Project: Just Keep it Nice

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AK49BWL

GMT400 Forever!
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This is my new-to-me truck, a replacement for my 1999 Chevy Blazer, and a truck that I've been after for a really long time. These are pictures posted by the seller on Craigslist.

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General Info:

1997 GMC Sierra SL K1500 Extended Cab Short Bed, 350ci 5.7l V8 with a 5-speed manual transmission, 4x4 on the floor with Posi-Lok, G80 rearend, 3.73s and 265/75R16 Goodyear Wranglers, 177k on all-original equipment.
Cruise, tilt wheel, 60/40 front bench, sliding rear window, manual locks windows and mirrors, AM/FM/Tape w/o Aux, Raven camper shell, trailer brake module by Tekonsha, and helper air bag suspension... Don't think there's much more to mention at this point.

I drove my Blazer 1800 miles from Longview TX to Reno NV to get this truck, that's how bad I wanted it. I was made certain, this truck is in near perfect shape... And I was not deceived. Sure, there are a few scratches... He was not opposed to taking a ride out into the woods to go hunting. But the undercarriage looked fantastic... I could not find much rust at all. The body is straight, the engine runs smooth, the transmission is nice and tight, the steering is tight, the posi-lok is AWESOME, and it's not leaking anything from anywhere. Now, the door latch was a bit stiff, the driver seat didn't slide, and the tailgate would take a beating before it'd open properly... But I've since fixed those latter things, lol. But hey, let's go in order here...

March 3, 2015 - This is the day I drove it "home" aka my brother's house in Reno. But not before running off to take this picture.

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Next post, I'll run down what I've done to it so far as mods go, and potential future plans.
 

AK49BWL

GMT400 Forever!
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Before I continue, I'd like to apologize for the shoddy picture quality on most of these... I tend to take more video than pictures so the majority of my pictures here are actually video stills.

The day I got it, I decided I was not going to deal with the manual doors for long. Reno Auto Salvage and Sparks Pick-n-Pull got to know me really well over the course of that week :haha: I got two complete doors with power internals, new power mirrors, the interior panels and switch panels, along with a driver side seat recline handle (mine was broken), cruise control box on the firewall (stripped gear or bad solenoid in mine, not sure), a replacement stereo head unit for the Blazer, a new headlight switch, and the complete wiring harness to go between the two doors, which also came with a stock keyless entry module and door lock relay pack.

Once I got the pickup back to my Blazer, the swap-out began... The stereo head unit from my Blazer, a stock CD/AM/FM with external Tape and an iPod controller all lit in blue LED, got pulled out, the bottom mounting system retrofitted, and stuck in the pickup;

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the Alpine Type R 6.5" speakers in the Blazer front doors were pulled and swapped with the stock speakers from the pickup;

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the cluster's blue LED backlighting went from Blazer to pickup, along with most of the other 194 and 74-base LEDs.

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For a reason I would only later discover, the brake light LEDs in my Blazer damn near exploded when I tried to put them in the pickup housings... So they were left behind in the Blazer. The front blinkers, being 3157-base, won't work in this truck because the front blinkers of GMT400s are 1157 :p BUT - I had a spare set of those at the house in Longview I could throw in. The 194 front marker LEDs however, were pulled. As a last note, I pulled the subwoofers and amp out of the Blazer, mostly because my brother didn't want them... I'm probably going to sell them. So if anyone wants a pair of Alpine Type R 12" subs in a custom box... :) .. As for the Blazer, it was determined to be left behind, and my brother bought it from me to keep it.

Then, the doors started getting torn into. I made a mess.

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The wiring was easily the most difficult part of it all.. Figuring out what was needed, what the truck already has, and what I could just get rid of entirely... A friend of mine with full access to wiring diagrams really helped out at this point. I was able to pretty much just drop the new door to door harness in with a bit of pre-existing connector re-pinning, and only three wire splices, two being at the keyless entry module and the third for the dome lights in the power doors, which manual doors don't have.

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The day the power doors were verified fully operational, I started my 1800 mile drive home to Texas, leaving the two donor doors behind at Reno Salvage. I thought about taking them with me, or at least the windows, but at the moment I have no place to keep them back home. The truck performed most fantastically (in my opinion) for being completely stock, hanging out at 17-18 MPG on the way.

Since getting back to Texas, I've replaced EVERYTHING possible with LEDs, in a more useful bright white for the domes, most notably... As opposed to my going completely overboard in the BLUE department on my Blazer :p

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The taillights, rather than having the circuit boards on the back, are now using bulb sockets from a Blazer, slightly modified, held in place by fabricated aluminum since they don't secure to the housing like they do on the Blazer...

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Also notable is the way they illuminate since I modified the wiring slightly; normally, the top bulbs would be park lamps only, the bottom acting as turn signals and brakes. Now, the top bulbs are signals and brakes, while the bottom bulbs are brakes only. All, in LED of course :D

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Switching out the front bulbs for the 1157 LEDs...

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I ripped out the clutch fan in favor of dual electric fans out of a 2001 Ford Windstar, wired with three relays in the format of an LS1 configuration - two fan operation in series for speed 1, two fan op in parallel for speed 2.

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And most recently, replaced the PCM with an LS1 12200411 (thanks go to Lextech!). Wired the fans to it, now I'm just waiting for a few switches to come in, and I'll install them in the electric 4x4 delete panel in the dash for overrides.... OR, I saw another post on here somewhere that showed the switches on a metal strip under the dash, that was pretty nifty. So far, tho, I really can't complain at all with the performance of the truck.

