BUILD THREAD: Alyssa, Horns' 94 Silverado

[Horns]

You must be registered for see images attach

This is the story of the first vehicle I have ever owned. She is a 1994 ECSB GMT400 Silverado.

This thread will be a documentation that compiles everything I've ever done to her throughout an extended period of time. Most likely throughout multiple years, so enjoy the ride.

She was given the name Alyssa after one of my cats named Ulysses. Ulysses was an all black cat that was the leader of his litter. Alyssa is an all black truck which I like to think is the leader of the pack around here, but as anyone who has seen the remake of "Gone in 60 Seconds" knows, it's proper to give a vehicle a girl's name, so the name Alyssa was decided on.

I hope you enjoy the documentation.

 

[Horns]

The Beginning​

Here is the story behind the truck.

This was my very first vehicle that I bought when I was 15. I ended up selling her later that year and buying a newer 98 Silverado.

About 6 months ago I was looking for a new vehicle to daily drive since I had gotten rid of my 97 Volvo. Because of my love of GMT400's, I would settle for nothing less. Well one day this guy brings down this vehicle to my family owned auto salvage with a burnt valve and sold it to us for $350. The truck was a good solid foundation for a reliable rig so I decided to take the vehicle.

About 3 days later, when I finally looked at the VIN# I realized that this was the truck I had sold almost 4 years ago. After getting the title from our yard I found out that the PO before me had bought it from the guy I sold the truck to. I honestly was shocked that this all came together like this.

When I sold the truck it was just a stock truck that was debadged and detrimmed and I had undercoated the entire frame. Somewhere along the way one of the owners of the vehicle after me had done a lot of stuff to it. You can see in the pictures below.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

As you can see when I got the truck back there were many things added. A 3" body lift, a brush guard, bug deflector, lighted visor, lund topper, aftermarket molding, chrome gas cap, etc., etc.

These were among the first things I got rid off. Except the body lift.

 

[Horns]

The Modifications Begin!​

The gimmicky add on's were among the first few things to go. I also at the time pulled a set of 95+ mirrors and a GMC grill out of the yard.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Horns]

Birth of an Engine​

While improving the look of her, I also got started on finding a solution for the burnt valve that the engine had.

Instead of just pulling the heads and doing a valve job on the original engine (which only had 120K miles) I decided just to pull an engine out of the yard and rebuild it while leaving the old engine in so that I could still move the truck around and whatnot.

We had one of our old 91 2500 parts delivery truck in the yard which had a factory GM reman engine put into it 5 years ago. The truck had sat for about 3 years but the engine only had 10k miles on it so I decided to use this engine.

Since the truck had sat for so long I decided to clean the engine up, reseal it, do a little bit of head work, and throw a cam in it while I was at it. The bottom end was untouched except for inspection.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

To my surprise the engine was a 4 bolt main block.

You must be registered for see images attach

New parts! The cam is a 209/216 @ 0.050 with 112LSA

You must be registered for see images attach

Everything put back together with new gaskets and a fresh coat of Chevy orange.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Horns]

Fuel Frustration​

I had went to start Alyssa so I could move her down the street to one of my other shops so I could begin removing the original engine, but she would not fire. After about 30 minutes of diagnosis, I concluded that my fuel pump had gone bad.

Being that I hate spending money that doesn't need to be spent and the fact that I wouldn't settle for anything but a factory fuel pump I decided there were better options then buying brand new. I wouldn't have had much of a problem paying the $70 for a new pump, but the top of the original sending unit was so corroded that I could not get the fuel lines unscrewed without busting them, and I surely was not going to cash out the $300 for the full sending unit.

This is where having a full auto salvage to your disposal comes in very handy. I went in search of the newest best looking pump out of the yard I could find. Low and behold I come across the biggest dump of a GMT400 we have in the yard. The body lift on the donor truck allowed me to see that it's fuel pump looked to be in excellent condition. I chose this as the replacement for my pump.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

As you can see, the truck was a complete dump, but amazingly I found an array of parts to pull off of it before it met it's demise at our car crusher. I managed to pull the cd player bezel and pull out cup holder from the truck that matched the color of my interior. I also pulled the semi-float 14 bolt rear end out of the truck that matched my gear ratio. The actual pump I was after was also in excellent condition. The filter on the fuel pump was spotless.


Now It was time to pull my bed and get to changing the pump. She was a fighter at first, but I finally got the bed removed.

In the picture below you can see the old pump. Notice the fuel line that I broke trying to unscrew the lines.

You must be registered for see images attach

The new pump was put in and the truck was up and running again!


In the pictures below you can see that the 3M rubberized undercoat I had put on the truck 3 years ago was not holding up.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Because I needed to get the truck on the road as soon as I could I decided to put the bed back on and address the frame sometime later on. Winter is coming very soon for us so the frame will most likely not see attention until this coming spring.

 

[Horns]

Power Plant Removal​

It was finally time to remove the old engine in preparation for the freshly rebuilt small block.

I began by removing all of the wiring, making sure to wrap each plug with a piece of tape that said what it went to.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

After that was done I began removing everything else needed for the engine to come out. This included the radiator and all its lines, the power steering lines, the A/C compressor, the transmission and torque converter bolts, and much more.

After that was completed the hood was removed by two people and the engine was pulled.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

Below are a few pictures of the old engine removed and it sitting next to it's replacement.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Horns]

Power Plant Install​

This is a small update of the last couple of weeks.

As you can see in the picture below I finally got the engine in about 2 weeks ago. She runs very strong and stout. The only problems I came across was a slight idle problem, and an extremely squeaky idler pulley. The idle problem was fixed with a new IAC, but the idler pulley I have yet to address.

I also threw on a Thrush Welded I had laying around real quick just so there was a muffler on the truck. I'm still happy with the slight idle tone so far.

You must be registered for see images attach

I also picked up one of these the other day.

You must be registered for see images attach

This will go on a little later in the build when I pull the engine again. I've got some big plans for this winter.