Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well. Wanted to share Roxy with everyone,
I bought a 1996 K3500 454 WT (Work Truck) at the end of the summer, August 2021, for $3500. The truck was purchased in Arizona and stayed there for 20 years and was used as a fleet vehicle. The company then sold one of the trucks to the person that I bought the truck. The previous owner had plans to make it into a plow truck but never did and ended up letting the truck sit for many years. Included in the $3500 purchase, was a Western Unimount Pro-Plow and mounts for the truck. I did some reading and apparently, the mounts don't fair well so I brought the mounts to my Powercoating guy and had the mounts metalized, primed, and painted so they will never rust again.
When I bought it from the second owner (The one that was going to use it as a plow truck) the vehicle was looking rough.
The truck has a little less than 250,000 miles and needed a lot of work. I tackled the most important things first suck as all-around fluid flush, which was almost a waste of my time and money because all the fluids must have been changed before the truck sat for many years, but it's better to be safe than sorry. In the process of doing a coolant flush, the plastic core where the upper radiator hose attaches to the radiator broke, after 25 years.
2. New injectors (Delco), Fuel Pump assembly (Delphi), upper and lower intake gaskets (Only the best FEL-PRO), spark plugs (NGK, I think copper), wires (Standard), cap (Blue Standard), and rotor (Standard).
2. Tires (Cooper Discovers), Shocks all around (Monroe), Steering Stabilizer (Can not remember)
3. Wheel hubs (MOOG), [rotors, pads, calipers, wheel cylinders, shoes (Advance Auto Special)], and stainless steel lines (Can not remember)
After doing all this work I started to drive the truck more and more around town to see what else it needed besides cosmetics. On the second day of driving it, the Ignition Control module fried out (When's the last time you heard of one of those going bad?) I think I know why it went bad, I'll discuss it in a little bit. I kept going through those things like crazy, luckily Advance Auto had a lifetime warranty so I just had to swap it out instead of paying for new ones. At this point, I pretty much decided to just replace basically every sensor on the motor
4. [Oil pressure sender (Seriously only took 10 minutes people online were complaining how it was taking them 45 minutes to an hour to replace), Crank Sensor, Idle Air Control Valve (GM Genuine)], [All 3 temp senders, MAP sensor (Delphi)], EVAP Solinoid (NAPA), O2 Sensors Pre-Cat (Denso), O2 Simulators Post cat (AfterThoughtAuto). My A/C Compressor was also shot so I put one of those in at this point too (Global Products (I think))
(Truck is a 1 ton and is over 25 years old so I don't need to meet emissions in NYS.
The truck is running great, so I do some cosmetics. I find junkyard bumpers front and rear, painted the grille and wheels, installed a Head unit, and speakers that I took out of a previous vehicle, evacuate, and charge the A/C system.
I go to school about 7 hours away from home and did all this work in about 2 weeks. A couple of weeks into my semester, I was driving my truck (on-campus luckily) and the motor shut off while pulling up to a stop sign. Not the biggest of deals, I put it in park and crank it, No oil pressure. Take a spark plug out ground it and see if there's spark, no spark. No big deal my distributor took a dump. I got a buddy to bring his 95 Benz diesel and a crane strap to where I was on-campus and tow me into the nearest parking lot. I missed my thermodynamics class that day but I needed to fix the truck. (HAHA I have my priorities straight). I get a ride to NAPA for a new distributor (NAPA brand) and put it in. When I take the old one out, the gear is so worn down. I guess that's what happens when there's 250,000 miles on the original distributor.
I believe I kept frying Ignition control modules because there was so much slop in the gear that the computer was trying to advance and retard the timing but couldn't because of the inconsistencies, after I replaced the distributor I haven't had a module fail on me. While at school with my limited time, I decided to do a little project and install an air compressor with quick disconnects on either side of the truck to run air tools, fill up tires, etc. and since I had the compressor I also bought a 29 inch Fire truck air horn which is extremely loud. I also bought a one-button 1-way viper remote starter for a steal on eBay, which was also a fun little project (I learned how to hotwire vehicles HAHA).
A couple of days before going home for winter break, my coil stopped working, the original coil, and replaced it with an MSD Blaster (in red, oo laa laa). During winter break, I added a Flowmaster muffler, the stock exhaust sounded like a Camry and I wanted to hear the 454. It's not loud or obnoxious, it has a little rumble, about the same volume and sound as the new Silverado's today, maybe even quieter. I had a major exhaust leak at the downpipe and was going to change the donut gaskets which were non-existent, but unfortunately snapped a few studs in the process and I decided that it would be easiest and less time-consuming to just buy new manifolds instead of drilling and tapping. Had the manifolds off on both sides in about an hour! After that, I changed the oil filter adapter O-ring, and then decided to tackle the valve cover leak, replaced the gaskets (FEL-PRO). When I pulled the valve covers off I was extremely relieved, there was absolutely no sludge buildup, only the usual staining. (This proves that the fleet vehicle had lots and lots of highway miles and had regular fluid changes and was well maintained). I had also received a light bar and LED headlights for my birthday from friends and installed those as well, I can actually see at night!!!
The final project I did during winter break was installing the plow mounts and all the electronics up into the cab and out to the grill.
My future projects include repainting the fender flares which are sun-faded down to the yellowish plastic and making sure everything is working on the plow for next winter, I have a list of things I think I will need to replace but the plow is home and I'm at school, so I am not 100% sure what I will need.
If you made it this far, you will know why my truck is named roxy. Its pretty simple, When I bought her in the bed there were a lot of rocks in the bed. HAHA, kind of stupid.
Thank you for reading my story and I will include a bunch of pictures for you to view.
