Chevy S10 - $2017 Challenge and beyond

I had been thinking of pulling the interior so the floor could be cut up, and I could lower the truck again, but weather this week is supposed to be low humidity, minimal rain, and in the 70s.  We don't get multiple days like this in a row in Ohio often, so I'm taking the opportunity to do something about the ugly, rusty bed:

There's no rust through, and it does not get driven when the roads are salted, but there are a few spots that are bad enough to have me worried.  Mostly used an abrasive wheel on my old drill, and some sandpaper when it wouldn't fit.  In progress:

One issue I ran into was some paint flaking on the bed sides.  It's been that way for a while, and even after hitting it with 80 grit, it was still happening some.  I'm used to GM paint of this era flaking off to the primer layer, but this was different, as it was just flaking to another layer of black paint.  Not sure if it was repainted at some point, or if this is just a different phenomenon than I am used to.  Washed it twice, because it got a second hit with 80 grit after the first washing due to so much coming off:
 

I am attempting to just use stuff I already have laying around the house.  Ended up using three different partial cans of primer.  Also, there is some bad rust on the seam at the bottom of the tailgate.  Not much I can do with it without cutting metal out, so after a little cleanup, I hit it with some old rust converter.  Figure it can't make it worse.

I have a partial quart of semigloss black left over from another project, so it'll get mixed with mineral spirits, and rolled on.  Won't be perfect by far, but it'll be way better than it was.  If it runs out, I have some gloss black from another project.  I'll try to tape things up and get started on that tomorrow morning, so it'll be done before the weekend.

There's a good amount of rust on the tailgate supports, so I'll pull them at some point to clean them up and paint them, too.  Will just drive around without a tailgate for a little while.

If you have any barkeeper's friend, the tailgate supports might be a good application for it. I used it on the Sidekick's tailgate latch that was rusted stuck and after a week or so of letting it soak and giving it the occasional shake there was no rust left at all on it. Hosed it down in oil and reinstalled and it worked perfectly.

I used the already-liquid barkeeper's friend because that's what i had, but if you have the powdered stuff just mix it with some water I think.

In reply to dculberson :

I think I have some of the powder under my sink.  Might try that for the parts of the support I can't reach with the abrasive wheel.  Thankfully, the bolts holding them to the tailgate aren't too bad, so I should be able to remove them and work on them separately.

Edit:  Thankfully, the latch works fine.  I did not want to have to disassemble it, and risk something falling into the inside of the tailgate.

Two coats of paint down, and I have enough for one more coat, maybe two.  I am hoping that is enough.  It already looks so much better:

There's enough dents and dings in the bed that there is no point in wet sanding it for a better finish, but this just makes the truck look so much less junky.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Sorry, if I'd seen this earlier I'd have offered to let you borrow our pressure washer to go over the bed with- that would likely have been faster and easier for knocking off some of the flaking paint. It looks much better though!

Third coat is down and the paint can is pretty much empty. Coverage looks good in the garage, but I won't know how it looks in sunlight until sometime tomorrow.  If I can stick with just this, it'll be nice, because it'll be easy to match the color with a rattle can whenever it does get scratched up again.

A few thin spots on the bed floor visible in the sunlight, but the rest was acceptable.  I drained the last little bit out of the paint can, and it was just enough for one more coat on the floor.  I think I am calling it done.  Will see how it looks when it dries out.

Not show quality, but so much better than it was before:

I had some problems trying to remove the tailgate supports, and rather than burning a bunch of time trying to figure them out, decided they will be a problem for another time.  I'd rather have it all back together, and recover the space in my garage.  I did grease up the hinge points on them, and the tailgate hinges, and it made a huge difference in how quiet and smooth it is opening and closing.

Polished the bumpers and wheels a little bit today, too.  For the two wheels caught up in the storage fire, it looks like some of the scorch marks are deep enough they won't polish out.  Bummer, but at least they look a lot better from 10' away.  I'm keeping my eyes out for a bargain on some steamroller width wheels/tires that I can use my flares with. 

