My 454 SS Story

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AK 99

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This is my '90 454 SS. The following will be a picture log of how I got my truck and how it came to be what it is now. Of course, it's far from completed and there's quite a bit more to do still.

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AK 99

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It all started when a friend of mine had come across a package deal on a '94 RCSB and a '90 RCSB that was supposed to be a real 454 SS. He was supposed to be purchasing the two trucks for resale. They were to be kept at my place, I help with repairs and then we would split the profits. We looked at the trucks and a deal was made. The '94 was a pretty decent runner and was solid. The '90, which turned out to be a real SS, had a terrible engine noise.
At my place, in as-purchased condition:
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The '94 got a bunch of wiring repaired, new tail lights, and a lot of cleanup. The '90 got a new air dam, fog lights and a bunch of cleanup as well. We decided to leave the sick engine alone. Here they are cleaned up and ready to go:
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AK 99

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The '90 SS hung around all summer. Nobody wanted it with the bad engine in it. It did run, but sounded really bad. All summer long, it taunted me. I've really liked the 454 SS trucks since they were new... and there one sat in my very own yard. But, I continued to resist the temptation to keep it for myself, despite my buddy trying to strike a deal with me. I simply didn't need the truck.

Eventually, the decision was made to replace the engine so we had a better chance of resale. I had a fresh '91 454 sitting on a stand in my garage that we decided to use in the truck. I had fitted it with a roller cam and new valve springs, but to keep the factory TBI happy, we put the original (tiny) cam back in, along with the factory springs too. We did have to convert to an adjustable valvetrain though because I had the heads shaved when they got a valve job.
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Painted black for a factory appearance:
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Adjustable stud kit for those interested:
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AK 99

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Got the engine out, made a big mess of course so puppy pads were put to use.
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New heart going in:
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Oh, almost forgot about the exhaust manifolds. The outlet studs broke off of both of them. So when I was fixing that, I crimped off the air injection tubes
so that the lines could be in place, but not leak anywhere. I deleted the air pump because the mounting bracket was broken and I didn't want to fix it. I hate smog pumps.
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AK 99

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Everything was going back together nicely. The goal was nothing fancy, just an average engine replacement, so nothing really got cleaned at all.
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At this point, my buddies that were helping out with this (including the friend that was my partner in this truck deal) were pushing really hard for me just to keep the truck for myself. I was still resisting, trying to be sensible. But right before it was time for startup, I caved in finally and a deal was struck.

It fired right up and ran great. It drove well too, but the brakes were very soft. Then they got really soft. When I pulled it back into the garage, there was a trail of brake fluid on the floor, lol.

So there it sat, waiting for it's first repair.
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I had to replace the line from the master cylinder to the front wheels. Then had to bleed the brakes several times over the next few days, as there was a bunch of air trapped somewhere. The previous owner had put a rear line on it and probably had been driving it with a bunch of air in the system.

It's first trip out of town:
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AK 99

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I drove it around a few times and drove it 30 miles to work several times too, before the weather got bad. In this time, I learned what all needed fixed, repaired or just replaced. Some of it I already knew about, but a bunch was the usual surprises of buying an old truck.

Radio loose and had no reception.
Wipers had a mind of there own.
Steering column loose (tilt).
Driver door panel falling apart.
AC inoperational.
HVAC temp was kinda stuck on 3/4 heat and air kinda blew out everywhere.
Driver seat bottom collapsing.
Driver window missing the vertical guides.
Tonneau cover hinge broken.
Bed misaligned and half the bolts gone.
Weird, ugly, textured paint of some kind.

But besides all that stuff, it had a lot going for it. It drove well, it ran great, and it still had ALL of the 454 SS specific parts with the exception of the bodyside mouldings and one of the 1500 emblems.

So in the spring, I went to the Springfield swap meet and went home with a couple of factory black painted fenders. The left one is good, the right one is kinda rough, but it was thrown into the deal and had good stuff I needed like a factory antenna and underhood light.

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At this point I had also removed the tonneau cover. I was tired of having to open it all the time.

Then soon after that, I got a '94 Suburban for parts. Black with a red interior and it had a bunch of the odds and ends I needed that would have otherwise nickel and dimed me.
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AK 99

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I had forgot about the seat 'repair' I did, lol. Sitting in the driver seat, my hind quarters felt like I was falling through the seat. The fabric is in decent condition so I really didn't want to ruin the seat. As it turns out, the SS-specific seats don't have the wire grid support like the regular seats. It's literally just the foam cushion and it was breaking apart.
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With no real game plan, I tucked some allthread into the seat frame, then stuffed a pack of cheap gloves in there as padding.
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I need to revisit that repair, lol.
 

AK 99

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So with the warm weather and a '94 parts truck handy, I knocked out a bunch of repairs all at the same time.

It turns out, a rear door armrest is a very close match to a front door armrest. It's much better than the missing armrest.
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As can be seen, the cloth was coming loose from the door panel. At this point, I was seriously considering using the newer design panels from the '94.

The '94 also donated the mode door actuator and some of the linkage, the blend door actuator, some glove box parts and the factory antenna and cable. It also donated the console door latch.
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Then came time to charge the AC.
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Works decent considering it was high 90's and extremely humid, with the engine at idle.
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