1989 Chevy silverado

Not mine but am going do some work on this truck.  It's been having some issues and he wants it to be able to be daily driven and right now doesn't trust it. 

So started with simple things.  Read the codes it was throwing. Started looking over the normal maintenance items. 

Doesn't show up great but they are super crusty. 

Rotor wasn't any better. 

Egr won't hold vacuum. Also crusty

This wasn't his work but I'll clean it up and do it right.  This is how they had an electric fan wired up as a pusher in front of the radiator.  

Cleaned up some wires on the firewall. 

Before

After

Little things to clean it up while I wait on parts. Gotta ask him if the alarm is still used or if I can take it out. I hate aftermarket alarms with a passion. 

Going do the Corvette servo and I think we are going do an axle flip.  

You have to do an axle flip. There is no other choice.  2WD = Axle Flip. Begin!

SkinnyG said:

You have to do an axle flip. There is no other choice.  2WD = Axle Flip. Begin!

I've been pushing for it. It's got drop spindles on the front.  I think he is going order up a flip kit. I'll take pictures when that happens 

Worked on it tonight. 

Got the new cap, rotor,  egr valve,  coolant temperature sensor,  reset the idle and topped up the transmission fluid. 

For what ever reason it refused to idle low. Can't find any vacuum leaks. It's a new ac delco iac. But I just have it idling at 850 and its happy there so I just left it there. It may have a small cam in it or it might be stock?

A/c blew out at 58 deg after a few minutes. 

Speedometer is off by 10. Funny pegging the gauge only doing 75. 

The oil pressure gauge seems stuck. Even when I disconnected it from the sensor it stays pegged. Tried tapping it and it's just stuck. 

Voltage gauge jumps around when you use the blinkers? 

I still need to do the plugs, just ran out of time.  Probably need to do the header gaskets, I think the passenger is leaking a bit. Might also be why my idle has to be high,  now that I think about it. Not going change the wires, they're accels and in good shape. Tested resistance and they are good,  so no reason to change them. 

So going drive it around until the Corvette servo comes in and see how she does. 

Temp gauge is also reading off, it reads 205ish and I put a ir thermometer on it and it read 190ish. So I'm ok with that.  

Now just need him to order the flip kit. Looking at the djm one, seems to have good reviews and is pretty affordable.  

But drove it around about 30 miles tonight and it seems pretty good. Going drive it the next couple days. May take it to C.O.T.A. this weekend to but some miles on it. Going see how it goes the next two days. 

Well I was going drive it this weekend but tr he battery took a crap and has a bad cell. He went and bought a new battery today. 

I got the spark plugs changed and the header gasket that was blown. 

Think I may have found part of the miss problem. 

Going try and get some wires tomorrow, so I can get it back up and running. Gotta drive it to work Friday so the guy a couple doors down can fix the wobbly column. He does them all the time and I really have no desire to do it at all. 

For the gauge weirdness, check your grounds and the battery cables. Love this build!

dj06482 said:

For the gauge weirdness, check your grounds and the battery cables. Love this build!

Surprisingly it actually has good grounds. Atleast the ones I've tested so far, I may run an extra one from the block to the cab just because. Love my good ol Fluke 78

Ran new accel spark plug wires [cut to fit] because it is an 80s truck and I feel they are required for them. 

Took her for errands today. Had to adjust the idle up a hair but besides that did well. 

Pulled out the old alarm that wasn't working anyways. 

Took it up to advanced to get a switch and fuel line clips. 

Went and washed it, it got a bit sappy under the tree at my house. 

This think needs a 4/6 drop. I think it has 2in drop spindles up front. I think he is going to go with the djm 4/6 drop kit with the new lower control arms so it doesn't push the track out in the front. 

Probably be the last update until he gets some more parts for it. I'm going to do the Corvette servo and just put some miles on it and make sure it is running good. 

Shame your so far away or I would make an offer on those used drop spindles.