After the cruise in tomorrow, I think it'll be time to cut up the floor to lower the truck soon.  Might try to put some more miles on it to make sure there aren't any other issues that need addressing while it is down.

Just linking a thread about a voltage drop so it'll be easier to find when I'm working on the truck.

Took it for a longer drive.  Between this and some earlier ones, no more burning plastic smell, so I think the wiring relocation went well.  Am getting a bit of another smell, closer to the end of the drive, that I think may just be excessive heat from the firewall making the carpet padding smell a bit.  May be time to consider some extra heat insulation.  It is also possible it is crud from the HVAC vents that has been kicked up now that the fan works.

On some turns I heard/felt a telltale pop, that says a balljoint or something in the steering linkage needs to be replaced.  Everything is fairly low mileage, but I guess parts quality just isn't what it used to be.  I've heard even Moog is no go anymore.  Any brand suggestions when I do find the issue?

I was also thinking about the "fun to drive" factor.  While I think lowering it will help considerably, I am also wondering if the seats are a bit of the issue.  The bench seat was worn, but comfortable, but had to go away when I put in the floor shifter.  The Cavalier convertible seats I put in are in nice shape, but they are just not that comfortable.  I may have to start thinking about other seats that could be adapted to fit their frames.

Going to do a bit more organizing in the garage, get the S10 in the air a bit, and figure out what part of the floorpan needs to be cut today.  If I am really ambitions, might even start on the work.

Between garage work, and some much needed yard work, I'm too tired to do much, but I did get the truck in there, and got under it to look into what needed to be dealt with.

On the passenger side, the alteration I made to get the front cooling line to fit will need to be enlarged:

On the driver side, I just need to be careful with the wiring harness.  It is in very snug as it is, and I don't want to pinch it:

And, in the center, near the rear of the transmission, there is very little room for it to go up.  Also, the bolts for the front of my shifter bracket make the space even smaller:

I wanted to make some changes to how the shifter mounts anyway, since it is very easy for the reverse light wiring to come loose, and it is a very tedious job reattaching it.  While I'm under there, I am also going to try to lower the transmission a bit, and see if I can grab the remnants of the original fuel line that used to go over the transmission.  I haven't heard it rattling around, but just don't need it there if I can get it out.  Finally, I'll pull the GForce transmission mount out of the box, and see if it will work with all the exhaust and line routing I already have.  If so, I'll swap it out.  I don't like the way the Holley mount works.  I suspect it was designed around a TH350 or TH400, and the adaptation to 4L80E was an afterthought.

Enlisted some help this afternoon from eastsideWife and pulled the seats, shifter, and carpet, in anticipation of cutting up the floor.  After dinner, I headed back out, got under the truck, unbolted the transmission mount, and started lifting it at the pan.  It lifted the whole truck.  Went back through the thread, and it looks like I had concerns about the dipstick tube being to close to the firewall/floorpan, so I don't know if that is the issue, or if something else was hanging up, but whatever it was, I could not find it.  It appears the truck will be stock height until the engine/transmission come out for major work. 

Sometime this week, I'll get the interior put back together, and dig into diagnosing the front suspension.  Guess I'll be spending this summer putting local miles on it, and debugging issues as I go.

I was also thinking, I wonder if the exhaust is going to be unhappy with the angle change.  If so, that'll be one more thing to deal with in the future.

While the interior is apart, I decided to get some of the little stuff done.

• Replaced the lock set.  Any old GM key could be used to unlock the truck before.
• Installed the passenger armrest bracket.  wae grabbed one from the junkyard for me a ways back, and since I was in the door anyway...  Now, the passenger isn't at risk of damaging the door card when they try to close the door.
• Cleaned up the reverse wiring at the shifter, so the connectors should not pull out again.
• Built a center console/cup holder.  Had bought supplies for it ages ago, just never got around to doing it.

