The "Back to Stock" Build - 92 C1500 ECSB

I will call this one "back to stock" for obvious reasons. This truck (92 C1500) was riced the **** out of but also heavily neglected. Got it in northeast PA at a combination carwash/auto shop in May 2020 for $4500. I was informed it had a "new" engine & trans. I immediately got to work on undoing the ugliness and countless redneck repairs, probably by those same carwash guys. Here's a pic of the day I got it home:



I have no idea where the grille & lamps came from, he told me it was out of a Land Rover. That does not explain the center bevel it had like a GMT400 grille, LOL. Talk about butt ugly!



This wasn't the worst part. I was only allowed to test drive it in the parking lot. I did not notice any erratic shifting, however it was a royal pain to steer and LOUD (straight piped into Glasspacs). Being in such a hurry after looking at several other vehicles, I forgot to keep the motor running when I checked under the hood. With a proper inspection I would have noticed the severe blowby from the "new" 350. Also, he lied, it was actually a 305.

As I made the 60 mi drive back to Jersey I was getting nauseous from what smelled like exhaust, and I was starting to see smoke come in through the dash (turned out to be blowby gases). The alignment was shot & brakes practically to the floor (although I already knew these trucks are notorious for squishy brakes).

Before getting up to my knees in the mechanical stuff I decided to at least make it look like something I want to drive. She immediately got new lights (owner sold me the stock grille with it):



Now time to ditch those terribly painted-over-chrome rims!


Above is what I ordered and you are probably facepalming. I had no clue the 2wd trucks were 5-lug. This guy misled me with the wheels he had on it - turned out to be 2 inch conversion spacers on the stock hubs. I did not realize until I was at the tire shop mid-swap and they told me I would not be able to ditch the spacers, DOH!

This is the setup I have to this day. Prob going to wait for these tires to bite the dust and then I'll get the proper 15" 5x5 rims it would have had.

The silver lining so far was the interior. Just needed the little things - headliner, new steering wheel, etc. The wheel was a big one bc the power steering was so shot that the smaller sport wheel would just not cut it:



Notice the aftermarket brake pedal pad too. I don't know why but the little things just get to me so much, it had to go. I found a stock wheel on eBay for $70, so I actually made a lot selling this one!

This all was happening while the truck was a bear to drive/handle. The motor was of course shot and the steering was so heavy yet had a ton of play in it. Fast forward to summer 2020 (with non-working AC - needed a charge) and I had put in a reman steering pump & gearbox. It barely improved and I am still dealing with it 2 yrs later - about to put in a Bluetop box & new hoses. Anyway, at least some of the play was gone and it would stay in its lane on the highway.

I decided to deal with the shot, riced up 305 for as long as I could to save money. I was also working on a 99 Explorer at the time so this was imperative. This motor was so gone it did not even have enough compression to idle! I cannot name how many times I went to make a left and got stuck in several intersections, seemingly only the busy ones...

Here's some pics of the headliner recover. Got the material off eBay

IIRC those light setups were called "Land Rover" style. Haven't seen one in a few years, but I agree with you, they are severely ugly! They were all the fashion in the Houston area a few years back.... customizing is supposed to be about improving the look of the vehicle!

Holy Molee! Those lights were horrendous!

Did they use assorted, leftover 80s 6V lantern lights from China or what?




Good job on bringing it back to OEM!

Right after I did the headliner repair (summer 2021) my alternator burst into flames going to my gf's shore house. I had been parked for a couple minutes and her brother noticed smoke coming from my hood. We get as many wet rags as we can and stifle it. In the process I found out why I had electrical issues & hard starting - the wiring going to the battery with that fusible link was toast. The previous owner had been driving a 10" sub, new radio, and bed lights all while these old wires were tired!

