Adam's 1996 K1500 Z71

[DirtBag]

Mine has gray interior and I have black Husky liners in mine. I think it looks good!

 

[adray96]

Thank you, I will keep that in mind!

Well, I want to do the Kodiak/Topkick door handles on my truck, and reading through one of the write ups on here, I saw that parts are getting hard to come by. That being said, I made a list of everything I need, and found out that 4 of them are discontinued. I found 3 of the 4 discontinued parts, and ordered 2 of them, so far. I haven't looked for the 4th discontinued part yet, but I'm going to look for it this week, and probably buy the other two discontinued parts with the next paycheck. After that, I'll start buying the stuff that isn't disconnected yet. I want to get everything I need before its all discontinued, haha.

I guess I'm starting my first "fun" project, even though I haven't finished with the maintenance stuff, yet, haha.

Just to give an idea of what I have planned for the truck in the near future.

-lower intake gasket and bolts
-mpfi upgrade
-valve cover gasket
-oil change
(Hopefully the above will be done next weekend so I can start driving it again)

After that I plan to bring the truck to school, and put it on a lift to check out the brakes and suspension.
-new calipers (painted yellow?)
-pads
-stainless steel hoses
-NBS master cylinder
-rotors
-drum rebuild

Do people paint drums different colors? I thought I saw an 07ish Colorado with red drums before, but couldn't tell if it looked good or not, haha. I'll probably just paint them black. I'd definitely like to do yellow calipers, and other yellow accents. I think it'll look good with the green

-Green Filters air filter
-fuel filter
-tires (it has 285s on it now, I'll either stick with those, or go 33s, should be about the same size, right?)
-change front and rear diff fluid
-gather replacement panels to repair some rust in the spring

-interior light lenses (the PO replaced most of the lights with green LEDs, and didn't have the lenses back on, for some reason.)

I'd like to get most of that done before winter, tires may have to wait a little while. They have decent tread, the PO said the ones in rear are new. The thing that bugs me is that I have Pathfinder All terrains in the rear, a different brand of mud terrains in front, and a Goodyear Wrangler for a spare. I'd like to have all the same brand, and all the same type of tire. Opposed to 3 different brands of tires, and two types of tires. Or, at least just all all terrains at the moment, since the all terrains are the newest ones.

Well, there's a bit of an update in the truck, along with a list of stuff that should be happening somewhat soon. I have a ton more planned, but those are the stuff I'd like to get done first.

 

[adray96]

I haven't posted it in this thread, yet, but I fixed the coolant leaks a couple weeks ago. Considering my last update was in September it obviously took longer than expected, haha.

Here's what I replaced on it:
- metal lower intake gaskets
- valve cover gaskets
- thermostat
- lower intake bolts
- upper intake bolts
- upper intake gasket
- cap and rotor
- battery
- mpfi injection
- belt

I also painted the valve covers yellow. I've put about 400-500 miles on the truck so far, and it seems to be doing great.

I was able to put my truck on a rack at school a couple times this week. The first time I was looking at suspension components and leaks, and the second time I looked at brakes.

I'll be needing all four ball joints, the lower on the passenger side is leaking pretty bad. I didn't think the rest looked that bad, but my buddy said all four were bad, plus I wasn't just going to to one lower. I'll be doing them in pairs.

There are also some leaks I'd like to address

This is the front diff, it looks like the cover gasket may be leaking, but it looks like there's another leak where the axle(?) meets the the diff, anyone know what that could be? It'd be the top left of the picture

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This is where the front drive shaft meets the differential. Would that be a pinion seal?

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This is where the rear driveshaft meets the transfer case.

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Then the rear pinion seal

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They won't all be done right now, there are other priorities, but I think I'll do the front differential before winter.

As for the brakes, I got pretty lucky. Nearly everything measured to be brand new, the only thing that didn't was the front passenger side pad, which was about a 5mm opposed to the 10 on the other side. My teacher thinks the sliding portion of the caliper maybe dirty, keeping it from having full movement. So, I'll probably just pad slap it and see why the one side is wearing faster, and call it a day.


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[adray96]

Just a little update, a couple weeks ago, one of my fuel lines rusted through. I had it towed to a shop and had them repair the line, I'll probably go back and do a new tank, sending unit, pump, straps, and all new lines in the spring or summer.

Also, I got some new lights for Christmas! All new forward light housings, and a third brake light. I still haven't completely decided on what I want to do for tail lights at the moment.

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[adray96]

Well, my buddy washed and waxed his charger, and he wanted to go take pictures. My car is on jack stands in the garage, sooooooo

I took the truck out:

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[adray96]

It's not a little while for an update, but it's pretty much just being driven. The fuel pump went out a week and a half ago, so I went ahead and did the fuel lines from the engine back, new tank, sending unit, pump, straps, and hardware. One of the strap bolts they sent me was too short, so I'm waiting for another one that I ordered from Fastenal, hopefully I can be driving it by the end of the week.

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I have a few other summer projects for it, as well, but the car will be more of a priority for now.

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[adray96]

Well, other than the fact that I've accumulated O2 sensor extensions, motor mounts, and should have my header studs tomorrow, there isn't much of an update for my car. Hopefully, in the next week or so, I can start the header swap on my car.

Since everyone loves car progress pics, I helped my buddy pull the 200R4 and trans crossmember from his 1987 Choo Choo Customs SS El Camino today.

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[adray96]

Haven't done a whole lot to the truck lately, I put some new head lights on, and I got a new grille, that will be prepped, sandblasted, and bed lined, along with the bumpers, and a light bar that will be going behind the grille, for Christmas. Those will be spring projects, though.

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Also, i was wondering is anyone knows where I can find some diagonal, slotted tail light covers for these trucks. My dad had some on his, and I've always like the way they looked. I've found one site that said they sold them, but my dad tried ordering them for Christmas, and he said he got an email saying they were no longer stocked, or something. I'd really appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction

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[adray96]

Figured some fellow 400 fans would appreciate this. I was at work today, and someone goes "hey Adam, there's someone taking pictures of your truck." And I walk to the window and see this.

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[adray96]

Alright, a lot of maintenance plans for the truck this spring, so I have a few questions. The list of **** is as follows:

-crossover pipe w/ cats
- all ball joints
- all tie rods
- center link
- idler arm
- timing cover gasket
- front crank seal
- rear crank seal
- get trans fixed
- oil pan and gasket
- water pump
- map sensor
- AC condenser

Might be missing a couple things, but those are the main ones.

It won't be for a bit, as I'm leaving for the Mint 400 this week, and the next couple weeks will be gathering parts.

First question I have though is for the front seal. I'm seeing that there are two designs, how would I know what design I need?

Second question is for the water pump. Rock auto says that it's recommended to replace the fan clutch at the same time. How strong is that recommendation?



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