1994 Chevy C3500 Crew Cab Long Bed Build Thread

[frito-bandito]

This is an awesome build thread! Truck looks good man!

 

[JScott23]

Truck still has some fine tuning to do, particularly with setting the idle and dialing in the timing. obviously requires a little more tinkering but oh well.

Found some rust free tow hooks on Ebay... got them installed.

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Truck got pulled outside so i could clean up from the last couple months.

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Both of the trucks. (still kinda weird not having 3 lol)

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[JScott23]

This weekend ended up repairing some wiring from my younger days... back in my teenage years, I wired in the 5 marker lights just tapping into the license plate lights and leaving the bare wiring exposed. This weekend tore all that out and rewired all 5 lights, while covering all of the exposed wiring with loom and really securing them out of the way. My extended cab always had issues back there from corrosion, so I really wanted to make sure I took care of this now, to avoid headache later.

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For those who haven't seen or don't follow me elsewhere, this is my daily driver... 93 Chevy C3500 CCLB with a 6.5 that my dad has owned for the last 20 years.. Really it's the truck that inspired me to build my 94 before I knew I would end up with the it. It's really the main reason I sold my red extended cab 2500 since I didn't need two daily drivers.

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One of these days I plan to re-do it. The interior is in great shape with original carpet/seats/door panels in the same burgundy cloth color. (Except this truck was factory and has PW/PL) The interior won't need to be restored at all, just protected during the painting process. It's on its 2nd motor (about 160k mile takeout from another 93) and it's on its 2nd transmission. The truck itself has about 280k miles on the body. The bed is shot from years of abuse and the rockers are starting to rust, however I'd still love to re-do it some day.

I've pondered all kinds of ideas on it, from 5.9 cummins swaps, to 4x4 chassis swaps, making it a CCSB, SAS swaps, etc, etc. Part of me thinks owning two CCLB 2WD's is kind of silly, so I could go for building a CCSB 4x4 daily driver. Unfortunately, a good CCSB 4x4 frame for a reasonable price would be hard to find given their short production runs. Realistically it will probably stay put on its current frame even though owning 2 CCLB's is kind of silly.

 

[JScott23]

Pretty frustrating night. The power steering pump isn't aligned causing it to rip off belts left and right. The mounting brackets are from an 88 K1500, and the power steering pump is original to the 6.5 diesel and does bolt up, but sticks out too far. (causing the belt to jump over and rip down the middle)

Now i used a pulley puller to take off the pulley but for the life of me cannot seem to get it back on. (i was planning on using washers but now am second guessing) The puller i used took it off fine, but won't pull it back on, so i can't even get the exhaust done until i get this resolved. Not sure if i lost a small part to my puller or what but its not working right..

I'm not really keen on using washers to space the pump over to align with the other pulleys. (I would need about 3 washers to correctly space it) I would rather everything fit as it should. I did notice that the 88 GMC with the 6.2 uses a different pump than a 94 6.5. Same bolt pattern but a more condensed unit. Unfortunatly since i'm mixing and matching i'm just going to have to probably buy a different diesel hydroboost power steering pump from an earlier year to see if i can find one that goes with this pulley bracket.

 

[JScott23]

Well after a very tedious effort I got the power steering pump properly spaced so that everything works as it should. No more eating up belts. Had to use some washers and longer bolts to line up the power steering pump accordingly. Major pain and took a few tries to get the proper spacing. Nonetheless truck runs.

Ordered a Gibson Performance :"Superflow" muffler with 3" inlets and 3" outlets. Not sure where I'm going to have the exhaust dump yet but the muffler is ordered. A local exhaust shop will be doing the exhaust work since I don't have a pipe bender.

I am kind of leaning towards a single PS exit. Maybe two, not sure.

 

[phule]

Good to hear youve got no major problems!! Congrats! Im a big fan of hidden exhausts personally mines dumped after the rear axle. You can only see about 1.5" of the tip from the back

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

[88GMCtruck]

Just FYI the early early TBI trucks used a steel accessory brackets. I think the diesel probably had the larger cast stuff, and later gas motors used aluminum ones. I'm assuming some of these differences contribute to the alignment. I also know there are at least 2 offsets of PS pump pulley - I had a spare pump from my 88 that had the steel brackets and it's vastly different from the offset on the 98.

 

[JScott23]

Just FYI the early early TBI trucks used a steel accessory brackets. I think the diesel probably had the larger cast stuff, and later gas motors used aluminum ones. I'm assuming some of these differences contribute to the alignment. I also know there are at least 2 offsets of PS pump pulley - I had a spare pump from my 88 that had the steel brackets and it's vastly different from the offset on the 98.

I found out that the hard way..... at least i got it for now.

 

[JScott23]

So i finally got to take the truck for a spin this evening. Got quoted $200 for a complete exhaust system from a local shop for a complete exhaust system. Should be set up in a few weeks. Not a bad quote i thought.

So... the verdict on the 350... it ran pretty well. Lots of power on the high end, the motor sounds good and really revs up well. The downside, is the torque just isn't there. Its better than the TBI 350 trucks, but isn't quite as powerful as the 96+ Vortec 350's. The carb really roars once all 4 barrels open up and thats when the 350 wakes up, but it has to work a little harder than some of the 96+ trucks do. (granted its a CCLB) It has a very raspy idle that sounds great, and sounds like music to my ears when you stomp on it, but overall i'd say i could've gone for a little more torque. For a daily driver the 350 will work great, and i really am not disappointed, it just has to work a little harder than the 6.5 did. Alot of this could have to do with the trans tuning which i have to fine tune.

Now... i did kind of expect these results.. This motor gets me back on the road, and it will be a nice reliable cruiser while i have my 6.5 to do the heavy work.

Now I do have my 51 Chevy pickup sitting on a K10 frame that i've been waiting to restore. What i probably will do down the road is swap this motor into that truck, instead of building another 350 for it. Then i'll probably try and find a 5.9 Cummins for this truck. That way i can really take my time and build the cummins while being able to drive the truck throughout the process. I really haven't done many modifications to it during the conversion so swapping back to diesel will be really simple. Overall i'm glad the truck is done and i'll finally be able to drive it... just could've gone for some more torque.

Here are some pics from tonight.

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[BowtieBrody]

Looks amazing! There's got to be something you could do to make that engine put out a little more grunt,