The fire was the last straw that completely destroyed the alt wiring. I did not learn this until I threw a new alt in, nearly made the 70 mi drive home, and died in the middle of a 4-lane road w/o a shoulder! Voltage was reading this, shame on me for not paying attention on the drive:



I couldn't pin down the issue to a bad reman alt or the toast wiring so I did a little test - ran some 10 ga. cable I had laying around from the battery positive to the alt:



Sure enough the voltage jumped to 14v when I did this. OK - time for new wiring. I went with some big boy 4 gauge from Home Depot. Now that my electrical gremlins ran off it was time to take care of the terrible exhaust. It was such a poorly done job; true dual and they had male-to-male flanges going on that obviously did not seal at all. No wonder I was passing out in the cab on every drive.

Shortly after I redid the entire exhaust with RockAuto parts the motor got so bad it started dying on me while parking, ordering at Starbucks, etc. Ran a comp test and here's what I found:

Cyl 1: 140 psi
3: 215 psi
5: 210 psi
7: 100 psi

2: 215
4: 220
6: 115
8: 215

WOW. I had never seen or heard anything like this. After it died on me another time with my gf in the truck and barely made it home I sent it off for a heart transplant. Was not able to take up the space in my driveway nor did I have the time with my job so I took it to my guy who operates a combo junkyard/repair shop knowing he'd be able to get a used 305 or 350 in. From August to Feb 2022 it sat there, luckily he finally got a 350 Suburban in that rolled over and got totaled - only engine & trans could be saved. LITERALLY a night and day difference for me! This truck is my first GMT400 so I had no clue what a properly running TBI felt like...I had to be careful not to spin rubber!

At this point the truck became my daily and I sold the Explorer. Nowadays it's going from "back to stock" build to just keeping up with all the bs the previous guy caused. The steering is still crap but a lot better than it was. Hopefully with the Bluetop and new lines (I think mine were pinched) it will be a lot easier. Also did the rag joint which helped.

Rebuilt the brakes with an NBS master swap (wow that improved) and more recently just redid the entire front end, sans-steering box. It rides way better even though I was already impressed with how well these old GM's ride compared to the F150s, Explorers, etc. of that era. I'm slowly restoring this little by little, making sure to let it remain my daily in the process. I will post progress as I go - next on the list will probably be a whole audio overhaul.

I just can't believe the ruggedness of these in good shape...before I did the motor swap I had my head in my hands every day trying to find the best lake to drive this into. Now it just does what I ask it and could not love it more! Having weird little issues here and there but it was bought as project status after all.

stutaeng said:

Holy Molee! Those lights were horrendous!

Did they use assorted, leftover 6V lantern lights from China or what?

Click to expand...

Haha, something of the sorts! The function was worse than the form... they were the blue HIDs that didn't seal/mount properly so the previous guy had rags stuffed in the assemblies. Anytime I hit a bump I practically lost lights LOL!

stutaeng said:

Good job on bringing it back to OEM!

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Thanks, what really helped (I'd be pulling my hair out if not) is that he left all the factory lamp wiring intact, just adapters for the HIDs. Also left me the stock grille so all I had to source were the headlamp mounting bolts. I did wind up getting a new bowtie, and I jerry-rigged it with old nuts cutting threads into the plastic on the pins - no one's stealing that!



Thankfully, mechanically there wasn't much to return to OEM besides the motor situation. Just a bunch of ugly interior & exterior shenanigans.

HotWheelsBurban said:

IIRC those light setups were called "Land Rover" style. Haven't seen one in a few years, but I agree with you, they are severely ugly! They were all the fashion in the Houston area a few years back.... customizing is supposed to be about improving the look of the vehicle!

Click to expand...

Yuck! The fact that this was a semi-common thing over there makes my stomach turn. Why scar a perfectly sexy GMT400?

Also should mention truck was originally red w/ the big white stripe down the middle. I am seriously considering going back to that. The last owner is who painted it black (also not the best job - chipping around wheel wells). They only did the exterior; under the bed, hood and whatnot is all still red.

Like this one:

Ruff Idol said:

I have no idea where the grille & lamps came from, he told me it was out of a Land Rover. That does not explain the center bevel it had like a GMT400 grille, LOL. Talk about butt ugly!

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As previously mentioned, these were actually aftermarket grilles that were somewhat popular at one time. I have no idea why. I think they've got to be one of the ugliest accessories ever created for these trucks. Thank you for removing it.

Where did you order the wheels from?