dry runs.

Looks like it is really taking shape though

Decided to rip the bandaid off.

















Every major paint issue I could find is going to be fixed (including dents that were not yet addressed in these pictures). Spent most of my time on the hood, ripped the surface rust (most likely from rocks or whatever chipping the paint). The entire hood will need to be painted, but for the most part the remainder of the body is just a few extra spots beyond what I'd already done. Already have the color matched paint from the local supplier, who I've had good luck with in the past. I guess I never realized that I'd done several painting projects that I guess I never uploaded pictures from; and I'll have to go back and update the photos from the restoration I did on my vf700s. I think for the moment I'll stick to paint, what I'm dealing with here is pretty basic. If/when I get into wrapping, it's going to be something I have the inclination to spend the effort on like the Camaro or the T-type. This project just has to look good from like 10ft away.

Paint take two: Actually color matched! I ended up getting a quart of paint for this, I have enough leftover to do a bunch of paint corrections if needed. There are a few random scratches and such that didn't warrant repainting entire panels.



The first color coat applied. Yeah, I know, should have used a paint booth, etc. But this worked out just fine. Had to adjust the sprayer to compensate for the breeze, and wash/tack between coats to prevent the dirt/dust/whatever from impacting the paint job.


It was getting late by the time I got the first clearcoat on, so this picture is kinda difficult to tell, but the paint matched really well this time. Because, you know, it's not purple haha:




I have to let the first layer of clear dry so I can clean up any dirt that resulted it painting outdoors. The plan is to do two coats of clear, except the leading edge of the hood which will get 3. This might help the paint resist stone chips better.

I recently added a new tool to my 3D printing arsenal:


It's a resin 3D printer. Several options for resins to choose from, some engineering level functional and some not. I decided to start out with Siraya Blue resin, one of the more cost-effective yet also functional resins. One of the deciding factors was that the body molding clips would have cost me $200 to replace, and several of them are simply not available anymore. Most of the not available anymore clips are the ones that broke, but I needed 8 of the clips that cost $18 each from the one place that still had stock. I had tried using the FDM 3D printer that has contributed significantly in the past, but it's better suited to somewhat larger parts since the nozzle is 0.4mm. Basically, it's not functionally effective at reproducing clips less than 10x10x10mm.

Just to highlight how accurate this printer is capable of, starting with fresh out of the tank:






Out of the box performance there. Took about 30 minutes to get it going. I wasted no time getting the first car part on it:



I should back up a bit here to explain that. Sometime after 2000, GM introduced the 'dual power sliding door" option that is on the donor Silhouette, so of course I had to have it. This turned out to be a fairly large can of worms. In order to package the drivers side sliding door motor/module assembly GM had to re-design the rear HVAC system. While the body stamping formations didn't change, a bunch of the punch details did, as well as the A/C line manifold for it, the wiring/controls (99 has a vac controlled valve to select between the top vents and the lower vent, the donor had a stepper motor to achieve the desired mixture function for top and bottom vents) are different, the blower resistor is different, etc. Since I plan on fixing the donor later this year and flipping it, I needed to find a solution that maintained the '99 controls, which are completely different, with the '02 rear HVAC and drivers side PDM. So no wiring harness swaps or any of that nonsense.

Of course, nothing ended up being 'bolt on' and I had to cut a bunch of holes:














Finally, the '02 rear HVAC module is installed in the '99:


Then the PDM and ducting is all set to go:


Next up is the re-designed seat belt mount point. The body stamping forms are the same, as seen above, but the holes and backing plate are different. Sounds like a deal breaker, but I had some sheet steel on hand that was about 2x's as thick as the original backing plate, so time to wear out some more tools! Utilizing the ancient technique of chalk-dusting with my greasy fingers and paper to make it:






Cut a bunch more holes:


Final install is basically the same as the '02 in that the body stamping is sandwitched between the seat belt bracket and the backing plate:


All of that had to happen before I could take a stab at modifying the HVAC module to work with the '99 controls. I don't mind being destructive for stuff that's going to end up on my projects, so not all of the trimming is shown to fit the blower resistor from the '99 in the '02 assembly. First I had to find a home for the vacuum valve in order for it to function the same as it did on the '99 module. The FDM printer is more than sufficient here, printed a new mount that bolts on to the original stepper motor mount location with ABS:


Then at the same time I used the resin printer to make the new arm for the flapper thingy thing. Final assembly:




Imagine getting to this point and then something breaks that means it all has to come apart again to fix:


Also, just for fun, this is what happened to the donor van after I pulled everything out of the rear quarter and went poking around:


It's an easy fix, but it's so crazy the difference in the rust patterns between these mostly identical vehicles. The donor is clean everywhere except the wheel wells, the Montana only needed one spot in the wheel well fixed. Random brackets and such were completely destroyed on the donor, but the Montana they were clean as new. Not a spec of rust by the windshield frame on the donor - I guess not anymore on the Montana either lol.

Today felt like one of those 'damage control' days.

Fixed the cable on the sliding door:


But then this happened!