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I don't think I'm quite done with the PCM yet. Its wiring needs help in a bad way I need to redirect several of the pins so they're not all twisted around each other -- And right now I'm waiting on a response from the guy who provided the pin-outs for the swap, as I currently do not have the shift light hooked up to the PCM on account of most of these trucks being automatics , and shift lights not being accounted for. ------Edit, it's not used on the 0411, so I'm just leaving it disconnected. Never paid it any mind anyway.

Future plans, as I can think of them right now...

--AD244 alternator, big 3 in 0 Gauge, MAYBE second battery?

--Quad-beam headlight mod

--Plan to replace the camper shell clamps with bolts, and I need to re-seal the bedrails anyway...

-- Dome lights for the camper shell

-- If anyone can give me some options on a small yet decent subwoofer/box I can put in this truck, that doesn't take up a lot of space (preferably just fits under the back seat, I may consider removing the jack box), but will still hit moderately? Would appreciate. Not looking to blow out windows by any means, but still want to feel it.

-- I have no suspension mod plans and it'll probably stay that way, unless I decide to go with K2500 leaf springs that is. I'm rather happy with the exterior look of this truck.

-- May go ahead and replace the headlights and blinker housings at some point, as of course, they're oxidized.

-- I have an electric dimming and temp/compass mirror on the windshield now, just need to run the wires to power it up.

-- Also, opinion request - Should I go ahead and remove the top of the fan shroud back to the square section or leave it as is? It's not in the way, it's more of a cosmetics thing I guess.

-- Roof center console? Maybe?

-- Rear disc brakes????
 
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PolarBear

BORKBORKBORKBORK
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I really like what you've done so far! The truck is really nice and clean!

I love watching folks be resourceful and upgrading base model trucks using factory parts.
 

MYT HI

LOUD AND PROUD
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Wow. You sure were busy. Love the color. Very interested in more
 

98sierra4x4

OBSession
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Nice truck, i like your style, clean and sinple. it would look nice with the side molding removed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

77Concours

I'm Awesome
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Awesome truck! I like the power conversion you did. I also recognized those little pink plastic baggies and knew they were from superbrightleds lol. Something about crank windows in these trucks doesn't sit right with me.

As for the subwoofer box: I had a front firing sub box with 2 12" Kicker CVX subwoofers and a digital Cerwin Vega amplifier in my 1995 extended cab. It hits hard and I have the same setup in my 2003. It did however, take up pretty much all the leg room in my back seat but no one ever sat back there. There are downward firing sub boxes that fit completely under the rear seat and give more leg room.

http://caraudiofactory.com/8898-chevy-extended-210df-p-35.html
 

AK49BWL

GMT400 Forever!
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Thanks for the comments :)

@77Concours, thanks for the link! I ended up looking at the list on that site, and I like the ported front-fire box for 12s... Always liked ported better than sealed. And Richmond, TX is only a 5 hour drive from me, if I really want to go that route :D Just unsure if the Type Rs would fit in it lol.. They're pretty deep subs. I'm not too worried about foot room in the back, as I doubt I'll have many passengers... But I do want to keep the seats available, just in case you know :) I may even have someplace nearby do a custom box that'll take up the floor on just one side, or side and middle, use only one sub.. Idk, gotta think about this :hmm: I haven't even run wire yet. I want to replace the 4x6s back there too, and I have a pair of Alpine Type S 2-ways to put back there that I stole from my Blazer, but I'm certain I'll just end up breaking all the panels :(

@98sierra4x4, I'm considering removing the side molding, but I'm not sure... The top of it is kind of turning yellowish tho, so I probably will. In due time lol.

So many ideas...

So today, the windshield mirror got wires, but the auto-dim doesn't seem to want to function.. Think I might have blown that circuit up by accident because I tested the mirror before I installed it, and my testing hot wire slipped :p but I can pick up another one at the pick-n-pull for just a five dollar bill, so it's not that big of a deal... The temp/compass works, and the rear glass and camper shell windows are all tinted anyway so I may not even worry about it at all. I grabbed all the wiring for it out of a 98 Suburban that had lighted mirror visors, and would have grabbed those too if they hadn't been tan instead of gray... But, now the wiring's in my roof so if I want to, I can put them in at a later time without much trouble.

On the side, I also replaced the spark plugs, since for some odd reason the PO only replaced the cap, rotor, and wires.... And I discovered, the wires were just barely hanging onto plugs 5 and 6. I had wondered why my acceleration was a little jumpy sometimes, thought my fuel pump was failing :nono: probably should have gone ahead and replaced those plugs much sooner. ... Oh that brings me to another thing, I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge, and the pressures look good while running, but after shutting the truck off, and after the initial prime without starting the truck, the pressure drops very quickly... Nearly 40 PSI in about 10 seconds. I thought it was supposed to hold pretty well for a while after shutdown? I have no external leaks... I've read this could be a leaking injector, or maybe there's a bad check valve somewhere? I will note that the truck will get up and go with no problems, so I don't appear to have any fuel delivery issues at least...
 

vaporlock

A Girl & Her Truck
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Beautiful truck! I love the color, any blue on these trucks looks great!
I say remove the moldings, they look really good without them + all sort of things gather under there and does bad things to the truck.
 
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