Have a great day.
Owen
I bought a 1996 K3500 454 WT (Work Truck) at the end of the summer, August 2021, for $3500. The truck was purchased in Arizona and stayed there for 20 years and was used as a fleet vehicle. The company then sold one of the trucks to the person that I bought the truck. The previous owner had plans to make it into a plow truck but never did and ended up letting the truck sit for many years. Included in the $3500 purchase, was a Western Unimount Pro-Plow and mounts for the truck. I did some reading and apparently, the mounts don't fair well so I brought the mounts to my Powercoating guy and had the mounts metalized, primed, and painted so they will never rust again.
When I bought it from the second owner (The one that was going to use it as a plow truck) the vehicle was looking rough.
The truck has a little less than 250,000 miles and needed a lot of work. I tackled the most important things first suck as all-around fluid flush, which was almost a waste of my time and money because all the fluids must have been changed before the truck sat for many years, but it's better to be safe than sorry. In the process of doing a coolant flush, the plastic core where the upper radiator hose attaches to the radiator broke, after 25 years.
2. New injectors (Delco), Fuel Pump assembly (Delphi), upper and lower intake gaskets (Only the best FEL-PRO), spark plugs (NGK, I think copper), wires (Standard), cap (Blue Standard), and rotor (Standard).
2. Tires (Cooper Discovers), Shocks all around (Monroe), Steering Stabilizer (Can not remember)
3. Wheel hubs (MOOG), [rotors, pads, calipers, wheel cylinders, shoes (Advance Auto Special)], and stainless steel lines (Can not remember)
After doing all this work I started to drive the truck more and more around town to see what else it needed besides cosmetics. On the second day of driving it, the Ignition Control module fried out (When's the last time you heard of one of those going bad?) I think I know why it went bad, I'll discuss it in a little bit. I kept going through those things like crazy, luckily Advance Auto had a lifetime warranty so I just had to swap it out instead of paying for new ones. At this point, I pretty much decided to just replace basically every sensor on the motor
4. [Oil pressure sender (Seriously only took 10 minutes people online were complaining how it was taking them 45 minutes to an hour to replace), Crank Sensor, Idle Air Control Valve (GM Genuine)], [All 3 temp senders, MAP sensor (Delphi)], EVAP Solinoid (NAPA), O2 Sensors Pre-Cat (Denso), O2 Simulators Post cat (AfterThoughtAuto). My A/C Compressor was also shot so I put one of those in at this point too (Global Products (I think))
(Truck is a 1 ton and is over 25 years old so I don't need to meet emissions in NYS.
The truck is running great, so I do some cosmetics. I find junkyard bumpers front and rear, painted the grille and wheels, installed a Head unit, and speakers that I took out of a previous vehicle, evacuate, and charge the A/C system.
I go to school about 7 hours away from home and did all this work in about 2 weeks. A couple of weeks into my semester, I was driving my truck (on-campus luckily) and the motor shut off while pulling up to a stop sign. Not the biggest of deals, I put it in park and crank it, No oil pressure. Take a spark plug out ground it and see if there's spark, no spark. No big deal my distributor took a dump. I got a buddy to bring his 95 Benz diesel and a crane strap to where I was on-campus and tow me into the nearest parking lot. I missed my thermodynamics class that day but I needed to fix the truck. (HAHA I have my priorities straight). I get a ride to NAPA for a new distributor (NAPA brand) and put it in. When I take the old one out, the gear is so worn down. I guess that's what happens when there's 250,000 miles on the original distributor.
I believe I kept frying Ignition control modules because there was so much slop in the gear that the computer was trying to advance and retard the timing but couldn't because of the inconsistencies, after I replaced the distributor I haven't had a module fail on me. While at school with my limited time, I decided to do a little project and install an air compressor with quick disconnects on either side of the truck to run air tools, fill up tires, etc. and since I had the compressor I also bought a 29 inch Fire truck air horn which is extremely loud. I also bought a one-button 1-way viper remote starter for a steal on eBay, which was also a fun little project (I learned how to hotwire vehicles HAHA).
A couple of days before going home for winter break, my coil stopped working, the original coil, and replaced it with an MSD Blaster (in red, oo laa laa). During winter break, I added a Flowmaster muffler, the stock exhaust sounded like a Camry and I wanted to hear the 454. It's not loud or obnoxious, it has a little rumble, about the same volume and sound as the new Silverado's today, maybe even quieter. I had a major exhaust leak at the downpipe and was going to change the donut gaskets which were non-existent, but unfortunately snapped a few studs in the process and I decided that it would be easiest and less time-consuming to just buy new manifolds instead of drilling and tapping. Had the manifolds off on both sides in about an hour! After that, I changed the oil filter adapter O-ring, and then decided to tackle the valve cover leak, replaced the gaskets (FEL-PRO). When I pulled the valve covers off I was extremely relieved, there was absolutely no sludge buildup, only the usual staining. (This proves that the fleet vehicle had lots and lots of highway miles and had regular fluid changes and was well maintained). I had also received a light bar and LED headlights for my birthday from friends and installed those as well, I can actually see at night!!!
The final project I did during winter break was installing the plow mounts and all the electronics up into the cab and out to the grill.
My future projects include repainting the fender flares which are sun-faded down to the yellowish plastic and making sure everything is working on the plow for next winter, I have a list of things I think I will need to replace but the plow is home and I'm at school, so I am not 100% sure what I will need.
If you made it this far, you will know why my truck is named roxy. Its pretty simple, When I bought her in the bed there were a lot of rocks in the bed. HAHA, kind of stupid.
Thank you for reading my story and I will include a bunch of pictures for you to view.
Have a great day.
Owen
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