Recent content by 1Matthias

  1. 1Matthias

    Beating the old, dead horse....GMT800 disk rear axle swap

    Yep, this truck came with an open diff 14BFF. As this truck is RWD only, it's not intended as an offroad etc rig: more just would appreciate a little extra traction on the occasional dirt/gravel road, or pulling out from jobsites. For my use, a late stock G80 seems the best value for money as...
  2. 1Matthias

    Beating the old, dead horse....GMT800 disk rear axle swap

    I can see about taking the ABS unit: when I was looking online, they seemed to be a *very* different design than the one on my truck. My ABS block has the combo valve bolted to the front and a separate part of the assembly, the newer styles seem to integrate it completely into the internals of...
  3. 1Matthias

    Beating the old, dead horse....GMT800 disk rear axle swap

    So to make a long story short, the rear axle on the FrankenTruck is a little less than pleased at the moment: seems the previous owners ignored a substantial pinion seal leak, ran it low, and now it's on the way out. I *could* rebuild it...but there's a pick and pull 6.0 GMT800 2500HD near me...
  4. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    Thank you for the kind words RE: welding! And as for the wiring harness: although there's nothing particularly functionally wrong with it, I dislike having a greater number of connections or joins in a harness than absolutely needed: most wiring issues are down to connections after all, so. Also...
  5. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    Thank you - I actually quite a few years back went through welding classes but am a bit out of practice at the moment. This has been a fun reintroduction.
  6. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    While all this was happening, I also dug into the 350. The reason I got the 3500 so cheap was the previous owner thought it had a blown head gasket: the coolant kept vanishing and it was misfiring badly. Well, there was also *no trace* of water in the oil and no steam from the exhaust which told...
  7. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    I reused and modified the factory frame brackets off the 3500, cut a hole in them for some 3"x3/8" wall squaretube, and then welded it all together....
  8. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    After sourcing a 4L80E specific linkage from a local junkyard and regaining full control over all gears, work continued. I invited a few friends over and we made a party of installing the bed, which went...much smoother than removal somehow. And at this point I got hitched...trailer hitched...
  9. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    So with regards to the difference between 4L60E and 4L80E column shifters....it turns out that if you use a 4L60E shifter assembly on a 4L80E, you will cause the linkage to massively bind and stick in one position: *drive*. Not knowing this, on Christmas day I gave myself one hell of a present...
  10. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    We do these things not because they're hard, but because we had no clue how hard they would be. ;) Unfortunately there's no access to a garage here, so I end up working outside rain, shine, snow, or cold. It's been a long journey, but an excellent learning experience. Around back is the truly...
  11. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    During this time I also rebuilt the suspension front and rear: new shocks, leaf springs, bushings, and balljoints. I also replaced all the brake lines with CuNi lines and new softlines as well as all new front brake rotors, calipers, and bearings. (Sorry for the abysmal/lack of pictures, was...
  12. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    After figuring that hurdle out (or so I thought......), I switched gears to prepping for and completing a paintjob. As much fun as the aesthetic of "failing GM white paint on a plumber's truck" is, wanted to learn how to use a HVLP and clearly the best way to do that is to paint a truck. In the...
  13. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    Next up came the Challenges....IE the fiddly bits of putting a '94 cab and dashboard on a '95 chassis, electrical system, and transmission.... '95 swapped to cable shifter, vortec style dashboard, and revamped the electrical system quite a bit. I spend 3 days and combined the '94 and '95...
  14. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    With the 3500's frame cleaned up, it was time to disassemble the 2500. First up was removing the utility bed....luckily this one was aluminium, because there was no skidsteer this time. After this, the cab was completely stripped, cleaned up a bit, then lifted off the 2500 frame and applied to...
  15. 1Matthias

    1994.5 C3000 frankentruck

    Unbothered by this setback, I purchased some washers with the correct inner diameter, cut the old rotten metal out, and welded the new in: The entire frame then got a coat of rust preventative paint, because as much absolutely lovely fun as this was I'd rather put off a recurrence for a *very*...
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