Same thing that happened on the passenger side, same fix:




I don't think this side the door handle situation is done yet. The pull effort to actuate the handle is about 2x's as much as the passenger side is right now (passenger side is better than new). I ended up having to replace the cable between the latch module and the outside handle, greased everything up (nothing was binding), and greasing up the rear latch module. 20% of the effort is coming from the latch actuator for the power sliding door, that is on par with the brand new one on the passenger side. The main latch module seems lighter action than the one on the passenger side does, but if I eliminate everything except the ouside handle, the new cable, and the primary latch module it's still like 1.8x's as stiff as the passenger side one is. I should note that I'm splitting hairs here though, there' no reason that the super easy pull of the passenger side can't be achieved on the drivers side. It's not really that bad though compared to what it was when I started out.

I'm still working on wiring for the driver sliding door module, but the interior is finally getting back together now. I ran a bunch of extra wires for USB charge ports for the rear seat areas, the current goal is to have the IP and carpet/trim installed by next weekend.

Time to start cleaning up loose ends finally. Not much to report today, made new clips for the wiper motor cover. From the factory there were 5 of them holding the cover on. Over time 3 were lost. None of the vans in the yards for the last year or so have had either the cover nor the clips, and not worth the cost of getting them new from the sparse sources. Tin snips, pliers, and a drill bit to bend them around later:


Spent most of the day working on the wiring stuff, relocating the radio and module power to the new distribution block, etc. Still need to finish the wiring for the second sliding door module

Finally! I can finish the exhaust!!!


I've been waiting on these for far too long. Not just any exhaust gasket, actually good ones that fit the flanges I'm using.


Modified them to work with the cheap V-band clamps that even at full clamp didn't close the gap:


Finally, with the gaskets set I could clamp the system down and set the tips:





Also worked on the faceplate for the bluray player:




And I started the gauge cluster modifications. It's going to be a bit more intensive than I planned, but that means it's going to be that much better. probably.

You know how they say the last 20% of a projects ends up taking 80% of the effort?

It seems accurate. Up-scaling the content of the van has been a big headache. The simplest details, like the front seat air bag connector and seat belt pretensioner connector having the wire colors reversed on the donor mean you have to chase down the differences. I ended up ordering a used set of 2002 CSMs just to be sure. The '99 did not have traction control, but the donor vehicles that had dual power sliding doors and dual front heated seats did, so I need to verify the wiring stuff (in case I wanted to hide a badass feature in the TCS switch lol).

Anyhow, I don't think I talked about this part much. The original carpet had a really soft 7/8" foam backing that was attached with the *shoot* glue invented ever. It failed to keep the foam stuck to the carpet, yet somehow managed to get everywhere and can't be removed. Nasty nasty stuff, brake cleaner was the only thing that had any effect on cleaning it up. The foam backing on the '99 was completely trashed by rodent activities, so I tossed it. I already mentioned that I'd used some butyl sound deadening stuff, a foam underlay as a decoupling layer, and a 3/8" thick rubber matting advertised as weight room flooring as a mass loaded layer. This wasn't enough thickness total for the carpet to have the correct compressed fit to the trim and things, so I ended up using an additional foam underlay on top of it all to get everything to fit right.


Finally, the carpet is installed!


Made more progress on the faceplate for the bluray player:


Worth every penny for the resin 3d printer.


But still putting the FDM printer to the task for the 1080p screen mount:


Had to do some repairs to the cluster mount points, thankfully it was ABS so 3D printed ABS + acetone fixed years of wear and tear:


Updated needles:


Might have to install additional gauge stoppers though. Not sure why but after sitting on the table for 4 days the needles decided to settle into new random locations. I'll have to double check the alignment after the first start:


Interior is almost back together!

Loaded a baseline tune, filled some fluids, did a bunch of other stuff this weekend (pics to come), and ended up with this:
https://youtu.be/FkwQJrgtaVc

First up - rear A/C lines. I mentioned earlier that the '02 rear HVAC module had to change to work with the dual power sliding door option. One of the things GM thought was neccessary was to retool a bunch of other stuff that didn't need to be changed. The rear A/C lines are one of them - so whatever, I pulled the rear half of the lines from some junkyard van and spliced them in to the '99.








I ended up using AN flare fittings rated at 3000psi and nylog blue (just in case 3000psi isn't enough for refrigerant). Simple.

I had ordered all the right colors to fix the vacuum tubing for the HVAC controls; but after waiting 3 months I had to cut and run...


Changing more than just a motor and door panels. switch bezels and such have to match:


Almost done with the blu-ray player center console stuff:


Something else broke so I 3D printed a replacement:






I hated the body trim from day 1 (I wanted my parents to get the dark green van so it would come with the black trim). Dark blue on black was just not a GM option, because they knew better...








2K clear (PPG) over Rustoleum 7250 black night metallic. Very heavy on the metallic flake. Extremely hard to get a consistent finish because the base color is very thin on top of spraying out of a can.

curios, how long does it take (scanning and printing) the 3-d printer to make a small connector like the shown above the bumpers?

starting to look like a vehicle again:)