1994 Chev K1500 6.5 TD ECSB - Junkyard Rescue!

[98BlackSierra]

Bit long of a drive for sure! 3 1/2 hours one way to get it. It's crazy that nothing here has one bit of rust. I work at a service center and we do smogs, the only vehicle I remember that came in with rust to no end was a 1995 Yukon 2 door with Michigan plates.
QUOTE]

Key word, MICHIGAN lol. I hate this state when it comes to vehicles.

Glad to see you saved one though. I've always loved seeing these trucks on the road. I was behind 4 of them at a stop light the other day and had a grin from ear to ear. Do you have any interior photos of it?

 

[gstubbz]

Bit long of a drive for sure! 3 1/2 hours one way to get it. It's crazy that nothing here has one bit of rust. I work at a service center and we do smogs, the only vehicle I remember that came in with rust to no end was a 1995 Yukon 2 door with Michigan plates.
QUOTE]

Key word, MICHIGAN lol. I hate this state when it comes to vehicles.

Glad to see you saved one though. I've always loved seeing these trucks on the road. I was behind 4 of them at a stop light the other day and had a grin from ear to ear. Do you have any interior photos of it?

Me too! Thumbs up to every GMT400 owner I see In my profile pic almost every truck in it was a gmt400, we high schoolers just like them too much!

I have yet to take interior photos of it but when I do I'll get a few pictures. Not too bad though for 292k on the clock!

 

[gstubbz]

So I have a few updates on this truck.

I went to Pick n Pull in Reno to buy an overhead console for my 98 and a grille insert for the top half of the 6.5 grille since it was missing. The OHC was $47 and the single grille insert was 40 bucks!!! So I told them to keep it screw that I'll just buy the OHC.

So then on Thursday I had my friend borrow the 6.5 key so he could see how well the 6.5 did in cold weather since we were having a huge cold chill. Well it did fine until halfway into the day when he was hauling something across his property and the 6.5 had a piss fit and the starter stayed on when the key was off. So my friend tried as fast as he could to disconnect the battery wires but it was too late... every positive wire melted and couldn't be used again.

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So then jump forward to about 9pm last night. After work I helped my co-worker get his 84 K10 running again and then jolted over to my 6.5 and get it to start up again. I was working on the thing till 1am trying to use these crazy thick battery wires that came off my friends 87 f250 6.9 parts truck (looks quite corroded but I spent a good portion of time cleaning it up) and finally wired everything up. The issue was that the tiny ground wire on the starter was shorting out with the big positive nut so the starter would stay on whenever it received power from the batteries. Started up immediately with not one issue! I also started her this morning without being plugged in and also fired right up.

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When I was done dealing with the truck at 1am I went to town to get a monster to drink and when I came back I jumped on Craigslist to see what was on there and by this point it's 3am. I happened out of luck to find a post from a guy in my area that was selling a Standyne PMD with the heatsink/6ft extension wire for $50. Called the guy this morning and he lived about 20 minutes away so I came home with 2 PMDs, the heatsink and the extension cable for $50. Just need to install once I get the chance. This guy had a 94 k1500 (7200gvwr) ECSB with 342k. Truck had original 6.5 block but new heads, and he is converting it to manual injection also putting a 700r4 in the truck since his 4l80e is all messed up.

 

[1500z71]

Subbed. Keep the updates coming! Love stories like these, make her look right man

 

[gstubbz]

Subbed. Keep the updates coming! Love stories like these, make her look right man

Thank you man, I appreciate it

 

[gstubbz]

More updates today. Wired up the PMD extension cable which wasn't too hard to do and was test fitting places for the relocated PMD. What was also cool is that one of the PMDs has the little piece inside that has the two wire pins and from what I've seen these are either configured for more fuel or less fuel by two pins inside the PMD.

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Then the other thing I did was mess up the alignment of the headlights pushing my buddies 87 F250 around with my bumper, so I need to fix that and replace my cracked grille. I am thinking a Cheyenne grille would just scream work truck to me, which is what I like my GMC can be my pretty truck 6.5 is work

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[dowsewashere]

Wow I really dig this truck. Keep it up.

 

[gstubbz]

Wow I really dig this truck. Keep it up.

Thanks, me too

And my name is Gavin!!

 

[gstubbz]

Woohoo more updates!

I put on a set of 285 Michelin tires that were mounted on NBS Chevy Tahoe rims which was much better than the bald 245s I had on it. These tires/rims sat out in front of work and my boss was selling them for $100. Well after putting them away every day for a year my boss told me just to take them when I got off work. I have all four center caps but I don't have any lug nuts that they twist onto. My 98 with 265s is still taller than this 94 with 285s, but all it needs is the torsion bars cranked and at that point I hope it'll match the height of my 98.

I mentioned earlier that the grille was cracked from pushing a F250 around and considered a Cheyenne-style grille swap however the local junkyard and the Pick N Pull in Reno did not have one Cheyenne in there. Then I tried looking for another Chevy grille and found one, one grille off a 99 Suburban that was in decent shape with no major cracks. That grille would have been $68 with the 4 corner lenses and the two large ones under the headlight... ON A 50% OFF SALE DAY!!! So I said screw paying that much to begin with so I paid $36 to have the grille and the four outer lenses.

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The exterior of the truck looks so much better with a proper grille that isn't cracked or missing a grille insert. The one thing I need to still do is replace the headlights since I cracked one of the housings and the other side will not line up again.

One last thing. Finally put new wipers on my 98 and the ones that came off were still decent so I put them on the 6.5 and it is super nice to see after playing around in mud on the back field! The old wipers were rotted out crap...

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One last thing, I will soon be picking up a Dana 60 with 4.11s... I see an 8 lug swap in the future! More info on this once I pick up the axle.

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[2KGMC]

I am tracking this I love to see new life given to great trucks.....and I have a soft spot for 6.5's even though they can be a pain in the backside oh and wallet