HOW TO: Relocating under hood for removing inner fenders

[grndscrpr03]

Before I start I want to mention that this was done on a 98 2.2L, the 4.3Ls may need to be done a little differently. Also there are several different ways to make the brackets and mount everything, this is just how I chose to do so. All the brackets were made out of some scrap metal I had laying around the garage. Also all the smaller pics can be clicked on to see the fullsize picture of it.

Locations of everything after relocated
Battery-I left the battery in the stock location, but you can also relocate it to the bed if you want.
Computer-Computer also stayed in the stock location, was just raised about an inch and a half.



Coolant resevoir-I ditched the coolant resevoir all together. A smaller catch tank can be relocated to the core support if you want to retain one.
Windshield Washer Fluid Resevoir-this was also removed, washer squirters were shaved so there was no need for one anyways.
ABS Unit-take all the stock brackets off of it and rotate it clockwise towards the engine, it will end up mounting right next to the power steering resevoir. May have to extend a couple of the wires to reach the new loaction.



Stock Airbox-stock airbox is removed and a cone filter intake is put in it's place
Fusebox-fusebox is relocated where the bottom of the stock airbox was, some wires will need to be extended here as well.

[grndscrpr03]

Brackets that were made to work

Battery tray to frame-I used 3/4"X3/4" box tubing on this and made a bracket to run from the bottom of the battery tray down to the frame. I cut the top of the tubing at an angle to fit the battery tray better and then welded the tubing to the battery tray. For the bottom of the bracket I welded a 1.5" wide X 4" long X 1/4" thick piece of steel onto the tubing to mount to the frame. I then used (2) self tapping screws to hold the bottom of the bracket to the frame. This could be welded to the frame but I wanted to be able to remove it easily in case I ever had to move the battery tray. You can also weld a piece of the steel to the other end of the tubing to mount to the battery tray if you don't want it welded on.

Computer to battery tray-I used 1" wide X 1/8" thick aluminum bar to make this bracket. Remove the computer from the mounting tray. The bracket will mount to the factory hole in the computer mounting tray(as seen in picture) and will run to the bottom of the battery tray. You can weld the bracket to the battery tray or drill a hole and bolt it on there. The bracket will need two bends in it to make it work right. One by the battery tray and one by the computer tray. Just keep bending it a little at a time til you get the angles right.
Computer tray to battery tray bracket:

Underside of battery tray:

Undershot of cpu tray showing bracket to battery tray:

Computer tray to fender-These two brackets will be 'L' shaped and will mount to the inside of the fender. Again I used the 1"wideX1/8" thick aluminum bar for these brackets. Place the computer where you want it to be, it needs to be as high as possible without the hood hitting it when it is shut. Then measure from the mounting tray up to the fender where you will mount the bracket. Mine was around 4" I believe so I made the bracket an overall length of 5.5". 1.5" up the brackets I made a 90 degree bend in them. Now on the mounting tray you will need to drill two holes in the plastic for the brackets to attach to. The short part of the 'L' will bolt to the bottom of the tray. Then put the computer into place again and mark where the brackets hit the fender and drill the holes. Bolt the brackets to the fender and you are done with the passenger side.
Computer tray to fender bolts:

Overview of computer mounting tray:

Undershot of cpu tray showing fender bolts:

[grndscrpr03]

Fusebox to core support-two more 'L' shaped brackets were made out of the 1"wideX 1/8" thick aluminum bar to hold the fusebox to core support. These were made an overall lenght of around 4.5" with a 90 degree bend made about 1.5" from the end. Find a couple places to drill a small hole in the fusebox without hitting any wiring or anything. Use 2 small screws to hold the brackets to the fusebox. Then hold the fusebox where the brackets hit somewhere on the core support that will allow you to drill a hole and get to the backside to put a nut on. Then use 2 small nuts and bolts to hold the brackets to the core support. One of my brackets hit right on the headlight bracket and the other hit the actual core support. Some wiring will need to be extended to get the fusebox where it needs to be.

Fusebox to core support bracket shot:

Driver's side bracket:

Passenger's side bracket:

driver's side bracket on core support:

[grndscrpr03]

ABS Unit to frame-I used the 3/4"X3/4" box tubing to make a bracket that ran from the ABS unit down to the frame. I welded a 3.5"X1.5" piece of steel onto one end of the box tubing. This end will mount to the ABS unit using the stock holes and bolts that came out of the ABS brackets. I then welded another piece of steel to the bottom of the bracket so I could use (2) self tapping screws to hold the bracket to the frame. Welding it to the frame will make it alot stronger, but will also be harder to remove down the road. The piece I made that bolted to the frame was made alot more complicated on this truck than it should have been, I have since changed my design and go with the way I described above.

ABS unit to frame bracket:

Where the bracket bolts to bottom of ABS unit:


ABS Unit to fender-I took a short piece of the box tubing and welded a 2" piece of 1.5"wide X 1/8" steel on the one end of it at a 90 degree. This will bolt to the fender. On the other end of the box tubing I measured and used the 1"wide X 1/8" thick aluminum bar to connect to the ABS unit. You will have to make a couple bends in it to make it fit right. I welded one end to the box tubing coming from the fender and bolted the other end to the bottom of the ABS unit using the stock hole and stock bolt.

ABS to fender bracket:

ABS to fender, bolted to fender:

ABS to fender, bolted to ABS:

ABS to fender, another shot of ABS bolt used:

[grndscrpr03]

Blower box mod- For bigger tires you will have to trim down the blower box. Before you mess with it and once you have everything else relocated air the truck out and see if the passenger tire hits the blower box, if so then you will need to trim it up some. What I did was take the cover off of the blower box by removing the small screws. I then looked and seen where the bottom of the fan was located inside. I decided to make the new bottom of the box sit flush with the bottom of the fan cause at the time I was trying to get the truck to layout on 255/45/18s. Once I determined where I needed to make the new bottom of the box, I used a Roto-Zip and cut the bottom of the box off. I then installed the cover again and made sure the fan was going to clear and marked the bottom of the cover where it needed to be cut off. I then made a new bottom out of some old heating duct metal. I traced the blower box on the metal and then made it about 1/2" bigger than the outline. This gave me enough room to bend the metal up around the blower box and gave me a lip to screw the metal to the box. I then drilled some holes in the metal and the blower box and used some small screws to hold it on. Then I checked to see if the tire hit, it didn't, so I turned the fan on to make sure it didn't hit the new bottom, and it did. So I took it back off and hammered the bottom a little bit to give the fan more clearance. Tested it out a second time and it cleared. I then siliconed around all the edges and once that dried sprayed it with some black spray paint. The pics are before I painted it though:





Also make sure on the driver's side you zip tie the main wiring harness coming out of the firewall up out of the way of the tire. Also zip tie all the fusebox wiring out of the way and any other wiring that may come in contact with the tires when it's layed out. Any questions on how to relocate anything or making the brackets feel free to PM me.