My 454 SS Story

[AK 99]

The '94 wiper motor was a direct replacement, plugged right in and worked as it should.

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The old motor was a different design that I guess is failure prone.

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It was then no longer a pain to drive in the rain.

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[AK 99]

After a while, I had finally gotten sick of the loose cloth on the driver's door panel. I finally decided to just repair the stock panel, rather than updating.

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It was kind of a bear getting the cloth tucked back in under the lower map pocket.

While I had the panel off, I found the window guides down in the door.

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The panel turned out nice I think.

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[frito-bandito]

Great job so far! Subbed to watch your progress!!

 

[AK 99]

The truck got another good cleaning and that's where I left off. I've been out of town the majority of the time since then.

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It's a good honest truck that I can drive in the warmer months and not worry about hurting the value of it. Yeah, it's a real SS and it's fairly solid, but it's no cream puff and will never be highly valued like the nice, original, low-mile ones. I plan to change out most of the body panels and I don't feel bad because of it. The left fender is aftermarket, the right fender has some little rust bubbles, the hood has been replaced and is full of bondo. I believe the right door has bondo in the bottom of it. The bed is original to the truck, but the left arch needs replaced and the right bedside has been replaced at some point. They didn't do a real bad job, but I would have done it better.

But anyway, I now have two nice fenders, a nice hood and a nice right door to use and they are factory black parts. I hope to find a nice factory black bed to use instead. Then I only have to sand the weird textured paint off of the cab, left door and tailgate, and I won't have to take the time to cut it all in with black paint. The goal is to improve the truck, all while being able to drive it and not end up embarking on a long and drawn out project. I've got too many of those already.

 

[wb292]

I just picked up a 90 Model SS myself about a month ago. Mine is dropped 5/7 so i'll be lifting it back to factory height first.

 

[wb292]

What size tires do you have on the rear? They look a little wide on the rims.

 

[AK 99]

What size tires do you have on the rear? They look a little wide on the rims.

Oh yeah, they are really squeezed on there. They are a 295/50. Surprisingly though, they still have a pretty nice contact patch. When they are worn out, I'd like to replace them with something a smidge taller, but still wider than the 275's up front.

 

[skylark]

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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I like the truck and the story but that truck is begging to be lower, at least in the back. Any taller and it should have a Z71 sticker.

 

[AK 99]

I like the truck and the story but that truck is begging to be lower, at least in the back. Any taller and it should have a Z71 sticker.

It has been lowered at some point in the past. It clearly used to be flipped in the rear because the frame is c-notched. The front actually has drop spindles installed still, with some unknown pair of springs that get it back up to stock height.

I'm actually undecided what I would like to do with the suspension. I don't want to go too much lower, but at the same time, a little lower than stock would be good. A firm 'sport' ride is what I like so I was thinking maybe a good 1" lowering spring up front, with the current spindles. The rear, I'm 100% open to suggestions. A flip would be super easy, but I want a smidge of rake still. Are there any good rear springs available that would be roughly the same specs as stock, but maybe a bit more arch (to slightly compensate for the flip)?

But on the other hand, maybe a softer rear spring and a sway bar would work better. There's too many thoughts bouncing around in my head as far as the suspension setup goes.

 

[wb292]

I'm bringing mine back to the stock height. Its horrible with the 5/7. It bottoms out on the twisty mountain roads around here that aren't completely smooth. Witch makes it a little scary with cliffs only a few feet away. I've already got the parts from rock auto. I just haven't gotten the time to install them. I'm also hoping going back stock will help with the wheel hop under hard acceleration. I'm thinking the shock angles will be much steeper.
There are shorter shackles out there for a lift. Maybe you could go that route with the flip to give you some rake back. Or maybe just longer shackles with out a flip to bring it down.
I like the rear sway bar idea. I'd like for it to take the mountain roads and corners around here with ease.