94 silverado 5.7 beater

[94oldbetsy]

Hello all, im recently new to this site but have been viewing it for some time now to answer alot of my questions and to check out cool builds. Lets start this off by saying im a 19 year old male, who has a passion for low cars and big trucks. I have a 1990 nissan 300zx that i have had for a few years now, but as living in Canada i cannot drive her in the winter. Therefore the build of my "beater." This is my third truck ive owned, but my first fullsize and let me say im in love now. Ive had two mazda b3000's for a winter each and at the end of the winter they both died on me. So this year i thought i would try my luck with something ive always loved, the c/k1500 pickup. I picked this bad boy up less then a month ago for $800. It came with the 5.7L 350 engine and had 315xxx km on the clock. I work long days and before i purchased the truck i was only able to see it at night which we all know is a really bad thing. But being young and stupid i thought it looked alright at night so it couldnt be much worse during the day! After going one day after work i gave the gentleman his money and drove it home. The next day i woke up and thought what the hell did i get myself into... This is the truck the day after i picked her up.

 

[94oldbetsy]

I was told by the previous owner that it has a broken exhaust manifold bolt and thats the cause for the ticking and the exhaust leak. So after having it for a few days i decided it was time to tackle it. After spending a few nights trying to get the stuck manifold bolts off then spraying them with wd-40 to let sit i finally got the driver side manifold off. Doing that i snapped all 3 bolts from the manifold to the y pipe but thats not a big deal i could just cut them and drill them out. Since getting the manifold off i realized that the bolt was broken off in the head not just the manifold so i threw some gasket maker over the top of the bolt hoping it would prevent the ticking. After finding there was no gasket at all between the manifold and the engine i put a brand new one in and closed her back up. Having realized there was no manifold gasket on the driver side i figured there would not be one on the passenger side either so i opened it up and sure enough i was right, snapping the same 3 bolts on the y-pipe to figure it out. Hoping for the best i fired her up again and realized that it made no difference at all at they there were actually flames shooting out from my block. After alot of inspecting i found out my spark plug by the firewall was dangerously loose and causing flames to shoot out of there. I went to take it out and the plug snapped in half with just the plug "shell" or tip still in the head. I then went out to grab a bolt extractor hoping it would work and finally it did. I got the plug out and a new one in then there were no more flames or ticking! I then figured it was time to sort out the rust issue which everyone has been telling me is "too far gone for anything." After poking around at the rust for abit this is what it looked like.

 

[94oldbetsy]

After screwing around with ALOT of fiberglass and bondo for a week or two this is what she currently looks like. Keep in mind that i am not an expert by any means and this is just a temporary fix to get me through the winter. Also i do not have a welder or the funds or else i would have bought the replacment panels. Also it SUCKS not having a garage and working outside in the cold winter weather but im not complaining! This is the current state she is in, and any help/feedback is much appreciated. Keeping in mind that this is a budget build and its only my beater!
Thanks alot,
Dan

 

[94oldbetsy]

Also forgot to mention that i have had a few problems with it but what can you expect with a $800 truck. A week after i picked it up it i found that it would not go in reverse or neautral at a gas station, so i had to climb the curb and get it back home to take a look at it. With the transmission being in reverse it acted as park, and in neautral it would be drive. After getting out of the truck and looking underneath my driveway was black ashphalt but it was now a river of red. I did some inspecting and found that my tranny oil cooler line had blown. Apparently it is a hard part for part stores to find as they ordered me oil cooling lines not tranny cooling lines. I then decided to cut out the blown part and make my own fix with a 100psi fuel line. So far thats holding up but as soon as i got that all fixed my power sterring has developed a leak and i do not have the funds for a new pump right now being so close to christmas and the end of the month (rent) so i drive around with a bottle if p/s fluid filling it up every other day. I found a bottle of gunk "steer seal" laying around my house so i threw that in tonight and we will see if that does anything. Ive also noticed white smoke coming out of my exhaust even after its at operating temp so i was looking around and i couldnt find any leak by my water pump or around the head so i dont believe its either of those but im also going to buy some coolant "stop leak" and give that a try. As long as this truck makes me through the winter i will be happy, but i would love for it to last a little longer so i can have some fun in the woods with her in the summer.
Once again any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[twomanymontes]

Welcome Aboard. Use steel line or transmission hose to repair that trans leak. Regular fuel line will burst, cooler line pressure can reach over 250 PSI.

 

[1993Z71]

800 bux cant complain

 

[1993Z71]

Paint it with rockerguard

 

[tomb]

Watch the coolant level, white smoke = intake manifold or head gasker leak

 

[tomb]

http://www.rockauto.com/m/mobilecatalog.php