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idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/9/21 6:03 p.m.
rattfink81 said:

Did you stick with the factory ratio or the quick ratio? Curious as I have a 1990 2wd 1500 im slowly trying to make nicer.

I went with the factory ratio. I might be more inclined to go with a quick ratio if I was trying to build a sport truck. 

untchabl
untchabl Reader
1/9/21 6:07 p.m.

Great work so far. I'm getting ready to give my 90 c1500 some attention and get it back to 100%.

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/9/21 6:16 p.m.
untchabl said:

Great work so far. I'm getting ready to give my 90 c1500 some attention and get it back to 100%.

Thanks! They are great trucks. The style has aged really well. 

dj06482 (Forum Supporter)
dj06482 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
1/9/21 7:48 p.m.

Beautiful truck - I had a '94 K1500 that unfortunately rusted away.  Seeing you work on yours brings back memories!

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/10/21 9:39 p.m.

A little bit of progress tonight. Mounted a new idler pulley and made a list of all of the clips that I need to order to route my new spark plug wires.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UberDork
1/10/21 10:49 p.m.

Following. I need to get some of the some things done to my 88 C2500. Valve stem seals, timing chain (might be pretty loose after 400,000 miles), oil pan, water pump. Could use some shocks. 
 

Still gets the job done. Brought home my newly purchased challenge car tonight. 
 

Norma66-Brent
Norma66-Brent Reader
1/11/21 1:27 a.m.

Did replacing your temp sending unit solve your problem? I have a 94 k1500 and I have the same problem. Sending unit replacement did not solve my problem.

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/11/21 7:18 a.m.
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Following. I need to get some of the some things done to my 88 C2500. Valve stem seals, timing chain (might be pretty loose after 400,000 miles), oil pan, water pump. Could use some shocks. 
 

Still gets the job done. Brought home my newly purchased challenge car tonight. 
 

Nice looking truck! The paint appears to be in much better shape than mine!

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/11/21 7:20 a.m.
Norma66-Brent said:

Did replacing your temp sending unit solve your problem? I have a 94 k1500 and I have the same problem. Sending unit replacement did not solve my problem.

I have not started it since replacing the sending unit, still putting everything back together. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll have it back together enough to fire it up. 

orthoxstice
orthoxstice New Reader
1/11/21 8:04 a.m.

In reply to Norma66-Brent :

My girlfriend has a 1991 GMC van that does the same thing. I've tried two sending units and no change. I think these old GM gauges just don't work very well.

mjrj (Forum Supporter)
mjrj (Forum Supporter) Reader
1/11/21 11:20 a.m.
orthoxstice said:

In reply to Norma66-Brent :

My girlfriend has a 1991 GMC van that does the same thing. I've tried two sending units and no change. I think these old GM gauges just don't work very well.

My 94 C1500 has the same issue and I'm thinking its in the wiring harness.  I've found 2 sections of the circuit that were damaged and repaired them.  Then in late 2019 I replaced the intake manifold and afterwards the gauge read even lower than before.  The gauge works ok so I figure there is a spot somewhere in the harness that has high resistance and I don't want to take it back apart right now to find it.

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/14/21 9:17 p.m.

Snuck out to the garage tonight and put in a new thermostat, housing, and gasket. 
 

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/16/21 8:31 p.m.

Replaced the exhaust from the y-pipe back. The original catalytic converter was shot and the muffler had a rust hole where it connected to the tail pipe. I used Walker exhaust components, struggled a little bit to get a tail pipe that fit but otherwise looks like the original. 


YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/UapOj_Yt0BI

mjrj (Forum Supporter)
mjrj (Forum Supporter) Reader
1/16/21 9:12 p.m.
idlook2 said:

Replaced the exhaust from the y-pipe back. The original catalytic converter was shot and the muffler had a rust hole where it connected to the tail pipe. I used Walker exhaust components, struggled a little bit to get a tail pipe that fit but otherwise looks like the original. 


YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/UapOj_Yt0BI

An old pellet cat!  Has ceramic pellets covered in the catalyst material.  Years ago at a dealership I worked at, we had a service writer with an early 90s C1500 that had failed a smog check due to a bad pellet cat.  I watched someone actually change out the pellets and it passed afterwards.

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/16/21 10:30 p.m.
mjrj (Forum Supporter) said:
idlook2 said:

Replaced the exhaust from the y-pipe back. The original catalytic converter was shot and the muffler had a rust hole where it connected to the tail pipe. I used Walker exhaust components, struggled a little bit to get a tail pipe that fit but otherwise looks like the original. 


YouTube video:

https://youtu.be/UapOj_Yt0BI

An old pellet cat!  Has ceramic pellets covered in the catalyst material.  Years ago at a dealership I worked at, we had a service writer with an early 90s C1500 that had failed a smog check due to a bad pellet cat.  I watched someone actually change out the pellets and it passed afterwards.

Well I just learned something new! When I tipped the cat up on end and pieces fell out I figured that the honeycomb was just disintegrated. I had no idea that a pellet cat existed!

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/18/21 2:46 p.m.

New cap, rotor, and spark plug wires are on! Had to order a bunch of new spark plug wire retainers as most of the old ones were broken. 

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/21/21 8:49 p.m.

Had the day off and got to work on getting things put back together under the hood. 

Installed a new heater hose


New studs to mount the fan onto the water pump (I didn’t realize the new pump would not come with these, had to make an extra trip to the parts store!)


New radiator and hoses 


New oil cooler lines and filter


And a new air filter


Hoping to start it this weekend after buttoning up a few more things.

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
1/30/21 1:13 p.m.

Still have not gotten the truck started, but I did install a new fuel filter last night!
 

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/8oqxLTN3cTc

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
2/2/21 10:14 p.m.

I was struggling to get the truck started, turns out I somehow put the distributor in backwards when re-installing it, oops! Pulled it back out, turned 180 degrees, and the truck fired right up! I’ve got a timing light on order to finalize the timing but it was good to hear it run again. 


Went ahead and replaced the ignition control module while I had the distributor out again. 

 

YouTube video: https://youtu.be/5jd-KbXzTJc

759NRNG (Forum Partidario)
759NRNG (Forum Partidario) UberDork
2/3/21 8:29 a.m.

What style pliers do you use on those hose clamps?

idlook2
idlook2 New Reader
2/3/21 7:08 p.m.
759NRNG (Forum Partidario) said:

What style pliers do you use on those hose clamps?

Just a cheap set of hose clamp pliers, much better than trying to do it with regular pliers.

759NRNG (Forum Partidario)
759NRNG (Forum Partidario) UberDork
2/3/21 7:58 p.m.

Off to the interweb to place my order thanks.......... 

Crackers (Forum Supporter)
Crackers (Forum Supporter) SuperDork
2/4/21 8:01 a.m.

No fair starting with such a clean truck. LOL 

Can you call anything a restoration if you can tell what color the firewall is before you start?

I didn't see if you got the soft pedal fixed, but the primary soft pedal issue in these is the 30 year old rubber lines. Second is cheap or over turned drums that go oval under pressure. (Obviously I'm assuming theres no air in the system.)

Crackers (Forum Supporter)
Crackers (Forum Supporter) SuperDork
2/4/21 8:03 a.m.
759NRNG (Forum Partidario) said:

Off to the interweb to place my order thanks.......... 

Dude, get the cable type instead!

Cable Type Hose Clamp Tool

ETA: I'm sure you can find them cheaper, that was just the first link.

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UberDork
2/4/21 11:46 a.m.

In reply to idlook2 :

I've put a distributor in correctly, then got confused about the direction of rotation. blush

Where did you source the oil cooler lines?

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