1994 Chev K1500 6.5 TD ECSB - Junkyard Rescue!

[gstubbz]

Today's update. Super close to running, all wires now connected, starter is in and wired up, all glow plugs are connected, then I also took the door from the parts truck and put it on. The door pins are ruined so I'm going to order some new ones. In the future I'll also swap the passenger side door since it is immaculate (interior wise) and the rubber handle piece is still attached and not all messed up!

Next weekend this thing should be running. The front driveshaft u-joints were so stiff that you needed to use a hammer to move the piece that bolts to the front differential. Original u-joints too, had to use a torch to remove them. The ones on the rear driveshaft have been replaced at some point but I'm still going to replace them. Little tidbit: the rear driveshaft is aluminum in this truck, my 98 was steel.

I could have got it started today but I need to put in the bolts for the torque converter / flex plate. I regret not bolting them up earlier while the engine was out but once that is done I can start it! I did test the ignition today, starter cranks without any issues, and also the glow plug system is fully functional. In the past something was messed up where the glow plug light would come on for less than a second so you could never get them to cycle properly but today they cycled just fine though! The prior solution was two wires running into the cab. I ripped those out.

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Also yesterday I removed the thermostat from the old engine since I knew it was good, and I'm glad I took the one from the new engine out. The thermostat hit the ground and split into two pieces. Lots of crap underneath the thermostat so I grabbed a hose and ran water through the system until it came out clean.

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Also killed more time today and took the pistons out of the old block. The one pictured below was pretty mangled! All the other pistons were okay, so I took one home and my friend took the messed up one. One of the other pistons was seized into place and all the rings on the pistons were way too loose.

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[gstubbz]

No crazy updates today. Ordered new door pins and door rollers which was $35 for both doors off of ebay. Pulled out all the old u-joints and plan to buy some new ones either today or tomorrow. The u-joints for the front driveshaft were seized into place.

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I'm considering selling this truck again if I have it complete within the next few weeks, only because I want something bigger and better!

1993 K3500 Crew Cab Long Bed with a 6.5L

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It needs an axle (which I have a 8 lug under the parts truck), wheels (parts truck), and last but not least, a transmission. It had a nv4500 that was going bad so the guy took it out. The crew cab is $400 and the dude said the title is clean, then I need to hunt down a nv4500. Everything else is there he sent me interior pics when I asked for them. Brown interior with manual windows. Drivers seat is tore up but I'd be replacing with cloth.

Opinions if I should jump on the crew cab while it's available and sell this truck? I know I probably won't get much for what I have into it but I'd like to have a crew cab GMT400 (and have since day one).

 

[gstubbz]

Decided against the crew cab for this second (and nobody on here told me if I should do it or not lol), maybe if he texts me in a few weeks saying he will take $100, I may just do it. It's like two hours away and I have to put the axle and **** in it. Really don't have the room for it and finding a Chevy nv4500 won't be cheap.

Anyway, spent $109 at NAPA yesterday for new U-Joints, new strap kits for front and rear driveshafts, RTV, badass cleaning cloths, and a grease gun (since I didn't own one yet).

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Installed the new U-Joints, huge improvement, looking forward to see how the truck drives with them!!

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And new door pins showed up today (Ebay Link, $14.99 for the pair (4x pins)). Still waiting on the door rollers which I'll probably see either tomorrow or Saturday.

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[gstubbz]

Good news today! It runs.

Yesterday I was able to get the torque converter bolts in and the batteries we had just didn't have enough juice to crank the thing. So I took those batteries home and charged them up (again) last night.

Today was much more successful. Today I brought out four fully charged batteries, fresh diesel, and a brand new fuel filter. So when I was trying to bleed the injector lines diesel would come out, and I wired up the lift pump (port G on OBD1 port to 12v) to run and make sure fuel was coming through. All that was coming out were bubbles, and I later discovered the main fuel line coming out of the tank was broken.

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So, we took the smaller gas can and just shoved the hose in it so I could make this thing run. We had starting fluid that we burned through prior to figuring out the fuel line was ruptured, and during that scenario we had it run for almost a second.

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Once the lift pump was actually pumping fuel, we were able to make it run! The first successful try we had a new NeverStart battery and an Adoptama (Optima but adopted), then had jumper cables running to my dodge to make sure it had consistent power. On the second start we were able to fire it right up without needing to be jumped by the Dodge. Super happy!

So now all it is is reassembly time. Going to buy all new transmission fluid and a filter to start fresh before I try driving it. Then reinstall the core support with the radiators and all that good stuff. Also, both blocks (new and old) are both 599 blocks.

So, here is a video of it starting! Both the first and second start (including the one second I could make it run off of starting fluid). The video came out kinda ******, I blame Premire CS6 for not rendering it how I wanted and the fact my iPhone SE lens was probably coated in oil.

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Actually in the background there was a gnarly fire that you can faintly see smoke from when I hand the camera to my friend. That fire started today and is over 2,500 acres and was 5% contained last I read.

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[gstubbz]

And also a little bonus. I went through my iCloud photos and found the videos from the day in the junkyard on April 7, 2015. This was moments after we were able to crank it and have it actually running. This video came out much better than the one I posted above.

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That old 6.5 smoked way too much, much more than any other 6.2/6.5 I've seen. That engine was probably ruined 100k before I bought it!

 

[gstubbz]

I found a dude on craigslist parting out a 98 c3500 that he wanted the 454 out of, so I asked him about the cab. He wanted $450 for the entire cab with doors, glass, interior, steering column, and everything but I talked him down to $350. Picking it up this weekend in Sacramento.

My reasoning for buying this over the 94 CCLB I posted above is this cab already has the dash I want, with a perfect interior and power everything. That and I have no room for a third truck but a cab I can work with

This will make my interior swap much easier (by just putting this on the frame), but I'll have electrical nightmares in my future. This will be interesting with a blue interior, I would prefer grey but I can't win them all. I read on a thread the other day another member (has a crew cab stepside) on here said to use a 1/2 ton frame you add 13" and the two center body mounts need to extend out half an inch on both sides. I'm going to rip the cab off my parts truck and cut the 13" of frame I need from that.

Of course this is going to sit around until I have time to mess with chopping the frame (Probably next year).

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[98MNChevy]

Looking good! It'll be neat to see the crew cab swap! Oh, and blue interiors are the way to go.


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[gstubbz]

Thank you!! I look forward to it! Before I junk the parts truck I am yanking the fuel and brake lines to keep around until I start the swap. I have never seen a blue 95+ interior in person before, I've seen red and didn't think it looked all that great. Blue should be cool though!

 

[deejaaa]

i prefer the CC instead of SC or EC. just didn't have enough room till i got 4 doors.
i'm going to look at mine this weekend and will try to get it started just like you did.

 

[gstubbz]

i prefer the CC instead of SC or EC. just didn't have enough room till i got 4 doors.
i'm going to look at mine this weekend and will try to get it started just like you did.

In high school I wish I had a crew cab, packing 6 into my EC was not fun! Now that I'm almost 19, I guess I can build a crew cab if I want one so bad lol.

I cracked the drivers side injector lines until diesel started to drip out then I tightened them. If you must use starting fluid remove the smaller sensor on the upper intake and spray fluid in there. Spraying it into the turbo didn't do me much good.