I've got a similar '89 Short wheelbase but fleetside.  I had the wobbly column and fixed it (I think I posted here about it maybe) a couple years back.  I'm excited to see what you do to this one and hopefully it'll motivate me to take care of mine a little better.

Saturday, the wife will use ours to pull a horse trailer around.  I'll be sure to remind her to keep it in drive.

Looking forward to more!

Going do the wobbly column one of these nights. Just haven't had a chance to.  

Been fighting an iractic idle, was hoping it would clear up after the very neccessary tune up. 

Well it didn't. So looked for the common problems and found it right off the bat. 

So looks like I'm pulling the intake and putting on new gaskets. Shockingly the throttle body gaskets weren't leaking. 

Put the new gaskets on Sunday.  Definitely made an improvement. 

Drove it today and noticed a coolant smell when I got home.  

And looked around and barely bumped the heater core hose that goes to the back on the intake.

And... the old hose clamp failed and freaking let go and blew hot coolant everywhere. Got some on me but could have been worse considering. 

Because that went so well.  I decided to do the Corvette servo. 

Fought me all the way,  until I finally gave up.  

Put it together and left the cover oring off.  Everything pushes in and cover sets behind the snap ring groove. Put the oring on and it refuses to push in all the way. 

With oring on and compressed

I'm at a loss. Just came in and had to admit defeat tonight. It was just fail after fail tonight. 

Open to ideas of why it works without the cover oring but not with it. 

Does this help?

https://youtu.be/YfPgBUH6Ru0

Went and tried again. First time I've had any free time to work on it. 

I pulled the cover oring off and but the old one back on. It all popped together in 5 minutes. Then just had to top up the fluids and took her for a test drive.

Marked her territory 

Going let it sit over night and make sure it's not leaking anything. 

Also put in a led 1156 bulb in.

Cool project. I have an 88' that's dropped 4/6. I love these trucks. It's nice that the owner isn't in a huge rush to get his truck back! Nothing like working with no deadline. Keep up the posts! Seems a few of us like these GMT400 trucks!

In reply to Gtholen :

It's my coworker's 2nd vehicle. He wasn't driving it because it kept dying on him.  So I told him I'd work on it when I have time and he buys the parts and I charged him very little. Hopefully it's going back to him soon to clear up room.  

Also feel free to toss up some pics of your 4/6 dropped one.  Not sure when he is going to buy the kit. May be some motivation for him to order it. 

If he pulls the trigger on that DJM kit I'll be watching. I just got an '89 fleetside and have been eyeing the same kit. 

I think he may have to do the motor swap before the drop now. 

Took it for a drive today. Ran great, shifting good. Then after about 20 min it wasn't happy. Limped it home. 

And this.

I had noticed a slight knocking noise but it sounded like it was from the ac compressor so didnt think much of it before. But I pulled the acc belt to rule out all the accessories and noise was still present. Pulled the valve cover and oil is full of glitter...

LS.

Seriously.

Hoping it’s just a bent pushrod or cracked rocker arm.  I’ve seen both on old SBCs around 150k and up

In reply to AngryCorvair :

It definitely is noisiest on passenger side. Pull the valve cover to see if something was wrong with the valve train. Nothing looks wrong or loose or broke. But all the oil in the head is full of glitter.. 

So kicked my bobcat and atv out and parked her under cover. 

Plan was a 5.3 down the road. So that will happen sooner now.  I'm going start looking for a good priced donor.  

I'm sorry to see the engine fail. My 88 is still going strong.

In reply to Floating Doc :

Well considering it's been rocking a junkyard van 350 with unknown miles for 5 years, I'd say he got his money out of it. He paid a guy $600 including motor/trans and install. 

So on the hunt for ls swap now.  

Going go look at an 03 suburban and see if it's worth getting as a donor.  Price is good,  just gotta make sure it runs good and has no major tranny or engine issues. It's got 186k on it but I think I can get it under 1k.