Before:

Used some 1/8" ABS sheet, some metal and bolts to attach it to the shifter base, and an insert meant for a GMT900 truck, and came up with this:

Not perfect by a long shot, but it's nice to have a place to set an open drink where it won't spill.  Also, I like that it covers up the shifter cable and some wiring, and makes the interior look a bit more finished at a quick glance.

Still want to tie up some wiring under the dash, and see if I can figure out a way to get the forward console from a Blazer installed to hide some more of the shifter wiring.

This interior stuff reminds me- I still have the under-column trim piece and the door sill covers I grabbed for you a ways back.

In reply to Ashyukun (Robert) :

Yeah, definitely need to stop by and pick those up from you sometime.  Still need to meet the Bat, too.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Hopefully I'll be getting the DMC's frame back from being blasted soon- having your help in welding in the fixes to the rusted out sections would be great.

No updates for a while.  Taken it to a few cruise ins, and a little test driving, and it developed some slop in the front end on turns.  Spent some time with it in the air, and had at different times assumed tie rod ends or ball joints, but it appears it was the wheel bearings on the passenger side.  They have not been making noise on the road, so I just snugged it up by one notch on the castle nut.  I know at some point they'll need replaced, but this should do for now.  I haven't gotten it out of the garage to test drive, but that will likely happen tomorrow, as I need the bay to work on my daily driver.

Also, I've taken steps to reduce underhood heat.  I had really wanted Lumina Z34 hood vents, since they already come with drip trays, and I'm not a fan of water in the engine compartment.  Unsurprisingly, 30+ year old parts from a limited production car have been hard to find.  Fitting with the 80s/90s aesthetic I am going for, I decided Buick GNX fender vents could work, and they are available new in the aftermarket.

Mocking up the template:

Marked up for cutting:

Drilled holes in the corners, and connected them with a jigsaw.  Although the paint is not in great shape on the car, I tried to protect it with both the tape on the car, and a little bit of cardboard on the saw:

The holes did not come out great, but at least there's a big flange to cover them up.  Kind of makes me wonder what they look like on a real GNX, and how ASC cut them out.

After test fitting was completed, I hit the vents with some satin black paint, and also sprayed a little into the inner fenders (after taping off the holes into the engine compartment).  They were attached with some 3M double sided tape, and I attempted to seal any gaps with some black silicone.  Didn't all go well with that, but I hope it will look passable out in the sunlight.

I am figuring if any rainwater gets in, it'll mostly end up running down the back of the inner fender and onto the ground.  Based on some pictures on the internet, and the thread I started in the aerodynamics subforum, I suspect the vents are in a fairly neutral location as far as pressure is concerned, so are not likely to be overly helpful at speed, but should vent out hot air from the top of the engine compartment, to be replaced with cooler air under it while sitting still or moving slowly.  Then again, if the engine compartment is somehow a high pressure zone, it could force air out while in motion.  If I wanted to get really fancy, I suppose I could try to replicate the GNX's vent tubing, but I'm not motivated to go that far.

Oh yeah, the power steering leak is getting worse, and the rear main seal still needs to be dealt with at some time.  Last weekend, FBM blessed me with a plethora of parts, so I now have a TCI torque converter that should stall a few hundred RPM higher than what is in the truck now.  This is good, since it seems really low, probably due to the truck being about 1500 lbs lighter than the Sierra was.  I snagged a set of 243 heads from someone else, along with some other LS S10 parts that might get used on another project, or sold off.  I figure they should work with with the LS3 cam I have in the parts stash, if I don't upgrade to the 823 rec port heads I have.  Dubious on that for now, as one of those is a bit beat up, and I'm not confident in my skills to clean it up.

And finally, cold oil pressure seems a little low right now.  Not "the engine is going to blow up low", but still a bit concerning.  Being as it is a common cause, whenever the engine comes out, I'll see if replacing the cam bearings does the trick for oil pressure.

There's a chance I'll do all this work when the truck is off the road for salt season, but I suspect the odds are better that it'll happen in early spring.  Until then, I'll try to get some more miles on it, and enjoy it.