The truck is a 1987 GMC S15, 2.8 V-6, automatic, TBI injected. Due to recent fire damage (fix the oil leaks before they ignite on the manifold at 11:00 PM on a rainy noght at the mexican restaraunt....) i started tearing down my 2.hate tonight to fix the oil leaks and minor damage. the wors of it appears to be the AC hose, heater hose from the manifold, battery cable, and a little melting on the smog pump crap. while i was tearing into it, i got to thinking about stuff that should/could/needs to be done while its apart.
the list i came up with, and questions.
1. fix oil leaks at intake manifold and valve covers.
2. change out heater hose.
3. replace plug wires (god bless lifetime warrenty)
4. lash valves (doesnt look any harder than doing the solid roller in the duster)
5. can i delete the smog pump? cap off where it goes into the exhaust manifolds, and install a shorter belt. reduce weight, make the truck that much easier to work on. will it kick a check enging light or put it into limp home mode? furthermore, is it possible to relocate the alternator down to where the smog pump was, or will that minor of a weight shift and relocation not be worth the hassle?
6. remove charcoal canister, as its cracked pretty bad. cant be holding vacuum any more like that. just remove the vacuum line and cap off the line to the tank, right? same questions apply. will it kick a check engine or limp home?
7. can i run the truck for a little while until i can afford a new AC hose sutup? i wont have any hoses from the back of the compressor, and the compressor is still good. i dont want to mness it up. just cant swing hoses right now.
8. reset base timing. chiltons says zero. any benifit in bumping it to say 10 before?
9. clean, paint, etc.
10. port intake for 5.7 TBI installation at a later date.
11. relocate the battery under the bed.
anything im missing? assume that the truck doesnt have to pass inspection (saftey only), but does have to be stone axe reliable and not do anything funny. drive just like (or better than) it did before the fire.
thanks.
Michael
Moving the alternator down and the battery to the bed, what's your goal here? You say stone axe reliable but these sound like lower center of gravity stuff.
Fix what's broken [or burnt] and keep it stock. If you need more power, better suspension, whatever, do it once you know it's reliable. Don't disconnect the pump until the engine's right, too many variables involved. Make it run, make it safe, THEN make it faster/modified.
I was told a long time ago by a mechanic that with all the little electrical connections and computer gee whiz stuff under the hood of newer vehicles they get a little misting of oil, then dust collects on them, next thing you know you've got electrical issues because they overheat. You may chase these down for quite a while after a confligration.
Dan
well, twofold, really. the truck, up until now, has been reliable and safe. the oil leaks were just annoying until friday. i had also been working on making it my autocross and challenge vehicle until the fire. so while im repairing, i might as well modify so i dont have to pull it apart again. the reason i woul like to disconnect the pump, etc, is so that i dont have to pay for stuff i would rather get rid of anyway. if its already torched, and i was origonally planning on getting rid of it, nows the time.
i do completely agree on the safe/reliable/fast order of things. thats why im adressing stuff now that COULD be passable, just to save myself the headache later.
good call on the electrical connections. ill take the time while the harness is pulled out to clean all teh connections and re-loom it for protection.
anything else i should look at?
michael
Dusterbd13 wrote:
anything else i should look at?
michael
Uh yeah, what started the fire?
the oil leaks dumping on the manifold, i think. either that, or the positive cable somehow grounded out on the exhaust pipe and ignited the oil that was all over the place.
Michael
You can likely clean up the wiring with a pressure washer set on low or the wide setting. I know you're supposed to refrain from doing that, but I've done it on a lot of RX7 and Miata harnesses and have yet to run into any issues with any of my daily-driven vehicles. Cleaning it by hand is certainly preferred, but it's also incredibly time consuming.
The 2.8's are certainly reliable little beasts. If it was possible to buy a decent starter from a Vatozone or OhOhOhO'Reilly's my '91 S10 would be the epitome of reliability. Now, it's plenty reliable as long as I park on a slight incline.
I got lost in your original post (formatting issue with this board not criticizing your post)
This may help.
The truck is a 1987 GMC S15, 2.8 V-6, automatic, TBI injected. Due to recent fire damage (fix the oil leaks before they ignite on the manifold at 11:00 PM on a rainy night at the Mexican restaurant....) i started tearing down my 2.hate tonight to fix the oil leaks and minor damage. the worst of it appears to be the AC hose, heater hose from the manifold, battery cable, and a little melting on the smog pump crap. while i was tearing into it, i got to thinking about stuff that should/could/needs to be done while its apart. the list i came up with, and questions.
1. fix oil leaks at intake manifold and valve covers.
2. change out heater hose.
3. replace plug wires (god bless lifetime warranty)
4. lash valves (doesn't look any harder than doing the solid roller in the duster)
5. can i delete the smog pump? cap off where it goes into the exhaust manifolds, and install a shorter belt. reduce weight, make the truck that much easier to work on. will it kick a check engine light or put it into limp home mode? furthermore, is it possible to relocate the alternator down to where the smog pump was, or will that minor of a weight shift and relocation not be worth the hassle?
6. remove charcoal canister, as its cracked pretty bad. cant be holding vacuum any more like that. just remove the vacuum line and cap off the line to the tank, right? same questions apply. will it kick a check engine or limp home?
7. can i run the truck for a little while until i can afford a new AC hose setup? i wont have any hoses from the back of the compressor, and the compressor is still good. i dont want to mess it up. just cant swing hoses right now.
8. reset base timing. Chilton's says zero. any benefit in bumping it to say 10 before?
9. clean, paint, etc.
10. port intake for 5.7 TBI installation at a later date.
11. relocate the battery under the bed.
anything I'm missing? assume that the truck doesn't have to pass inspection (safety only), but does have to be stone axe reliable and not do anything funny. drive just like (or better than) it did before the fire.
thanks. Michael
How do we turn off auto formatting when posting. I want to be able to actually post what I type.
