1998 Chev K3500 ECLB 454 Vortec / 4L80e Dually

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gstubbz

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When you don't have a girlfriend you can have trucks.......(truth talk)......as well as wtf Gavin you have too many projects already!

For real though I think I'm going to sell my 89 and build this instead. And I want a Cummins for my future 3500HD. I'll explain later.

This is a $450 find, and the guy I bought the parts 95 k1500 from earlier this week had this to pick up but no room to store it on his property and mentioned it to me. Today I actually looked at it!

This guy is named Anthony and loves to wheel and deal. If there is any part in particular I need, he can make it happen, while I'm shocked about that I also find it super cool because he can make stuff I have wanted for years easy.

Well onto this truck. I paid $450 for it, I will be getting a title to it, Nevada tags expired 02/16, and it's sat for a bit.

It's a 98 ECLB K3500 dually with my favorite thing. A big block, and it's a Vortec. It has 137,083 miles on the odometer, the original owner is a old guy, and it has a salvage title because it was hit by a snow plow.

The real problem with it is the transmission. It's packing a 4L80e, and I was told that the guy drove it to a gas station, stopped, then started it again and attempted to go into reverse. It wouldn't go so he just parked it.

When I looked at it today the body is kinda beat, needs a drivers door, fender, hood, and the bed is thrashed. Also needs a back window (I have one) and a seat. No biggie those parts are cheap enough and all I really need is the seat and a white door.

Anthony wants the rear axle and the front hub spacers to dually his Squarebody Suburban, which I'm cool with I didn't want a dually anyway. I have a 14b full float 4.10 axle I was planning to put in the 89 but I'll put it in this truck, as well as the white bed from my parts 95 to make it a SRW truck.

This may be a good truck, and will allow me to tow things while not beating on the dodge which I think is starting to show symptoms of a failing transmission (I sure hope that's not it though).

So now onto the transmission problem. We checked it today and it had absolutely no fluid on the dipstick, so I may just get lucky and install a new filter and fluid and it will run and work. If not, Anothony will sell me a 4x4 nv4500 from a 6.0 Vortec truck for $500 and I give him an SM465 as part of the deal. Tyler has a cast iron top SM465 I would give him in a trade and then just give Tyler the aluminum top SM465 out of my 89.

Now onto the crew cab 3500HD and the 89 k2500. I'm thinking about yanking the engine and trans from the truck and selling the truck frame/body to my friend Joe since he wants to build up another truck. That would get one less project out of my hair (although I just bought the 95 parts truck to yank the 350 to install into the 89). The crew cab I will still get eventually, although I'm sold on putting a Cummins in it and this k3500 will be my temporary tow pig, possibly future SAS.

I'm crazy I know, let me know your opinions and give me ideas I could use them!

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BowtieBrody

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Damn, if I could find cheap trucks like you do I'd have a ton of projects too, and 137K is decent to boot! A good deep cleaning and a few new body panels and it'll be right as rain,
 

GarrettGmc

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I need to make more trips over there. What year cummins engine you thinkin? I'll keep eye out for decent priced one unless you get one built
 

gstubbz

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Damn, if I could find cheap trucks like you do I'd have a ton of projects too, and 137K is decent to boot! A good deep cleaning and a few new body panels and it'll be right as rain,

I'm thinking so! My first big block and I am super excited about it, I've never driven one so hopefully it's like owning a bunch of bald eagles!

I have pretty much everything to SRW it and body panels so it just needs time and a cleanup. A cool truck I think!

I need to make more trips over there. What year cummins engine you thinkin? I'll keep eye out for decent priced one unless you get one built

I have been finding decent stuff lately, maybe it's my growing list of connections! Probably a 24v or a Common Rail. But the crew cab project isn't happening anytime soon. I just need a decent towing truck and this k3500 should get me by, the crew is probably a 2018 project
 

gstubbz

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Also, Tapatalk decided that it should recommend my own thread to me this evening. Thought it was funny.

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BowtieBrody

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I'm thinking so! My first big block and I am super excited about it, I've never driven one so hopefully it's like owning a bunch of bald eagles!

I have pretty much everything to SRW it and body panels so it just needs time and a cleanup. A cool truck I think!



I have been finding decent stuff lately, maybe it's my growing list of connections! Probably a 24v or a Common Rail. But the crew cab project isn't happening anytime soon. I just need a decent towing truck and this k3500 should get me by, the crew is probably a 2018 project

As a 454 owner, who came from a worn out small block, it's a night and day difference!
Big thing to keep an eye on is fuel injectors and FPR, you can read up more pretty much anywhere if you look up 454 injectors,
I bought a set of 5O motorsports Bosh injectors and it really helped my truck quite a bit with start-ups and fuel economy even,
 

Biggershaft96

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Soo did you get rid of the girlfriend and get another truck or, just got another truck? Im confused but either way hell ya, 454s are good nomatter what package they come in!
 

gstubbz

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As a 454 owner, who came from a worn out small block, it's a night and day difference!
Big thing to keep an eye on is fuel injectors and FPR, you can read up more pretty much anywhere if you look up 454 injectors,
I bought a set of 5O motorsports Bosh injectors and it really helped my truck quite a bit with start-ups and fuel economy even,

I've been dedicating my time to reading up on this thing. Learning some new things about the L29, I have a 411 pcm I can install in this truck after I pass smog and it's in my name. But it's for tuning purposes :) Thank you for the injector recommendation! I'll probably buy fancy injectors soon enough.

Soo did you get rid of the girlfriend and get another truck or, just got another truck? Im confused but either way hell ya, 454s are good nomatter what package they come in!

Girlfriend dropped me to "find herself", I was pissed for way too long about the situation. I have trucks to keep me entertained instead and that's probably why I've picked up 4 in the last couple of weeks!

And I agree, then I can say the only gmt400 engine combo I haven't had has been a 6.2 and a 5.0, but owned at least one of every other engine combo!

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Picking this truck up on Saturday so I will have all weekend to mess with it. My coworker is going to haul it for me for a small sum of $200. Which is cool with me I don't want to wreck my Dodge hauling this thing and would prefer his 93 k3500 SRW ECLB with a 502 in it anyway. And it's still over $1 a mile trip for him.

I'm going to grab a case of transmission fluid, a filter kit, and a fuel filter with hopes when it's in Doyle I can make it run, then drive. I'm still going to get the NV4500 but I am willing to take the risk putting fluid in the 4L80e just to see what it does. The guy I'm buying it from told me that he did get it to run a few weeks back. So that's reassuring!
 

gstubbz

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I agree, wouldn't want either lol rather have a 6.5 turbo or a 350.

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Paid for the truck this morning and paid for the NV4500 I get to pick up next weekend. Said it comes with the driveshafts, transfer case, bellhousing, slave cylinder, hard line, etc. I know there will still be stuff to buy but at least I get to own one finally! Accomplished one manual swap already in the 93, although I bet swapping this thing will be much more difficult.

Plan is to tackle the 5 speed swap once it's done with smog, that way I can get ballsy with the 411 pcm after the fact and not worry about check engine lights and stuff.
 
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